Reunion Daily Log
by Nelson Reyes
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A few more things to add if I may since we're talking details here:
1.SmQ's patience is second to none.
Exhibited at the airport on Thursday the 16th waiting for everybody, thanks to the delayed arrival times; and more patience driving around from the airport to hotel destinations.
Amazing display of patience and his CCC (cool, calm and collected) demeanor.
Sometimes poker face but most of the time smiling and dropping a joke or two. Finally at night time (he got to the airport at 2:00 pm) everything was
straighten out and we got home to a dreamlike housing setting, gated and approached with a winding driveway lined with palm trees and enhanced with night time lighting. Spectacular! The last time I saw this kind of landscaping was in Fort Myers, Florida vacationing in a friend's house. And yes it reminded me also of the entrance driveway to the Stanford University campus.
2. Mountain Ranch
Picnic
This place is simply an oasis outside of the buzz that's Las Vegas. We, Cora Bock and Rick and Betsy left the hotel Gold Coast at 8:30 am and got to this wonderful site almost literally at the foot of the mountain
and with a green grass setting surrounded by shading trees and picnic tables, BBQ grills, etc. We were the third party to arrive if not the second. But there was plenty of room and so we secured the spot we thought was right for our event, shaded toward the later part of the afternoon. We arrived a little before 9 am and started staking the place and cleaning the bird drops from the tables. Not until 12 noon when we had a big crowd, our group and others, showing up. Foods were laid out and the camaraderie commenced. Pictures everywhere. Smiling faces at every turn. This was when Betsy said to me, what an amazing group! Yes more than half a century's time was suspended and then we all come together in a strange land thousands of miles away from T. Alonzo St., we still laugh at each other and act like the teenagers we were in AHS back in 1954-'58. Nothing intervened. Are we really "invincible"? Naaah...of course not but it sure felt that way. Just look at SmQ - making it into the picnic way past noon, this is when he started out early in the AM also. This guy is beyond Nirvana. Nothing can ruffle his shirt collar so to speak. His CCC showed in every step he made walking across that green space from where he parked his car to the side where we were, a good distance. I think, and I know I am right, SmQ is cruising his way to his 5th or 6th Nirvana, an Enlightenment only one other figure has achieved - the full lotus - seated one.I got to talking a whole bit with Barry, Didi's friend. Nice guy from North Carolina. Shot the breeze and exchanged experiences with our stented hearts, he's got two I got one. We agreed we have a few more years to enjoy, God on our side. Like in the medieval ages maybe, from table to table we just kept on eating and talking and entertaining each other. Didi's
ukulele and some group singing and Dely's short songs. An afternoon delight it was in a very different dimension. I will supplement this account with
pictures, cross my heart! :-))
3. Balloons at the Paris
Hotel
idea to corral our group. But most of the group was not showing up yet, a bit yet at the appointed time, so we with the balloons all walked to Le Village Buffet, a good distance from the front doors of the hotel and through a big crowd of tourists walking in every direction we have to negotiate up to the French Cuisine Buffet area. Again an occasion for patient waiting time. I ended up holding the balloons outside our room and people started taking pictures of me thinking that I was a prop for the nice front Parisienne decor of the Le Village Buffet salon. I didn't mind. I smiled. Food was to say the least very French, a sampling of every famous region in France. So little time so much delicious food. I wonder how I got away eating French food without so much as ordering any wine at all! Maybe because the food was so much laden with wine that the craving for it cancelled out? Great venue choice, SmQ!
4. Palazzo Grand LuxA
Great dinner made grander by our very own Diva, Dely Asimont
Bowling. See you all again somewhere sometime, thank you and best to
all.
Love is all we got (Beatles),
JD
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