What the Pho?

So from the title you can probably guess this blog is about Pho. The title is actually the name of a place in Bellevue. Pho restaurants have some of the best names ever. Just a few that stand out to me: What the Pho?, Tic Tac Pho, and my personal favorite name Pho 88, which is strangely common.
But lets get into the meat of this (raw beef for me), what makes pho so good? And it's not just that it's good. It's magical. I've been sick for the last few days. I thought nothing could help me and then I remembered pho. So I went and got some pho at the place near my work, which isn't even that good, and now I feel like a new person. I can breath again! I can feel the broth running through my veins curing all my aches and pains. I actually feel human again, as opposed to the muscussy shell i've felt like recently.
I'm rambling again though, which is easy to do when I talk about pho. What I really want to know is if any of you out there have ever successfully managed to make a magical pho at home. I've tried before and it never turns out, so I'm looking for a good recipe. Even better, if any of you know someone, preferrably a lil old vietnamese woman who's been making it all her life, who can teach me hands on how to do it, let me know. Nothing would make me happier than to have a vat of pho broth brewing in my kitchen all winter long.