Reflections on Vacationing with the Parents

At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry and Pippin rode on to Buckland; and already they were singing again as they went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. and he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.
He drew a deep breath. "Well, I'm back," he said.

The vacation is over.

It was a great time -- as if all Taiwan conspired to give my parents the best experience they possibly could. My friends took us out for meals, paid for hotels, and set us up with good hotel rooms when they couldn't pay. My family treated them to their hotel in Taipei, and bought them dinner at the famous Grand Hotel. Everywhere we went people treated my parents with the greatest solicitousness and friendliness. They truly saw the island at its best. I'd like to thank my friends Jane and Ho, Jeff, Jerome, Daniel, Ryan and Iris, and so many others for making my parents' trip special.

In the nine day swing around the island I shot over 2 gig of pics, so brace yourselves. I'm still cataloguing and arranging them. The rainy weather made for some awesome picture taking conditions, especially on the Suhua Highway between I-lan and Hualien. The food was fantastic and every day we ate two gut-busting meals at least. I gained five kilos. The kids had a ball interacting with my grandparents. My mother didn't say a word about my driving, either. She was a trooper.

All in all, a wonderful experience. I hope you all have your parents come over for a good time too. Stay tuned for an avalanche of posts.

[Taiwan]