Directions to Sykes Camp Hot Spring Big Sur - Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour "History of America" Film - "The World of 1968" Film. Thousands of Photographs Shown Very Very Fast...

Once I walked 12 Miles to the Sykes Camp Hot Springs in Big Sur... Took two days in and two days out - The Trailhead is a Mile South of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park... On Highway 1... Follow the Trail that Goes along the Big Sur River... After Six Miles of Up and Down and Up and Down... Camp at Barlow Flats... beware of Poison Oak... and a Raccoon Ate all our Food so We fasted...

https://goo.gl/maps/TibD81fNyWX3gpmNA

Ventana Wilderness Map

https://goo.gl/maps/MFoPeXMzeZNDNEDc7

Sykes Hot Springs Campground Map 

https://www.ventanawild.org/plan-a-trip/sykes-camp-sykes-hot-springs

Geology Rocks! Gifts at my Zazzle Store. 

Click Here!

https://www.zazzle.com/store/gregvan/products?st=date_created&qs=Geology

Here are a Couple of Gems... from the 

Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour...

The History of America until 1968... Photos shown very fast... insightful... Especially because 1969 HAD NOT HAPPENED YET!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2XJA7IAGnY&t=10s

The World of 1968 - Thousands of photographs shown very fast... with the Iron Butterfly Drum Solo... another American Time Capsule... Remember that 1968 was a Horrible Year... The Assassination of MLK & RFK Riots in Every City - Chicago Democratic Convention... but also... Rowan & Martin Laugh In TV Show! and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with The Beatles...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_PBG8Pn0tw

and Just for Fun...

"I Need a Miracle Every Day" Performed on New Years Eve 1978 by the Grateful Dead... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oCDZluiweY

and then Liz Merry Posted on FaceBorg:

I am reposting this from a friend's wall. A mutual friend of ours is in the hospital and may not make it. I also just learned my editor at the Red Bluff Daily News passed away suddenly. You just never know, folks. We have done NONE of this, but we need to in the event we go together.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO GET YOUR AFFAIRS IN ORDER!!

Make sure all bank accounts have direct beneficiaries. The beneficiary need only go to the bank with your death certificate and an ID of their own.

TOD = Transfer On Death house deed if you own a home. Completing this document and filing it with your county saves your heirs THOUSANDS. This document allows you to transfer ownership of your home to your designee. All they need to do is take their ID and your death certificate to the county building and the deed is signed over. Doing this will avoid the home having to go through probate.

TOD = also Transfer on Death your auto title(s). You can do that too. All these things will help your heirs avoid the probate process!

Living Will: Allows one to put in writing EXACTLY what you want done in the event you cannot speak for yourself when it comes to healthcare decisions as well as other final decisions.

Durable Power of Attorney: Allows one to designate a person to make legal decisions if one is no longer competent to do so.

Power of Attorney for Healthcare: This document allows one to designate someone to make healthcare decisions for their person.

Last Will and Testament: Designates to whom personal belongings will go too.

Funeral Planning Declaration: allows one to say exactly one’s wishes as far as disposition of the body and the services.

If the above documents are done, you can AVOID probate. If all the above is not done, you have to open an estate account at the bank. All money that doesn’t have direct beneficiaries goes into this account. You have to have an attorney to open the estate account. The attorney also has to publicize your passing in the newspaper or post publication at the county courthouse, to allow anyone to make a claim on your property. - It’s a complete PAIN.

Make a list of all banks and account numbers, all investment institutions with account numbers, lists of credit cards, utility accounts, etc. Leave clear instructions as to how and when these things are paid.

Make sure your heirs knows where life insurance policies are located.

Make 100% sure SOMEONE knows your Apple ID, bank ID account logins and all passwords! A password keeper will streamline that - only one password needed to access all accounts.

Make sure you have titles for all vehicles, campers, etc in the SAME PLACE.

Set up a trust for intended beneficiaries that are too young, and appoint a trustee of said trust.

MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!! - Talk with those closest to you and make all your wishes KNOWN. Talk to those whom you’ve designated, as well as those close to you whom you did not designate. Do this to explain why your decisions were made and to avoid any lingering questions or hurt feelings.

Hope this helps! I also hope this lights a spark to encourage all your friends and family to take care of these things to make it easier for those we all leave behind!

Do it! Start an important conversation with your loved ones.

(REPOST)

and I replied:

This is a useful post... I've done almost all of these but... I need to document all my passwords, usernames... ON a Piece of Paper... One really cool thing I've done is My Royalties from my Zazzle Store are Automatically Deposited into the Bank... So I'll be earning a Profit after I'm Dead... and My Heirs Will Get the Money!

Bob Emerson Posted:

MISSION SAN JOSE.

Mission San Jose was founded on June 11, 1797, by Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen on a site which was part of a natural highway by way of the Livermore Valley to the San Joaquin Valley.

It is the fourteenth of the 21 Spanish Missions in Alta California. They were founded to secure Spain's claim to this land and to teach the native people Christianity and the Spanish way of life.

A fully developed mission was a self-sustaining village. It was occupied by local natives, a few soldiers, several artisans with families, and one or two priests. According to Spanish law, the mission's lands and resources belonged to the natives and would be put in their control when they had learned to manage themselves in the Spanish way. The Ohlones lived close to the land in harmony with nature, taking what they needed for their sustenance but never wasting irreplaceable resources. Their food included seeds, roots, berries, acorn meal, small game, and seafood.

Three years after the founding of Mission San Jose, several hundred Ohlones had come to live at the Mission. They were introduced to a new way of life by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries. Thousands of cattle roamed the mission ranges. Acres of wheat and other crops were planted and harvested under the direction of the Padres.

The original mission complex consisted of over 100 adobe buildings. Restoration efforts by the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West in 1915 and 1950 saved the surviving portion of the mission wing and converted it into a museum set in gracious surroundings of flowers and palm trees.

In 1956, the town of Mission San Jose incorporated with four others to become the City of Fremont. Plans to reconstruct the church of Mission San Jose were launched in 1973. The Victorian Rectory was relocated to nearby Anza Street and the Gothic wooden church was moved to San Mateo where it has been restored as a house of worship by an Anglican church group.

Though the pueblo (city) of San Jose was founded 13 miles south near the Guadalupe River, the only connection between the pueblo and the Old Mission is that both were named in honor of St. Joseph.

and on Tribel RD Said:

I'm So proud to be on the side of an American hero like Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and not on the side of a creepy disgusting racist criminal like Stephen Miller who is an architect of the MAGA crimes against humanity plot that ripped brown children out of the arms of their parents.

It’s amazing to see people telling the fascist Republican cult to go fuck themselves, but it should also be a crime to purposely make people stand in line for over 2 hours to vote as a ploy to suppress voters.

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Please Visit my Latest Website: 

OUTLAW GUNS, COLLECT GUNS, MELT GUNS http://gvan42.bravesites.com/

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

One thing Dad told me was: “Scots Wah Hey, We Wallace Bled.” In English: We are Scots. Men of William Wallace. Like in the Movie Braveheart with Mel Gibson...

He also bought me a book: “Born Fighting” by Jim Webb about the history of the Scots/Irish in America. Remember the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd? That’s our people!

In the 1990’s I often drove around with my Dad. One time we were cruising down Vista Ave near our home and he said “At least I raised you right, that man’s son became a “Merry Prankster”…and he pointed to a neighbor’s house. I have forgotten who the boy was but I’m sure he was older than me… more like my big brother’s age. And definitely NOT Neal Cassady. He lived in a Different part of Los Gatos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Cassady

I was living in Willow Glen at that time and Working at Radio Shack and he would often come over an we would get a cup of coffee and sit on a sunshiny bus stop and “solve the problems of the world”. He often wrote letters to the editor and they usually got published in the San Jose Mercury News. One letter recommended putting a stop light on Almaden Expressway at a dangerous intersection and soon the city installed one there. Saved some lives…

My mom’s family lived in “The Heart of the Willows” and I remember going to Christmas Parties there. My uncle made apricot white lightning and I would eat an apricot, get drunk and then dance with my cousin. The adults thought it was funny to have small children experience sexual desire before puberty… HA HA! The way he made the liquor was to fill a mason jar with pitted apricots and rock candy (sugar) then pour in vodka. Set that jar on a shelf for a year and the liquid was nearly 100% alcohol.

He also went to a bar named “Chick Letty’s” during prohibition. Willow Glen was an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County just outside the border of San Jose. The laws were not enthusiastically enforced in the County… Decades later I went to the same bar and purchased illegal marijuana in the parking lot. SO, nothing has really changed… He bought illegal booze and I bought illegal reefer…

Mom’s grade school has been recycled as a Senior Center and Dad went there to participate in their bus trips to Eureka. It was a voyage to the Bear River Casino in Lolita but he just used it as a handy way to travel to see me.

One time when he visited we went on The Hammond Trail in McKinleyville to look at the Mouth of the Mad River. It is visible from a park bench there. We had a long and meaningful talk about Mom. I’m really glad that I got sober and became my Dad’s friend in the last years of his life. I was drinking heavily when Mom died and missed that event. OOPS! Mom worked as a secretary in Fisher Junior High School Library in Los Gatos and Lexington Elementary School. The kids loved and respected her. Dad proposed marriage to mom on the top of the hill behind the Novitiate in Los Gatos. There is a trail that goes to Lexington Reservoir and from the top you can see all of Santa Clara Valley. (Filled with apricot trees).

I did experience Aunt Alberta’s last years. Dad bought a Television at my Radio Shack store and we drove over to her house and installed it in her bedroom. She had a TV in the living room but when she became beridden she spent her entire time in the bedroom. I remember tht I wanted to explain to my Cousin Dianne how to use the remote control but she said hat it didn’t matter because Aunt Alberta couldn’t tell one station from another. She was taking morphine at that time but hated it. Too much nausea…

Grandpa Malek worked as a carpenter (general contractor). He would build entire houses. Mom’s family would live in the houses while they were being built and then move on to the next house when grandpa sold it. Our family house on Hedding Street in San Jose was built by grandpa. We had to move because it was under the flight path for airplanes to the San Jose Airport and the entire neighborhood became uninhabitable when JET airplanes were invented. We moved to Los Gatos and the house was put onto a truck and moved to Almaden. The house was valuable enough to justify moving it instead of simply tearing it down. Grandpa became a carpenter right after the 1906 earthquake. He was living in Oregon when the call went out for all able bodied men to go work rebuilding the city of San Francisco. He also built a house on “The 17 Mile Drive” a neighborhood of palatial mansions in Carmel. Mom, Dad and Grandpa built a Redwood Deck on the back of our house in Los Gatos in 1960. The deck is still there today. https://www.pebblebeach.com/17-mile-drive/

Grandpa Vanderlaan worked as a minister. During the 1930’s the people that attended his Church had NO MONEY to put in the collection plate. Ministers feed their families with the money from the collection plate. Grandma, dad and uncle Marc went camping on the Trinity River because there was good fishing, hunting and NO RENT. Dad and Uncle Marc were very good at fishing and hunting during the 1930’s because that was a major source of food. During the great Depression Grandpa came to the realization that God did not exist. So he quit his job with the Church and became a math teacher. He also was a founding member of the Humanist Society. It’s an alternative to Christianity. My dad was an atheist until the day he died. My brother became a Unitarian and I became an Acid Head. Grandpa Vanderlaan wrote a book about Religion… I tried to read it a couple of times but got bored in the early chapters and never finished it.

We went to Christmas parties at Dorothy and Leland Lea’s home in the hills behind Oakland. My cousin Gary and I would play guitars and sing. Gary also played the family piano and the drums in a rock band of his friends from high school. Leland had a huge collection of tiny liquor bottles. The size they give you on an airplane… Surprisingly, after Leland passed away Gary sold the collection to someone on the internet. Before he shipped them to the customer he emptied all the bottles and poured the booze down the sink. It’s illegal to ship liquor across state lines but empty bottler are Legal…

Gary Lea taught me about the Visual Mantra he used to quit smoking tobacco. Whenever you had an urge to smoke, think of the O’Neil Surf Shop Logo and remember that if you don’t smoke you will have a longer life and more opportunities to go surfing… Good Idea!

We went to Sacramento on Thanksgiving to Uncle Marc and Aunt Peg’s home. They had two daughters, Robin and Jill. Uncle Marc became a criminal defense attorney in Sacramento and Aunt Peg was a Social Worker. Jill became a lawyer and moved to Seattle and Robin went to work at Uncle Marc’s Law office. One time a client of Aunt Pegs did a Bank Robbery and was holding hostages. The police called her and said that the only person he felt comfortable talking to was his social worker… She negotiate the release of the hostages.

Martin’s wife Patti took me to my first AA meeting at Lake Tahoe. Thanks! It allowed me to live a lot longer.

I remember going to Martin and Adrienne’s wedding on a Boat in Long Beach Harbor. We wore funny hats (Yarmulke) and I danced holding up a chair the she sat on.

I remember going to Nicole’s Wedding in Laguna Beach. Again, funny hats! No chair dance that I remember… It was at a really elegant Golf Course and we had a lot of regular dancing… We met Brodie’s Family for the first time. Martin bought us a Hotel Room at the fancy Hotel… it was where Hollywood Film Stars wen to party in the era of Charlie Chaplin. Big Fun! I also got to go to an Anti Iraq War protest march at the Beach. Every year we had protest marches in Eureka and I was afraid that I’d miss out if I went to Laguna Beach… But the people there hated the Iraq War Also!

Read more of my autobiography at: http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2017/07/17/how-bubble-up-economics-works-give-all-working-people-a-raise-and-we-will-spend-it-in-american-businesses/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/06/compulsive-hoarding-of-money-disorder-leads-to-global-economic-collapse/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/06/we-can-no-longer-afford-to-have-a-government-that-behaves-like-mindless-vegetables/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/06/no-nukes-stop-vogtle-georgia-usa-they-are-building-a-fukushima-chernobyl-tmi/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/all-earth-beings-are-being-called-upon-arise-violet-overgrow-is-calling-you/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/green-forest-brand-toilet-paper-is-an-alternative-to-koch-brothers-products-100-recycled/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/please-post-liberal-concepts-to-conservative-social-networks-to-help-educate-the-brainwashed/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/try-the-scientific-method-observe-reality-collect-facts-analyse-the-data-draw-conclusions-its-the-opposite-of-the-republicrime-method/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/the-day-the-power-went-out-speculative-fiction-in-the-what-if-genre-note-this-was-written-by-hand-in-pen-on-paper/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/comparative-religions-so-many-different-gods-many-loudly-proclaiming-that-they-are-the-one-true-god-absurd/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/im-in-favor-of-genetic-engineering-of-humans-lets-design-better-people-smarter-would-be-great/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/one-thing-dad-told-me-was-scots-wah-hey-we-wallace-bled-in-english-we-are-scots-men-of-william-wallace-braveheart-mel-gibson/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/i-accepted-jesus-as-my-personal-savior-in-1976-if-christianity-turns-out-to-be-the-correct-religion-im-saved-but-im-betting-on-thor-valhalla-i-am-coming/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/feeling-patriotic-eat-some-sweet-and-sour-pork-with-soy-sauce-have-an-almond-american-farmers-are-getting-royally-fcked-by-trump-tariffs/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/unemployment-rate-increases-due-to-trumps-trade-war-tariffs-cause-layoffs-harm-to-american-salmon-fishermen-soybean-farmers/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/tower-of-jewels-plant-eichium/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/psychedelic-art-for-sale-cosmic-buttons-posters-coffee-cups-postcards-and-stickers-my-zazzle-webstore-gregvan/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/my-autobiography-growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in-the-60s-by-gregory-vanderlaan-chico-santa-clara-washington-dc-eureka-orangevale/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/rainbow-gathering-photos-and-mystory-california-2004/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/chant-hey-hey-nra-how-many-kids-did-you-kill-today-nra-chief-calls-for-more-guns-at-school-arming-teachers-well-that-wouldnt-have-done-anything-to-prevent-the-las-vegas-mass-murder/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/murals-on-the-freeway-overpass-in-chico-california-bidwell-park-by-gregg-payne/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/its-a-global-dump-trump-movement-vote-against-allrepublicrimes-in-2018-then-impeach-trump/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/03/02/i-have-experienced-cannabis-psychosis-i-saw-things-that-were-not-there-but-i-believed-that-they-really-existed/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/07/03/speechless-epa-boss-scott-pruitt-is-accosted-in-a-dc-restaurant-by-a-mom-cradling-her-young-son-who-accuses-him-of-ruining-the-environment/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/07/04/its-a-great-idea-to-confront-trump-administration-employees-in-public-they-are-evil-and-should-be-reminded-that-we-know-who-they-are/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/07/04/legalize-medicinal-psychedelics-great-book-how-to-change-your-mind-what-the-new-science-of-psychedelics-teaches-us-about-consciousness-dying-addiction-depression-and-transcendence/

https://gregvan.wordpress.com/2018/07/04/magic-mushroom-visions-original-potatoshop-creations-by-purple64ets-legalize-medicinal-psychedelics-let-doctors-and-patients-decide-for-themselves/?unapproved=3149&moderation-hash=1a77d65335c5ee2fcc888cab3578dc80

Family History: Aunt Alberta, Dian, Grandpa Malek and Vanderlaan, Dorothy and Leland Lea and Gary.

I remember Aunt Alberta's last years. Dad bought a Television at my Radio Shack store and we drove over to her house and installed it in her bedroom. She had a TV in the living room but when she became bedridden she spent her entire time in the bedroom. I remember that I wanted to explain to my Cousin Dian how to use the remote control but she said that it didn't matter because Aunt Alberta couldn't tell one station from another. She was taking morphine at that time but hated it. Too much nausea... After she passed away we all went to the Funeral at Oak Hill Cemetary. I Found out that she had a Hobby of Sewing Clothes for Barbie Dolls.

Grandpa Malek worked as a carpenter (general contractor). He would build entire houses. Mom's family would live in the houses while they were being built and then move on to the next house when grandpa sold it. Our family house on Hedding Street in San Jose was built by grandpa. We had to move because it was under the flight path for airplanes to the San Jose Airport and the entire neighborhood became uninhabitable when JET airplanes were started landing in San Jose. We moved to Los Gatos and the house was put onto a truck and moved to Almaden. The house was valuable enough to justify moving it instead of simply tearing it down. Grandpa became a carpenter right after the 1906 earthquake. He was living in Oregon when the call went out for all able bodied men to go work rebuilding the city of San Francisco. He also built a house on "The 17 Mile Drive" a neighborhood of palatial mansions in Carmel. Mom, Dad and Grandpa built a Redwood Deck on the back of our house in Los Gatos in 1960. The deck was still standing when we sold the house.

Grandpa Vanderlaan worked as a minister. During the 1930's the people that attended his Church had NO MONEY to put in the collection plate. Ministers feed their families with the money from the collection plate. Grandma, dad and uncle Marc went camping on the Trinity River because there was good fishing, hunting and NO RENT. Dad and Uncle Marc were very good at fishing and hunting during the 1930's because that was a major source of food. During the great Depression Grandpa came to the realization that God did not exist. So he quit his job with the Church and became a math teacher. He also was a founding member of the Humanist Society. It's an alternative to Christianity. My dad was an atheist until the day he died. My brother became a Unitarian and I just didn't care that much. Grandpa Vanderlaan wrote a book about Religion... I tried to read it a couple of times but got bored in the early chapters and never finished it. "Protestant Modernism in Holland"

We went to Christmas parties at Dorothy and Leland Lea's home in the hills behind Oakland. My cousin Gary and I would play guitars and sing. Gary also played the family piano and the drums in a rock band of his friends from high school. Leland had a huge collection of tiny liquor bottles. The size they give you on an airplane... Surprisingly, after Leland passed away Gary sold the collection to someone on the internet. Before he shipped them to the customer he emptied all the bottles and poured the booze down the sink. It's illegal to ship liquor across state lines but empty bottler are Legal... Leland also made a big deal out of serving beef tongue... To me it was a rather standard meat but he enjoyed serving it to squeamish relatives...

Gary Lea taught me about the Visual Mantra he used to quit smoking tobacco. Whenever you had an urge to smoke, think of the O'Neil's Surf Shop Logo and remember that if you don't smoke you will have a longer life and more opportunities to go surfing... Good Idea!

My mom's family lived in "The Heart of the Willows" and I remember going to Christmas Parties there. My uncle made apricot white lightning and I would eat an apricot, get drunk and then dance with my cousin. The adults thought it was funny to have small children experience sexual desire before puberty... HA HA! The way he made the liquor was to fill a mason jar with pitted apricots and rock candy (sugar) then pour in vodka. Set that jar on a shelf for a year and the liquid was nearly 100% alcohol.

He also went to a bar named "Chick Letty's" during prohibition. Willow Glen was an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County just outside the border of San Jose. The laws were not enthusiastically enforced in the County... Decades later I went to the same bar and purchased illegal marijuana in the parking lot. SO, nothing has really changed... He bought illegal booze and I bought illegal reefer...

Mom's grade school has been recycled as a Senior Center and Dad went there to participate in their bus trips to Eureka. It was a voyage to the Bear River Casino in Lolita but he just used it as a handy way to travel to see me.

and My Autobiography goes on and on and on...

Read More: https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html

One thing Dad told me was: "Scots Wah Hey, We Wallace Bled." In English: We are Scots. Men of William Wallace. (Braveheart-Mel Gibson)

He also bought me a book: "Born Fighting" by Jim Webb about the history of the Scots/Irish in America. Remember the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd? That's our people!

Toy Fire Truck in Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos, California...  My Wife and I...

In the 1990's I often drove around with my Dad. One time we were cruising down Vista Ave near our home and he said "At least I raised you right, that man's son became a "Merry Prankster"...and he pointed to a neighbor's house. I have forgotten who the boy was but I'm sure he was older than me... more like my big brother's age. And definitely NOT Neal Cassady. He lived in a Different part of Los Gatos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Cassady

I was living in Willow Glen at that time and Working at Radio Shack and he would often come over an we would get a cup of coffee and sit on a sunshiny bus stop and "solve the problems of the world". He often wrote letters to the editor and they usually got published in the San Jose Mercury News. One letter recommended putting a stop light on Almaden Expressway at a dangerous intersection and soon the city installed one there. Saved some lives...

Copies of the Famous Sculptures of THE CATS
in LOS GATOS, California

My mom's family lived in "The Heart of the Willows" and I remember going to Christmas Parties there. My uncle made apricot white lightning and I would eat an apricot, get drunk and then dance with my cousin. The adults thought it was funny to have small children experience sexual desire before puberty... HA HA! The way he made the liquor was to fill a mason jar with pitted apricots and rock candy (sugar) then pour in vodka. Set that jar on a shelf for a year and the liquid was nearly 100% alcohol.

He also went to a bar named "Chick Letty's" during prohibition. Willow Glen was an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County just outside the border of San Jose. The laws were not enthusiastically enforced in the County... Decades later I went to the same bar and purchased illegal marijuana in the parking lot. SO, nothing has really changed... He bought illegal booze and I bought illegal reefer...

Mom's grade school has been recycled as a Senior Center and Dad went there to participate in their bus trips to Eureka. It was a voyage to the Bear River Casino in Lolita but he just used it as a handy way to travel to see me.

One time when he visited we went on The Hammond Trail in McKinleyville to look at the Mouth of the Mad River. It is visible from a park bench there. We had a long and meaningful talk about Mom. I'm really glad that I got sober and became my Dad's friend in the last years of his life. I was drinking heavily when Mom died and missed that event. OOPS! Mom worked as a secretary in Fisher Junior High School Library in Los Gatos and Lexington Elementary School. The kids loved and respected her. Dad proposed marriage to mom on the top of the hill behind the Novitiate in Los Gatos. There is a trail that goes to Lexington Reservoir and from the top you can see all of Santa Clara Valley. (Filled with apricot trees).

I did experience Aunt Alberta's last years. Dad bought a Television at my Radio Shack store and we drove over to her house and installed it in her bedroom. She had a TV in the living room but when she became bedridden she spent her entire time in the bedroom. I remember that I wanted to explain to my Cousin Dian how to use the remote control but she said hat it didn't matter because Aunt Alberta couldn't tell one station from another. She was taking morphine at that time but hated it. Too much nausea...

Grandpa Malek worked as a carpenter (general contractor). He would build entire houses. Mom's family would live in the houses while they were being built and then move on to the next house when grandpa sold it. Our family house on Hedding Street in San Jose was built by grandpa. We had to move because it was under the flight path for airplanes to the San Jose Airport and the entire neighborhood became uninhabitable when JET airplanes were invented. We moved to Los Gatos and the house was put onto a truck and moved to Almaden. The house was valuable enough to justify moving it instead of simply tearing it down. Grandpa became a carpenter right after the 1906 earthquake. He was living in Oregon when the call went out for all able bodied men to go work rebuilding the city of San Francisco. He also built a house on "The 17 Mile Drive" a neighborhood of palatial mansions in Carmel. Mom, Dad and Grandpa built a Redwood Deck on the back of our house in Los Gatos in 1960. The deck is still there today. https://www.pebblebeach.com/17-mile-drive/

Grandpa Vanderlaan worked as a minister. During the 1930's the people that attended his Church had NO MONEY to put in the collection plate. Ministers feed their families with the money from the collection plate. Grandma, dad and uncle Marc went camping on the Trinity River because there was good fishing, hunting and NO RENT. Dad and Uncle Marc were very good at fishing and hunting during the 1930's because that was a major source of food. During the great Depression Grandpa came to the realization that God did not exist. So he quit his job with the Church and became a math teacher. He also was a founding member of the Humanist Society. It's an alternative to Christianity. My dad was an atheist until the day he died. My brother became a Unitarian and I became an Acid Head. Grandpa Vanderlaan wrote a book about Religion... I tried to read it a couple of times but got bored in the early chapters and never finished it.

We went to Christmas parties at Dorothy and Leland Lea's home in the hills behind Oakland. My cousin Gary and I would play guitars and sing. Gary also played the family piano and the drums in a rock band of his friends from high school. Leland had a huge collection of tiny liquor bottles. The size they give you on an airplane... Surprisingly, after Leland passed away Gary sold the collection to someone on the internet. Before he shipped them to the customer he emptied all the bottles and poured the booze down the sink. It's illegal to ship liquor across state lines but empty bottler are Legal...

Gary Lea taught me about the Visual Mantra he used to quit smoking tobacco. Whenever you had an urge to smoke, think of the O'Neil Surf Shop Logo and remember that if you don't smoke you will have a longer life and more opportunities to go surfing... Good Idea!

We went to Sacramento on Thanksgiving to Uncle Marc and Aunt Peg's home. They had two daughters, Robin and Jill. Uncle Marc became a criminal defense attorney in Sacramento and Aunt Peg was a Social Worker. Jill became a lawyer and moved to Seattle and Robin went to work at Uncle Marc's Law office. One time a client of Aunt Pegs did a Bank Robbery and was holding hostages. The police called her and said that the only person he felt comfortable talking to was his social worker... She negotiate the release of the hostages.

Martin's wife Patti took me to my first AA meeting at Lake Tahoe. Thanks! It allowed me to live a lot longer.

I remember going to Martin and Adrienne's wedding on a Boat in Long Beach Harbor. We wore funny hats (Yarmulke) and I danced holding up a chair the she sat on.

I remember going to Nicole's Wedding in Laguna Beach. No chair dance that I remember... It was at a really elegant Golf Course and we had a lot of regular dancing... We met Brodie's Family for the first time. Martin bought us a Hotel Room at the fancy Hotel... it was where Hollywood Film Stars wen to party in the era of Charlie Chaplin. Big Fun! I also got to go to an Anti Iraq War protest march at the Beach. Every year we had protest marches in Eureka and I was afraid that I'd miss out if I went to Laguna Beach... But the people there hated the Iraq War Also!

Anti-Iraq War Protest in Laguna Beach, California

Gregory Vanderlaan and a Sculpture of the Laguna Beach Greeter

Read more of my autobiography at: http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html 


Link to ALL My Trippy Hippie ART for Sale at My Webstore.
https://www.zazzle.com/store/gregvan/products?qs=Trippy

End Iraq War Peace Sign Button
by gregvan

Trump's Border Wall is DOOMED TO FAIL. It's 260 Years Too Late. Mexicans "Invaded" California in 1760... They Founded the Town of Saint Douglas (San Diego)... Then they Founded the City of the Angels (Los Angeles)... San Francisco, San Jose, San Juan Boutista, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz,The Colorful State (Colorado), The Flowery State (Florida) and the Snowy State (Nevada)...

Trump's Border Wall is also DOOMED because people FLY over it in Airplanes, Sail Around it in Boats and Drive Thru at Checkpoints using Fake ID... What's to prevent a person from Mailing a California Driver License to Tijuana? Then a Person that LOOKS SIMILAR presents it at the Crossing at San Ysidro... A Walls won't prevent Identity Fraud... Remember this: The Great Wall of China FAILED to Keep the Chinese Out... There are Chinese on BOTH SIDES of that wall. 

How do you build a wall on a RIVER? The Great River (Rio Grande) divides the State of TEJAS (Texas) from Mexico... 

The OTHER MAIN FLAW with Trump's Border Wall is that Latino People are Not That Scary. I was born in the City of Saint Joseph (San Jose) and about half the people are Hispanic... For example: My Hero in Junior High School was an Elegant Man Named Isidro M... He was the Basketball Coach... On my Facebook Group of Alumni from The Cats High School (Los Gatos) everyone agreed that he was a LOVED and RESPECTED Teacher... 

Why would you want to build a wall between the USA and Mexico when Mexicans are nice people? Perhaps Trump was Mugged by Puerto Ricans when he was a Child in Queens? Maybe THAT's why he has so much hatred... I remember the Musical "West Side Story" was about rival Street Gangs... One made up of Polish Kids and the Other was Puerto Rican... A famous song was "Maria" and then they Named a Hurricane "Maria" that wiped out the Island Of Puerto Rico... Trump's FEMA Failed Badly to repair Puerto Rico...  

One of the Secrets to the Success of Silicon Valley was that corporate leaders hired smart people from all over the world move to San Jose to work in Computers... My Next Door neighbor was from Nicaragua... Who knew that there were Computer Scientists in Nicaragua? IBM did... We also knew a Nazi who came to NASA after WW2...  When I went to work at System Industries in Santa Clara most of the employees were Asian or Hispanic... I had a LOT of Respect for my direct supervisor who was a Harley Davidson Riding Martial Artist... I certainly did what he told me to do... I was afraid of him because he could beat me up... but he never had to because I simply Honored His Wisdom...