I’m back in Japan at last!  And so happy to be with Christopher again.  I arrived late Thursday night.  It’s pretty much a 24 hour trip – door to door.  Since I left home at 6am on Wednesday and arrived at 9pm on Thursday it’s like one 24 hour day.  I stayed awake the whole way so when I arrived I went right to sleep.  Pretty much no jet lag – although these cozy little pods looked pretty tempting in the Tokyo terminal.

Early Saturday morning Bill, Tracy and their daughter Pearl picked us up for our first road trip.  We traveled south on the expressway to the island of Kyushu.  At the top of the map below you can see where the bridge is that connects Kyushu to Honshu, the island we live on.  This is a very mountainous island and is the southern most island of the four main islands that make up Japan.  Note the rounded peninsula near the upper right part of the island.  That’s our destination.  We’ll spend some time there as well as inland from there.

We stopped at a typical rest stop along the Expressway.  This one had lots of wood carvings out front.

In the gift shop were these little stuffed Kokopelli’s all dressed in different outfits and t-shirts for sale.

For a salty snack there’s always dried sea life. And, my favorite from the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

Or you can get ramen in a bun – to go.

After about a three hour drive we arrived at Bungotakada.  Lots of interesting little shops.

We had lunch at Coffee House Brazil.  Really good food.  The owner brought out some of his homemade grape juice for us to try.  I had the “Lady’s Luncheon.”

 

Lots of fun wandering the town.

We wandered into a museum of sorts with some interesting cars.  The first is a Subaru 360 Deluxe.

Then it was off to our Onsen for the night.

It is on the site of a Buddhist temple.  Very peaceful.

We hiked around the grounds,

And climbed these stairs

to find this little shrine carved in the rock.

I love these old old stone steps

and how this wood has become one with the stone.

Then it was back to the onsen for a hot bath before dinner.  The main building was quite beautiful.

After our hot bath we don our yukata’s and head for the dining room for dinner.

First course.  How many tasty morsels can you name?

Second course – Nabe, prepared at the table.  On plate in foreground is duck.

Next course – Soba, buckwheat noodles, with dipping sauce.

And last – Miso soup.  It goes great with a little Rogue Stout!

After dinner we head back to our room where we’ll move the table to the side and lay out our shikibutons on the tatami mats.  (Roll our bedding out on the floor.)

After a great night’s sleep we head into the dinning room for breakfast.

While there we watched soba noodles being made.

Forgot to take a picture of breakfast but check out my coffee cup.

A pleasant way to start the day.

This was a great weekend with great friends.  We had so much fun working on all kinds of projects like

gathering driftwood for Christmas trees

making mosaics from broken plates

knitting

silver pounding

pillows from sweatshirts

We also made a lot of great salads from the produce we purchased along the way.

And amazing omelettes from the “Martha Stewart” eggs we bought at the SLO market.

Plus we got to enjoy this amazing pineapple that Yvonne grew in her backyard in Coronado.

We topped off the weekend with a wonderful dinner out to celebrate birthdays.  It’s so much fun to have such great friends.

 

Three days after returning from Japan I headed out on a road trip with a couple of my high school buddies.  Destination:  Aptos, a small town just south of Santa Cruz. Purpose:  A very long weekend with more high school buddies crafting and just hangin’ out.

It couldn’t have been a more perfect day for a drive up the coast.

Since it was a Thursday we decided to spend the night in San Luis Obispo.  My pals had never been to SLO on a Thursday night.  This is the night that the whole town turns out to wander and shop at the farmers market.

Blocks and blocks of downtown SLO are closed off for the market.  Restaurants bring out big bbq grills and serve up delicious Santa Maria tri-tip.  It’s really fun to check out the produce (we bought a lot!)

and listen to the street musicians

and people watch.

And you can’t go to SLO without visiting Bubble Gum Alley.  The first row of bubble gum was started when Chris and I were in college there back in the mid-70’s.

And speaking of Chris and me in the mid-70’s – here’s the famous dumpster where we first met.

Aside from bubble gum alley and the dumpster, SLO is also known for its beautiful mission

founded by our buddy the newly sainted Junipero Serra.

I’ve always liked the happy flowers painted along the walls.

And this is new on the plaza in front of the mission.

Back on the road the next day we continued our incredible drive up the coast on Hwy. 1.

There was so much to see along the way.

Pelicans in formation.

Elephant seals basking in the sun.

Zebras grazing with cows.

Acres of artichokes.

And an amazing vegetable stand with the best prices I’ve seen in years.  Probably because we were in the middle of the fields.

And at last we arrive in Aptos ready for a lot of crafting fun.

 

Well, it’s time to say goodbye to Christopher.  It’s been a great two months and we’ll see each other in Seattle/Ashland for Thanksgiving.  So, here are a few memories of our last couple of days here in Iwakuni.

Yesterday we walked past some beautiful homes

and past the local pachinko parlor

to our local sake brewery.

It’s very old and they have a great display of sake containers.

and this cool wood carving

 

where we bought a couple of bottles of sake.  (Stay tuned Buckhorn!)

On the way home we bought some vegees at our little market

and then back over our little bridge

to our house where we dropped off the sake and vegges and hopped in the car and drove north to Otake to Chris’ favorite bike shop.

where he bought a new bike trainer to help him get through the cold winter months.

Then home to my last wonderful Japanese dinner with Chris.  (vegees from the little market and sake from the local brewery)  Great sake in our beautiful sake cups.

This morning we went for another walk along the other side of the river where we saw little plants and bonsai trees growing on the bulkhead

and boats rafted up with bamboo moorings.

Then there are all the vegetable gardens along the banks of the river.

And rice nearly ready for harvest.

At this park

we turned around but not before appreciating this little shrine.

This time we crossed the river and decided to check out a temple we’d never explored.  As always it was high atop a hill.

Check out the close up of this stone carving.

Beside the temple were many very small shrines.

Bruce, we thought you’d appreciate this construction.

In the back of the temple was a row of stone carvings.

This one’s for you, Yvonne.

Not sure of the Japanese significance of this one.

On our walk home

Chris discovered this little Austin Cooper.

So now it’s time to say Sayonara.  Until we meet again.

Would you believe we went to Octoberfest last weekend?  In Japan, of course.

We biked the few blocks to the train station where we met our friends, Bill and Tracy and their daughter Pearl.  We hopped the 1156 train to Hiroshima, then jumped on a trolley across town to the Atomic Bomb Site and former home of the old Hiroshima Baseball Stadium.

We ate the food

 

And drank the beer

And dutifully threw away our trash.

And after several hours we finally got our oom-pah band

complete with an alpenhorn

A popular event for one and all.

 

Earlier this year I joined the Japanese American Society (JAS) whose purpose is to “strengthen the bonds of friendship and understanding between the citizens of the United States located at MCAS Iwakuni and the Japanese citizens of the local community … through education, social and cultural opportunities.  Through JAS I’ve taken Ikebana classes and a few language classes.

Last night Chris and I went to their monthly cooking class for the first time.  We arrived at the community center at 1800 and of course had to don slippers upon entering.

Once inside, the kitchen was abuzz with happy Japanese folks getting ready for class.  Tonight we were to learn all about sashimi!  Sashimi is raw fish and the word sashi mi means “pierced flesh.”  Mmm-mmm

This Japanese man spoke no English and took charge of teaching the technique of going from fish to sashimi.  Chris pays close attention

and dives right in.

Then there’s the peeling of the skin.

Meanwhile on the other side of the kitchen there’s all kinds of chopping and frying going on.

Then comes the big one.  Off with his head.

And remember those little fish?  Guess what you do with the skeletons?  You fry them up, add a lot of salt and turn them into chips.

Back on the other side – giant rice balls, slicing egg for the soup, raw fish salad.

And at long last – voila – dinner is served

and of course our buddy gets to watch us eat.

 

Really great people and a fun evening but you’ll have to ask Chris about the food. . .

Last Saturday Chris and I headed out on a hike to Three Peaks.  (photo found on internet)

It’s a 45 minute drive north and east of here on Mount Mikus at

Justin, I thought you’d appreciate this interesting climbing wall at the far end of the parking lot.

The only things we knew about this hike were from someone’s blog and from word-of-mouth.  No maps.  Mainly,  go up the B course and come back on the A course.  So off we go.  Not many people.  No park employees.  As we got started we passed many pristine campsites.

Lucky for us it was a bit overcast and perfect weather for hiking.

Very quiet and peaceful.  And very steep.  Often steep steps,

granite walls

where we came upon this couple preparing for their ascent.

As we hiked along we kept seeing these signs attached to the trees.  They looked fairly new and maybe important.  Oh well, we’ll just hope for the best.

We continue climbing and come to this sign.  Here’s Chris trying to use Google Translate to figure out what it says since it doesn’t look like A or B.  No luck.

We went right and climbed to the top of Peak No. 1

and got this wonderful view of the village below.

From here we climbed the short distance down and then up a very steep climb

(did I mention steep?)

to the top of Peak No. 2

with stunning views

Then down No. 2

and up again climbing straight up a dry (damp) waterfall

to the top of Peak No. 3!

The hike down Coarse A was mostly very steep steps through the woods and along creeks.  Very pretty.  A great day for hiking in Japan.  And, speaking of rocks and stones. . . . . .

We just made an amazing discovery.  Just a short walk from our house is a tiny restaurant

that happens to carry

The proprietor even drew the Stone icon on his chalkboard.

So, all in all, it was a mighty fine weekend here in Japan.

 

We’ve barely been home a week from our wonderful Bali holiday and we’re off on a four-day bicycle adventure

with friends Bill, Tracy, and their daughter, Pearl.

We left at 1600 Friday afternoon and biked to Yani, about an hour and a half south to catch the ferry to Imabari City.  We’re always so thankful to be traveling with Tracy as she is fluent in Japanese.  How do you say I want ferry tickets for 4 adults, 1 kid and 3 bikes in Japanese?  There is nothing in English here.

The ferrymen took very good care of our bikes, tying them down and even putting bumpers under the wheels so they wouldn’t roll away.

The ferry ride was 2.5 hours and it was dark when we rolled into our hotel for the night.  We grabbed dinner (and beer) at the 7-11 before we boarded and ate on the ferry.  I’m still trying to get used to going to 7-11’s for meals.  But, amazingly, they have very fresh, delicious, sushi, ramen, rice balls, and all kinds of Japanese dishes.

Anyway, this bike trip was incredible because it entailed crossing a lot of bridges and riding around several islands.  The route we took, commonly known as the Shimanami Kaido, consists of nine bridges and links Hiroshima Prefecture to Ehime Prefecture.  It was completed in 1999 and was designed to beautifully accommodate bicycles and pedestrians.

Every bridge is unique but the most amazing element is the access to the bridges for bikes and peds.  There are long (sometimes 2-3 km) sweeping, spiraling paths at about 3% grade to get from sea level up to the bridge deck high overhead.  Same thing coming off the bridges on the other side.  Traveling between the bridges and across the islands, bikes follow a blue stripe painted along the shoulder of the road designating the bike route.

The first bridge we crossed on Saturday was the Kurushima-Kaikyō Bridge.

It consists of three successive suspension bridges with six towers and four anchorages. There is a shared anchorage that joins each suspension bridge to the next. Its construction is similar to the western portion of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge which is two successive suspension bridges with four towers and one shared anchorage. The bridge’s total length is 4,015 meters (13,173 ft).

It’s hard to image the bike routes up to these bridges.  I tried and tried to photograph them but it’s just impossible.  You just gotta see it to believe it.

 

This bridge took us to Oshima Island.  On our way around the island we stopped at the Yoshiumi Rose Park for – ice cream of course – and while there discovered a playground with this crazy trampoline dome bulging out of the ground.

Then it was off to the Hakata-Oshima Bridge and Hakatajima Island.  This one consists of 2 bridges, the Hakata Bridge, a girder bridge with a total length of 325m, and the Oshima Bridge, a suspension bridge with a total length of 840m and a center span of 560m. Hakata Bridge is the first long bridge with steel box girders in Japan.

A short ride across Hakatajima Island and across Omishima Bridge.

This is the only arch bridge on the route and although the total length is only 328 m it is the longest arch bridge in Japan.  Here’s the bike path to the bridge

merging on to the bridge

From here we biked along the shore of Omishima Island to the coolest bridge of all – the Tatara Bridge.  But before telling you about this special bridge, we stopped at Tatara Shimanami Park or the Cyclers Sanctuary, a place for renting bikes,

getting food – like our fav – fried octopus balls

and would you believe there was even a Cannondale Test Ride event set up across the street.

Now, back to the Tatara Bridge.  It was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it was completed in 1999. The bridge has a center span of 890 meters (2,920 ft).  It is a steel-box-girder cable-stayed bridge, with a semi-fan cable-stay arrangement.

The 222-m-tall towers are inverted Y-shaped steel structures, with slits in the upper towers for aesthetics as well as aerodynamics.

(Side note:  The Tatara Bridge was originally planned as a suspension bridge in 1973. In 1989, the design was changed to a cable-stayed bridge with the same span. By building a cable-stayed bridge a large excavation for an anchorage would not be needed, thereby lessening the environmental impact on the surrounding area.  Construction of the bridge took a little more than six years and was accomplished without any accidents. Many technological advancements were part of the design and testing of the bridge.)

Taking the bike path up to the bridge

At last we settled in to our funky onsen for the night

which happened to be right on the beach

which means. . .

or if you’re a local. . .

The next morning we awoke to a torrential downpour with lots of wind, so we waited for a break in the weather and headed out around 0930

directly for the most important stop of the trip

gelato – of course!  A great way to start a rainy bike ride.

What’s cool about this route is that it is so bike oriented.  Many places have signs like these.  Note the floor pumps and the helmets on the man/woman symbols.

Today we head back the way we came.  Back over the Tatara Bridge

 

and the Oshima Bridge

and the grand Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge

One last night in Imabari City with dinner at the Tomato & Onion for some “real” food.

Then a two hour ride to the ferry the next morning

and another couple hours back up the coast to home.

Our first wonderful tandem tour in Japan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to leave our little island life.

Our destination is Kuta, back on the mainland of Bali and just north of the Denpasar airport and one last night before heading home.  So if you remember how we got to Gili Meno, our trip back had some similarities.

We left WeBe Cottages at 0900 and boarded the “fast” boat for Gili T at 1000.

This short hop to the next closest island stopped at Gili Air and Lomboc before dropping us off at Gili T where we caught another boat to Padangbai, on the mainland, around noon.  The boat was actually air conditioned and we watched the movie Jarassic World on our crossing.  We arrived just as the dinosaurs had devoured each other around 1330.  We were then directed to get in a 15 passenger van that was nearly full, where we sat with no ac waiting for the driver.  We eventually got underway and I couldn’t help chuckling to myself as we passed by jungle scenes where I was sure some of those escaped dinosaurs would come crashing out.

After a couple long, hot hours we made it to Kuta where we jumped out of the van and hoofed it the rest of the way to our hotel, the Royal 18.  Kuta is a very bustling city.  Here’s the view outside our window.  That’s the Holiday Inn Express in the background.

We leave tomorrow so off we go to explore Kuta.  It’s known for its beach which is huge.

On the land side of the beach are venders selling food, trinkets, and Bintang, of course.

As we walked north along the beach we encountered a couple of ceremonies.  Thirty days after someone dies, they have a ceremony like these.  We also saw the same thing blocking most of a street.

The men seated in the front row have bells they keep a steady, constant ringing, all slightly different tones.

This is a shot of the sky just to show you the kites we’ve been seeing.

 

 

Back in the city we came upon a crowd of people and discover what looked like a doggy fashion show.  (Look out Huckleberry.  This might be in your future.)

Here’s Chris buying grilled corn-on-the-cob from a street vendor.

And a sign I couldn’t resist.

A bamboo construction project

And this was a good one – Trip Advisors 2015 Certificate of Excellence Award.

 

And as the moon comes up over the streets of Kuta

so does our Bali vacation come to a magical end.