Wayne Grabow:  

Tomorrow, Dawn and I will arrive home after a memorable five-week trip. We started this trip by enjoying four days in Northern California, wine country. Dawn grew up in Marin County, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is still a beautiful area but much more developed than it was then. We lived in that area, 1972-74, when we had only been married a short period. The simple farmhouse we rented is still there, but the surroundings have changed greatly. It was during that period that we decided that I would change careers from engineering to dentistry. Our trip included 25 days in Japan and South Korea, including 16 stops circumnavigating the four major Japanese islands. The most impressive part was our four stops in South Korea. This country has transformed itself into a major international power in shipbuilding, automobile manufacture, electronics, and even entertainment (K-pop). I believe their secret is the emphasis on education and competition which is also reflected in their modern cities. Dawn and I tend to spend more time exploring modern shopping malls than historical museums, believing that the malls better tell the story of life there today. The last part of our trip has been to central California, Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo. This is the area where I graduated at UCS...Expand for more