I'm super, super sleepy, but I must report that the family reunion has been amazeballs. Granted, I know no one and am having trouble remembering names (when in doubt, say 'wamp'), but I'm having a truly lovely time. The morning started off right with a shower after five and a half hours of sleep (not enough), followed by breakfast with [censored], where we sat at the same table where the 'rents and Aunt B and Uncle Mark had been hanging out for awhile already. After we all had breakfast, we adjourned to the cars, where we had a loose convoy going - due to carsickness being a genetic commonality amongst us, we had to take three cars for six people so that no one had to ride in the backseat. [censored] and I beat the rest of them to the ranch, which took a good forty-five minutes. Even with a Google Maps tour from the comfort of my bedroom a couple of nights ago, I didn't fully appreciate just how remote this ranch is...
...but for all its remoteness, it's amazing. The facilities we're using are only used officially for a week a year plus some family events for the owners plus our family reunion (since Wendell is tight with the owners of the ranch) - and it's totally insane that this place is only used once a year for a large group of horseback riders. But they have a ninety-nine year lease on this part of the property, and have put in amazing bunkhouses, an amphitheatre, a swimming hole, and all sorts of other stuff that was v. cool to see.
Even cooler was seeing some of the extended family that I don't know/had only heard of. The attendees are all descendants of my great-great-grandfather (aka Patriarch Wamp - j/k), and since my great-grandfather was one of eight siblings, there are quite a few descendants. My immediate branch looks quite small by comparison. But I heard some truly amazing stories (note to self: rescuing shipwrecked sailors from the USS Indianapolis; a fourteen-year corresponding romance between a merchant marine/Clark Gable lookalike named Virgil and a girl with gorgeous blue eyes who'd suffered a severely debilitating bout of childhood polio that led to a shipboard wedding in Mobile; a cousin who died in a car accident and the attendees of the funeral who died in a car accident on the way home; the photos of my granddad and his twin brother on Wendell's wall; shooting wild hogs out of a helicopter rather than killing them with dogs and knives 'like you see on tv'). And I got a chance to hang out with the fam in a way that I wouldn't have otherwise.
After, [censored] and I survived the drive back to the hotel, and then we hung out on Aunt B's deck and drank some wine (okay, I drank most of it, even without Adit here to lead me astray). And now, I must sleep so that I can make another trip out to the ranch tomorrow. Goodnight!
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