Destinations

Taipei Adventure: Last Days Including Taipei 101

Our last full day in Taipei would finish with viewing Taipei 101, the tallest landmark in the city. (Check out my previous posts on days one, two and three) Since we were going to see Taipei 101 in the evening, we still had a day ahead of us. We decided to check out a different area of the city, Huashan 1914 Creative Park. This is an industrial area turned modern creative center, something that occurs often in the United States.…

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Taipei Adventure: Cat Village and Mountain Town

While day one and day two were all spent fairly close to our hotel. On our third day we would venture further away from Taipei. While researching our trip, my daughter discovered information on an unusual place she decided we should explore. It was a cat village where cats are allowed to roam freely. The town’s actual name is Houtong. Houtong is located outside Taipei, but one can get there easily by train. We hopped on the usual looking subway…

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Taipei Adventures Part 2

After spending our first day in Taipei getting acquainted with the city, we were ready for day two. This day was intended to be a day looking at some of the historical elements of the city. Unfortunately the first part of the day didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped. We were up at a decent time, and perhaps that was part of the problem. The first place we had on our list was the Red House, which…

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Taipei Adventures

After spending a few days in Kaohsiung, it was time to go to Taipei. We traveled up by train and arrived in early afternoon. Knowing our hotel was near the main train station, we asked for some directions at the train help desk and then struck out to find our hotel. The streets were crowded so moving around with our suitcases and bags was not easy. It was also windy, and at one point I lost my hat, but a…

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Washington’s Unique Nisqually Wildlife Refuge

Traveling on I-5 from Seattle to Portland can be a long drive. If you are looking for a break, you will find one just over an hour from Seattle at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. One might expect a wildlife refuge to be a long way from a major freeway, but it really is just off the freeway. In fact while we were at the refuge we could see the cars driving by. I had driven by the exit on many…

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Dragons, Temples, and Lights: Kaohsiung Part 2

Our second day in Kaohsiung started with another Taiwanese buffet breakfast. Having nourished our bodies the best we could, we were ready for the activities of the day. First we planned to go to Lotus Lake which is a place with a number of religious temples. Later in the day the plan was to go to a night market. To get to Lotus Lake we first took the light rail which was near out hotel. This was our first time…

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Noodles, Art, and Sand, Discovering Kaohsiung, Taiwan

When you think of international travel, what places come to mind? Caribbean countries and Europe probably come to mind most readily. However, there are many places to travel which will not have the hordes of tourists you might find in some of these places. May I suggest Taiwan as one such place. In 1971 when I toured around the world, Taiwan was one of the places we visited so last year when my daughter suggested my wife and I meet…

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Discovering Washington’s Dry Side: Tri-Cities

When most people think of Washington, they think of Seattle, the Space Needle, and Mt. Rainier. Washington is far more than that, however. The Cascade Mountains divide the state into two distinctive regions. To the west is the rainy, cloudy region that most people associate with Washington. To the east one finds a much drier area which is hotter in the summer and often colder in the winter. Through this eastern region flows the mighty Columbia River. In the southern…

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