Mind across the universe

"Soon there would be no light
** Night is falling down
Day across the universe"

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What's in it?

I don't think I had ever eaten SPAM in my life - until our trip out west. Think about it - meat preserved in a can doesn't exactly sound appetizing. And Spam is one of those foods with a bit of a social stigma here in the US. When my mom was growing up, my grandfather warned my grandmother to never buy Spam. He felt that by buying Spam, other people would get the impression that the family did not have enough money to buy decent food. Pretty harsh!

But as we drove through rural Minnesota on our recent trip to Yellowstone, billboards advertising the Spam Museum attracted our attention - and one main question reeled us in: What exactly is in Spam?

Believe it or not, the Spam Museum was actually quite fascinating. Opened just a few years ago by Hormel, the museum features interactive, multi-media exhibits describing the history of the world's most famous meat in a can. My favorite section was the video wall showing clips on how to make a variety of (delicious?) recipes using Spam, including the Okinawa specialty Spam musubi as demonstrated by an iron chef.

And across the street from the museum is a classic American diner, featuring Johnny's SPAMarama menu which includes Spam in all forms imaginable. And I tried Spam for the first time, in an Spam and cheese omlette. It wasn't half bad!

But my question was never answered. Maybe I'll never really know what exactly is in Spam.

Spam Museum
1937 SPAM Boulevard
Austin, Minnesota 55912



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Faithful audience

Everytime I visited a temple, garden, museum, or other sight in Japan, I was amazed by the huge crowds of camera-toting tourists gathered there. Growing up in America, I had never seen anything like it before! But that's only because I had never been to Yellowstone.

Millions of people visit Yellowstone every year and Old Faithful Geyser is one of the most popular spots in the park. Its popularity is partly due to its predictability. Unlike many geysers, which do not have a regular cycle, Old Faithful inevitably erupts every 45-90 minutes. As the clock counts down to the next eruption, hundreds (maybe even thousands) of people gather on the deck surrounding the geyser, cameras ready to capture the stunning image of hot water and steam shooting out of the earth.

But at the end of each eruption, the crowd flocks to the parking lot to drive to the next spot in the park - and Old Faithful is solitary once again. At least until the next eruption.

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Where the buffalo roam

America is a big country and many people would prefer to drive when traveling from one side to the other... but not us. We just returned from a long road trip, racking up over 3000 miles driving from Chicago to Yellowstone National Park and back again. What a ride!

It's a shock to be back in the city. The thing that struck me most about Yellowstone and particularly the area surrounding the park is that there is so much of nothing there. At some points during the trip, we found ourselves driving down roads with absolutely no signs of life outside the car windows - no other cars, no houses, not even any power lines. And I couldn't get a signal on my cell phone! If our car would have broken down, I don't know what we would have done.

From time to time, we did see animals though - and sometimes we were too close for comfort! Herds of buffalo would wander across roads, sometimes sitting obliviously on the yellow center line. They didn't pay any attention to us and we just tried to be as inconspicuous as possible - basically if you ignore them, they will ignore you.

What a different world we experienced during the road trip. It was hard to believe we were still in the same country!

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