Dennis Eric Pena:  

Eureka (King Salmon), California was home from 1953 to 1971. I attended South Bay School (kindergarten), then St. Bernard's Elementary, George C. Jacobs Junior High, and, finally, Eureka High School. Continued on at Oregon State University but actually got my BS degree in organizational behavior at the University of San Francisco (USF). I guess I was a loner of sorts. Our family was small. I had a great sister, Kim, who was one year younger than I - she was the exuberant one. And, although I had a small handful of close friends. I primarily enjoyed activities that I could do alone - fishing, hunting, boating, etc. I was generally shy and didn't participate in activities like school dances, parties, etc. - even dating was rare. In the Fall of 1971 I ventured north to Corvallis, Oregon (OSU) to pursue my studies as a pre-med undergrad. I don't know whether it was the distance from home or the new college environment, but I quickly shed the cloak of shyness that had been my companion for 18 years. My interests shifted from solitary activities to almost any intramural sport that was offered (volleyball, baseball, football, billiards, bowling, etc.). I even was first string on one of the university teams and earned a college letter - in that high impact, gut wrenching, ache and pain generating sport ... bowling. Then all of a sudden my over-the-top interest in the never ending list of social activities waned. No, of course I didn't redirect my interest to study. I entered into a wonderful, exciting, and somewhat mysterious new venture - courting Sandy. For me, but not her, it was love at first sight. Fortunately it didn't take long to win her over with my charm. We married in March 1974 and, although leaving OSU without a degree, I was able to study enough while otherwise distracted to salvage my grade point average (I eventually received a BS in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco 32 years later). I was suddenly introduced to real life needs - like food and shelter for an instant family (Sandy had a son, Craig, from a previous marriage). So while we were honeymooning in San Francisco I interviewed for a job with Pacific Gas and Electric Company, was offered a job as a draftsman, and started work at their General Office in downtown San Francisco two weeks later. Although totally immersed in my new job, I still found time for some extracurricular activities and, one thing leading to another - lo and behold - our daughter, Erica, was born a year later in April 1975. Now fast forward. 23 years pass. Homes and work locations pass in a blur before our eyes (too many martinis?). We moved from Corvallis to Daly City to South San Francisco to Shell Beach to Arroyo Grande to Loleta to Eureka to Vacaville to Redway to Eureka to Morgan Hill to Eureka to Santa Rosa and, finally, to Hercules. Whoa! It's now 1996. I'm back working again in the PG&E General Office in San Francisco. That and a short time in Concord keep me occupied for the next 13 years. Zip forward. It is now 2010 and time for a change - life so far has been so static(?!). So why not retire? Sure. That sounds like a fun thing to do. I signed my retirement papers and my last day of work with PG&E was February 26th, 2010. "What next?," we asked. Should we take a deep breath, relax, and settle comfortably into the familiarity of our home and surroundings in the San Francisco Bay area? Of course not. It has been far too long since we moved. So, in our search for excitement and newness, we decided to say farewell to the familiar and move away from California - my home for 57 years and Sandy's for 35. Hmmm ... where should we go? Back to Eureka? No, been there before. Oregon? No, we really would like waterfront property and can't afford the Oregon coastal real estate. Mexico? Absolutely not. Can't stand the heat. How about a place with winters so cold that you can't finish a sentence ...Expand for more