China Part II

One of the days in Beijing our talks were cancelled so my colleague and I talked to our hotel concierge and got a map of the city and instructions on where we could pick up the subway. The subway only cost $2 to go across town, so we visited "The Summer Palace" also known as "The Gardens of Nurtured Harmony", which is an extensive palace complex built on a forested hill next to a lake where the Chinese Emperors took up summer residence starting in the tenth century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace . When we woke in the morning it was snowing and it snowed lightly most of the day. It was also quite foggy, so I have some rare "winter" pictures of the Summer Palace.

Part of the palace gardens include a series of canals, which are full of lily pads during the summer months an on which you can either rent a boat or take a floating tour. Here the water has a thin coating of ice.

The garden paths were in the process of being swept by the grounds keepers using bamboo brooms

Many of the covered patios, pagodas, and walkways had beautiful lacquer paintings in the inner roofs/ceilings and door posts.

Here you can just make out the distance shore through the mist

This pavilion that was made to look like a lake barge is made entirely of marble.

This is a section of "The Long Corridor": a covered walkway that is at least a quarter mile long and follows the lake front.

China Part I

On Nov 29th I flew to China for 8 days to give talks at universities and attend an international faculty conference. I first flew from Denver to Shanghai, and after storing our conference booth and supplies at the conference hotel, my colleague Brad and I spent the night in Shanghai and then the next morning flew from Shanghai to Beijing for three days to give some workshops at a couple of universities there. We were able to do a bit of touring at all of the major spots. One day we struck out on our own with a map and visited the "Summer Palace" and 2008 Olympic venue. The next day we arranged a tour via the hotel concierge and were driven around in a van to Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, a jade factory, the Great Wall, a silk factory, and a tea house. On the morning of the 4th we flew back to Shanghai for our conference. We didn't have any time for touring in Shanghai, but did go shopping several times in what I call "the thieves quarter". It was a huge underground shopping bazaar where almost everything is a fake brand. Every price was negotiable and no matter how little you pay you still feel like you got ripped off. I had forgotten to pack dress shoes so I bought a nice looking pair for cheap that ended up killing my feet because the nail heads pushed through the inside of the sole (you get what you pay for). They still look nice but I'll be buying some Dr. Scholl's padded insoles. I did find a reputable tailor and had a cashmere overcoat custom-made with a silk lining for $120 (retail in the US for a comparable coat would be at least $500). The trip home took about 20 hours. I took my big camera and have lots of pictures, but thought I'd share them in installments rather than one huge post.

This is our bathroom in our room at the Marriott hotel in Beijing. It wasn't until later we found the electric switch that lowered the hidden blind.

Brad and I frequently share rooms to save money.

It snowed our first day in Beijing, which turned out to be a blessing

This is the American embassy in Beijing. The Embassy District was just down the street from our hotel. I tried to take a closer picture but the guards were very unhappy about that, so I went across the street. The big line are people applying for visas to visit the US.

Funny public bathroom pics.


No sitting down on the job in this bathroom stall...

Track and Field venue (the bird's nest)

Water sports venue (now converted to an indoor water park)

This is where the Olympic athletes stayed across the street. They are now apartments that were completely sold out before the Olympics began.

the Water palace at night

Thanksgiving with Levi and Chelsey

This Thanksgiving Levi and Chelsey invited us to celebrate Thanksgiving at the home they bought this summer. Mom of course had to up the ante a little and so we ended up convincing Jarom and Allie to abandon their families and come with us. We flew to Sacramento late Wednesday night and spent Thanksgiving Day at Levi and Chelsey's house in Auburn. Thanksgiving night we drove up to Chelsey's family's cabin at Lake Tahoe (about 90 minutes away) and spent all day Friday (including skiing) and Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon we drove back to Auburn and visited a famous bridge, went bowling, and had In and Out Burgers for dinner. Sunday morning we left to come home having had a wonderful time.

Hanging out in the frequent flier lounge at Denver Airport

Thursday AM feast preparations

Allie enjoys a little breakfast

The puppies: Ari Gold

...and Zoe

The puppies know they have to stay out of the kitchen, but wait just outside hoping for a handout

Levi poses under one of about 10 redwood trees in their beautiful and huge backyard

Allie makes apple pie dessert

Levi puts the finishing touches on the turkey

Chelsey teaches us a new holiday breakfast favorite: sausage and cheese balls

What is becoming a Thanksgiving tradition at Levi and Chelsey's: watching the national dog show with the puppies (who are very interested and have to be calmed down now and then)

Levi exercising his right as the head of the household: the first drumstick

Papa Randy whips up the gravy

Grandma Jane makes the homemade rolls

Our Thanksgiving table

We are thankful for the food which we are about to eat

Friday the snowboarder (and skier) head to the Sugar Bowl ski resort for a few hours on the slopes

Friday evening we head into the town of Lake Tahoe for a little site-seeing and lake-side dining

Nothing says "vacation" better than relaxing in a mountain cabin with a warm fire, good food, family, good books and funny movies

The ForestHill Bridge is California's highest bridge, and was used in the opening scene of the Vin Diesel movie, "XXX" (triple X).

In a sad but sort of funny way, there are suicide help phone lines at both ends and in the middle of the bridge: Jarom talks to the operator about his options

Lots of love messages scratched into the railing

Winding up Saturday with In and Out Burgers and bowling

Allie made sure we had lots of pictures of Levi

Tasting some really hot chili sauce and attempting front flips on snowboards at the Sugar Bowl ski resort