Donner 2009

Every other year we have a Hoopes Reunion at the Hoopes place at Donner Lake. It really is such a beautiful place. We all have a good time despite living on top of each other for a week. We don't get to see a lot of Hoopes cousins so my kids love to get to spend time with some "new" cousins.

I didn't take much pictures--lazy mostly. But on the drive home, we had the highlight of our trip. Grandma Marne drove out and back with us. During the trip she told a lot of memories of her life growing up. They lived in Elko, for just a short time during the depression years and when they were there her little sister died just after a day of being born. Marne had heard her father tell of how he took the child up to the cemetery to bury her. They didn't have the money for a site, so he just buried her outside the cemetery. As he finished, it just so happened that a man with a wheel barrow full of cement came by, looking for a place to dump his left over cement. Her father poured it out and smoothed it, and just with a stick that was nearby, he etched, "Dora Melissa Whitaker" Grandma Marne was just told, what happened, but never saw the grave. I think they moved really soon after. So when we headed back through Elko we decided to see if we could find it. It was easy. Luckily the funeral home had record and we were led right to the site--which is now just inside the cemetary.

It was great to be able to share this moment with Grandma.

While we were there we tried to take some family pictures, but this is about the best we could come up with. Naughty, wiggly kiddos.

One of the best things this year was being able to go on e few bike rides. It really is so beautiful there which made it some of the most fun biking I've done.

On Donner Summit with the lake in the background,