A First Time For Everything

This past weekend we went on our first family of four vacation. We visited the city of Hangzhou, which is south of Shanghai. Here is a little information on Hangzhou. The city’s history can be traced to around 8,000 years ago. The city was developed around a lake called Xihu. Which, translated into English means West Lake. The lake is 1,606 acres. For you MI people that is around 2/3 the size of Gull Lake. And for AL folks it's roughly 1/27 the size of Lake Martin. (Ha! Not much of a reference point.) For you MO folks, sorry to say I have no good comparison. Anyway, the lake is located at the city's center. Numerous small canals run off the lake and the city was built with its buildings on the edge of those canals. Back then, the canals were used as roads. All the buildings faced the water so the passers by could visit, see each other, and shop. Unfortunately, most of those buildings are long gone, but you are still able to get the general idea.

We had a great time on our vacation even though it was raining off and on most of the weekend. Hopefully we will be able to go back for another visit when it won't be raining. We took over 120 pictures while there for 2 days. I can't put them all on this sight. But I will put up a few of the best. For those of you with Facebook, I put them all on my page. Check them out if you want. Here are a few...

First Class waiting area at the train station. Open, clean, quiet, overall very nice.


Michael and Maddox on the boat ride to the islands in the lake.


Jessica and Gabe waiting on the boat.


Gabe said he wanted his picture taken with his leg up on the rock because, "I look good." Then he said Maddox needed to be in the picture, "So he can look good to." This picture was taken on one of the islands in the lake. The islands name is "Chong Er" which means Endless Romance Here.


A view from the island. In the background is "Leifeng Xizhao" or Evening Sunlight at Thunder Peak Pagoda. Rebuilt in 2002 after the origional collapsed in 1924. The foundation dates back to AD 976.


Now you can scroll back up and finish reading the previous post. (Hangzhou Family Vacation Pictures) Sorry for the confusion. I am technology challenged.