Toroko/Hualian vacation

During spring break we rented a car and drove south of Taipei for a few hours to Toroko Gorge, and a town called Hualian. Along the way we drove through the world's longest tunnel...

We saw some beautiful scenery...

...and we all got carsick on the windy road!

For the most part, Evan was happy drawing in his sketchbook, then when he got bored with that he turned every single page into a paper airplane. They all came spilling out of the car when we opened the door.

And this is what Ashton did to pass the time....poor guy hasn't been in a carseat for almost a year.

Evan's favorite part of the vacation was going for a bike ride along the coast.

Hualian is known for it's marble, and the beaches are full of marble rocks, so Evan came home with quite a few 'treasures' from the beach.

We spent a day at 'Ocean Park' amusement park. Every time Ashton saw one of these characters walking around, he had to go give him a hug and tell him how NOT scary he was, and then show him how well he can dance. It was quite hilarious, and I wish I had my video camera!

Nate and Evan went on the log ride and got soaked. Nate wasn't so happy about it because as soon as you go into the cave, it showers on you so you have no choice but to get wet...

I learned from his experience, and bought a poncho. Evan was already wet, so I only bought one. But as you come out of the ride, you have to exit through the store where I had purchased my poncho, and when the sales lady saw me nice and dry in my new poncho, with Evan completely soaked, she literally gasped in horror, and looked at me like I was the worst mom in the world, jabbering at me in chinese. I tried to explain that he was already wet, but she didn't didn't speak any english. She just shook her head in disapproval and muttered some more chinese.

At the visitors center in Toroko they have aboriginal people weaving fabric and selling thier homemade things.

Everywhere we go in Taiwan, the kids always get mobbed by crowds of squealing girls saying how cute they are and wanting to take pictures of them. (don't ask me why they want pictures with strange random children but they all do) It's as if they were movie stars or something. It makes Evan a little uncomfortable, but Ashton loves it. He's even learned to flash the peace sign that they all do. One lady was trying to take a picture of Evan while we were in the gift shop, and he kept running away from her, so she chased him around until her tour bus finally left. Another elderly lady came running up to Ashton with her arms out like she was going to pick him up, and we all started backing up, and I put my body in front of Ashton, but she was very determined to hold him, and elbowed me right out of the way. So Nate picked him up, and she still kept reaching for him, and they almost spun in a complete circle before she finally pried him out of Nate's arms. She held him for about a second before he dove out of her arms back to Nate, thank goodness. Sheesh!

We went on a 2 kilometer hike to a waterfall. (as we came upon this cave, Ashton said "Uuuum, I don't wuv dis cave") It was a very exciting hike... Just like Indiana Jones! We walked through dark caves...

Over rickety bridges...

Jumped across the river on stones...

And got showered on by a waterfall!

And on the way back we ran into some missionaries. We took a group shot for Terry and Melba. (Nate's parents are coming here to be their new mission president in July)