Where was the last place of interest to you that you visited?

Darwin Australia----Interesting place. I was interested in The WW 2 attack by the Japanese and visiting some of the gambling casinos. I learned a new simple gambling game that I think they call Two Up.
 

Lon said:
Darwin Australia----Interesting place. I was interested in The WW 2 attack by the Japanese and visiting some of the gambling casinos. I learned a new simple gambling game that I think they call Two Up.
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I never made it up to Darwin, but wanted to. Might not have been welcome (I'm Japanese Canadian) .. like when my sister and late brother-in-law visited Pearl Harbour (everyone was staring at them .. this was in the late 60's).
 
Pinky, I was brought up in Vancouver/Richmond, B.C. very close to Steveston, which you've probably heard of. My high school was 1/3 Japanese kids and I used to trade lunches with my Japanese girlfriends, my ham and cheese sandwishes for their sushi. Last time I visited the village had changed from a small fishing/canning town to a very nice little tourist destination, also the location for the TV show Once Upon a Time.

http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2011/08/25/steveston-fishing-village-a-photo-essay/
 

Cookie, I lived in Vancouver from age 7 to 20. Before then, age 3 to 7, we lived in rural Alberta. We were fortunate enough not to be interned, as my father was a soldier with the Canadian Army fighting alongside the British in Continental Europe. His name appears in a couple of books. My brother accessed all of Dad's army records a couple of years ago. There was one very surprising piece of information amongst them .. now I know the reason for my name.

We never had sushi lunches (wish we had!) .. it was bologna or peanut butter sandwiches.

My brother took me to Steveston when I was in Van in 2010. We bought fresh shrimp right from the fishing boat and had them with our lunch the next day. So delicious (and I'm not even a shrimp eater, nor do I eat raw fish sushi).

I enjoyed the story and photos in your link :)
 
Guitarist, what a pristine beach. Where is it? I used to have a big shell collection, but like most other collections I had, I donated them to Value Village. They ranged from tiny ones I picked up at a beach on the Yorke Peninsula in S. Australia, to big ones my late father-in-law brought back from somewhere .. possibly Bermuda. They were in a huge dish, in glass ornamental jars, on side tables .. in handmade pictures I bought from an elderly woman whose son sent her shells from Florida. Elizabeth Hay was her name. I doubt she's around anymore. Her shell pictures were beautiful.
 
Just a gentle reminder that the flying Nisei, all volunteer Japanese American pilots,ten in all, chosen from the ranks of the Nisei
who worked in Intelligence during WW2, were among the most decorated pilots of the war. Certainly, it demeans us, and them to use prejudicial words such as "Jap." unacceptable language.
 
Thanks, Shalimar. That term still makes me cringe.

Recently, my sister's old high school friend and her husband (who are Chinese-Canadian, and a Supreme Court Judge in B.C.) were talking about the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. "Buddy" knows more about the Japanese Canadian experience than we do, and more surprisingly, he considered us to have been "on the same side" as Asian Canadians. I (rather shamefully) recall my parents, and some of my Chinese friends parents, speaking of one another as "enemies". It did not continue with my generation, thankfully. In fact, several of my Japanese Cdn. friends married Chinese Cdns.
 
You are most welcome, Pinky. I am glad to see that many old enmities have been buried. In the end, there is only one race, the human race. Either we are all equal, or none of us matter.
 
Don't forget that the highest U.S. decorated combat team of WW2 was the 442nd Regimental Combat Team comprised of mostly Japanese not to mention the 6,000 Japanese Americans that served in military intelligence all why their moms, dads, sisters and brothers were incarcerated in camps.
 
Lon said:
Don't forget that the highest U.S. decorated combat team of WW2 was the 442nd Regimental Combat Team comprised of mostly Japanese not to mention the 6,000 Japanese Americans that served in military intelligence all why their moms, dads, sisters and brothers were incarcerated in camps.
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I am sadly uneducated about the Japanese American experience, therefore I've lined up a couple of documentaries. As kids, though life was less than easy, myself and my siblings had our freedom, while most my age in Canada were interned in camps, separated from their fathers. We were fortunate, my father came home from the war.
 
I do not think I would have the strength of character and patriotism necessary to set aside the anguish I would feel seeing friends and families interred, in order to serve my country with the honour and bravery that these amazing individuals did. Truly, heroes in every sense of the word.
 
Pinky, you have a lot to be proud of. I'm glad that you didn't suffer much during the war years. I believe I mistook you for a younger person,
as I wasn't even around then and don't have much knowledge about it, except some time ago now, I helped a writer produce a novel set in an internment camp, the title of which eludes me now. None of my Japanese friends at school talked about it at all and I wouldn't have suspected either, because by then it was the late 60s and people were back on their feet. And I would have to do some research to find out if there was restitution to my friends' families, and I'm guessing there probably was.
 
Cookie, most JC's did not get back their properties, businesses or bank accounts. I don't know if it was so in Ontario, but in B.C. the government auctioned off properties to non-Japanese. Even though my father was a Canadian soldier, my parents had little more than the little clothing and bedding packed in boxes and minimal furniture they were able to move.

We brought up our daughter (who is half Scottish Cdn) to not discriminate, choosing a highly multi-racial neighbourhood to live in. It would be a disheartening experience to see one's child bear the brunt of racist attitudes. It pains me that racism does exist, and all we can do is try to change this through education.
 
Redd said:
I feel like I don't have to travel seeing all the wonderful pics here. Keep em coming.
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Please do. Yes, Florida's gulf coast beaches are the best...Panama Beach one of the nicest. At my age, the last places of interest have been funerals....only time the few friends left get to see one another. So they are literally a celebration of life. :D
 
jujube said:
I highly recommend the beaches of the Emerald Coast of Florida (Panama City Beach to Fort Walton Beach). We have a family house up there and they're my favorite beaches.

As gorgeous as it is and as much as I love it, I wouldn't recommend visiting Turkey anytime in the near future......
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Turkey is beautiful, but of course, it is definitely not safe there. I have Turkish relatives who were there this past winter, and won't be going back anytime soon. Normally, they would visit at least 2-3 times a year.
 
Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, which is a Supermax prison, a.k.a. "Alcatraz of the South." It houses 5000 prisoners with 2000 guards watching over them on 18,000 acres, which at one time was a slave plantation. (I am copying what I am reading in a brochure that was handed to us when we visited and explored the prison.) We were given a flak jacket and helmet w/face shield to wear when we toured the facility. Yes, we were able to speak and interact with a few of the prisoners.
 
SifuPhil said:
The restroom.

Not exactly interesting so much as necessary.

I can't even remember ... oh, okay - my son's wedding in Ohio.
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You beat me to it, Phil. :laugh: Great minds think alike. Sometimes that scares me. When my wife was having problems getting around, we invested in a toilet that meets AWD standards for people with disabilities. It's higher. More comfortable, and easier to get up and down from. In addition, we have a compressed air power flush. Saves water, and blows everything to smithereens with a satisfying Boom. Cost something like 900. but worth every dime. One of the reasons I never want to leave home now.

Not wanting to hijack the thread, the last place I visited of interest to me was Chad's Ford, PA. We used to go there every year. Sometimes two or three times. Longwood Gardens, Wintherthur, Brandywine museun with all of the Wyatt's stuff, and "Hanks Place"; a little hole in the wall diner with a great breakfast served amidst absolute chaos at 8AM. Without a doubt, my favorite memories. ..( Love you honey.:rose:)
 
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A little more on Angola Prison in Louisiana. I was sent down there to interview a "person of interest" for a double homicide here in PA. We had an interview room set up with video and audio recording available that we did take advantage of on that particular day. When they brought the prisoner in for us to conduct our interview, which he had already agreed to voluntarily cooperate with us and with his attorney by his side, they had this dude in ankle and wrist shackles and also a neck brace that was put on the week before due to his need to attempting to take on three guards.

When he was seated in the metal chair, his shackles were then locked into eye bolts that were cemented into the floor. Supermax prisons are much different from state prisons and nothing like a county lockup. What a life. We saw probably 5 or 6 all out fights, guards tossing (searching) individual cells looking for contraband, prisoners spitting at guards, also saw a few cells that were void of any prisoners only because they had spread feces on their walls and on and on. The place was like visiting Hell.

I just kept thinking to myself, "Why do we as human beings want to live like this?" The easy answer is that most people will say that all they know is hard times, lack of education and such, but when we become adults and can think for ourselves, don't we realize that there is a better way? After all, not all of them are morons. True, some are, but not all. I wish that every child when he/she turns 16 would be able to tour these types of facilities. Maybe it would have an effect on him/her that would traumatize them enough not to ever want to commit a crime.
 

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