25 years. My how the time passes. Seems only yesterday that I choked on stale wedding cake amongst the trees of northern Michigan where we camped for our 1 year anniversary celebration. Just Matt, my mom, my dad, and I enjoying the great outdoors. Now, many years, smiles, miles, and a few tears later, here we are staying in luxury at the Shangri La hotel in Hangzhou, China. A few million more people around us, but still so relaxing to step away from our daily life - if even for only a couple of days. The weather was perfect. The feel [View Full Entry]

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What we won't do for a cool t-shirt! My thanks go out to RJ and some greatwall friends from around the globe who provided all the photos presented in this blog. [View Full Entry]

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Spring has arrived in Shanghai and along with it the abundant peach blossoms of the Nanhui district. Recalling memories of Michigan celebrations such as Shepherd’s maple syrup festival, Houghton’s tip-up-town, and Frankenmuth’s Oktoberfest, we decide why not try the Peach Blossom Festival, Shanghai style! Let me tell you, the Chinese really know how to kick back and have a good time. We have often noticed that the Chinese seem to enjoy the simple things in life. Their sense of fun is a bit juvenile and conservative compared to the USA mindset, but entertaining and enjo [View Full Entry]

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8 days, 3 towns, a couple of domestic flights, a few boat excursions, and miles of dusty roads have given us insights into a Kingdom far removed from anything we've yet experienced in Asia. Here we see the extreme poverty of today's society contrasted with the remnants of the lavish outlay of resources from the beginings of this Khmer civilization. The ancient temples of Angkor are why we came - and they indeed are amazing. Ranking as one of the "seven forgotten wonders of the medieval mind" right along with the likes of the Taj Mahal and the Parthenon. These homes [View Full Entry]

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The family is together for the first time since last summer. It all feels so right. Longing for the relaxing days of Pensacola in the spring, we decide a beach retreat might be just the thing to satisfy our desire to rekindle some of our memories of family fun on the beach while exploring a new area. Sanya bay on the southern tip of Hainan island is the southern most point of China with coastlines adorned by the warm, lovely South China Sea. Our 4 days are spent mostly soaking up the sun on the nearly deserted beach. We walked for [View Full Entry]

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I think it's really where I'm goin to..... Ring a bell? Couldn't help but hum a little Bob Seger as we cruised through this free feelin' Asian country. We entered Nepal via the Friendship bridge. What a hoot! Nepalis lined up to carry our baggage down the muddy road and hillside to the bridge. Fortunate for us since we had a hard enough time just carrying ourselves over this trail like terrain. Lush, green, tropical, oxygen plentiful - all these things come to mind as we transferred ourselves out of the austere Tibetan environment into anything goes Nepal. Ty says, "This [View Full Entry]

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After flying about 5 hours west out of Shanghai, over barren expanses of mountain regions, we touch down in the land of Xizang, Chinese name for Tibet. It's as different from Shanghai as Detroit is from the California coastal region. The thin air at the 12,140' altitude takes our breath away making walking even 1 flight of stairs a lung choking workout. The people are darker with high cheekbones - just like comparing our sun deprived Detroiters to the California beach babes. Yes you can tell the difference between a Tibetan and a Chinese person. We spend a few days in [View Full Entry]

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Well, 23 celebrations ago, we dined on stale wedding cake wearing blue jeans and scruffy hair amid the pines of northern Michigan. Accompanied by my parents and camping in the great outdoors, it couldn’t get much sweeter than that. Fast forward to last Saturday night when we celebrated our marriage once again, only this time China style. Wearing our new China garb, we cruised aboard the Captain 2 on the “lovely” Huangpu river - eating and dancing the night away. There was champagne, wine, western and Asian fare, numerous friends, and of course, lots of cake! Perhaps the b [View Full Entry]

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There are several “must sees” on our China travel list, so we decided to use our May holiday break to visit one of them: the mighty Yangtze River. Spanning the distance from Tibet to Shanghai, the Yangtze is wide, rugged, polluted, and flanked by spectacular scenery and a cross section of many Chinese lifestyles. Our cruise vessel: the Victoria Katarina. A comfie little river cruiser complete with such unexpected amenities as private stateroom balconies for primo viewing, great food (a real perk for Sheri), HBO (Uggg - a real perk for the kids), a wonderful top viewing deck, lots [View Full Entry]

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Matt’s in Brazil, Ty and Jessie have vacation. So what’s a mom to do with 2 teenagers who have a week of time on their hands in China? Hmmm, something active. I know, lets climb a mountain! So climb we did. Not anything like what the local porters did, but enough to make all of our little American legs fatigued and ready for rest. Huangshan, also known as Yellow Mountain, is reputed to be the most lovely mountain in all of China. Rocky, breathtaking, dotted with tenacious odd shaped pines - a play land for those who love to breathe [View Full Entry]

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