Busan - Day 3

It's been overcast since we arrived - Today we woke up to steady rain. We drank 2 pots of coffee then tried to call the kids. They don't answer the phone when I call. Guess they are having such a good time with aunt Becca that I'm just a distant memory.

Takayla & Jake had to work today. This is Takayla's last day of work until we leave. It will be nice to have her tour us around a little bit.

Charmagne went with Takayla to see where she works and listen in on her classes. Unfortunately they wouldn't allow her to stay.

Troy & I wandered around the Lotte Hotel - 7 floors of shopping. Kind of like a Macys. I found some pretty sweet shoes, but wasn't going to pay 139,000 Won for them.
The people working the shops were very, very attentive. The second you touched an item they were right next to you. I ended up not wanting to touch anything - just easier that way since neither Troy nor I have bothered to learn any of the language.

After browsing around the mall for an hour or so we decided to eat - All of the restaurants have lifelike plastic displays of their food. We settled on a place that boasted a giant lobster with Marciano cherry eyes.

We were directed to a table and immediately given a menu. The waitstaff was very attentive. She pointed out a few items for us. We assume these were the things that were available. We decided on a beef veggie stew that was cooked for us at the table and served with an array of sides.

I'm pretty sure we were doing it wrong as most people appeared to be laughing at us and absolutely everyone ordered little, tiny, baby chicken soup - called Samgyetang - next time we'll know better.

The exchange rate when we changed over our money to Won was $1 = 1250W

Tokyo to South Korea

Our trip was delayed out of Minneapolis by 1.5hrs which caused us to miss our connecting flight out of Tokyo to Busan.

NWA had it going on - the minute we walked off the plane we were greeted by an NWA representative who had new tickets printed for us on Korean Air the next day. She also had made reservations for a free hotel stay in Tokyo.

Our hotel was pretty sweet. Free internet, free dinner, free breakfast - The coffee was really good. I collected a few cicada shells from the garden outside our hotel.

The exchange rate in Japan was $1 = .83Yen.
I felt the dollar was a bit weak.

We were impressed by the beer vending machines as mentioned in Troys Blog

We made it to Busan and were picked up at the airport by Jake. After settling in at Takayla & Jakes we had a nice Korean dinner.

(Also - Troy shaved his face before leaving Mpls.)
Posting a couple of pics:

Stone City, IA General Store Pub & surrounding area

Troy & I visited Iowa over the weekend. We were lucky enough to house swap with one of Troys old friends - Alex Ledger.

We started our trip with a case of Summit Exta Pale Ale. Honestly one of the best beers on the market.


Arriving in Marion IA, we settled in at Ledgers house and dove into those delicious beers. We then visited my old friend Flannery & her family in Cedar Rapids. Flannery was in town from San Francisco, to assist her parents in their annual garbage sale. We made out big time, leaving with a smoothie maker, a squirrel skull and a book of poems from my middle school years.

On Saturday Troy & I visited Stone City & Dubuque, IA -
Stone City is the home of Grant Wood - a pretty darn famous Iowa painter. Hes that guy that did that American Gothic painting.


We ate the best pork tenderloins EVER at The General Store located on the Wapsipinicon River in Stone City. These Tenderloins were the biggest & best I have ever had. Troys first time eating a pork tenderloin, he had to finish the entire thing.

After our tenderloins, we viewed the St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Stone City I will be buying this church and renovating it into my new home...just as soon as I get that money everyone owes me.

We then decided to visit Anamosa IA since it was only 3 miles down the road. Good thing we did since Troy & I were able to visit the special place John Wayne Gacy spent a couple of years. Anamosa State Penitentiary


We then stoped and pondered this special item for sale by owner.

A few additional pics of our trip...

Busan South Korea

Troy & I decided to take an impromptu trip to Busan South Korea! We leave July 21st and return August 2nd. I guess you could say we're pretty much spontaneous fun havers.

We spent an hour and a couple hundred bucks at the post office Tuesday morning applying for our expedited passports - complete with pictures that either make us look like drug dealers or drug users. Hopefully they let us into the country.

Megan & Samantha are excited to spend some time with their Aunt Becca while we're away.

When I called my dad he told me twice to "have fun in Mexico" Just letting me know how good of a listener he is I guess. He also had no comment on me traveling with a mysterious person named Troy. Got to love it!

St. Croix State Park Campgrounds

Troy & I decided to go camping at the last minute. We thought we would chance it and camp at one of the state parks non-reservable campsites.

There are 3 state parks fairly close together heading north on I-35. Interstate State Park, Wild River State Park & St. Croix State Park. After we got on the road, I called each to check on campsite availability.

Interstate Park had no campsites left. This was our first choice as there are only 37 campsites in the campground.

Wild River had 2 spots left, both hike-in camping spots. (Too bad we don't have lightweight gear)

St. Croix State Park claimed to have over 25 non-reservable spots left.

When we reached St. Croix State Park we were fairly impressed by the stately entrance and the 5 mile drive before reaching the campground area.




Driving through we noted only a small hand of campsites left and none offered much privacy from the neighboring campsites. The sites were so close together that we felt like we were trying to find parking at Walmart.

Here’s the breakdown on St. Croix’s 3 Campgrounds:

Riverview Campground has 59 sites, mostly electric for RV type camping

Paint Rock Springs has 66 campsites - non-electric, communal type sites.

Old Logging Trail Campground has 90 campsites, non-electric. This would be the only area we would ever consider camping in – The sites offered some privacy between campsites, but you could still see the front/ back of your neighbors regardless.

We counted 15 kids in a pack riding their bikes down the middle of the road, and later another gang of 10-15 walking on the road towards the bathroom area. My guess is with 217 campsites, there were at least 850 people camping at St. Croix State Park.

This just wasn't our kind of camping and we opted for the comfort and privacy of our living room. Next time, we’re going to reserve our spot at one of the smaller campgrounds or try our hand at camping in one of the State Forests.

Megan's 14th Birthday

June 10th - The day before the last day of school my Missy Megan turned 14.

Megan wanted steak for her birthday meal so we made reservations at Caspers Cherokee Sirloin House. The place is a big red barn complete with chuck wagon out front.
Megan had the steak and crab.

Becca and her friend William came up for the celebration.
I love seeing my sister.

Presents included an birthday tiara from Becca, an AC/DC shirt and pair of blue Converse from Troy, and a Rocawear purse from me.

June 11th was the last day of school. Megan wanted to have a birthday sleepover with 5 of her closest friends. It was a pretty typical sleep-over and thankfully no one got sick or wanted to go home at 2am.

Breakfast after the sleepover consisted of toaster strudels and chocolate mint ice cream. No better breakfast on the first day of summer. Unless you like pancakes.

Father Hennepin State Park Camping

June 5th we went camping at Father Hennepin State Park.

Father Hennepin State Park is located on the south east corner of Lake Mille Lacs. The area was absolutely beautiful and our campsites were nice and big. Unlike Sakatah Lake State park there was plenty of tree canopy to ensure privacy.

Our campsite was just a few hundred yards from Lake Mille Lacs. I loved being so close to the water and surrounded by so many trees. With all of the trees, it felt a good 15 degrees cooler at the campsite then in the city.

We knew this weekend was supposed to be rain-filled. Luckily we got in a good day of camping before calling it quits around 3pm on Saturday.

Troy and I may go without the kids next time and get our a bit more of our nature on.

Pics ----