All British Field Meet, Labor Day Weekend 2009

Portland All British Field Meet, Sept 2009

Cindy and Anna with the Magnettes at the show.  It rained off and on.  We saw some old friends and camped with the Rover contingent.

 

We liked the Rover and car top tents, we'll be shopping for one for Anna.

September 2009

Labor Day weekend found Anna, Cindy and I in Portland at the All British Field Meet. We saw some friends and had fun seeing all the cars, we drove my Land Rover and parked with that bunch of campers. We had a trip to Springville Sept 21- 24 to visit Amos and his family.

High summer-July and August 2009

July found us enjoying the Boise area, some boating and one overnight camping trip with Josh and the girls to the South Fork of the Payette River. We met Anna in Rexberg and took the tent camper to Yellowstone for a few days in July. Our steers were growing on the good grass in our pasture.

We had our second annual Boise Staycation in August, we had some boating, a Zip line day and shaved ice whenever possible. The Salisbury's visited us from Eugene in mid-August too.

Cindy and I had a special long weekend getaway with Dave and Christie Anderson and the Porter's at the Porter cabin near Cascade Lake. We had some crazy fun and games, the highlight was rafting with Captain Dave Porter.

June 2009

June was busy too, a common thread. We flew to Philadelphia to see Kate and Steve for a week(Jun 13- 20). We went to Gettysburg and saw a Phillies game. We saw the Longwood Gardens in Wilmington and had a day trip to the Delaware coast. I spent Wednesday through Saturday taking Lazlo Tabar's mammography course.

The last weekend in June we took off with the Idaho British Car club for the summer Tour, we went to Enterprise and Joseph again. Dick and Peggy Price met us along the way. I drove my Red MGA, it had a good run chasing an XKE coupe on the way up, they were surprised I could hang with them. We had a nice little car show on Saturday. Our return trip on Sunday went fine too, good for me and the little car.

Year in Review- May2009

After our return from China we took a few days to recover. We did get our steers at the end of April. In May we took my white '63 MGB on Gary's Run. We drove over to Hermiston on Thursday night to meet up with Dick and Peggy Price. We then drove Friday up through TriCities to cross the border and meet the main group in Osoyoos, British Columbia. On Saturday the actual run took us on an easterly loop into Washington and then back to Osoyoos. My car ran fine and we had a scenic day with good weather. On our return trip we followed along with the Price's and then on home via I-84. I had a great time and Cindy did all right.

Finally, we go to Shanghai Apr 23- 25, 2009

We returned to the Gualin airport by taxi and flew on to Shanghai. We stayed in a 1930's hotel in the older part of town, we took some long walks to see the skyline of new Shanghai. Anna and Cindy did some serious shopping and I took the bus and subway to the Shanghai auto show. Anna took me out there but I made my way back alone... I did have to stop in a hotel and ask directions once.

Yang Shuo

We next took a bus to a small town to see some more rural sights. We stayed in a small hotel overlooking the tourist shopping street and night market. We took a bike ride to a nearby river and had a bamboo raft ride. We saw water buffalo plowing as farmers planted rice shoots. Two minority group women sold Anna and Cindy flowers when we stopped for the water buffalo pictures.

Next stop: Gualin

We next flew to Gualin, in the southern part of China and a beautiful city in an area with many tourists from China. It was warmer that Beijing and no rain, so we were happy. It has many lakes and canals, the Twin towers are famous. We saw many cute school children throughout China, whenever possible they would practice their English on us. When they discovered Anna could speak Mandarin they were really attached. Anna was popular with many older male Chinese tourists and with teenagers and young women. They often stopped her for pictures. Limestone mountains, often green covered, are found in this area. They may have been the inspiration for the Dr. Seuss mountains.

On to Xian

I wanted to see Xian, the ancient capital and near the site of the terra cotta warrior excavations. We had a little rain one day but didn't miss out too much. Xian is known for its wall around the old city and for Drum Towers used for signaling. We had a bike cart ride in the rain along the wall to a small museum. We took a bus tour the next day to the terra cotta excavations, it was thrilling to see them, most are very damaged and lose their colors when exposed to air, nevertheless, they are impressive in their age. We had some long walks during this trip, just watching people and seeing new sights. Our hotel here was just ok, older and a bit rundown. We were trying to keep on a budget and picked our restaurants with care. The food is just unusual enough to make you wary. Chicken with all the bones, whole fish and things like that. In the restaurant districts of these towns it is common for live animals, fish, snakes, eel and turtles to be kept outside on the sidewalk to entice you into the restaurant to pick your special treats.

Taibei to Beijing- Thankful for the high speed train

We had a little excitement leaving Taiwan, luckily we had decided to take a high speed train to the airport near Taibei, as we checked into our flight we discovered anna had been reading the schedule time for are arrival time in Beijing as our departure time...the only mistake of the trip.

We enjoyed Beijing, everything was crowded and the air was smoggy, but the famous sites were worth it. Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall.

Xinzhu- the busy streets.

The streets of Taiwan are chaotic, many scooters, cars, bicycles and pedestrians. I am glad we didn't know what it was like until Anna was safely home from her mission. We were able to attend Church in a building she knew and meet some of her friends. Sr. Chou and her children were very kind to us, we went with them on a school field trip to a noodle factory. Sr. Chou hosted a dinner for some of Anna's new members, a very happy reunion. The restaurant picture is a table side barbeque, all you can eat in two hours. We stayed in a nice hotel called the Four Winds, arranged for us Brother Wang. We took a bus to the coast at Nan Liao, a fishing village with a nice observation tower. We hiked to 18 Peaks, a place of beautiful flowers and plants.

April meant a trip to Taiwan...

In April we had our Great Trip to Taiwan and China. Anna served her mission in Taiwan, along the west coast, so we had a good translator and guide. It would be difficult to travel unguided in China, we were glad to be able to communicate very well. Our trip started just outside Taibei, Cindy and I arrived first, we went to a hotel near the airport and waited for Anna's early morning arrival. We were able to catch up a little on sleep and were off to central Taibei the first morning. We stayed at our only luxury hotel that night, the Grand Hyatt. We saw the 101 Tower, a Confuscious Temple and some gardens. the next day we took a train to the west coast to vist Anna's friends and mission area.

2009 review

2009 started slowly with BSU Bronco basketball games in January and February. In March we had a mini-reunion centered around first round NCAA basketball games in Taco Bell Arena. Wisconsin, Missouri, Xavier, Marquette, and Gonzaga were here, we took turns going to the games. We had fun together and some of the games were close.