Sunday, February 19, 2012

Viva la Panama Canal!

IMG_1347Stay home? What does that mean?! After my work trips to Charleston and Charlotte, I had one day of rest work before I packed back up again and headed south to the Republic of Panama. But what an opportunity it was! I certainly couldn't complain about the 90 degree weather, even if I was in meetings a majority of the time. I also got to bring Mom along - which was so fun to experience together.

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The reason for being in Panama City was for the US Grains Council's International Marketing Conference. I am excited to be serving on the Membership and Communications Advisory Team to help launch the new branding initiative, fresh and new with an updated logo and vibrant, user-friendly website (launching in the upcoming week). As my involvement with the US Grains Council has increased, so have my opportunities to see the importance of agriculture to the world (you may remember the corn mission through the Council that I traveled to Japan, Taiwan and China with in 2010).

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Traveling through the Panama Canal and getting an up-close view of the new Canal expansion site was a highlight for both Mom and I. An excursion from the conference gave us a beautiful, balmy evening to enjoy on a dinner cruise through the Panama Canal and through the locks from the Pacific side going inland to Gatun Lake. The locks, which have been installed and working since 1914, are the same and have not been replaced. Can you imagine all that it took to carve out the canal back in the early 1900's without the technology we have today, and it is all still in working shape?!
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Also while in Panama City, we had a great city tour, got some shopping in, and just enough sun to forget all of the snow back home. I will post about this next!

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Find  my pictures on my online photo album here.

Read here about my blog on the importance of the Canal to US Agriculture.

1 comment:

Melissa said...

Oh your travels are so awesome! Makes me wish I did something cool like that, hee! Looks like you both had a fantastic time.