13 Hours of Rain

Last week, I was in Seoul, South Korea to celebrate the marriage of your Mamu (Uncle on Mother's side) to your new Korean Emo (Aunty). One morning, I found myself typing these words at a local hotel's keyboard as I listened to the distant sounds of a city of over 10 million people outside the window: It is relatively quiet here, as your Mamu lives in a residential area where people mostly come home to sleep. Plus, it is Winter Holidays, so many people have escaped the pace of the city to a more quieter location. This city is typical of the big Asian cities of this region. Modern skyscrapers and ancient architecture. Shiny foreign cars and noisy scooters. Local authentic cuisine and McDonalds. And of course, a language filled with phonemes and inflections and characters unknown to me. I've learned three phrases here: Hello, excuse me, and thank you. If in doubt (or if I just don't know what to say) the Korean thank you stumbles out of my mouth as I bow. Yes, they b...

Old Faithful - spouting every 90 minutes or so! We made it. Safely. We were fourteen family members celebrating an anniversary milestone for my parents. We arrived from three countries to spend four nights in cabins, two intense days touring Yellowstone National Park while having one memorable time. Our personal family unit added over 1600 km to our odometer as we traversed prairie, ranch country, foothills, and mountains. Thankfully, all within budget. :) Truthfully, I never had a real desire to see Yellowstone National Park . I assumed it was like any other national park in Canada: mountains, lakes, rivers, rock (repeat). And while I absolutely revel in immersing myself in natural wonders, I didn't feel the need to drive across the border to explore something similar. But this park in Wyoming, U.S.A. was the more economical central location for everyone, can-you-believe-it. Thus, we drove down. Once we experienced some of the park's famous features, I realized thi...