For the first time in at least 5 years, I have returned to Sacramento. It was a melancholy experience. I was coming to the area to attend the internment service for my grandfather’s ashes as well as a reception for all of my grandparent’s friends from Paradise. But on the other hand, I was excited to see my old stomping grounds and some of my friends from Davis.
I arrived in Sacramento last night and the first thing that struck me was the new parking structure outside Terminal A. When I was living here, Terminal A had just open and there was a huge surface lot that you could usually park near the front and then get on a plane without any trouble. Driving to my hotel, I also saw how much the area around Natomas had sprung up with homes.
This morning, I got up early to meet my old boss and friend Reed for breakfast. After a quick bite to eat it was off to UC Davis to see my old co-workers and to see various new buildings and items of interest on campus. I had a great time seeing the gang again. It made me think back to those years working on the map book and all the other projects around campus. I also thought about how I was coming full circle at Disneyland since I am working in a capacity on a construction project. At that moment I really missed life in Davis – how you could drive out of town in 5 minutes and be in the middle of fields. Driving around with Reed I was also amazed at all the new developments on campus. It was nice to see that today’s UCD students get so much more than what I got when I was there, but it still retained a lot of its charm.
We stopped into the bookstore on campus to see if there were any souvenirs that I might take home, but I opted to pass them up. It was time to say goodbye as I was off to the airport to pick up a family friend to head up to Paradise. We chatted all the way up and it didn’t really seem like an almost 2 hour drive.
Arriving in Paradise, we had just a short time before we headed up to the cemetery for the internment ceremony. It has been 2 months since he passed away, but it was nice to see him finally be put to rest in one of his favorite places. They put his ashes into a marble wall made up of little alcoves that are covered up and sealed. We had a small service that I thought was perfect, despite the 100+ degree heat. After all was said and he was sealed up in the wall, I said my final goodbyes. Tomorrow we have a reception with 40-50 people in a park where we will all gather and toast him one final time.
Afterwards, we chilled in the hotel lounge and then had a fine Mexican dinner at one of my grandparent’s favorite places in Paradise. Dessert was Foster Freeze and after some more chatting in the lobby it was finally time to go to bed.
After tomorrow’s remembrance, I will head back to Sacramento to see another one of my friends who I haven’t seen in over 2 years – Matt. I am not sure if I am going to go down the hill tomorrow night or if I will just stay the night and then return on Sunday. I have decided that I will try and stop by all my old houses (4 in Davis, 1 in Chico) and take some photos since I don’t have any. By the time I go back to So Cal on Sunday, I will be pooped!