A double header today because I just couldn’t decide.
In September 2007, I attended a conference on the South Korean island of Jeju. It was a beautiful part of Korea with many gardens and green spaces.
Although I was only there for four days and two of those were spend in bed with the flu, I was able to enjoy the hospitality of our hosts and the Korean people in general. A small group of us would seek out small restaurants for lunch (bulgogi was my favourite) and our hosts would organize amazing traditional Korean feasts for dinner.
I had been to Korea on a couple of other occasions. Those visits were to Yeosu on the south coast of the mainland to assemble some equipment for the Korean Meteorological Agency. Yeosu is a fairly small town and I found it a comfortable city to wander in and explore. There were many hiking trails in the surrounding hills and my colleague and I enjoyed many of them. A highlight of one of those trips was when we wandered into a local market (two big white guys definitely stood out here) to check out the local flavour. When one little old lady saw us having a close look at her basket of live octopus, she grabbed one and shook it at us to give us a fright. We had both spent time on fishing boats and were unfazed, but played along and giggled like girls and gave the old lady and her friends a thrill.
Korea was a busy place. When anyone had someplace to go, they were always in a huge rush to get there. The complete opposite of that is my other “J”…Juniper Beach.
Juniper Beach
When the kids were small, it was a given that we would stop there either on our way out to Edmonton to visit Moe’s family or on the way back. It is a small BCParks campground with minimal amenities. The Thompson River passes along the side of the campground and beyond the river is the CN rail line. On the opposite side of the campground is the CP line. Some of the best days of summer were passed in a camp chair watching the kids play with the dog while the railmen waved and whistled from their stuffy engines.
The Swedish Passion Wagon and the Cat Cage
Our faithful camper (a circa 1971 Trillium Trailer) was small, but cramped. On one occasion our German Shepherd awoke with a start as our eldest fell out of the top bunk onto her. My next job was a railing…bad dad.
My Girls in the River
