Genealogy Research is Hard Work...Need Chocolate?

Need Chocolate?

Two things have come to mind over and over this week as I have been working diligently on my Family History Notebook in anticipation of our upcoming annual trip to Salt Lake City and the Family History Library.


One is that I always seem to crave something good to eat late at night when I am working away, not just anything... but, chocolate! Chocolate anything is great; candy, hot cocoa, chocolate cold ovaltine, chocolate milkshakes, dark Dove chocolate and Brownies. Those late night hours of 1 am to 3 am just keep on demanding chocolate.


Hunting the frig or the cupboard for something tasty to  replenish the lost brain power of organizing all those ancestors sometimes is so challenging. It even adds to the drained brain power when I have to look so hard for that chocolate around here. (Reminder to me: next year to stock up on chocolate Easter bunnies! No children around here any more so no Easter baskets to raid either.) Too bad they don't make chocolate flavored doggie treats or Babe and Misty would be looking the house over for their devoured treats too. 


The second thing which has been around this week and showing up repeatedly was the advertising which shows chocolate "stuff". Was that also due to Easter or did they all just know that I am easily drawn in by them? Everybody has been in the act. Yesterday I received my newsletter from the Custer County Historical Society in Broken Bow, Nebraska. They have a really nice little newsletter which includes the happenings with the society and the museum there. The editor included the minutes from the last meeting which were interesting on their own but at the end of nearly every paragraph of the minutes were these words: passed around a heaping plateful of homemade chocolate chip cookies, started the chocolate chip cookies around again, cookies were passed around again.  Well, OK, not all the way around this time, cleaned up the last of the cookie crumbs and we adjourned at 9:07. I must ask you all, how does one concentrate on the finer points of the newsletter when they are passing the plate of cookies around all the time and you are not there to get one? I must confess that their newsletter is a joy to read and a welcome break from the usual mundane society meeting minutes. Maybe all societies could operate more efficiently and with less conflicts within if they all served cookies or candy at their monthly meetings!


Genealogy research is hard work most of the time and taxes the brain so give yourself a break occasionally. Even if you only indulge by eating just one chocolate chip. You will get your "chocolate fix" and probably will have had to get up and move around just to find the little treasures. The energy exerted to walk into the kitchen will more than make up for that one little chip and your bones and joints will be stretched, ready for more work time. Don't mess up the plan by stashing a bowl of chips or M&M's near the computer.  Remember too that your ancestors aren't there to see you and everyone else in the house is probably sleeping in the early am hours so you can even have two chocolate chips if you want to!


One of my favorite scrap booking sites, Scrap Girls, has even been in the act this week of luring me in with chocolate. Their daily newsletter has been featuring very cute and free brownie recipe cards all week. If you love to scrapbook your family and ancestors, check out the Scrap Girls newsletter here and you can sign up. They also have cute FREE daily digital scrapbook items if you get the newsletter.


When the You Go Genealogy Girls head out for Salt Lake in May, my bag will also include this little recipe for an easy nightly chocolate fix while in the room. Fresh and hot! It is so nice that we have a small frig and microwave at the Plaza Hotel. ( Note to girl #1--bring your own treats, I don't share brownies!!!) 


This is taken from the Scrap Girls site this week with a little tweek from me. These are like those expensive little designer microwave brownies in the grocery store but cost much less.

Hot Brownie in a Mug

Microwavable ceramic coffee mug or ramekin

2 T. vegetable oil

2 T. water

1/4 tsp. vanilla

dash of salt (optional)

2 T. cocoa powder

4 T. granulated sugar

4 T. flour

Whisk water, oil and vanilla. Add cocoa and whisk. Add sugar and then flour mixing well each time. Microwave for approx. 90 seconds for a 1000 watt microwave. Center should be slightly molten , just to set. Remember it will continue to "cook" slightly when removed from microwave oven so do not overcook. (I use my overcooked first one as a paperweight on my desk so maybe that is why I crave chocolate all the time).

For fun if you are near the regular oven, plop a few mini marshmallows on under the broiler for a few seconds after you microwave or add a dollop of ice cream and caramel with pecans on top. Three white chocolate chips will melt nicely on top after you microwave the treat, just in case you want more calories.

Next time you crave a late night chocolate treat, try one! Just be sure to lay in a supply of ingredients ahead of time. Two o'clock in the morning is only for you and your ancestors, a time to reflect and yes, even to indulge a little. Happy researching!


You Go Genealogy Girl #2- Cheri

Kansas City Family History Expo-A Blast!

I can't believe it has been nearly two weeks since the awesome Family History Expo in Kansas City and they are already gearing up for the next one in Salt Lake City! Son, Jason , accompanied me to KC and attended the Expo with me. (I actually "invited him" to be my chauffeur). He was in for a surprise when he arrived at the Family History Expo as he expected a small conference and a few meetings! As usual, Holly and her group put on an exceptional Expo and we both had a wonderful time there. The class offerings were excellent and Jason who is a History major was more than pleased with what he learned. We also met some really great new friends from the world of genealogy, one of whom was Thomas MacEntee of Genea-Bloggers fame.

Thomas hosted several lectures which centered around the use of social networking sites to aid the genealogist. I attended his fine presentation on Facebook and went away with several new things to try out and some great tips on how to properly use Facebook: making it work for us as genealogists and how to "safely" set up a new account. I use Facebook daily but gleaned many tips for its productive use that I had never considered before. Thomas also presented a class on Social Networking: "New Horizons For Genealogists" and another on Twitter: It's Not Just "What I Had For Breakfast" Anymore. It was great to finally meet Mr. MacEntee! He welcomed us warmly to the Bloggers of Honor area and even passed out some of his famous badge ribbons to add to our name badges. Along with his Genea-Bloggers ribbon, I now proudly sport one that names me as QUEEN. (You Go Genealogy Girl #1 has one from the Loveland Co., Expo that says she is a DIVA...) Surely the Queen must rule!!!

Everyone there was super nice but Thomas made my son and I feel welcome right away! Thanks to him for adding to our fun Expo experience.

Thomas MacEntee also has a new book out this week called "Approaching the Lectern: How To Become A Genealogy Speaker". It is available as an e-book, epub for the Kindle, and in printed form. For a nice review of his book, click here to see the article by Susan Peterson on her Long Lost Relatives blog. For more information you can check out either of Thomas MacEntee's sites: Destination: Austin Family or The Connected Genealogist. I have the printed form on order and am anxious to see it. I know it will have great information to aid us with our genealogy presentations!

Tomorrow I will share some other personalities from the Expo...

You Go Genealogy Girl #2, Cheri

Howdy From The World Of Camping!

Well, here I am, just making a pit stop at home to check on the dog who does not travel with us. I had to check in and see what was going on with Go Girl #1. She has been calling me with updates on the Colorado Family History Expo and bragging about what I am missing! Sounds like a great time for all. Even though I do wish I was there, I am having fun just relaxing with Hubby at the Lake and enjoying the outdoors. I am also getting some reading done which has fallen way behind until now, so all is not lost. We have had a great time cooking out, having an adult beverage and enjoying the cool evenings around the lake. Don't forget me, You Go Girl #2,--I will be back home before long and getting ready myself to attend the Family History Expo in Kansas City the end of July. All is not lost as I have the best of both worlds!

Hope everyone at the Colorado Expo is having a great time AND learning lots of new things with the genealogy world! I look forward to meeting all the great presenters and making some new friends too......

You Go Girl #2, Cheri

Researching In Style

This last month has really been a busy one for both of us girls! We have been working each day, putting together our research notebooks, packing and re-packing, and planning our summer over the phone and through emails. At times it seems so mundane and ordinary but we work at keeping each other pumped up and motivated to get it all done. Girl #1 has also been getting Li'l Red all spruced up and ready to head west and she will do all the last minute road travel planning this week while Go Hubby and I make a short trip to Topeka, Kansas for our Granddaughter's graduation which I will share next week with everyone. We have about come to the end of our Salt Lake researching preparations and Girl #1 says she will need a bigger notebook if she keeps adding pages to hers. It is only a 4 inch size right now. Mine is also, but I have two! Trying to figure out what to take and what I can leave is just too hard--so I usually have to take it all. Last year I didn't use much of all the "stuff " that went in the extra notebook and I have been reminding myself that I vowed to leave some of the papers home this year. Who is that person that keeps whispering in my ear, saying "take it, take it"? Wishing I was a bit more organized with everything on my laptop but alas, I still live partially in the world of paper. At least if we get stranded in a freezing blizzard on the way to Salt Lake in late May, we can always live on our jar of peanut butter and jelly beans and then burn my paper "stuff " to keep warm- (yes, it is all duplicate copies so we are safe there.) We are almost good to go....

Last year we came up with the idea to mark the file cabinet drawers in the FHL with bright colored stick-em papers so we could find our way back to the right file drawer a bit easier and quicker. That worked fairly well but this year we will be going in style! All that a fore mentioned research and packing got me to thinking that I needed something fun to do for a break, so today I set out to make some fancy magnetic film drawer markers. Since we are taking all those wonderful little purses and all those beautiful shoes, we needed gorgeous magnets to match. My project got a bit out of hand before it was finished and they look more like party table favors than drawer magnets as they are sporting sunflowers, roses, oak leaves and feathers, but I guarantee these will be better than "a bread crumb trail" back to the file drawer. We can just gaze down the long aisle, spot our little fluorescent floral magnets, and run right down to the drawer. Anyone who has been to the library should appreciate how many hours of precious time this has the potential to save. Only trouble with that scenario is the fact that the two Grannies aren't very good at running any more, it would be just our luck to get our feet tangled up and go down in a heap and the FHL would probably ask us to leave for being unruly.The next day we would have to stay in bed and nurse the bumps and bruises which would negate all that saved time. These little beauties will save some time though and they will brighten up the drab film aisles at the least! Just the same, we are traveling AND researching in style.

Fill up your jelly bean dish, take time to relax and get ready to join us this Spring as we live the life of genealogy researching. We would love to have you come along on our journeys and we guarantee that you will have good time with us and maybe even learn something new and exciting along the way.

I Just Can't Help It!

Purses and shoes, purses and shoes...how many can one person manage to travel with? This will be the question that I may answer in the near future!

As many of you know the two Genealogy Girls are in the throws of planning and packing for Salt Lake. One would think that we are just so busy with that chore that it would be all consuming. Well, it kinda is for me, Girl #2...busy every day working on my notebook and planning, wishing I had more time to get that done and have some fun time. I know I work hard every day and nights too, but the end is so very far away. I've also been working on a power point lecture program for our local genealogy society meeting. Each day I call Girl #1 to ask questions and glean guidance and she always has time for me. We are truly kindred souls in many ways, one could not ask for a better partner in "crime". We travel, talk, laugh, cry, research, mourn, eat and think alike in so many ways--we are after all, sisters-in-law too!

So--- how is it that she has spare time to indulge in purses and shoes? This has become a joke with us about the shoes especially, and now we must add purses into the mix. I pack and travel with lots of stuff as has been noted here before, but purses? At first we shopped together for lots of gorgeous material, many with beautiful prints to showcase our love for genealogy. Plans were made to make a few little pouches to carry our new i-touch gadgets. Okay, I made some patterns, she made patterns and shared hers with me, we were off and running. However, I must say, I am so far back in the race that she will be over the finish line and I will still be trying to get over the first hurdle. I will be older and grayer before I get even six bags made. Girl #1 must have at least 30 small i-touch bags made and at least 8 or 10 of her side sling bags! She makes fun of me and my packing of "stuff" but by the time she packs an outfit to match each little purse, and shoes too, lest we forget those, we will need a bus instead of Li'l Red to head west in. She zooms through her research work each day and then emails to say that she has made another bag. Yesterday's email: "Guess what I am doing???? Yip, got the machines out again. I needed three more sling pouches and I am totally done, absolutely!! Remind me won't you???" Today is not over yet, I wonder how many she will make today?

The Girls will have to plan many, many more research trips just to use all those gorgeous little bags. Sure wish I could get some made, I am jealous and I also want to make all those future trips to cemeteries, libraries and conferences in style. I must really get in gear! I guarantee that WE will be the most fashionable gals in the cemetery, you won't miss us, that is for sure. Girl #1 will be the one with the pretty shoes too. She laments that she can't take them all when we travel. I suggested once that she just take one of each of six pair, that way she could showcase twelve different shoe collections. I got vetoed!

I sure do hope that when the "bus" is all packed, I can squeeze in a few books and my laptop. Can't wear those but I really do need 'em, maybe SHE will let me pack them in the box of purses. One last thought, if we run out of money while at the Family History Library, we can always dress up nice and stand out front hocking her wares for money to get home on. The items for sale: pretty and useful little purse bags and used shoes--surely everybody will need one or the other!
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P.S.
Believe it or not, the girls are not heading to Salt Lake until mid May and will stay for two fun weeks! It just takes us weeks of preparation to get out of town and heading west. Hope to meet all our "friends" someplace along the road of our ventures!

I had to laugh at the cute comment below by Carol--I wonder if Girl #1 has thought of that? Now we will have to pack 551 purses instead of the lowly count of about 40! Thanks Carol!

A million thank you's to Renate from "Into The Light" for recently giving us the Ancestor Approved award! Both of us "Grannies" are very appreciative. Click on over to her blog and check it out, it is very good, and take some time each day to read a great genealogy blog. There are hundreds to choose from with touching stories of family and history.


You Go Genealogy Girl #2-- Cheri

A Hodge Podge of This and That!

Last week I made the trip east to visit with YGGG#1 to spend some time after a long and cold winter. I had been trying to get there for over a month in between snow and ice storms. Finally, the great day time arrived and I got on the road quick! One short break in Ogallalla, Nebraska to check out my favorite store for Memorial Day flowers. They always have a great selection so I loaded the car with bunches of beautiful poppies and roses. When YGGG #1 and I get together in Mid May before our Salt Lake trip, we will spend 2 days decorating all our family graves in Box Butte county. We have nearly 30 to attend in three cemeteries. What a job- but what an honor!

My next stop was North Platte, Nebraska. Just in time for lunch and then..SHOPPING. Grannie one suggested we go right away to the quilt shop as she knew I had been waiting to get there. Somehow she blames me for all the shopping, but since I don't get to a good place to shop very often it is fun to go and besides she does not complain much. She follows (or maybe leads) and off we go. New material, new books, flowers, sewing notions, craft stuff, clothes, purses. Two old grannies sure can have fun and spend money. The only time genealogy comes in second is when we go into shopping mode for a few hours. My dog, Babee, who went along for the trip only managed to get into trouble a couple times while we shopped. New venetian blinds will be in order for YGGG one now. Hope the dog can get a job to pay for them!

We surely are starting to show our age though. What a nuisance..we had to stop and rest often, but only after several hours and many miles on foot. Grannie one propped up her new knee and I rested my back. I got a 2:30 boost of "5 hour energy", which wound me up and I was good to go again. We got out the research notebooks, hit the computer library catalog and were off and running until late night, every night for a week. The notebooks are now bursting with new ancestors and records to find at the FHL in May. Eleven at night came fast every evening and it was time to read a bit, before the "day" was gone and we had to start all over again. The monthly meeting of the North Platte genealogy society, watching WDYTYA on Friday night and The Generations Project on Monday, and even more shopping rounded out my stay in North Platte. Two old granny sisters-in-law sure can make work but we do have great fun!

Back home this week has brought more challenges to get all my research done for my notebook to take to the Libraries. YGGG #1 helped me to line up some areas to search, now I must get busy and peruse all the good websites for helpful clues before we leave to head west. Go Hubby isn't getting much for homemade meals these days either as I am just to darn busy! At least that is what I tell him. I have been trying to get him to write another story for my personal blog: Those Old Memories. It will save me time and besides, he gets better reviews (and comments) than I do! Will I ever get it all done in time? It's just get up and go to bed and the day is gone. Do any other genealogists or wives ever get caught up?

While organizing my research stuff, I have spent some more time on a great site for Swedish researching. I have been here before but thought some of you might like to check this one out if you are into Swedish research, especially within Skaraborgs Län and specifically around the
Falköping area. Annelie Jonsson has a really great site, Emigrant.se and she is very involved with GenealogyWise and the Swedish groups with helpful advise. Late night dates with several great state web sites have kept me occupied too. A nice cup of white hot chocolate and left over Valentine truffles have rounded out my "dream" dates. The clues of more names and places to follow up with have just been the wonderful bonuses!

A busy month ahead for sure. I will give a small program at our local genealogy society meeting in April on the use of the various census records. That will be fun but I must get the power point done soon so I can get back to my ancestors. Our oldest Granddaughter will graduate in May in Topeka, Kansas so Go Hubby and I will travel east for that event. We are anxious to see all 8 grandchildren and spend a couple precious days with family. Our son will leave his family at home in Kansas and come back to Alliance with us after graduation.YGGG, Ruby, will be here the next day. Son, Jason, is going to help the YGGG's do cemetery work early and see us off towards Salt Lake City on the 22nd of May. He will house and dog sit for me for the two and half weeks that the YGGGs will be in Salt Lake City. While Go Hubby is working, Jason will do some fix up things around here for us. He and his Dad will have a little time together to take a "bike" ride and do some gardening and house painting --all while I play at the Family History Library. Yea!

Finally a nice day today, spring may actually be heading our way. Wish I could play but alas must get back to work on my notebook. All of this and that keeps coming to mind. Dreaming of the future trip to Loveland, Colorado for the Family History Expo, where I have been and where I need to go. Next stops: websites for Tippah County, Mississippi and Carroll County, Tennessee. Those Hopkins and Henleys are waiting in the wings.

You Go Genealogy Girl #2- Cheri

The "i-Touch and Go" Genealogy Girls

Rain nor snow, broken knees nor dark of night will keep the You Go Genealogy Girls down for long. The cold and snowy winter set in to keep us couped up but it hasn't dampened the girls' love for shopping.

The YGGG have both purchased great little new toys just to lift our spirits and get us through the "cabin fever" days. The mighty little Apple iPod Touch has come to our rescue.

What an awesome little genealogy research tool the iTouch is. If you can imagine a use for this small handheld computer,there is probably an application for it. The iTouch works with both a Mac and a PC so anybody can use it. Genealogy software like Reunion and Family Viewer make it the ultimate portable research tool. In my case, I am a PC user so I will transfer all my family files from Legacy into Family Viewer but I also have installed Reunion so that I can now have the Reunion family files from Girl #1 who uses a Mac. When I visit her next week she will sync her files to my iTouch and for the first time I will have full access to all her files and especially the sources and pictures! For me it is a great and inexpensive way to access Mac/Reunion only files which do not fully transfer via the Gedcom. The You Go Genealogy Girls have been like kids in a candy store. Hours of shopping in the iTunes application store has been almost as fun as picking out all those tasty flavored jelly beans that we love so much. News, music, genealogy software, reference apps, book readers, Google Earth and many hundreds of other neat tools and apps are available to download. The genealogy apps cost a small fee but hundreds of others are totally free to download. Would you like a LED alarm clock, a flashlight, solitare game, soduku games? They offer that and much more. My personal favorite: a level. It is great, don't have clue what I will ever use it for but surely it will come in handy-sooner or later. Maybe we'll try it out on our Lit'l Red traveling car before we leave for Salt lake. After all, we wouldn't want her nose snooty and held too high in the air while dragging her rear due to all the books and "stuff" stored in her trunk. That handy little level might help to smooth out the load!

Even though we aren't ready to completely give up our travel laptops-just imagine the even greater possibilities that this little iTouch beauty offers. Quick pocket portability with full function internet. Best of all, it takes very little room in our research bag, thus it is worth it's weight in gold. Gold in the form of space so we can buy more genealogy and history books, souvenir t-shirts and pins, tree charts and jelly beans. Did I mention room for MORE books?

The girls are anxious to be on the road, now energized with our iTouch brain power. Life was already great but we can use all the help we can get!

Be on the lookout for our Lit'l Red car and us of course. We'll be the dangerous ones on the inside of Lit'l Red. A cell phone in one hand, the iTouch in the other, the seat filled with our laptops and visiting wildly with a mouthful of those sugary jelly beans. That just about leaves "one eye on the road", a spare finger for the wheel, and a foot for the gas pedal. Zoooooom and compute, that is us!

We invite you to join us for our ongoing saga....

Burnin' Up The Pavement !

It's finally here. Time for the Go Girls to get together again! This has been a long dry spell for the two of us, separated by 180 miles and only our computers for company. Go Girl #2 will leave early Wednesday morning for the three hour drive to North Platte, Nebraska. Here, the girls will meet up at Go Girl #1's house (uhmmmm, Grannie #1) for some serious genealogy time. This is Family History month and we have some great plans which include our monthly meeting of the North Platte Genealogy Society and it's open house to be held at the North Platte Public Library on Wednesday. We are looking forward to a fun evening with old friends and hopefully to make some new friends. The public has been invited to come for a tour of the Genealogy Center there and bring along any family history questions they may have. Our wonderful group of volunteers will be there for several hours to help newcomers learn about genealogy research. Several of us have designed great visual displays and research aids for the occasion. Looking forward to a fun time!

Thursday will be an equally full day for us. I have a full list of photos that I hope to get Girl #1 to share from her family files--just for starters! She is always generous in sharing her research with me. She shares old photos with me and I restore the badly damaged ones so we can both enjoy them. She has also promised a short lesson on advanced use of the "search" feature on Ancestry.com, that should be fun and maybe I will be able to get lots more found! We will snack, talk genealogy, snack some more, play on the computer, eat lunch, do some research, compare notes, discuss books and then eat supper. Our big routine as you can tell: eating and doing our genealogy, at least when we can stop laughing and being silly together long enough to actually accomplish other things. Girl #1 has asked for my help on a Christmas project she has in mind so we will also make time for a little crafting. It will be a nice break, but with a genealogy/family theme, we won't be far away from our true passion of research. Is there anything more exciting than that for two Grannies to do! A trip to the office supply store and visiting with my niece and great niece will round out the trip. It will be a fast trip of three days but we can cram a lot of precious work into that short time. It is so great to have a research partner and sister-in-law to have fun with. (She has a birthday next week too so I will have a small gift in tow, maybe it will be a surprise-new car,a trip, or new puppy?).

No sooner than when I get back home and Go Hubby and I will be having company here in Alliance. Can you guess who? You Go Genealogy Girl #1 will be headed to my house for this visit. We will then finish up all the projects that we do not manage to complete while I visit her house. While she is here with me, we will also make a jaunt to the cemetery to pay respects to our loved ones, visit her sister who lives in Gering, Nebraska in a nursing home, and hopefully even squeeze in a short trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming to do some research there. Winter is setting in, so the "Girls" are ending the season in style. Busy, Busy...and on the go as we surely do burn up the pavement whenever we get the chance!

You Go Girl #2, Cheri

I Survived Vacation and The Bears !

I arrived back home in Nebraska on Monday after 11 days of wilderness camping in the beautiful state of Wyoming. Bears? Well this year, there were none to be found around our camp. How lucky can I be? Maybe they just didn't like the smell of this granny genealogist!

Our vacation was awesome. The weather was mostly nice and sunny with a couple afternoon rain showers and about 75-80 degrees each day. It did get down to 30 one night in the high Medicine Bows, telling us that winter would soon show its face. YGGG #2 never left the camp site for the whole time except for our daily wildlife drives and exploring of the countryside. My time was spent preparing food, cooking, feeding the campfire or reading. For some unknown reason, I did not get in as much reading and study as I had hoped, but I did spend some quality time with my Swedish books and documents. The quiet time to study was nice-- no phone, tv, computer, knocking at the door or other such intrusions! We were 50 miles from the nearest town and 40 miles just to get cell service. Go Hubby did make the town trip a couple times for ice, adult beverages, checking on work and to check in with and report to YGGG #1. The latter was recovering from her knee surgery while I was out vacationing. We had to keep tabs on her health and, she, being a "town" girl would not have survived the 11 days of no internet anyway! She did say she missed me and our several a day communications while I was gone. Getting back home and to my computer, I had some juicy tidbits of genealogy information from her and others while I was gone. I must have missed that computer more than I thought!

We saw several moose and other wildlife on our daily jaunts into the back country. The highlight of our days were our back country drives and hikes. One of the other neat discoveries was several very old hand hewn log cabins that were scattered throughout many stream bottoms and valleys. I took lots of photos of these and of course we scouted around them all. Most were built in the late 1800's and some into the early 1900's. We assume that most were early claims along the creeks seeking gold and probably many were used for trapping also, as there were and still are lots of beaver etc., in the area. There are old trash piles around nearly every cabin. We turned up broken pieces of pottery, glass, cans, square nails, an old copper boiler and even the front off of a cast iron stove. We couldn't help but to ponder the lives of those early settlers and what they must have gone through to survive in such wilderness. It is still remote and wild and one can only imagine what it was like to try and survive there well over a hundred years ago. Several of the sites are still fairly undisturbed which is amazing. Were there many women, and what about children? I found a tiny "blue willow" lid from a childs dishes set in one remote cabin spot and it was unbroken in the dump area. It is so hard to envision a child in what must have been harsh living conditions.(This area gets way below zero much of the winter, with up to 8 feet of snow at times.) Did these people even winter in the mountains? They must have in order to make a living. I have a new mystery to solve now, as I intend to dig into some records and find more information about the people who once settled this remote area. A genealogist's dream-- as if I didn't already have enough of my own family to find !!!!

The trip overall was great, the guys played horseshoes, we all had fun, ate like kings, read books for a week, and relaxed.

One small glitch in the whole trip--. We have a large sharpei/chow mix dog, Misty, which made the trip this year with us for the first time. She did pretty well as a traveler, and had a good time with us. She is ,however, afraid of the dark and shook each night when the coyotes started to howl. Go Hubby had to use the "Coleman lantern" for her before bed outings as she was afraid of the shadows that the ordinary flashlite made. Our last night there was unsettled as she had a diarrhea problem and on the way home we had to make a stop along the interstate to again get her outside. I am sure we were a funny site to the passers-by. I had to clean her up with the baby wipes as vehicles whizzed by before she could get back in the car. She adores YGGG#1 and should have stayed in North Platte with her and helped her on her way to recovery. They could have "babysat" one another. She for one was glad to be home and has slept the day away today!

The You Go Genealogy Girls now have a whole year of travel and fun together before YGGG #2 returns again to the wilderness.....with the bears!

You Go Genealogy Girls #2, Cheri

I'll Be Dreaming Genealogy ..If The Bears Don't Get Me !

Tomorrow is the day that Go Hubby and Go Genealogy Girl #2 are leaving for our annual vacation to the mountains. Yippee! We travel to the high mountains of Wyoming just for camping, resting, reading, hiking, picture taking and fun with our son, Daniel who lives in Cheyenne, Wy., and his girl friend, Jamie. It is a tradition for us to take a long camping trip together each year. Up until 2 years ago we always camped with a large tent and loved it (still miss it), but alas as we have gotten older; the easier, dryer, camper trailer with a nice bed seems to rest our bones better. Son still tents and we do all our cooking outdoors so we get plenty of the back to nature "feel".

No computer, no cell phone service where we go so maybe I can get caught up on some reading and study of records. All week long I have been busy going through records on Genline and looking for those lost ancestors. What a thrilling find! I have one set of my husbands 5th Great Grandparents back to the late 1700s. Those along with my work from the Family History Library will be my study materials this week. I have packed a large box of materials to take along. A lawn chair in the sun, an adult beverage, my sweet guard dog by my side and dreams of those Swedish ancestors! What more could a soul want? The country where we go is gorgeous, we see elk and moose on a daily basis. The moose are even a little too close on occasion and have to be watched carefully as they can be mean and nasty! Bears also frequent our area so I must not set to daydreaming too much---there are still lots of relatives to be found when I get back home. I wouldn't want my future family genealogists to find me in the records as "bear bait".

You Go Genealogy Girl #2-- Cheri

The Girls Blog in Wyoming

We have just attended the opening speech of the Family History Expo in Sheridan, WY.  Barry Ewell had a great opening lecture.  He was serious, funny and informative.  Some of his key points were: 

Ancestors want to be found.  (I might add you are lost not them!)

Every individual leaves a trail.  (I might add some are more fragrant than others!) 

Preparation saves time.  (I need all the time I can get!) 

One thing I learned from Barry is that genealogy is a travel experience.  Whether you physically go to a repository or are at your computer and on Internet, you are traveling with your ancestors.  You need to learn about every where they lived and the records created.  

We will keep you posted about more of our learning experiences and our brilliant comments that add to the experience.  

The Traveling 2

You Go Girl #2 really spilled the jellybeans in her last blog.  But, we are still together, with our LOVE of genealogy (and each other), plus our various problems of reaching that post-menopausal stage of life.  That includes finding the rest room before you unpack your notes and computer in the library.  It also includes locating rest areas along the routes we take, before we even pull out of the driveway.  

The #2 girl is due here in North Platte in a few hours.  This time she's traveling with her husband (and my brother-in-law, Geoff!) to Topeka, Kansas to see their son, his wife and eight children.  I'm going to put Geoff to work fixing my dining room table this evening ... he's so good and those things, particularly when the girls are off traveling.  Naturally, #2 and I will chat non-stop and fast about genealogy.

The next trip?  We will be leaving in less than a month for the Family History Expo in Sheridan, Wyoming.  That's right ... Lil' Red is taking us there to have some fun, meet new and old friends and learn a lot about GENEALOGY.  You'll want to read our blog on a regular basis ... as we prepare for another great genealogy trip!  

Ruby -- You Go Genealogy Girl #1 

The Girls Go To Conference

This past weekend we went to the Nebraska State Genealogical Society (NSGS) conference in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  Yes, we had lots of fun.  Along the way we learned some things about genealogy and research.  The best part was seeing genealogy friends and making new friends. Just being around people who speak our language was worth the trip!  

You Go Girl #2 made sign boards for our vending table.  They are eye-catching, so we had many people stopping by to visit.  We also offered some scientific genealogy tip sheets.  Out of our ten tips, I like this one best ... 6.  Get off the computer occasionally and go to the library or courthouse.  Just remember to change out of your pajamas and bunny slippers.  

You Go Girl #1 brought jelly beans.  We love our jelly beans and knew that the other genealogists would also love them.  A bowl of beans was placed on our vending table.  Those genealogists kept coming back to eat beans and visit and take our handouts.  I bet when they got home they discovered they had duplicates and triplicates of our handouts because they kept coming back for beans. 

Now both of us are getting ready for another trip to Salt Lake City on May 17th.  If you are out on I-80 in Wyoming and Utah, honk if you see us.  We will be in Lil' Red loaded from one end to the other.  You Go Girl #1 will be driving and You Go Girl #2 will be dispensing jelly beans and juggling the maps.  

You Go Girl #1 ... Ruby

LET'S GET ACQUAINTED

Hello! I am sometimes called The Go Girl #1. That's because I'm the oldest and I like to think the wisest. I've been doing genealogical research for more years than I really like to admit. My late husband was very supportive of my interest in genealogy, but I always dreamed of having a genealogy companion who was as passionate about it as I am and who could travel with me. That someone is my sister-in-law, better known as The Go Girl #2. We really are not "girls" anymore, but "grannies". As long as we can, we prefer to be known as girls. My daughter, who blogs at Growing Up Genealogy, is the one who decided we are really Grannies and she likes to write of our escapades as well as her wonderful genealogy related memories.

Cheri, my sister-in-law, and I live over two hundred miles from each other, so communication is by e-mail and telephone. We plan our genealogy outings and trips that way and then make them happen. The little red car from our logo is mine. Go Girl #2 packs it, cramming everything possible into it. After all, we would not want to get somewhere and be without a thing! I think most of it is her "stuff". I have learned to economize because of the air traveling that I do. We have yet to pull a trailer behind or add a roof rack, but give us time. The trunk and back seat is always full.

It will be full to the brim again when I travel to the panhandle of Nebraska to attend the Nebraska State Genealogical Society conference in Scottsbluff the first weekend in May. I'll meet up with Go Girl #2 in Alliance and head to the conference together. Ten days later I return again to Alliance and we will travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming to do research and then go on to Salt Lake City for a week of research. The little red car will be dragging by the time we journey back home the end of May. This is just the beginning of our spring and summer jaunts. We'll keep you posted about new things we discover, where we are doing our research and how much fun we're having doing it.

You Go Genealogy Girl #1, Ruby





Hello again.....This is from Go Girl #2. This will indeed be a busy season for The You Go Genealogy Girls. I was always working full time and during the time that Ruby and I were both younger and busy with families, we could not just take off and go when we wanted. Although circumstances have not always been pleasant that have brought us to this point in life, we are thankful for this time together and it has been great fun for us both so far.

Go Girl #1 has been teacher, companion, driver and even at times the comic relief of the trip. We are both as different as night and day but we have a great time together wherever we go. If we could just get our days and nights in sinc, then we would have it made. I am a night owl and like to read and compute late, she is a morning person, but our mutual love of jelly beans and unraveling a good family mystery keeps us going all hours. We missed a lot of years of not being able to pursue our interests so it is great fun to get out and explore. Explore we do-- museums, cemeteries, libraries, court houses,antique shops, more cemeteries, and even an occassional good eating establishment in order to keep our strength for all that brain work. We have even been known to stop and visit our" living"relatives for short periods of time!

Our children are raised so we are almost as free as birds. Join us in our adventures if you like genealogy, history, or a good laugh now and then. Pour a cup of coffee or tea and relax with us for some fun, some researching tips, and unusual insight into the world of Genealogy.

You Go Genealogy Girl #2, Cheri