July 16, 2019. I continued on to Boise and spent some time exploring the city. I visited the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, which included a boarding house and a traditional court for a bocce-like game. I learned a lot about Basque heritage, which also has a presence in places like Stockton. They were preparing for a large national Basque festival to be held at the end of July.

Later, I walked along the river. It was a very hot day—college students were floating down the river on inner tubes. I wandered around the state capitol area and through some graffiti-covered alleyways before heading out of town.

July 17. I drove on, stopping in Pocatello to look at the old downtown. I found a great little coffee shop run by a couple originally from San Diego. They were very kind and made their own pastries—I had a really good peanut butter bar. They take turns running the shop while raising their kids. It felt like part of a larger trend—people from California moving to smaller towns and helping to revitalize local communities by creating new spaces for people to gather.From there, I continued on through another town that was significant along the Mormon Trail. I took small two-lane roads through scenic country, eventually reaching Highway 80 and then Laramie, Wyoming. I arrived at night and decided to come back another time to explore further. The buildings near the university looked beautiful.

I reached Sean’s house around 9 p.m. Eugenia was there, but she didn’t recognize me.

July 18–25. I stayed with my cousin Sean for a week. My mom had flown out from California as part of the birthday surprise. He took us all on a family outing to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, and I got to know his son better. His daughter was in Galicia, Spain, on an exchange program. Apparently she was having a difficult time struggling with the heat and not sleeping. I spent as much time as I could with my aunt until she left on Sunday night. After she said goodbye, my mom broke down and cried, feeling sad about her sister’s dementia. It was clear that my aunt didn’t recognize me either.

Eugenia repeated many familiar stories—about taking her mother to Ireland to meet Aunt Lena, and being told that she “had none of the Galvin” in her, meant as a compliment. At night she would wander, unsure of where she was. It was sad to see such a brilliant woman unable to remember where she had put her wallet.

Sean had rebuilt the house from a pretty rough condition. He had worked hard on it, including pouring a cement kitchen counter embedded with broken beer bottles and shells. He told me about his twelve years working for Project Concern and the projects he had been involved with in different countries. He’s now fundraising for a project measuring indoor air pollution, for which he recently won a Bloomberg award. Hearing about his work—and Evelyn’s—made me feel more hopeful about the world.

Evelyn gave my mom and I a tour of her office and workspace. I told Jack about his great-grandfather, Art Carpenter, and he was genuinely interested. I was impressed by Jack’s emotional maturity and kindness. Evelyn made a last-minute decision to visit Carolyn in Spain because she was having such a hard time. They canceled plans for a family reunion in South Carolina to make the trip instead. Sean was upset—it was an expensive change.

They had originally chosen Fort Collins for the school, which turned out to be a private charter with a Christian focus. Eventually, they pulled the kids out when they discovered some of the questionable content being taught in history and religion. Sean felt they still received a solid foundation and are now ahead of their peers in public high school. Jack is starting high school this fall. He’s concerned about being skinny and has started lifting weights.

It had been over ten years since I’d last seen Sean and Evelyn, and maybe twenty since I’d seen Aunt Eugenia.

July 25. I left mid-day after cleaning up and packing. Before heading out, I got more ice cream from the local place—it was really good. I had been eating too much ice cream and sweets lately but couldn’t seem to stop myself.

Corazón, the cat, had just had surgery and wasn’t allowed outside. Sean joked about her being a “slut,” saying she would move from room to room looking for attention. He seemed jaded overall—he doesn’t like talking about the past or engaging in nostalgia. He never really takes trips down memory lane.

Evelyn might have an offer to buy out her business. She and her Canadian partner run what may be the last small wind and solar company in the U.S.

I headed north, stopping again in Laramie and then Fort Washakie. I spent a lot of time in a nearby town where I bought a star chevron trade bead for $100. It was around 200 years old and would have been used by trappers in trade with Indigenous tribes. I spoke for hours with the man who runs the trading company. He grew up backpacking in the surrounding mountains and had published a booklet about the local petroglyphs, which I bought. I camped that night on a back road near a ranch that grows grass to support bighorn sheep populations.