...all things to Allmen...: more Taiwan pictures...

So in Taiwan, the family took one side trip to a city on the other side of the island called Hualien. It's halfway up the island, on the east coast. Squint, and you can see it on the map...

We took a train there, which was more convenient and comfy than driving, from what I've heard of the prior trips made there in the Miller-mobile. Here some of the crew at the train station:

The purpose of coming here was to visit Toroko Gorge National Park - kind of a subtropical Grand Canyon, so to speak. The park follows the winding path of a river than has cut some deep canyons through the mountains.

It was quite beautiful - we are supposedly surrounded by mountains in Chengdu, but I've never seen them. Maybe its a myth. But here, the mountains were tall, green, and quite wonderful to walk through.

We "hiked" a few kilometers across one trail that took us through a few tunnels and a bridge or two. Here's the Millers outside one of the tunnels, sans Mom.

And of course, there was fun to be had in picture-taking. This one took a few tries, but the effort was worth it in seeing the look on my wife's face!

Another highlight was biking through town along the ocean. Now, I appreciate the city's efforts to encourage biking - but it was a bit strange for much of the trip, because it was a bit like biking through Gary, Indiana. Sure, the ocean is beautiful, but it's hard to appreciate when a railroad and huge factory is blocking your view of it!

[Taking that video is about as death-defying a stunt as I am willing to try]

It looked like rain, but a stiff wind blowing off the ocean kept the clouds away long enough for us.

Another in an endless series of group shots that occurred during the trip. (side note: the one group shot we DIDN'T get was a nice studio-style shot of the family. uh oh! Sorry Mom II!)

As happens in many other circumstances, the biking had a larger-than-expected impact on Rachel's appearance. The hair, I can understand. It was windy. But why is she all wet?

And because no trip with the Millers would be complete without some kind of lodging complication, we came to our hotel to find this in the LOBBY:

Apparently the first floor was under renovation. We walked in and out of construction zones during our stay. Thankfully, the rooms were in much better condition...

Back in Kaohsiung, we didn't have time to do much more than pack, watch NU lose a close game to Missouri in the Alamo Bowl, and pack. It was tough trying to fit our Costco spoils, but we got it all here!