California Trip

Earlier this month we attended the wedding of my step-nephew, Cuyler Smith, in California. Cuyler is a wonderful artist who paints and does illustrations.  Here he is with his beautiful bride Sharron.

Bodin girls with a pre-wedding champagne toast.

The wedding took place in Costa Mesa. By an interesting coincidence, my great grandfather David Reid, who was a Methodist minister, served as pastor to the Methodist church in Costa Mesa in the 1920s.

So the next day we attended church at the First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa, where he was the pastor. It was Pentecost Sunday, and the church was decorated with red swags. Reverend Julie Elkins, senior pastor, was very welcoming.

This picture of my great grandfather is in the church history room. I didn’t intend for the stain glass window reflection to be on the photo, but it’s kind of nice.

The best part of the visit was meeting my father’s cousin, also named David Reid. We had never met before, and really didn’t even know each other existed. Now we are in touch and sharing family history.

Later that day we went to the cemetery where my great grandparents are buried.

 It was an amazing day. I never thought to have the opportunity of seeing my great grandfather’s church or the place he and my great grandmother are buried, or to meet David. It’s funny and mysterious and wonderful how life works in these ways.

Then, it was on to San Francisco.....

The next day we had a wonderful lunch at Swan Oyster Depot.

It is a tiny narrow oyster bar downtown that has been there since the early 1900s. We had to stand in line to wait for a place at the counter. It didn’t look like much, but the seafood was fantastic and a favorite with the locals.

After a day in San Francisco we drove on to Napa Valley for four wonderful days in wine country....