USA | Taiwaneers

The 49th State

Michael's Posts, Travel & Exploring, USA 4 Responses »

Aug 182011

Everything is pretty honky dory here. Emily and I have been getting some really awesome QT with friends and family. We’ve also hit that point in our summer vacation where we are looking forward to doing stuff…aka returning to lives of non-vacation.

On August 6th my dad turned sixty and my brother and I surprised him with a trip to Alaska. Why the state with the largest area and smallest population? Well back in the day when my dad was a college boy he dropped out of MSU and went to Alaska to “find himself.” While in Alaska in the ’70s he lived in a hutch in the woods, worked as a surveyor for the Alaskan government and, I’m guessing here, smoked a lot of pot. Also while in Alaska he gave his life to Jesus and proposed to my mom. My brother and I chose Alaska because my dad hasn’t been back there since before we were born and we wanted to hear stories and get him to show us his youth.

It was an awesome surprise. Everybody in the family knew it was coming, except my dad, when we sprang it on him the day before we left. He was shocked and it was great to see a secret two years in the making come to fruition. My mother was very relieved to not have to hold it in anymore.

The actual trip was awesome too! We spent a few days in Anchorage, but mostly our week in Alaska was spent in the Kenai peninsula in the towns of Homer and Seward. We also spent some time in Ninilchik looking for remains of my dad’s hutch…unfortunately we found none.

Alaska is beautiful. What an amazing place. I could go on and on and on. Two highlights of the trip were a hike in Kachemak Bay State Park that started with a float plane ride and ended with a water taxi, and a morning of kayaking out of Seward where we saw tons of wildlife, including an otter, eagles, porpoises, and a whale! Our kayaking guide turned out to be a really cool guy just out of college from Hotlanta who was up in Alaska having an adventure. He was super cool to talk to. Alaska is definitely a worthy spot to adventure in. One other highlight of the trip I must mention is the hike up Flattop, overlooking Anchorage, that we made just hours before we boarded our plane to leave. The view was incredible and knowing that it was the spot where my dad proposed to my mom made it all the more special for me.

Traveling with my brother and dad was great. I really felt like we grew closer during our week up there. Good conversations, good beer, good food. Lots more trust and understanding I think too.

If you travel to Homer: do get cinnamon rolls and coffee at the Two Sisters Bakery and don’t stay at the friendly, but overpriced and cold Homer Hostel. If you travel to Ninilchik: do stay at the Eagle Watch Hostel because of their incredible view and comfortable beds. If you travel to Seward: do stay at the Nauti Otter Inn…I know that name sounds sketchy, but the price is right and the owner (Heather) has created a great atmosphere of fun and camaraderie, plus she provides breakfast.

In summary, this trip created memories worth holding on to.

Home on the Range

Michael's Posts, Travel & Exploring, USA 1 Response »

Jul 212011

Being home is pretty nice. For a few solid weeks there, right after getting back, I was reacting hardcore negative to how big and new and how wastefulness of space everything here in the states is. Buildings that are all less than 30 years old and have gargantuan parking lots and roads that have huge shoulders and…actually the list could get really long. But for the last few days I’ve started to get back into the groove of the states and have enjoyed tooling around in the family car and going to Taco Bell and Qdoba and drinking IPAs…this list could go on too.

Of course seeing family and friends is the best part. Emily and I have been able to spend time with all of the immediate family members now and visit with several friends. There are still a ton more to hang with too. Seeing friends and chilling out after a long absence is one of the sweetest things about being home in the summer.

A big highlight so far has been the opportunity to make a presentation at my mom and dad’s church this past Sunday about the Our Friends Orphanage organization in Cambodia and our experience there. It felt great to share about Samnang and all our friends there in the small villages around Takeo. After the service we talked to a lot of people and shared stories with other people who had traveled to various parts of the world to help with at-risk-children, most notably folks who had helped organizations in Uganda and China. It was a great day and we are really looking forward to more opportunities to share Our Friends with others.

Another big highlight has been seeing how wonderfully amazing my family members are. I was able to visit my sister at the coffee shop she and my parent’s bought earlier this year and seeing her killing it with her customers. My brother also let me sit in on the staff meeting of his company the past Monday and dang, he’s killing it too. I also got to stop by my father-in-law’s organization and visit with all my old friends there. I’ve got to get on the ball and make something of myself.

I’d like to end this post with an FYI. Bell’s beer is no longer my favorite Michigan microbrew…in case anyone cares. I’d venture to say that Bell’s beer isn’t even worth the microbrew price anymore and should only be consumed when someone else buys, or if the company lowers the price. I used to love Oberon and Two Hearted, but honestly they taste kind of gross now. My new favorite Michigan microbrewery is Short’s because of their Huma Lupa Licious, not to mention the tastiness of their Bellaire Brown. Me and the guy behind the counter at Oades Big Ten chatted for a while about this subject. It was fantastic to realize I was in a store and could speak the same language as the folks behind the counter. We could chat for as long as either of us cared to without running out of vocabulary words. Being home is great!

Whirlwind Travel

Michael's Posts, Travel & Exploring, USA 2 Responses »

Jul 022011

We are officially back in the USA for summer break now. Its been a crazy couple of days.

This time around we found cheap tickets (at least cheaper than the rest of them) with China Southern Airlines. However, the flight took us from Taipei to Guangzhou. Then four hours later from Guangzhou to Los Angeles. During the layover in Guangzhou we overheard some other foreigners at our gate talking about Michigan. After a few minutes of chitchat we realized that we grew up about two hours from each other and here we are meeting in an airport on the other side of the world…this globalization thing sure is crazy!

As far as airlines go China Southern was okay. The food was not spectacular, but edible. As far as entertainment goes they had personal tv screens, but only about 9 channels of content and it wasn’t on-demand. My earphones jack didn’t work so I couldn’t watch it anyways. While the service was fine, our favorite method of travel between Taiwan and the US remains Malaysia airlines…If only they would lower their prices to where they used to be…

In LA, our very good friends picked us up and took us to crash at their house. And they are very good friends indeed. They had to play “In Grandpa’s Store” for two hours waiting for our flight, which was late.

Everybody says that SoCal has horrible public transportation, but people, it could be worse. I found public transportation to take us from about six blocks from our friends house in Pasadena to about three blocks from our other friend’s house in San Diego. Granted it required use of several transportation systems, but nevertheless, it could have been done. Fortunately, our SD friend cut it short and met our Metrolink train in Oceanside…yes indeed, another very, very good friend!

After twenty-four hours with him we boarded our flight to western Kentucky so that we could visit Emily’s relatives before making the drive up to Michigan.

In the past five days we’ve been in six airports and four cities. It feels extremely satisfying to now be with family as jet-lag recedes into memory.