The beginning of Paulliver's Travels
Since I have lived in six different places in America, two in China, and traveled through many others, I have a long backlog of entries, so the dates on the entries and the posts may not always match. This summer, when I return to the States for a couple of months, I'll have access to pictures, or might just create a link to my Facebook account. Old friends of mine will recognize the entries on my life in Taizhou, but there will be addition content on other cities. Those of you who wish to read my stories of China and Europe, please be patient. I'm going to try and write the story of my travels in chronological order.
The beginning of Paulliver's Travels (at least without the family) was, as it is for many young Midwesterners, due to competition. I went on road trips for debate. Sorry, not football or basketball. Debate tournaments. There are several Iowan towns I only know of because their high school hosted one. As a freshman, on these road trips I learned that "Star Trek" did not invent the idea of non-interference (they just called it the Prime Directive), the "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" song, that you should always allow couples to sit in the back of the bus so the coach can pretend to not notice their making out, and that polite political discourse is possible, despite whatever you've seen on TV. As a senior, I was practically assistant coach, as I am better at explaining things than I am at winning competitions. One greeting to me was, "Hey, can I pick your brain?"
But at the age of six (?) I took a road trip with my uncle and his family. We started west from Iowa to the Rockies, drove up north through Yellowstone National Park, then swung back east to the Black Hills, and then south again to home. I must confess, I lied to my aunt about being allergic to mayo. I just didn't like it. Strange how that is my most vivid memory. When I look back at the photos I took, I do notice the majesty of the mountains and grandeur of Mount Rushmore, but the real emotion I feel now is how lonely the wood cabins and farms seem in the midst of those mountains. No wonder I'm a city person.
And every summer my parents, little brother, and I went to West Okoboji Lake, which is attached to Spirit Lake and East Okiboji. Funny how that works. My Mom's best friend's grandfather's business owned a cabin on the lakeshore; six bedrooms, a porch, a dock, no TV; the perfect week long get away spot. The parents fished all morning and played bridge all evening, with other stuff inbetween. Mini-golf, chess, shopping, obviously swimming. My mom's lasagna was a greatly anticipated event, but we also ate a lot of fish and grilled our own hamburgers. Sometimes we hung out with kids from other cabins, but then the smaller cabins nearby for regular folks were torn down for McMansions, so not only are there a lot fewer people, we only see them going from their McMansion to their McMini-yacht. But at least the place is still quiet and family friendly. Just fewer families.
Those of you who watch "The X-Files" may think you know about Okoboji, but you don't. The real lakes are on flat land, almost completely developed for tourism, and is filled with fishermen, skiers, and the occasional swimmer. "The X-Files" Okoboji has a mountain, is surrounded by pine trees, and has a wolf pack and a biker gang. Oh, and one fisherman. They also spell the name right in the little subtitles but wrong on the highway sign.
Okoboji is also home to a fictional university, so don't forget to buy a sweater or coffee mug for a college whose majors include water skiing and mini-golf. I've been tempted to set a novel at the university, but I think someone has already beaten me to the punch.
The beginning of Paulliver's Travels (at least without the family) was, as it is for many young Midwesterners, due to competition. I went on road trips for debate. Sorry, not football or basketball. Debate tournaments. There are several Iowan towns I only know of because their high school hosted one. As a freshman, on these road trips I learned that "Star Trek" did not invent the idea of non-interference (they just called it the Prime Directive), the "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" song, that you should always allow couples to sit in the back of the bus so the coach can pretend to not notice their making out, and that polite political discourse is possible, despite whatever you've seen on TV. As a senior, I was practically assistant coach, as I am better at explaining things than I am at winning competitions. One greeting to me was, "Hey, can I pick your brain?"
But at the age of six (?) I took a road trip with my uncle and his family. We started west from Iowa to the Rockies, drove up north through Yellowstone National Park, then swung back east to the Black Hills, and then south again to home. I must confess, I lied to my aunt about being allergic to mayo. I just didn't like it. Strange how that is my most vivid memory. When I look back at the photos I took, I do notice the majesty of the mountains and grandeur of Mount Rushmore, but the real emotion I feel now is how lonely the wood cabins and farms seem in the midst of those mountains. No wonder I'm a city person.
And every summer my parents, little brother, and I went to West Okoboji Lake, which is attached to Spirit Lake and East Okiboji. Funny how that works. My Mom's best friend's grandfather's business owned a cabin on the lakeshore; six bedrooms, a porch, a dock, no TV; the perfect week long get away spot. The parents fished all morning and played bridge all evening, with other stuff inbetween. Mini-golf, chess, shopping, obviously swimming. My mom's lasagna was a greatly anticipated event, but we also ate a lot of fish and grilled our own hamburgers. Sometimes we hung out with kids from other cabins, but then the smaller cabins nearby for regular folks were torn down for McMansions, so not only are there a lot fewer people, we only see them going from their McMansion to their McMini-yacht. But at least the place is still quiet and family friendly. Just fewer families.
Those of you who watch "The X-Files" may think you know about Okoboji, but you don't. The real lakes are on flat land, almost completely developed for tourism, and is filled with fishermen, skiers, and the occasional swimmer. "The X-Files" Okoboji has a mountain, is surrounded by pine trees, and has a wolf pack and a biker gang. Oh, and one fisherman. They also spell the name right in the little subtitles but wrong on the highway sign.
Okoboji is also home to a fictional university, so don't forget to buy a sweater or coffee mug for a college whose majors include water skiing and mini-golf. I've been tempted to set a novel at the university, but I think someone has already beaten me to the punch.