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We did not walk or swim any great distances. Still, we talked about many things, learned a lot about one another, and were inspired by each other's intelligence, past experience, and hopes for the future.

This is how we picked our way through Hanoi's sensorily overstimulating and fascinating landscape. It was a barrage to the senses of endless honking, unfamiliar smells, and so much happening everywhere. 

It felt like a scavenger hunt looking for symbols of a bygone era in a car. We found the biggest concrete totem pole in the USA, an oversized sculpture of a blue whale given as an anniversary gift, fiberglass figures known as Muffler Men, and old motels with photo-worthy vintage signs. 

When I was a kid, we had a subscription to National Geographic. There were stacks of them in our home, and I spent hours and hours pouring over them. That's what started my lifelong fascination with the South Pacific.  

On an average day, Fairhope holds 20,000 people, but for three days every March, it packs in an extra 250,000. Typically in this part of the world, when large numbers of people fill a small town for a weekend, they fill a football stadium. But here they come for art.

The campus buildings are pure Gilded Age swagger. The original hotel opened in 1888 and today remains one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture in the USA. This hotel was remarkable even in an age known for over-the-top opulence and luxury.

We rambled along the Cowichan River, and our intrepid leaders, Judy Smith, and Ann Scholten, reminded us how this river is the heart of southern Vancouver Island. They got excited and animated whenever they talked about the river and its salmon.