Random Photographs from Trips Past

What does one do on a weekend in March ruined by illness?  Well, for starters, it being tax season, they look for things to do other than filling out tax forms.  If it was a bit later in March, I (T) could be watching March Madness, but since the NCAA tournament has not started yet, I took some time to do something semi-constructive.  I went back through some of the travel photographs we have taken over the past several years and while taking in the memories of these trips, it occurred to me that many are worth sharing, particularly when we have not done much in the way of travel as of late.  So, sit back and take in part one of some pics from a variety of places both near and far that H and I have traveled to over the past several years.

The cellar of an old winery in the Burgundy region of France; heaven for a wine enthusiasts.

The vines of Alsace at harvest.  Field after field of vines line this picturesque valley.

Dream come true for H. A tour of the Gander Linen factory in Muttersholtz, Alsace led by Mr. Gander himself.

Gates of the Mountains, Montana.  Here on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, where the plains meet the rugged highlands, the Missouri River cuts through the limestone to create these magnificent cliffs.  The Gates were given their name by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805.  Wrote Captain Lewis, "this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen.  These clifts rise from the waters edge on either side perpendicularly to the height of 1200 feet. ... the river appears to have forced its way through this immense body of solid rock for the distance of 5-3/4 Miles ... I called it the gates of the rocky mountains."

Mann Gulch, Montana.  Part of the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness.  Mann Gulch was the scene of a firefighting disaster in 1949 when 13 men lost a desperate race with a massive fire that roared up this valley towards you.  Norman Maclean wrote of this story in his fabulous Young Men and Fire. More on this in a later blog.

One memorable summer about five years ago now, H and I spent about a week in the Canadian Rockies driving and hiking through some of the most glorious scenery we've had the pleasure of experiencing, including the Columbia Icefields along the Banff-Jasper highway.

 Lake Louise in Banff National Park.  The waters of the lakes in the Canadian Rockies are amazing.  I love H's description of Lake Louise as "an uncut emerald dunked in milk."

Victoria Glacier and the Plain of the Six Glaciers, located at the head of Lake Louise.

Hiking back down from Victoria Glacier to Lake Louise.

Morraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks, also in Banff NP.

Eiffel Lake in the Valley of the Ten Peaks.  Simply stunning.

One of our most memorable hikes together was the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park, Canada.  The trail climbs some 2,000 feet from the bottom of the glacier-fed waterfall in the center of the photograph to the ridge in the foreground.  We hiked nearly 17 miles that day, much of it on top of deep snow and alongside glaciers.  It was hot, and we were sunburned and exhausted at the end of that very long, but rewarding day.  This particular photograph of H and our beloved husky Harley is probably my favorite of the two of them together.

Every year, we drive out to our cabin in Idaho and when time permits, we stop off at different places.  If you recall, one year it was Indian War sites.  Another year was devoted to Laura Ingalls Wilder.  This is her house in Mansfield, Missouri. 

It is a beautiful piece of property in the Ozark Mountains.

And on to the prairies of South Dakota, where many of the later books were set.

The Ingalls homestead claim outside De Smet, South Dakota.

In an earlier blog entry H wrote at length about her fascination with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books. You can find it here.

After the visit to the Ingalls home place, we drove through the Badlands of Western South Dakota on a windy, bleak day. Talk about atmosphere.

As a thank you for helping put our wedding together, we took my parents to France for a week in Normandy and Paris.  Much of our time in Normandy was spent walking the beaches and battlefields of the Allied invasion of Occupied France in 1944.

The right flank of Omaha Beach.  The view the men of the 29th Infantry Division and the 2nd Ranger Battalion would have had on 6 June 1944. 

And that of their German antagonists.

Pont du Hoc.  US Rangers assaulted these positions on D-Day.

Ever the Band of Brothers (the Stephen Ambrose book and the HBO series) fanatic, H was thrilled when we were able to find Brecourt Manor, the site of a famous D-Day action involving the 101st Airborne Division and her World War Two hero, Major (then Lieutenant) Dick Winters.

The fields of Brecourt Manor. 

Church in Sainte Mere Eglise, another famous 101st Airborne Division site.   Hanging from the spire is a dummy American soldier, representing an actual paratrooper who hung from this very spot in the wee morning hours of 6 June 1944.  From this perch, that paratrooper, John Steele, watched his brother soldiers fight the Germans below.  He would hang there for two hours until captured.  Cornelius Ryan's 1959 book The Longest Day and the 1962 movie of the same name depicted his story.  Check out the Hollywood version here.

Mont Saint Michel, near Avranches, France. The island has held fortifications since ancient times, and since the 8th century has been the seat of the monastery from which it bears its name. 

During the drive back from Mont St. Michel to our B&B, we stopped off at this 14th century castle somewhere in Normandy.   The sun was setting, and there was not a soul there, but the gate was open, so the four of us wandered  the grounds and the ruins for nearly an hour before darkness fell. 

Cool graffiti H discovered as we explored the old castle.

Our B&B; a renovated 16th century manor.

It was a beautiful place.

Part 2 of random photographs from trips past coming out soon.

Super Bowl Monday in Seoul

It is an odd thing to roll out of bed early on a Monday morning and stumble into my chair in front of the TV to watch the Super Bowl. I suppose we had better get used to it though, as the next two ones will be as today was. As today was a training holiday, T was able to stay home and we watched it together as usual.

What was unusual was the menu. Instead of chips and dip, it was breakfast fare - eggs, ham, grits and salsa. With a strong cup of tea instead of beer and wine.

Last night it was our turn to host the Downton Abbey party. A group of us Downton fanatics move from home to home each weekend to watch season three. Last night's episode was a particularly sad one that I had seen last weekend when I was home (we are a week behind the US in Korea). It was just as sad the second time around (my favorite character, agh!).

After everyone left it started to snow. And snow. This morning was lovely as early morning fresh snowfall always is. The dogs were in heaven, as Siberian Huskies always are in fresh snow.

They had a blast in the dog park.

I am sure somewhere someone has written about the poetry of snow on razor wire. Even though I am surrounded by it, I struggle to see the beauty in it.

As I am also struggling to get over this cold that T passed on to me, I spent most of this snowy day in my chair, first watching the Super Bowl, then listening to the 21st century philosopher Ray Lewis expound on victory, leadership and the meaning of life (please), and finally doing battle with the queen stitch (I won). My current stitching project, done as a part of Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year stitch-a-long, is a reproduction of a sampler stitched by a young girl named Lucretia Maus in the year 1832. Thus far, apart from frustrations with inconsistencies in the graph, it has been an absolute joy of a project and I am fast becoming addicted to the queen stitch.

Give me more!

Korea: DMZ and the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom

Recently, I (T) had the opportunity to accompany some folks up to the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom, an area carved out of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas during the Korean War for the UN/South Korea side to discuss the terms of the Armistice with the North Korean/Chinese side.  Since the end of the war, it has been used to discuss issues related to the Armistice and occasionally direct talks between the North and South.  Also called the "Truce Village," it is known for being, among other things, the site of prisoner repatriations in 1953, the return of the USS Pueblo captives in 1968, the infamous axe murders of two US Army officers in 1976, a firefight over a Soviet defector in 1984, and a Chinese military officer defector in 1989.  For a more comprehensive look at the JSA and its history, check out the wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Security_Area

This was my third trip to the JSA, but the first in over 10 years, so there were things that had changed and things that had not changed so much.  The drive up, for example, clearly illustrated the growth South Korea continues to experience.  The former two-lane road up to Freedom Bridge is now four lanes, as is the bridge itself, and the roadsides are marked by modern buildings, apartment complexes, and new construction stretching northward from the suburbs of Seoul.  There are also new buildings at the JSA, and the US military presence at the JSA has decreased significantly, replaced by South Koreans.  What has not changed is the atmosphere.  Despite the increased numbers of tourists visiting the JSA, and the much larger visitor center with its equally large gift shop, a strong sense of the Cold War and lingering hostilities still reign.  From the constant presence of armed South Korean and US soldiers hovering around my little delegation to the "In Front of Them All!" slogans plastered on the walls, one could only come away with a sense that it was about 1985.  The snow on the ground, the bitter cold, and the gray sky that day only punctuated the psychological environment.  So, sit back and take a quick trip back in time.

Freedom Bridge.

Over a frozen Imjin River.

Camp Bonifas, home of the JSA Security Battalion.

"In Front of Them All!"

  Some photos from the standard JSA briefing given to visitors just to help orient you.

"TSD" is Daesong-dong village, a unique South Korean community within the DMZ, the only such arrangement in South Korea. Villagers receive perks including larger land plots and tax breaks for living in such close proximity to the North.  Its North Korean counterpart is the Gijung-dong or Propaganda Village located directly across the Military Demarcation Line.  It is known as the Propaganda Village because as no one appears to live there, and many of the buildings have facades.  "MSR" is main supply route, or the highway from Camp Bonifas to the JSA.

The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) divides the JSA and extends all the way across the Peninsula.

The Military Armistice Committee (MAC) buildings, where meetings between the two sides take place.  South Korean guards stand in their ready stance in case there is trouble from the North Korean side.  The building in the background is North Korean.

Our US JSA guide, a squared-away young PFC.  The square two-story building on the hill behind him is a North Korean guard post.

A lone North Korean guard.  A minute or two after I took his photo, he took out his binoculars to check us out.

Inside one of the MAC buildings.  The photo is taken from the North Korean side of the MDL, which divides the room evenly.  Often, North Korean guards will walk up and look in the windows to check out the visitors.  Alas, we were ignored this day.  I guess we were not important enough for that or it was simply too cold for the guards to come out and bother with us.

 Visitors are also taken on a short drive to a UN guard post where they can see The Bridge of No Return (where POWs exchanged in 1953 and the 82 USS Pueblo prisoners were returned in 1968), Propaganda Village, and the hills and mountains of North Korea beyond.

In the center is the Bridge of No Return.  The tall tower faintly visible to the left  is a North Korean flag flying over Propaganda Village.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with the camera that day.

On a good day, here is what it looks like.  Yes, that flag is huge.

In 1976, North Korean guards armed with axes attacked a US/UN work party attempting to prune a tree obscuring the view between two UN guard posts.  Two US officers were killed and several more in the party were wounded.

Famous photograph taken of a rather infamous incident.

Site of the tree today.

The Bridge of No Return.

 That's it from the time capsule, but I will leave you with two final photos.

Southern side of Freedom Bridge.

And some North Korean-produced (and not very tasty) wine from the JSA gift shop.