2009-02 New Adventures in Asia--Manila

I arrived in Manila on Saturday afternoon, so I decided to do a couple of special sightseeing trips while I was here. The first was to the American Cemetery in Manila. This is the largest American cemetery outside of the US, with about 17,000 US and Filipino servicemen buried here. The grounds are immaculate. It is a circular shaped area with all the grave sites radiating out from the central memorial. The memorial is an open courtyard with a small enclosed alter on one end and then the names of the soldiers carved into a series of vertical stone tablets that form the ring around the courtyard.

Many people were at the memorial on this afternoon, including a church group of adults and children. Many individuals and couples were also wondering around, both at the memorial and through the grave sites. The grave sites were also laid out in a circular pattern and were visible from the memorial, which was at the highest point on the grounds.

I stopped for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and found it interesting that on a Saturday evening at 7:30 PM, there were tables galore. The band did not start until 9:30, which is when the crowds do become larger. Oh how nice it would be to go out on a Saturday evening and have no wait to sit down and eat in the US.

On Sunday, I went with his co-worker Greg and two of his friends Aaron and Ghenty to visit Corregidor Island, site of a famous series of WWII battles. We arrived at the pier about 9:30 expecting a 10:00 departure, but the actual departure time was 11:00, so we had plenty of waiting time. The boat was fully enclosed and had assigned seating with coach bus style seats. They played some historical videos while we were navigating across Manila Bay. The ride took about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Corregidor was a strategic island during the war because it sits in the middle of the mouth of Manila Bay and could be used to protect the bay from attach. The US forces first started building on Corregidor in the 1910’s and made the island self-sustaining with water, electricity, housing, a movie theatre and YMCA. Many thousand men and some of their families were stationed on the island, even prior to the war.

After arriving we had lunch before boarding some open air buses for the tour. We would stop at various places and then have 10-15 minutes to explore each place. Our first stop was at the Pacific War Memorial. This is one of only two US WWII war memorials, the other being Pearl Harbor. It has a round alter under a football shaped dome, and the sun shines directly on the alter on May 6th, the anniversary date of the taking of Corregidor by US forces from the Japanese. As you keep walking through the memorial, you come to a large orange, metal sculpture that represents an eternal flame. The views from up here are towards Manila from the highest points on the island. From there, we started to work out way down the island. This was also the site of the parade grounds and the first landing zone for the US paratroopers when they came to recapture the island.

We then stopped at the mile long barracks (closer to 1/3 a mile, but still impressive). Over 5,000 men called this home at one time. It included a swimming pool (which is still visible) and bowling alley. Many of the buildings here are in some state of collapse, but we were still allowed to explore in the ruins. The buildings are all concrete, including walls and floors.. Nothing has roofs on it any more. You can see evidence of shrapnel and shell hits on all the buildings. Some have just craters, and others have actual holes blown through.

Our next stop was the island lighthouse. There are actually 2 lighthouses now, a modern taller one along with a smaller one, originally put in place by the Spaniards, although it has been rebuilt since its original placement. We were allowed to climb to the top of the original lighthouse, taking 52 steps to get there.

As we went further down the hill, we stopped and saw many of the large mortar guns used to protect the entrance to the bay. These had large diameters for shells up to about 10 inches. A pair of disappearing guns looked out towards the ocean. The unique thing about these guns was that they would rise up to fire and then settle back down below the wall upon firing their shells, making them difficult to spot from the water. They also had to switch out barrels after a series of shells as they barrels would overheat loose accuracy. The barrels were riffled to put spin on the shells to improve accuracy.

As we made it back down to sea level, we stopped at the pier that MacArthur left from to go to Australia to guide the war effort. It was from Australia that he made his famous quote “I shall return” in reference to the Philippines. A large statue has been commissioned in his honor at the docks. He led the troops and lived on Corregidor for much of the war. He was ordered off by the president to prevent his possible capture, which would give a big moral boost to the Japanese.

The last stop was the Malinta tunnel, a tunnel that was bored through the island for the purpose of storing munitions and supplies, and providing a protected and safe bomb shelter and working area. The tunnel has multiple side tunnels that go off at angles from the main tunnel. Two sets of train tracks run through the tunnel to aid in loading supplies. The tunnel is about 30 feet wide. The tour of the tunnel included a sound and light show with both video presentations and sculptures with audio narration in the lateral tunnels to give the history of Corregedor Island and the battles that occurred.

We then boarded the boat for the trip back to Manila. There were a lot of tired people on the boat, and many slept on the way home. Once we landed, we went out to eat a restaurant called Handlebars--as in motorcycle handlebars. One of the main features was there grilled meat special, that includes a cut of steak, or pork, or other types of meat, grilled out on the patio to your liking. It comes with a baked potato and fixings, cole slaw and beans. A real American picnic meal.

2009-02 New Adventures in Asia-Taipei

Although I have been to Asia many times, I had a little bit of extra time to visit some new areas in each of the cities I visited.

On Thursday, I took a subway to get to the downtown area. It was 6 stops away and only cost about 70 cents. I wandered around the area of Taipei 101, a 101 story building, and then ate dinner. The downtown area is bustling with people all evening, both working and shopping. There is small park right across the street from Taipei 101 and there was a group of people doing exercise, but other than that the park was empty.

After work on Friday, I went with my co-worker Lin went up the National Palace Museum, just north of Taipei City. This is a museum that houses treasures from the last 4,000 years from both mainland China and Taiwan. It has 4 floors and is divided up into various types of items, such as pottery, metal works, jade, etc. I am always amazed at the long historical window many of these Asian countries have, looking back thousands of years, when compared to the relatively short history of the US. Out front they had various cow statues painted by local artists, much like the various Peanuts statues that they ahd around St. Paul a few years back.

We did not have enough time to look thoroughly through the museum as it closed just 1 hour and 45 minutes after we arrived. We did, however have a chance to pick up a couple of geocaches on the grounds, and was able to introduce Lin a new activity.

From there we drove up to the area of Danshui, which is at the mouth of the Danshui River that empties into the Straits of Taiwan. There is a boardwalk area along the river with various arcades, shops and eateries along the river walk. We walked from the train station to the northern end of the boardwalk and then had dinner. All the indoor seating had already been reserved, so sat outside for dinner. It was a little cool and breezy, but they had the overhead propane heaters running to help make it comfortable. We then walked back to the car and headed back to the city.

2009-02 Chicago

We headed off to the Windy City for two college visits for Mariah, one at Loyola and the other at St. Xavier. Mariah brought along Hannah, who has also been looking at a school in Chicago. We left late Thursday afternoon and drove pretty much straight through and arrived around midnight.

On Friday, we got up and headed to Loyola. It is on the north side of Chicago and sits on the Lake Michigan waterfront. Lake Shore Drive cuts right through the campus, so there tends to be a lot of traffic to contend with as you make your way around. The campus covers about a 8 by 6 block area, and has the feel of being plucked into the middle of an old neighborhood. The newest building is a learning center filled with the latest technology for studying both alone and as small groups. It was a very popular location on campus for people to congregate. After our tour, we walked around a little more and headed to the bookstore, which seems like it is off campus as it is located in with several other commercial establishments.

Our next stop was at St. Xavier, located southwest of downtown Chicago. It is located out at the outer edge of Chicago proper, and also feels like it is in a neighborhood, but one that grew up around it rather than with it. St Xavier is much smaller than we expected as they have one main classroom building with multiple wings. It has mainly been a commuter school, and the oldest dorms are only about 8 years old. The campus has a lot of open area with a lot of the activities buildings spread out.

For the evening we headed into the downtown area and ate at the Hard Rock Café. Although it took a little time to get seated there was a whole unused upstairs area, apparently waiting for a large group to show up. After dinner, we went across the street to a huge 2 story McDonalds with a pair of escalators in the middle to get between floors. There was also a history wall about McDonalds, and it included a lot of toys and items that LeAnn and I remembered from our childhood in each displays of products from each decade.

On Saturday, we headed down to the waterfront area. Our first stop was Millennium Park, located in Grant Park, which stretches between the edge of downtown and the waterfront for a couple of miles. Millennium Park has and outdoor concert area, an ice skating area (which was very busy) and a sculpture called the Cloud Gate, also know as the bean. It is a highly reflective silver, kidney bean shaped object. Everyone enjoyed taking their pictures in and around it, and getting different aspects of the skyline in the photos.

From there we walked to Navy Pier, about 1.5 miles away. The weather was a little cool and the wind was blowing into our face on the walk over there. Navy Pier is a shopping and amusement area built on a pier out into Lake Michigan. There are outdoor activities for the summer time, but those were shut down for the winter, however, the Ferris wheel was still running. There is an exhibition of numerous stained glass windows that line the walkway towards the end of the pier. In the auditorium, there was cheerleading competition going on, so the hallways were filled with cheerleaders and their families and supporters. On the way back, Ray stopped to unload some of his issues with Bob Newhart. One of his issues is how embarrassed his kids get when he acts goofy--like talking to a statue.

Walking back to Grant Park was more comfortable since the wind was now at our back. We walked across a serpentine shaped bridge to cross Lake Shore Drive and continued on towards the Spirit of Music Gardens area of Grant Park to see the snow sculptures created for Chicago’s Snow Days. There were over 20 snow sculptures, all made with great details and representing real and fictional characters and scenes. The weather was cold enough that they were still preserved very close to their original state even though they were a couple of days old. A quick stop at Starbucks to warm up, and it was time to head back to the parking ramp and return to MN after a fun but quick trip to Chicago. With a lot of walking while we were here, there was a good amount of napping on the ride home.

2009-01 Ice Skating at Centennial Lakes

We headed off on Saturday afternoon to go ice skating at Centennial Lakes Park. The ice skating rink is actually a pond that winds through a business, shopping and residential area. There are bridges that go across the pond at various areas and the pond is probably close to a half mile long with two large areas on each end. It feels like you are skating on a river or canal that goes through the city as you go from one end to the other.

There were a lot of people enjoying the day out on the ice. The city of Edina rents skates so that anyone can go and skate. The skating itself is free. The city keeps the ice plowed, but since it is a lake, there can be rough spots and cracks. They have a large pavilion with plenty of room for putting on your skates along with a concession stand for snacks and drinks.

After we skated, we headed back in to the pavilion and warmed up by one of the fireplaces before changing back into our shoes and heading home

2009-01 Skiing at Buck Hill

Hailey and Ray went skiing at Buck Hill with two of Hailey's friends (Emily and Claire) along with their dad's and Claire's brother, Ben. We left to get there when the hill opened, and there were already long lines to get tickets and rental gear. Hailey has her own snowboard, but everyone else had to rent equipment, and all chose to ski rather than snowboard.

We skied for about 2-1/2 hours as we just got a special early bird pass for the morning. The weather was beautiful as the sun was out and the wind was calm, although the temperature was only in the single digits. Lift lines weren't too bad and all the hills were open. Buck Hill has runs for both skis and snowboards, and there is a lot of crossovers between the the two.

Buck Hill just added a new magic carpet (it is like a moving sidewalk) ski lift that is the longest in the world at just over 900 feet. It actually goes over another run through a covered bridge.

2008-12 Christmas Letter

December 18, 2008
Merry Christmas,
Our hope this year is that this letter finds you in good health and good spirits and able to enjoy the blessings of 2008. We hope the New Year will bring many more blessings to you and your family.

The girls have kept very busy this year. Mariah (17) is a senior at Eagan High School and is in the process of choosing where to go to college next year. She would like to double major in International Studies and Spanish and has applied to 7 schools, and is still waiting eagerly to hear from most of them, including the University of Denver—her top choice. During the fall break from school, we went on a college tour visiting colleges in Colorado and Nebraska. During spring break, she travelled to Spain with the Spanish club and stayed with a family in a small town outside of Madrid. It was a good opportunity to immerse herself in the Spanish language. She played soccer in the summer and still takes dance class during the school year. She has had the opportunity to teach some Spanish classes for an after school program in the elementary schools, and this summer was the craft leader for the Bloomington Parks and Rec Program. She went to different parks each day and was responsible for determining the crafts and purchasing all the necessary supplies. Needless to say, the car was usually full of bins and buckets and various “stuff”. During the school year, she works at the Oasis Teen Center at the Eagan Community Center.

Kara (14) has made the big jump to high school. She likes the flexibility of her schedule and being with so many different people during the course of the day. She is playing the clarinet in band, and is currently training for next year’s soccer season. She is going to take goalie lessons and share the goalie duties on her team. She has been doing a lot of babysitting this fall. She is our techie, always wanting the latest gear. She is anxiously waiting to take drivers education in the spring and get her learners permit.

Hailey (12) is the only one left in middle school. She is still playing the saxophone in band. Her passion, though, is soccer as she played summer, fall, and is now playing indoor soccer this winter. They play on hockey rink sized fields and they can pass and play the ball off the boards. She has been out snowboarding once already this year, and is anxious for the ski club at school to begin their trips in January and February. She took her babysitting skills tests this fall and is now starting to do some babysitting around the neighborhood too.

LeAnn has been busy working as a pre-school teacher for the city of Eagan. She has also been very busy preparing scrapbooks for Mariah’s graduation, and organizing our photos and scanning them all so we can work with them on the computer. She also works as a volunteer at United Hospital in St. Paul. She spends a lot of time bike riding during the nice weather in the summer. Her big new adventure was playing flag football with friends in the neighborhood.

Ray also enjoys bike riding, and along with LeAnn and others, rode in the RAGBRAI bike ride in Iowa again. He has taken up the hobby of geocaching this year, which is like an electronic treasure hunt. Caches, or treasures, are hidden all over the world and GPS coordinates are used to find the right location. He also went rock climbing for the first time at Taylors Falls. Ray and LeAnn also bowl together during the winter months. Ray continues to work for Advantek and has been travelling overseas about once a month.

During spring break, we went down to Phoenix and visited LeAnn’s mom for Easter. Easter dinner on the patio in shorts is quite a treat, especially considering it had been snowing in the Twin Cities on Good Friday. While there, we went to the Safeway LPGA golf tournament. Since we went on Pro-Am day, it was not too crowded and we could talk with the players and get autographs (including Anika Soremstan). We soaked up a lot of sun and kept busy swimming, golfing and eating!

We took a trip to Nueva Vallarta, Mexico this summer. While we were there, we spent a lot of time at the pool (and saw a lot of large iguanas), but we also toured both small towns (Bucerias) and large towns (Puerto Vallarta). We went on a full snorkeling and beach excursion to one of the local bay areas. The best time we had was when we went into the Sierra Madre Mountains for a canopy adventure. We put on harnesses and then attached ourselves to zip lines that are strung from tree to tree and then let gravity do its thing. We were about 75 feet off the ground. Besides sliding from tree to tree, we walked across a rope bridge and then repelled down to the ground from the last tree.

While we were in Colorado for the college visits, we also took some time to explore the area and enjoy the mountain views of the Rockies. We spent time in the Red Rocks area and visited the amphitheatre. There were a lot of people using the steps and bleachers for workouts. Just walking up and down them, much less running, was a good workout, but then again we are lowlanders, not highlanders.

Ray’s Grandmother, Gudrun passed away last February at the age of 104. She is missed by all of us. Ray’s mom, Karren is doing well and will host Christmas Eve for the family again this year. LeAnn’s mom, Lois is also doing well. She had knee replacement surgery over the summer and spent most of the summer recuperating up here in the Cities with her 3 daughters.

Our tree is up and the smell of pine permeates the house. We have had a lot of snow already this year, with more due tonight and this weekend, so we will have a very white Christmas. Enjoy the Christmas season.

2008-12-10 Beautiful Sunrise

The sky was alive this morning with orange color. It stretched across the western sky from north to south. Even though it is cold (about 0 degrees F), there is still beauty to behold. This photo was taken towards the northwest.

2008-12 Getting Our Christmas Tree

We headed out over the river and through the woods to pick out our Christmas Tree today. It was a beautiful day for tree hunting as there was a light snowfall coating the trees.

We headed to the local nursery and garden center to look at all the offerings. We have been getting Frasier Firs the last few years because of their short needles and lots of branches to hang ornaments on. As we looked at various trees, we wanted to make sure it was nice and full without being too wide at the bottom.

The girls found the perfect tree and we carted it out to the checkout area so it could be wrapped and trimmed. We then went roaming through the store and looking at all the lights and decorations. Santa was in the store today having pictures taken with the kids, and Mrs. Claus was telling stories by the fireplace.

After lassoing the tree onto the car, we headed home and brought the tree in and set it up in the tree stand and cut off the webbing. Because of the snow, we let it melt off and dry before we start putting on the lights and decorations

After dinner we put about 700 white lights on the tree, which gave it some depth and life. We also started to add a few ornaments, but have more to do sometime down the line.

We had put our lights outside during Thanksgiving weekend, and now with the tree in the window, we have added to what can be seen outside. We have had a few inches of snow over the last week giving the ground a smooth blanket of cover, so it is relatively bright outside due to all the reflection from the snow.