So, remember a REALLY long time ago when I said that I had a bunch of pictures to post from various trips me and Pat have taken... Well, I am finally following up and working through some of them, starting with the most recent vacation we took and working my way back in time to Seattle in March. No promises on when Vegas and Seattle will be posted, but hey, San Jose is a start...
In September me and Pat met up with my Blechman family in San Jose for my cousin Ashley's wedding. I am originally from San Jose, and although I have been an Oregonian for most of my life, it is always very nostalgic to be able to go back and see my family, and this time I was able to show Pat some places from my childhood as well.
I will be breaking up my trip in to three posts starting with days one
and two.
thursday (9/12) :: day 1
Since me and Pat had to make a connection flight in Portland and then jump down to San Jose, we decided to leave on Thursday afternoon so that we were not rushed to get to the rehearsal dinner Friday. We finished packing up our bags in the morning, cleaned up the house, and then headed to the airport around 1pm. One we hit PDX we scooped up a seat at Gustav's and relaxed with some lunch and a drink or two while we waited for our flight.
After our three hour layover and short flight we were in San Jose picking up our rental car and heading for my grandparent's place on Communication Hill. It was nice to be able to spend some time catching up with the two of them more or less one on one since we hardly get the chance. We were pretty exhausted after all of the traveling, so we called it a night pretty early.
friday (9/13) :: day 2
We got up in the morning, got dressed, gathered up our things, and ate some breakfast. Bagels and lox, of course. I also rummaged through some fantastic old photos of my grandparents and their parents, which I always love getting the chance to do. (These are pictures I took with my phone of old pictures, so some of them are a little glary/fuzzy, but I couldn't resist posting some gems).
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| [[ old photos my grandparents have collected: my grandma and her parents at the beach in 1970. my great grandparents and from left to right, uncle steven, auntie sherry, and my dad at the beach in 1970. my grandma and her father on her wedding day. my grandma & grandpa all dressed up. my beautiful grandma. my handsome grandpa at the beach. a photo of my grandma as a child with her parents claire and sam dubrow and brother gary. my grandpas parents sylvan and lenora blechman. unknown wedding portrait. what i think is a hamsa symbol on a very old small book. claire dubrow's obituary. a toddler picture of my grandma. ]] |
Around 1pm, my dad, step mom, and sisters arrived and we all sat around and visited for a while before me and Pat grabbed our things and left to go check in to our hotel, which was right up the street. We figured with everyone being there it would just be easier than fighting over couches to sleep on. By this time it was getting fairly late, so we changed our clothes and headed over to Kirgin Cellars Winery in Gilroy for Ashley and Jake's rehearsal dinner, which we really appreciated being invited to so that we could spend a bit more time with everyone.
The setting was beautiful and extremely casual, in fact, the venue even allowed Jake (who is a chef) and his Grandpa to cater the event themselves. Dinner was definitely homestyle cooking, and it was delicious, especially the soup that came out first, and the meatballs. I also had fun exploring the vineyard with Pat and my little sisters, and catching up with my aunt and cousins the night before the big day. After it got late family started slowly trickling away from the event, and eventually me and Pat said goodnight and made our exit as well to get some rest.
(I love seeing those rolling brown hills).
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| [[ a few pictures from the rehearsal dinner at kirgin cellars. ]] |
