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Near and Far











I told you in earlier posts how the Corona Pandemic put a huge dent in our travel plans. We made the occasional trip to visit Auntie, but spent most of our time in Yeongdong waiting for things to return to normal. ⏳But, as Dad reminds me, sometimes you don't have to go very far from home to see new and exciting places and have fun doing it. Dad says he learned that lesson in Dublin, OH when I took Mom and him on walks through our neighborhood. West to the nature reserve. East to the park and sports fields. North and south through neighboring developments and their green lawns and nice sidewalks. We relearned it here in Yeongdong in the summer of 2023.


For some time, a "Well-being" resort had been under construction a few miles from home, near the Yeongdong Wine Tunnel and Wine Research Center. A golf resort complete with a multi-story hotel and several cafes. 🍵Rental cabins made in the traditional hanok style, with interesting roofs and white-plaster walls. A musical hall 🎼next to an art hall 🖼️ next to a Korean-style spa.♨️ A marvelous fountain and outdoor festival complex with acres of parking spaces. You may wonder where the money came from. It turns out, Yeongdong is home to the largest illite formation in the world (Note: Illite was first discovered in Illinois, USA, home of the 2nd largest deposit in the world). The resort and golf course were a joint development of the town and Illite Corporation, a company mining the mineral deposits and developing products for various applications in the ceramics, coating, drilling/oil exploration, agriculture, medical and cosmetic industries. Several surrounding towns have had such complexes for years, and Yeongdong was lagging the competition. No more.


One day in June, we drove there and walked all over the resort. Mom and Dad were surprised at how active I was. The thing is, I enjoy exploring new places. So many unfamiliar smells await me👃, and occasionally I bump into a new friend or two.🐕 That morning the weather was perfect, the sidewalks empty! Like always, Mom had prepared a snack for later on, so I was secretly licking my lips with every step up the inclined concrete and brick walkways. Finally, we went to the cafe and took a break.


Kids like me are forbidden to sit inside the cafe, so we sat outside in the shade at a table that seemed to be designed for me. Check out the photos. Do I look happy or what? The first photo in today's desk shows me and Dad on the upper plaza of the resort, with the Wine Research Center in the background. We took the next three at the cafe. Mom and Dad never splurge on fancy coffees, but on this special morning they literally bought two different designer coffees, which were delivered right to our table. I made do on Mom's cooking, some braised chicken breast and my trusty diet dog food washed down by slightly chilled water. Since that trip, we've visited several more times. But because of the summer heat, we're always there too early for the cafe (sometimes at 6:30 am! 🥱).


Later in June, we left town for an adventure in the city of Tongyeong, in the very southeast of Korea. Auntie, Little Samchun and Ddori live there now and we spent a few days with them. Ddori has a bad tooth or teeth, but because of his heart condition, he can't get the surgery to remove them. Sounds bad, right? Actually, Ddori loves Tongyeong and his new apartment, and he's doing really well there. He sleeps a lot but goes for more walks there than in Yeongdong. We spent time together on Geoje-do, Korea's 2nd largest island, located right next to Tongyeong. Many naval battles between Korea and Japan in the late 16th century occurred in the waters surrounding Tongyeong and Geoje. Today, Geoje is home to all of Korea's shipbuilding giants, and it's hard to lose sight of the ocean no matter where you are.

We spent one day touring almost the entire island of Geoje. We stopped at one museum to use the park and saw a replica of a unique 16th century Korean ship called geobukseon, or turtle ship. The name comes from the shape of the ship's upper deck, which resembled a turtle's shell and had protective metal spikes and plates. You can see the replica in the background of photo Number Seven, with a dragon's head on the prow. Dad tells me that back in the early 80s, when he lived in Korea, a very popular Korean cigarette brand his friends smoked was called Geobukseon. 🤣 Afterward, Mom and Dad took a walk in a national park (no entry for me), and then Dad and I posed in front of an interesting statue. Then we took a break at a beach entirely made of stones.


When we returned to the apartment, I was tired. But, as you know by now, I'm a duty-bound hound. As the last photo shows, I've got my command post on the southern frontier of the apartment picked out, and I keep watch for the delivery and garbage truck monsters who break the calm with their noisy engines and reverse-gear alarms. Dad tells me this commitment to duty is one of my unique character traits. He says it's like him sweeping the front porch and stone walkway of dead grass and debris several times a day, but at a much more lofty level. Occasionally, Dad will pass on sweeping the porch until later in the day, or after the rain stops. But for me, he says, there's never a vacation from vigilance. 🔭


Thanks for visiting my blog site. I look forward to telling you the next tale next time!


Until then,


Tango 🐾

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