After Los Angeles we drove to Phoenix to meet our long lost cousin, and stopped off at San Bernardino for a few hours on the way to do some family research. I guess this was our little ‘genealogy’ part of the trip. For years now we’ve been trying to locate our American relatives, with little success.
We discovered my third cousin and his (grown up) children in Phoenix/New Zealand last year, and have been in regular contact with them ever since, as they don’t have any other ‘Lux’ family, and nor do we, so it was all very exciting for us all.
Visiting San Bernardino, California
Anyway, San Bernardino was the place where my Great Aunt lived and died. I share the exact same name as her – Catherine Lux, so have always felt this strange need to find out what happened to her and visit her grave.
I just couldn’t get over the beauty of this cemetery. This photo does not do it justice. It’s just crazy to think that my great aunt was born in the East End of London, to German immigrant parents, and then ended up in San Bernardino, surrounded by the sunshine and California mountains. I feel so content and at peace that she rests in such a beautiful place, and I’m so happy her family has finally visited her.
Driving to Phoenix, Arizona
After our visit to San Bernardino, we headed to Phoenix to meet the third cousin who also shares Catherine Lux as his great aunt. It amazed me the similarities between us all, he kept looking over at me and said he just couldn’t get over how much I looked like his daughter, and it was funny how some of our stories from each of our sets of ancestors matched up.
One thing is for sure, the thing that has been passed down through every generation, is that the Lux’s stand by their beliefs, and keep them strongly, even if it makes them misfits. My favourite one though was, “Lux’s don’t stand in queues” haha!
We also seem to have a fair few Mayors in our family…including one (Catherine Lux’s brother) who was a Mayor in Germany in 1945 and was shot by a Russian firing squad when they took over the town!? I’d love to know the town he was mayor of, but I’m not sure how to find it out 🙁
Visiting Montezuma Castle & Sedona
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| Montezuma Castle. |
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| Montezuma Castle – an ancient cave in the mountain side. |
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| Sedona |
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| My brother and I are so god damn cool, we ruined our ‘nice’ family photo.
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We also visited a Native American market in our way from Arizona to Utah.
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| I look a little creepy, and have no make up on, but look at the lovely view behind me!!! |
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
Fascinating!!
The gravestones are more like plaques compared to what I'm used to here in England.
I'm guessing you'd have to find some sort of head office in Germany and visit it…like they must have some sort of large records place for the whole of Germany somewhere, I'm sure we have one in England.
I know, we're used to the 'normal' standing ones in England too, so it was weird seeing all of the plaque type of graves. We asked them why they're like that and apparently it's to make it easier for the groundsmen to keep the lawns all nice and kept 🙂
Apparently each German town has their own records, but of course a lot got destroyed during the war 🙁 So we'll have to find out what town he was mayor of and then go there to find the records!
C x
I've just discovered your blog (thanks to Twiiter;) and happene to see San Bernardino! I live and was born and raised in the town nearby! crazy to see SB mentioned:D
Oh wow! That's so cool!! Hehe 😀
Cx
Have you seen the cemetery lately its gone down the drain bums live there and so on