SATURDAY - Dinner with the extended Maddux Clan

After a great visit and breakfast with Aunt Pat and MarLyn and Tom and Hunter and David, we drove over to Uncle Bill's to visit for the afternoon. David, Mike and Lisa, and Tom were already at Uncle Bill and Lynne's house when we arrived. I was really happy to see Mike; again I had not seen him since Uncle Dick's funeral. I was particularly happy to see David, Mike, and Tom all together again.

Initially, Uncle Bill and I talked about the Maddux family history, while Marc visited with David, Mike and Lisa, and Tom. Uncle Bill loaned me some family photos, along with a copy of Grandpa's death certificate. I found the certificate puzzling because it stated that Grandpa was suffering from senility, but I recall him sharp and clear headed until the end. I am now tracking down the photographers of these family photos, hoping to locate more family photos.

Later Lynne's daughters Maria (along with her husband Jimmy) and Jenny (with her son Anthony) arrived. Jimmy is an amazing cook who studied with K-Paul Prudhomme in New Orleans about 20 years ago. And he definitely proved it with some amazing cooking for us! Marc and Jimmy had a detailed discussion of New Orleans restaurants and bars. Curiously, Jimmy was a lawyer (like me). Anthony was pretty quiet and soft-spoken and very courteous and polite.

Tom and Lisa and I talked briefly before dinner. Then I sat with Marc and Tom and Jenny and enjoyed some great food. And fortunately, Lynne made a yummy salad and cooked plenty of tasty broccoli and cauliflower, so I was happy (for some reason, veggies are hard to come by in Ridgecrest). Lynne was also kind enough to take a picture of all us Madduxes together in the kitchen. Tom and David left to see the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW® play with their Mom and MarLyn. Jenny then told us about herself and her current family interest.

After dinner I visited with Mike. He told me about camping in the nearby forests (well maybe a few hours away). He told us about getting caught in a snow storm with a lawyer who seemed pretty clueless about hiking in a snow storm. Marc then joined us, and we discussed various wildlife like mountain lions, bears, porcupines, and beavers. Mike mentioned waking up in his tent 1 time and hearing purring by his head; not a comfortable feeling! Also he told us about hiking at night, which seemed a little too exciting for me. Marc and Mike then got into a discussion on rappelling and jumping out of helicoptors.

Finally, around 09:30PM we decided to let Uncle Bill and Lynne get some sleep. So we said our goodbyes for the night and returned to our hotel. I still felt full when Marc and I got back to our hotel, so I walked the 3rd floor for about 45 minutes to burn off some calories and energy. And such was our Saturday visit with all of our Maddux cousins and Uncle Bill.