Mike

I don’t know if I’d call Sitka worth the trip in general, but we were visiting family (both my brother and my wife’s brother were on Sitka for different reasons. Weird), and that part was definately worth the trip.

The only reason I want to go is to see the Ogden Monument, the geographical center of the US.

We were at Veracruz and El Tajin wasn’t far away, so we decided to visit it. Tajin was SOOOO much older than Teotihuacan when we stopped there, it was an awesome contrast. You could just look at the pyramids and tell they were OLD, and yet they’ve withstood time amazingly well.

How could it not be worth visiting when I got married there?

We thought the wedding-in-vegas thing would be kitchy, but it actually one of the most romantic things we’ve ever done.

An apartment near UVic is where Amanda picked up our fabulous stuffed elk butt. For some reason the guys in the house didn’t want it. We smuggled it into the US and it’s proudly hanging over our fireplace now.

That’s the trip that I went curling for the first time as well!

Fond college memories.

Unfortunately we just missed out on the height of rose season at the gardens. It’s a beautiful place to visit while on the island, even if the roses aren’t out. Next time we go we’ll have to time it better!

It seems big when you live near it, but then driving to the park it just looms out from everywhere and takes over your whole vision.

For some reason it’s reassuring in a way to live near it as I can often (weather permitting) look to the mountain and know I’m near home.

As fairs go, this isn’t a bad one, if over commercialized. But really, old fairs were about selling cows, snake oil, and stealing kid’s money with “games”.

Now it’s all about selling cow chips, chamois, and stealing kid’s money with “games”.

As long as a good time is had, what’s the big deal? There is definately some keen junk to be had at the fair, and some just plain junk, but there’s also some good fun. Rides for those that like them including one of oldest remaining wooden roller coasters (the 6th oldest if memory serves).

They keep a strong effort in having things for people of all ages which is nice for family entertainment, too – from petting zoos to jugglers, to hot tub vendors.

Nice to visit. I probably have gone too much to see much spectacle anymore, but I still find myself going almost every year.

We stopped by here on a roadtrip – we heard they had the world’s largest hairball. Any abbey that would keep something like that in their museum is worth visiting in my book!

While we were there we also saw a crown of thorns that looked really scary. The card said it was from a plant that “was possibly the very plant that grew the crown that was put on Jesus”. The skeptic in me wonders how they would know that, but it was cool to look at.

So, you take an old mine that closed shop, and which also has Radon throughout the mine and what do you do?

You could board it up and put a big “Warning! Radon!” sign. But where’s the money in that? Instead, turn it into a health facility.

Yup. Just come on down and bask in the healing power of… Radon.

I just can’t resist checking it out on a roadtrip someday.