And We're Back...

I haven't been here in a while, because I am studying my ass off.  I couldn't help but post this though:
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120318000381

I do not support this law, but I am glad that people are starting to take a serious look at the rights of adopted children or children to be adopted. What's missing from the article is the fact that these changes were at least proposed by adoptee organizations (I knew about their involvement) and the Korean Unwed Mothers' Families' Association (missed theirs somehow).

Homeward Bound

We are finally back in Korea.  After nearly six months of traveling and living out of suitcases, we have a new (to us) apartment in Cheongdam.  We can get back to a regular schedule, and settle back into work and school.  We'll have pictures up soon enough.

Wild Rovers

We took another short trip, this time to Sedona.  We didn't get pictures of the drive down, but it was awesome.  You lose elevation extremely quickly coming from the north through a series of switchbacks on 89A.  We got into Sedona before noon and did a little shopping.  We didn't go into the museum, but they had a Sedona film museum detailing all the westerns that were shot in and around Sedona.  We saved the hiking for the next day.  These pictures were taken around our hotel.

Sunset from just outside the hotel.

The view from the hotel room.

We did two big hikes for the day.  The first one was at Red Rock State Park.  It's a nature reserve, so it was more of a long walk than a real hike.  The second hike was to see Cathedral Rock.  This was more of a true hike with more gains in elevation over a shorter distance.

After the two larger hikes, we drove back via scenic Highway 179 where we did another short hike.  It's one of the shortest scenic highways in Arizona, but the views are great.  Sedona was definitely worth the trip and we would like to go back in the future.

War and Peace

From Wordpress

At over 1700 pages including the two epilogues, War and Peace can seem like an insurmountable read.  It took me four months of on and off reading through Russia, Turkey, Greece, and finally the United States to finish it.  I'm sure everyone knows the title, but I'm sure not everyone knows the story.  It's a sweeping epic that takes place during the Napoleonic Wars.  War and Peace mainly follows the Rostov family and their acquaintances from prior to the war, through the war, and then into the aftermath.  The bulk of the book is like a serial soap opera.  There is love, betrayal, political intrigue, war, and passion.  The only parts I could imagine someone getting bogged down in are the very technical military parts (which I enjoyed) and the parts where Tolstoy starts self-aggrandizing his views and why they are right and why other historians are wrong (which I found tedious).  Overall, it is a pretty good read.  It just takes a lot of time and patience to get through.

Best Western Squire Inn - Tusayan, AZ

For the first time in our lives Emily and I got upgraded.  When we first went to check-in the room wasn't ready.  So, we went to the Grand Canyon.  By the time we got back to the hotel, the room we were supposed to get was undergoing maintenance.  Therefore, we got bumped up to a business suite.  The business suite was great.  It had a small kitchen area, a sitting area, a very nice bedroom, and to top it all off, a jacuzzi.

We ate lunch, dinner, and breakfast at the hotel in that order.  The lunch was pretty average.  I got a pastrami sandwich and Emily got sliders.  Neither was terrible, but neither was amazing either.  For dinner, we ate at their other, nicer restaurant.  They offered local fare like buffalo and elk.  It was much better and well worth it.  They had a fairly decent wine list as well as a bar out front that you could order drinks from.  The breakfast was a standard American buffet.  They had eggs, potatoes, pancakes, fruit juice, fruit, and oatmeal.  It was fine for a hotel buffet, but again nothing amazing.

The hotel is in a prime location just like all the other Tusayan hotels.  I wouldn't necessarily suggest this hotel over any of the other options.  It is a five minute drive from the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park just like all the other hotels in the area.  I would suggest this particular hotel if you can get a better rate in relation to the other Tusayan hotels.

Get Your Kicks, On Route 66!

When we started working out how we were going to get to the Grand Canyon, we discovered that we would be driving a pretty sizable stretch of the Arizona section of Old Route 66.  Unfortunately, I-40 covers almost the entire road, but a lot of the kitch remains!  We were able to see Twin Arrows and Two Guns from the road, but they were in horrible disrepair.  I read on one site that you can't even get to Two Guns anymore, because the buildings are on the verge of collapse.  We were still able to get off the interstate and hit some of the old Route 66 staples though.

That is the Meteor Crater site.  It's the second famous hole in Arizona's landscape.

We also stopped off to see the World's Largest Petrified Tree (left) at Geronimo.  Emily decided to climb inside of a teepee while we were there.

We even got to see the Wigwam Hotel in Holbrook.  They have been photographed a lot, but they probably seem familiar to most people because they inspired the Safety Cone Hotel in the movie Cars.

On our way through Holbrook, we hit up one of Route 66's staple restaurants: Joe and Aggies Cafe.  It is also the oldest restaurant in Holbrook.  The food was tasty.  I would recommend the red chili.  It's got a nice kick to it.  Emily got the Navajo Taco.  The waiter told us that it was very popular in the area.  Basically, it's taco fixings inside of Navajo fry-bread.  In a word: delicious!

An American Tale: Richard and Emily Go West

Emily and I took a two-day trip to the Grand Canyon.  Just like everywhere else we went, it was low season.  That means, it was nice and quiet.  They haven't seen much snow this year, so the roads were nice and clear.  All in all, I would say it was the perfect time to go.  The entire southern rim was open including the Desert View road, which can close if there is heavy snow.  We'll get to that later.  

I really like sitting with my feet dangling off edges.

The pictures above are from our first afternoon there.  We tried to check-in to the hotel, but we were there too early.  So, we got some lunch and drove out to Grand Canyon National Park.  It really is awe inspiring.  The cold weather makes the sky clear, so you can see all the mountain ranges to the north and the east.

We decided to hang out until sunset.  We walked a little under a mile back to the shuttle bus stop.  We checked in at the hotel around 7PM.  We ended up getting really lucky.  The room we were supposed to be in was undergoing maintenance work, so we got upgraded to a business suite.  The room was great.  It had a bar, a small kitchen, a sitting area, a king-sized bed, and a jacuzzi.  The jacuzzi was definitely the highlight.  We woke up the next morning rested and relaxed.  We decided to drive out on the Desert View road and take the eastern exit out of the park.

I would recommend that route to anyone that has a car.  The Desert View road offers unique views of the canyon and the Little Colorado River.  It also has the Tusayan ruins and museum, which is worth a quick look.  The road to the east runs through Navajo country.  When you hit the descent out of Grand Canyon National Park, you can see the Painted Desert.  The road gets very little traffic, which means you can take your time if you want to.