The World According to Patty

Sapporo Snow Festival 2012

2012-02-11T12:54:00.000+09:00

The Sapporo Snow Festival was one of those checkmarks we wanted to be able to cross off our list of big things to do in Japan before leaving. Check! We put together this little trip at the very last minute, and with train tickets in hand, we set off for the 7 hour ride (from Honshu to Hokkaido via the undersea Seikan Tunnel) to Sapporo.

This is what everything between Misawa and Sapporo looks like in February.

So being in Sapporo and all, dinner upon arrival was naturally at the Sapporo Beer Factory's Bier Garten. We traipsed ourselves through an insane blizzard following malfunctioning phone gps directions back and forth between random streets until we finally found the place, essentially in human-icicle form. Our 100 minutes of all you can eat and drink grilled meat, veggies and beer were very well earned that night. I will say that the grounds were gorgeous, and the snow added some very lovely ambiance. I guess that stuff is good for something...

On to the festival:

It was cool! It was really, really cool. As in -5˚c at the warmest time of day. It sort of hurt after a few hours. Yet we saw what we wanted to see in between trips back to the hotel to defrost. There were several LARGE snow sculptures and countless medium and small-sized ones. There was an international competition with teams from cities all over the world. There were snowboard daredevils. There was ice skating. There were pretty lights and cute characters and happy smiling people.

And then there was food. Oh, there was food. And hot mulled wine. I guarantee you nothing has ever or will ever taste as good as that wine did that particular day.

Fun little trip! There's a bajillion more pictures (click on any of the ones here to get to the album) if you want to see all the other sculptures. Corey's headed back to Hokkaido in a couple weeks for a snowboarding trip, but this was probably it for me this time around in Japan. Glad I got to see a little slice of Sapporo!

Back to Normal... Plenty of Japan Adventures to Come!

2012-02-10T12:02:00.001+09:00

Corey and I have both been back in Misawa for a couple of weeks now and are very happily settling into our normal lives here once again! It feels gooooood to be home!

What have we been up to, you might ask?

First of all, Corey came home from his deployment in Djibouti (arriving a few days after me). YAY!!!! We've been soaking up together time. A lot. Actually I can't think of anytime we've been apart in the past 2.5 weeks... except like, in the bathroom and stuff.

We've been snowboarding (in silly facemasks... well, one of us at least).

We've been playing games.

We've played in a blizzard.

We've been catching up on our shows on our new TV (Our old one's picture turned neon green while we were away. Go figure.)

We've taken a train trip to Sapporo (more to come on that later).

We've been HAPPY!!!!

We've also found out that we are definitely for sure going to have to leave Misawa at the beginning of next year. INSERT BIG GIANT SAD FACE. Corey had been trying to find a way to stay for a while longer yet, but it just aint happening. I don't even want to think about leaving AT ALL... but since we have to, this year will be all about soaking up as much as we can before we have to say goodbye. Stay tuned!

The Magic of Space-A

2012-01-22T19:11:00.000+09:00

It's so nice to not pay for airfare! On the other hand, this trip costs 25 hours of time, thanks to all this roll-call, wait at the airport for 12 hours bullhonky. On the other hand, flying commercial (and paying for it) took me 29 hours last time anyway. On the other hand, I don't think there's free booze on this flight. On the other hand, I don't want booze anyway. On the other hand, there was a chance I wouldn't even get on a flight and would get stranded who knows where. On the other hand, I didn't and this flight is only half full and I'll get to stretch out and relax.

On the other hand, I'm so bored and sleepy at SeaTac in the middle of the night I have no idea what I'm rambling about.

Peace Out, CA!

2012-01-22T16:46:00.000+09:00

Time's up!!

I'm outta here, heading back home to Japan! I seriously can't believe how quickly these past 6 months flew by. I've had SO MUCH fun hanging out with my peeps and taking trips and eating Paxtis and not having earthquakes. Yet all good things must come to an end, and now on to the next GREAT thing... reuniting with my husband very soon and settling back into our life in Misawa!

Thank you all so, so much for making this time back home so special. To Margie, Eric, Béa and Theo for being so fun and letting me soak up baby cuteness. To Hilary for being forever. To Stan for being my best universe. To Mom for giving me a home. To Kib and Chris for being... well, everything. To Corey for making the most out of these past months and being his super amazing self even though he got the raw end of this deal. :) And to dozens more who made my time back home amazing! Thank you ALL!!

To Bernie for being my cuddle buddy. I'll miss you puppy!! Now stop barking.

The Year Begins

2012-01-02T13:25:00.000+09:00

Since I still have to wait a while for my first kiss of the new year, I was free to take this super cute shot of all the kissers at midnight at our little family celebration. How cute, right?

Then the year was off to a strong start with homemade bagels in the morning. Good year so far!

That being said, I already said my first stateside goodbye (to my cousins, both adult and baby). Sad! But wow, makes it real that I'll very soon be back to Japan. I'm SO excited!! Let's get this party started!

Goodbye Ridiculously Crazy Outrageous Year of 2011

2012-01-01T05:04:00.000+09:00

Earthquake. Tsunami. Triple nuclear meltdown. Thousands more earthquakes. Deployment. Pseudo temporary international move.

This year hasn't exactly been themed with stability.

Here's to a much calmer 2012!

Sunset taken from the bus at the end of our sobering day in Noda Village in April

A Christmas Goose

2011-12-29T07:29:00.000+09:00

Chris (my sister's fiancé) said he wanted a goose for Christmas dinner this year. Why not? We'd be Dickensian this year.

Sorry for this raw, wrinkly, naked carcass picture. It was the only one I remembered to take of our fatty friend.

This goose was an interesting experiment. This goose was ordered two weeks in advance. This goose cost $120. This goose produced maybe 6 servings of meat (half of which were eaten). This goose produced 2 GIANT bowls of fat while it was cooking, then was still the fattiest, most fatteningly fat meat product I've ever attempted to put into my mouth. But this goose was fun, and this goose made our holiday merry and bright.

As did cute babies and Christmas morning with Corey on Skype.

Happy Holidays!

EVE 6!

2011-12-13T11:32:00.000+09:00

Wow, blogging slump and a half, huh? Definitely have not been keeping up lately (not that there's been much to keep up with anyway). In any case, I'm back now because I can't NOT write about the show I went to this weekend. I'm still totally high on the experience (emotionally... I don't do the drugs. :) ).

You might remember Eve 6 (ya know, "wanna put my tender heart in a blender, watch it spin 'round to a beautiful oblivion") from like a decade ago. They put out 3 amazing albums that completely rocked my world. Then they went away. There were a couple side projects/psuedo almost-Eve6-like band start-ups in the form of Brotherhood of Lost Dogs (who I saw live) and The Sugi Tap (who I listened to from afar), but finally the OG, full-membered band has gotten back together and has recorded a new album that will be coming out in a few months. YAY!!

The show on Dec. 9th was in North Las Vegas (at the Access Showroom at the Aliante Station Hotel and Casino), so my friend Stanley and I flew out in the morning and killed time at the hotel/casino until the show later that night. It turned out that the band was staying at the same hotel, which gave me ample opportunity to finally work up the courage to actually meet all three members. See, I've seen them several times before, stood right next to them while my friends struck up casual conversations, brushed against Max at a bar, but have always been too chicken to actually speak to any of them. Not this time! I was determined not to be so shy. And it worked! Passing Tony by the hotel elevators, I walked right up and introduced myself (awkwardly, but whatchagonnado...). We chitchatted for a couple of minutes, and he was so nice! Then later I did the exact same thing when Max and John were walking through the casino. They were all SO NICE, and I was just so, so stoked. SO EXCITING!!

A terrible blurry picture, but that's Max Collins and my arm. Just chattin it up with Eve 6!

The show was amazing. Just awesome, no other words. Max's lyrics are fracking clever as all get-out, and his voice and the music are just... UUNNNGGG!! You know that noise I'm talking about?? They hit you down deep in the guts. If you've ever seen them live, you know. They rock. Hard. Here's a video Stan took:

Jon Siebels

Max Collins

Tony Fagenson

After the show they did a meet and greet, so we went through the line and got autographs and pictures and all that jazz. Awesomeness. I also made friends with a very cool girl who lives in LA and is a mondo fan, so now I'm happy to know I'll likely always have a show friend for those times I can't drag Stan with me. :)

It was such a great day! I'm hoping to see Max once more on a solo acoustic tour before I go back to Japan. We'll see if the dates work out...

Thanks Eve 6!! You'll always and forever be my favorite band in the world!

The 4th Official Freeze-Off

2011-10-25T16:55:00.000+09:00

Foiled yet again! Kib continues her reign as Freeze-Off Champion. Gosh darn it!!! (If you're unfamiliar with the Freeze Off, click here for an explanation.)

The 4th installation of our famed family competition included 12 original frozen treats (6 from each of us) judged by a distinguished panel of adults and children alike on the basis of taste, originality, presentation, and appropriateness. While some dishes were dreamed up months in advance, the actual work of putting them together took place over a 24-hour period in which the contestants (i.e., my sister and I) battled inconsistent freezer performance, toxic vinegar fumes, a teeny workspace, and a few instances of public embarrassment.

A quick run-down of the dishes:

Sangria Slushie

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Pizza

The Gourmet Sampler (Ginger Chai, Curried Chocolate, Balsamic Strawberry Basil and Pistachio Cardamom ice creams)

Cool As a Cucumber Melon Slushie

PB&J

Here's To The Freeze Off!

Scrumptious Snowmen

Shiverin' Shortstack

Irasshaimase!

The Autumn Sandwich

The 4 (strawberry in graham cracker crust, mint in oreo crust, lemon in shortbread crust, and peanut butter in pretzel crust)

Strawberries 'n Cream Bars

There were some real winning entries this year that I would be happy to eat, Freeze-Off or no Freeze-Off. We avoided any major flops (no apple hearts this time around) and managed to come up with some actual good ideas despite having done this many times by now. (You might think we'd run out of things to freeze by this point, but oh how wrong you'd be!)

Theo's Baloney Bacon Swirl Face

If it's possible, the Freeze-Off may have been taken a step too far this time around. One judge became quite literally physically incapable of ingesting any more frozen food after round 7 or so. We wasted obscene amounts of food in both preparation and serving. The official lawyer-drawn "rules" of judging were 2 full pages long. I was so sick of all things frozen by the time the last dish rolled out, I hardly even minded not winning. I think we'll go back to basics next time- fewer dishes, a simpler judging system, and a shift in focus to what matters most to the spirit of the competition: us and the freezer.

Until next time, Kibby, until next time... Savor your victory while you can.

Intro to Wedding Photography

2011-10-20T20:02:00.000+09:00

Earlier this month I got my first chance to play wedding photographer! I've known the bride (Shelly, my best friend's mom) for 15 years now and was so excited not only to get to be a part of her wedding, but also that she trusted me enough with such an important task despite my never having done it before.

The wedding was at the SeaCrest Oceanfront Hotel in Pismo Beach which was lucky for me since the place is so picturesque, I could have completely screwed up and the photos would've still been beautiful. Most of the work was already done. It was a great place for a wedding, and I was glad to get to go on a little weekend vacation!

Anyway, I think it turned out fairly well! I definitely made a few mistakes and have several areas to work on, but it wasn't a complete disaster and I got a handful of shots that I'm (and, more importantly, Shelly) is really happy with. So overall, I consider my first dip into wedding photography a success!

The things I learned (I'm kind of photo-geeking out here, so feel free to skip if this is just a big pile of boring for you):
1. Man, shooting for 8-9 hours can be painful. Literally. My neck was sore from hanging 2 cameras on my neck the entire time. A full frame body with giant 70-200mm lens and attached external flash weighs roughly 6 pounds. That doesn't sound so crazy, but have you ever spent 8 hours walking around holding a 6 lb weight at eye level? It kind of wears on you. And gripping that whole contraption? My fingers were ready to fall off by the end of the night. Plus my feet got ripped to shreds (Can I pass that off as a photography-related injury and not acknowledge my stupidity in shoe choice? No? Nuts.).

(Seeing his bride for the first time- awww, it kills me!)

2. It's easy to make the dumbest mistakes when the pressure is on to get those fleeting, irreplaceable shots. You get as prepared as you can, and then BAM, everything is happening at once, the shots you want require you to be in 5 places at once, and it's easy to get into a frantic shoot-everything-in-sight thoughtless mess. I was able to stay calm and work my way through it most of the time, but I forgot to change my ISO settings twice and repeatedly limb-chopped throughout the day. Rookie mistakes, Patty, rookie mistakes...

3. Less equipment is more. I used 2 bodies, 3 lenses (although only 2 the majority of the time), a flash, and 8 memory cards throughout the whole day. While I appreciated having multiple backup batteries and cards on me, I did not need to be lugging around a 10 pound bag of extra stuff I never even touched.

4. I'm deeply, deeply in love with the 70-200. What a beautiful lens. Which leads me to:

5. Lens rentals are amazing. At the end of the day, I have the shots I want and saved $2452. Until I am a gajillionaire, I shall use this service often.

6. I love weddings. If I ever want to do this professionally, I have to figure out how to not start crying when the bride walks down the aisle. I just can't help it. It's always so beautiful!!

/geekout.

So now I'm hooked on wedding photography! If you know anyone who's looking for a (very beginner) wedding photographer, feel free to pass on my name. :)

Shelly, you were a beautiful bride and I hope this is the beginning of many years of big happy family love! I love you guys!

Very Iiiiiiiinteresting!

2011-10-17T09:31:00.000+09:00

Rumors abound, people! Listen up...

Here's the scuttlebutt from around the interwebs: The Japanese government may be giving away 10,000 free plane tickets to Japan beginning in April 2012. In the face of tanking tourism since the earthquake/tsunami of 3/11, this is supposed to be an effort to revive travel interest and show the world that Japan is still awesome and not a radioactive deadly zone of danger (and 20ish mile radius around Fukushima aside, it's not. I promise!).

The deal is still in the works and hasn't been approved yet, but if it is, I'm guessing lots of people will want take advantage of a free trip to Japan. I've read various rumors about getting one of these 10,000 tickets (like an application essay about why you want to travel to Japan and the requirement of publicly sharing your travel experience via blogging, tweeting, etc.), but who knows what the real deal is.

In any case, if this actually happens, we best get some visitors up in Misawa! No excuses- free flight, free place to stay at Casa de Garson, two friendly personalized tour guides... what more could you ask for? This is the stuff of dreams, people.

You can find plenty of rumors, but the official word is that the initiative is "still under examination for government budgetary approval and is at this moment undecided." If approved, the official announcement will be posted on Japan National Tourism Organization's website. So keep a lookout! I'll keep you updated here as well.

Corey and I will probably/most likely/who knows have at least a year left in Japan after we both get back later this winter, so the timing should work out splendidly!

Bottom line: come visit us!!!

Someday We'll be Oregonians

2011-10-09T00:20:00.000+09:00

A lot of people asked what brought me to Oregon on a solo 10 day road trip I recently took. The answer? Dreams. See, as some of you know all too well, being tied to a military lifestyle can often make you feel like you're blindfolded and living on a giant roller coaster, and they're still building the track at each twist and turn you meet. You never know where you'll be or what will come your way from year to year. It's exciting. It's freeing in a way. It's also maddening at times and can leave you feeling disconnected to your own life. Hence the dreaming.

Oregon is the stuff of our dreams. It's where we're planing to settle down... in a decade when Corey retires from the military (I realize we have no clue where our lives might actually take us in the next 10 years. Don't harsh the fantasy!). Oregon seems to have it all: the perfect location where every possible recreational activity is at your fingertips. A manageable cost of living. Good beer. It feels like CA meets MA (or at least has many of the things we each love about our respective home states). It feels like us.

So anyway, in our current less-than-perfect circumstance of being apart and missing our life together, a trip to the Pacific Northwest seemed like just the thing to boost our (well, my... and hopefully Corey's by extension) spirits and spark happy future fantasizing. It was a success!

I made a giant, 2100 mile loop (going all the way up to Seattle to meet my wonderful cousin Liz for a super fun night of good talks, seedy underground city exploration, bridge trolls, and erotic bakeries. Yep, she's definitely the person you want showing you around a city. Thanks again Liz!)

I made the drive up through central Oregon and then back down along the coast, seeing lots of awesome places. The highlights:

Bend, OR:
Ah-mazing. This is it! Our future home city. It was a thing of beauty. During my 2.5 days here, I narrowed down the 5 block radius where our future dream house will be. And stalked Matthew Fox a little.*

Crater Lake:

I've never seen water so blue! The 30 mile drive around the lake was one of the funnest mornings on my road trip. Such a beautiful place.

Portland, OR:

This is by far my favorite city EVER! Everything about it is just so cool. Love the vibe, love the food, love the planning. Just love.

Oregon Coast:

Definitely beautiful. Definitely wouldn't stay for more than a vacation.

I already want to go back! Until that day, I'll just keep dreaming.

*Just kidding about the stalking Matthew Fox thing. He was out of town, so I couldn't.

The 3 Best Years

2011-09-06T12:15:00.003+09:00

Being half a world apart isn't the ideal way to spend an anniversary, but if the worst thing I can complain about is that it's hard to be away from such a loving, supportive, warm and caring husband, then I think it's safe to say I'm one incredibly fortunate woman. That I know.

I love and miss you so much Gary! :P

Russian River Family Trip

2011-09-01T08:49:00.003+09:00

This past weekend some of our extended family took a trip up to the Russian River in Sonoma County. We had a great time! The 11 of us stayed in a couple of cabins at the Cottages on River Road in Guerneville and had a great long weekend full of leisurely fun.

One day we took a drive up Highway 1 along the coast to visit Fort Ross and spent a few hours walking around in the fog.

Another outing brought us to the redwoods in Armstrong Woods for a teeny hike and a picnic beneath the trees.

We also snuck in a quick wine-tasting at Joseph Swan Vineyards (we were in wine country, after all)!

The rest of the trip we filled with swimming, eating, playing with the kiddos, making smores by the hotel's campfire at night, playing the bean game (I feel like I say that in almost every blog. Maaaaybe we play too much of that game...), and relaxing.

We've gone to the Russian River as a family several times now. I'm not sure how that got started; it's a bit of a random vacation destination, and yet we have a great time every time we go. I have lots of fond memories from our time spent here on yet another great little family trip!

Roadtrip Part 5: Sedona

2011-08-22T03:33:00.002+09:00

Sedona was so much fun!!

This was our last stop on the roadtrip, so we wanted to make the most of it. Our first destination as we drove into Sedona from the Grand Canyon was Slide Rock State Park. Here there are a series of natural rock "water slides" created by the rushing river, and kids and adults alike can brave a trip down the slippery slopes. Seriously, it's slippery! I learned that as we attempted to cross the river with all our stuff to claim a spot on the opposite side and ended up falling camera-first into the water (it's ok, this isn't the first time my mighty little workhorse of a point and shoot has spent time on the bottom of a river; it will never die).

The slides themselves (and really, the whole environment of the park) seem fairly dangerous and like a giant lawsuit ready to happen... but it hasn't happened yet, so we very carefully enjoyed ourselves once down the slide (twice for Stanley). It was fun, but painful. Once was definitely enough for me. Good times though!

After driving into Sedona and checking into our hotel (the Hyatt Pinon Point), we cleaned up and headed out for a Pink Jeep Tour. The tour takes you out for some rough-ish off-roading on the red-rock bluffs. We saw some really amazing views and had fun bouncing along trying not to fall out of the Jeep. Our tour guide (Dylan) was awesome, so if you ever do this, request him!

That evening we walked around the cute little town that is Sedona and ate dinner at the Cowboy Club where we tried the local specialty- prickly pear cactus fries and prickly pear margaritas . Yum (although I got stuck by one the next morning and was not so happy with them after that). We got to bed nice and early since we had to be up at 4 for our final big adventure...

A hot air balloon ride!

This was definitely a highlight of the trip, although it wasn't quite the idyllic, serene experience I was thinking it would be. There were 8 of us crammed into a little basket, the heat of the flame overhead was fairly uncomfortable, and earplugs would have been useful to guard against the raging noise every time more hot air was shot into the balloon.

However, the views were completely gorgeous as we watched the sun rise over the red rocks, and that was enough to take our minds off the physical discomforts of the ride. During the initial ascent we got up super high (which was actually a bit scary if you stopped to think about the fact that you're literally just in a balloon...), but after that we hovered fairly close to the ground as the wind swept us along.

The landing was a bit rough, but added some fun excitement. There are no breaks or directional controls on a balloon, so you pretty much just land where the wind puts you. The truck that was supposed to meet our balloon as it landed didn't quiiiite make it to our landing spot, so we ended up skipping and dragging along the ground (and through a few bushes) for a while until the large men in our group got out of the basket and attempted to hold down the balloon until the truck got there. We managed not to fly away again, but I think we were close to getting a second ride. Fun times!

After a champagne toast at our landing sight to conclude the hot air balloon experience, we decided to take a drive out to the little once almost ghost-town, now sort of revived artsy touristy community of Jerome, AZ. It was a cute place to see and walk around. We had lunch at the Haunted Hamburger, got some delicious fudge, and walked around the shops (including a really cook kaleidoscope store). On the drive between Jerome and Sedona we also stopped at the Tuzigoot ancient pueblo ruins.

The next day we had the joy of a 12 hour drive back to San Jose. Yay. This whole trip was just so, so fun and I'll never forget it. Thanks to Kib and Stan for making it amazing and being the best people I could have ever spent these 10 days with. We'll have to do another one someday!

Kibby can!

Roadtrip Part 4: The Grand Canyon

2011-08-18T14:16:00.002+09:00

Aaah, the Grand Canyon. The initial inspiration for our entire roadtrip. I think there's a very good chance we were completely spoiled by Bryce and Zion because while the sight was (of course) very beautiful, it (for me personally) lacked that complete awe-striking amazement of the previous places. Maybe it's just a little too grand, or a bit too much for a person to take in in one gulp.

Before our Zion diversion, the plan had been to spend a night on the (much less visited) North Rim of the canyon before coming here to the uber-popular South Rim. The south rim tourist area is literally like a small city with a proportionate number of people and cars around, so I'll be excited to see a less congested version of the Grand Canyon some other time. We were back to camping on this leg of the trip, so after setting up at Mather campground, we walked the half mile or so to the rim of the canyon and spent a couple of hours walking along it, taking in the views.

Like Zion, the Grand Canyon also has a mandatory shuttle system to get visitors out to all the popular viewpoints. However, UNlike in Zion, we found the shuttles here to be extremely annoying and not at all convenient. They were too infrequent, and when they did come, they were always full to the brim and usually could only pick up a couple people out of the dozen or so waiting at each pick-up. You could easily get stuck waiting for an hour or more at each stop along the route. Redonkulous. Walking the 1-2 miles between each point was much faster, and definitely more enjoyable (even in the heat).

We didn't have the time, preparation, or even really the desire on this particular trip to hike down into the canyon, so we spent our time making our way along the rim, basically checking out different angles of the single massive vista. Along the way, Kib and I had moments of quiet contemplation...

... while Stanley preferred to see how many times she could stand "on the edge of glory." And sing about it. And get Lady GaGa stuck in our heads for the entire trip. :P

On the morning we left, Kib and I got up at 4am and made our way out to Hopi Point to watch the sun rise over the canyon. That was the most memorable thing about our time here for me. It was quiet, serene, and super special.

So glad I finally got to see this natural wonder! It might not have been the ultimate highlight of the trip, but it was wonderful nonetheless!

Roadtrip Part 3: Zion National Park

2011-08-17T09:06:00.002+09:00

So remember how much I loved Bryce Canyon? Well, I think Zion was even better.

Coming here wasn't part of the original plan. However, when my sister's altitude-induced headache went from bad to worse, we decided it would be a good idea to move to slightly lower elevation. Luckily we were able to reserve a last-minute hotel room at the Majestic View Lodge in Springdale, so we packed up our camping gear and headed down to Zion National Park.

This isn't a place that translates well to pictures (or at least, my pictures don't do it any justice). I think it's the magnitude and scale of the landscape that makes it a magical place, and that's something you just can't express properly in a photo. In person, this place is astounding.

We had one day to explore the park, but we could have spent a week here. After a really yummy breakfast and a dose of good hiking advice at Oscar's Cafe, we hopped on the park's shuttle system to get ourselves on some trails.

We started on the Riverside Walk, which leads to the beginning of "The Narrows," one of the most popular hikes in the park. We were unprepared to hike any of it on this trip as it involves actually walking through the river between towering cliff walls, but we made our way along the river to the entrance and saw enough to ensure that we'll bring ourselves back one day to do it right (with water shoes and without expensive non-waterproof camera equipment)!

After that we went up another little trail and spent some time sitting underneath a rock wall with cascading "raindrops" falling before of our view of the canyon. It was beautiful and the perfect place to cool off and rest for a bit in the middle of an incredibly hot day.

Our final hike took us to the upper Emerald Pool (and through a spraying waterfall). We loved this hike! It was one of the highlights of the whole trip. It was so, so gorgeous. And beautiful. And magnificent. And enchanting. And amazing. Get the idea?

We were pretty zapped by the end of the day, and sitting by the pool at our hotel with an ideal view of the sun setting over the hills was the perfect end to a fantastic day. I'm SO glad we ended up coming here. It's definitely a place worth seeing!

Roadtrip Part 2: Bryce Canyon National Park

2011-08-14T01:01:00.006+09:00

I've seen a decent sampling of awe-inspiring sights in my life. The Great Wall of China is pretty amazing. Hawaiian sunsets, the top of the world on Mt. Fuji, the quiet beauty of Scottish isles, the majestic Canadian Rockies- all very nice. Yet none of these places have taken my breath away like Bryce Canyon did.

Literally. I gasped as my breath caught in my chest when I stepped out and looked over the rim for the first time to see this sight:

The view was so unexpected and overwhelming. With the endless towering hoodoos and the bright orange and pink rock, this place is completely other-worldly and just plain spectacular. I've never seen anything like it (and I'm pretty sure there IS no other place like Bryce to see in the whole world).

We spent 2 nights camping here. Two beautiful, unforgettable nights. We battled harsh elevation headaches, middle-of-the-night raging thunderstorms, and a broken camp stove, but the natural beauty we got to see made up for all that.

We spent our days here driving the length of the park and stopping to take in the sights and hike a bit at each of the viewpoints along the way. We did one slightly bigger hike at the popular Navajo/Queen's Landing loop that took us down into the canyon for some amazing views.

We also spent a lot of time hanging out at our campsite playing games, eating and relaxing. Many games of beans were played...

Bryce is phenomenal. You should go there. End of story.

Zion's up next!

Roadtrip Part 1: The Las Vegas Disaster

2011-08-13T03:58:00.003+09:00

I'm back from my much-anticipated southwestern roadtrip! It was basically awesome. We (myself, my sister, and our best bud Stanley) spent 10 days visiting Las Vegas, Bryce National Park, Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona. We squeezed quite a bit into those 10 days and have great memories to take away from it!

I'll start at the beginning in this post, which was the lamest part of the trip: Las Vegas.

We had planned to do a quick one-night stopover in Vegas on the way to Utah so we could break up the driving a bit. We left ~~bright~~ dark and early after packing up the car to the very brink of capacity. Literally, there was not an extra square inch of space left by the time the three of us crammed ourselves inside (and that's pretty much how it remained for the entire 10 days of driving. I don't know how we ended up with so much stuff).

Pardon our 5am grossness.

After a cramped 9 hour car ride, we figured we'd get into Vegas early, have an afternoon and evening to walk around, maybe relax by the pool, have a nice dinner, and go to bed early. However, things don't always go as planned, do they? Car trouble put an end to that idea. We had a major malfunction about 30 miles outside of Vegas, and instead of relaxing and enjoying the afternoon, we spent hours sitting and waiting at a sweltering gas station and then in a repair shop waiting room.

I'd complain, but Stanley won $200 at the gas station penny slot machine in the process. That helped make up for the day's frustrations!

By that evening we were finally patched up and ready to get on with our trip. We checked into our hotel (the Vdara) and quickly met Stanley's cousin at the Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay for dinner (which was decent). At around 11 we returned to the hotel all set to go to bed so we could wake up nice and early, only to find one of the beds didn't have any bedding. And there was an hour wait (which ended up being an hour and 20 minutes) to receive bedding. What the heck?! Don't stay at the Vdara. Lame.

We woke up kind of grumpy from our Vegas experience and were excited to get on the road again and make our way to Utah. After a pretty drive with lots of great scenery, we were all once again happy and excited, and ready to do some camping! Bryce coming up in the next entry...

The (Almost) Horrible Event

2011-07-26T13:27:00.002+09:00

I was standing at the podium of gate 12 at San Jose International Airport talking to a ticketing agent when it happened. My eyes quickly flitted down to my hands and I immediately noticed the terrible thing. The horrible, unthinkable, instant urge-to-throw-up thing. My left ring finger was missing something very important...

My wedding ring was gone. Just plain not there anymore. Poof.

NOOOOOOO!!!!

It had been fitting loose for weeks. Like, really loose. I kept thinking, "Gee Patty, maybe you should take it off until you get it resized so you don't lose it... Nah, I'll just be careful." I failed miserably at being careful.

I lost it at the beginning of a loooong, nightmarish day of traveling to Maryland. My initial 6am flight had maintenance issues resulting in us passengers boarding and de-boarding several times. I was sure the ring was on my finger the first time I got on the plane. SURE of it. The lady sitting next to me said she was sure she noticed the ring when we first sat down. By the time I had de-boarded, walked 30 feet in a circle around the gate area and gotten to the gate agent, it was missing.

PANIC!! I started frantically searching around the gate area, retracing every step I had taken. I walked up and down the jet-way scouring every nook and cranny to see where I could have dropped it. With the help of my airplane-neighbors, I disassembled an entire row of seats looking for where it could have fallen. I had security run my bags through the x-ray machines again to see if the ring would magically present itself. I crawled through the gate area on my hands and knees looking under each chair. I'm sure I looked like a certifiable crazy lady (although that was the least of my concerns). This was the first time I was GLAD to have a flight be delayed 3 hours so that I could keep searching. And searching. And searching.

By the time our flight was ready to go, I had to admit defeat. The ring was gone. Picked up by someone who found it, swept into some hidden, unknowable corner of the universe, fallen through the teeny tiny hole between the plane and the jet-way and run over by an airplane, who knows. Just gone. Thanks to even more flight delays throughout the rest of the day, I had 13 long hours to sit and think about the fact that I had lost my (uninsured) wedding ring- days before my husband deployed. Awesome timing.

Corey's a saint, so he wasn't all that upset when he finally picked me up at the airport late that night. We mourned the loss of the ring he proposed with and spent ~~hours~~ days picking out on his own, the ring that saw us through the last 4 years of our relationship. We also mourned the loss of thousands of dollars (Ring insurance. I guess it's kind of important after all...). Then we brushed ourselves off, decided we'd maybe think about getting a new one next year, had a perfect weekend together and put the horrible event behind us.

UNTIL!

A week later, my mom suddenly called out my name from the other side of the house in a very urgent, disconcerting tone. I wondered what could possibly be the matter until she burst into my room exclaiming, "Patty, what is this?!" In her wonderful, wonderful hand was... MY RING! After minutes of bouncing up and down, squealing like a school-girl and general jubilation, I calmed down enough to ask where she found it. The answer? At the bottom of her purse.

Now, how in this strange, strange world my wedding ring ended up in the bottom of my mom's purse will forever be a mystery to me. First of all, the woman sitting next to me on the airplane and I were apparently both hallucinating when we swore up and down the ring was on my finger the first time on the plane. Second, I couldn't even tell you what my mom's purse looks like. I've had no occasion to go into her purse since I've been here and can't fathom any reason I would have handled anything in there.

That leads me to 4 possible conclusions:

1. My mom stole my ring for a week. Motivation? Drama. She's not teaching this summer and got bored. Unlikely perhaps, but how well can you really know a person? I'll have to keep a very close eye on her from here on out.

2. I did drop my ring at the airport, and someone picked it up planning to steal it. Then this person had a change of heart after seeing a panic-stricken lady crawling around the terminal for hours trying to find her beloved ring. This person then either hacked into the airport computers to find my information or found my baggage tag with my info on it. In an attempt to mask his or her thievery, he or she stalked my mom until it was possible to slip the ring into her purse without her noticing. I mean really, how could this not be what happened, right? ...

3. This is all a dream. I haven't actually found my ring yet. Maybe I never lost it. Maybe I'm not married or haven't even met Corey and I'll wake up as a 12 year-old having dreamed up my whole life.

4. The ring fell off my finger while I was hugging my mom saying goodbye at the airport when she dropped me off, and it just by chance happened to fall into her open purse.

I guess we'll never know.

Anyway, all that matters is that the ring is back on my finger where it belongs. The whole time it was missing, I kept telling myself how silly it was to be so upset. It's just a thing. Things can be replaced. I don't need to wear a ring while we're separated in order to feel the strength of our marriage. I know these things logically, but I guess I've grown more attached to this particular object than I had realized. Maybe I'm overly sentimental and/or materialistic, but I love this ring. I'm so, so, SO ecstatic to have it back.

It is now resized, soon-to-be-insured, and resting firmly on my finger. And there it shall stay.

One Last Weekend in Maryland

2011-07-23T03:58:00.005+09:00

I didn't mean to go to Maryland. I just couldn't hold out.

We knew Corey was going to spend some time on the East Coast doing some training before officially leaving for his deployment and had decided that we'd just say our goodbyes in Japan since schedules and things were so uncertain. Then a week and a half after I got to CA we changed our minds, and I booked a quick ticket out to Maryland to see my better half one last time. I'm glad I did! We had a completely wonderful weekend (although it was slightly tainted by a dreadful event on the flight out, which I assure you I'll come back to explain soon).

We started things off with a good old-fashioned date night, complete with dinner and a movie (not just any movie, but Harry Potter). Good stuff! The next day we spent in Baltimore. We went to the Baltimore Harbor to walk around and have lunch before our scheduled ticket time to get in the National Aquarium.

The National Aquarium kind of... sucks. Living in rural farm country has made me forget the pains of stifling hoards of tourist crowds. It really makes going to places like this completely pointless. There's no room to walk around freely anywhere; the entire visit is comprised of one long, slow-moving cattle line of people inching its collective way through the exhibits, and you pretty much can't see anything unless you want to get all aquarium-macho and fight your way to the outer edge. Here, if that experience isn't enough, you can also go to the "4d" movie where you get sprayed in the face with water and have sticky soap suds dropped on you. I guess it wasn't all bad though- I did get to take some pictures, and we had fun being together despite the crowds.

That evening we decided to go to an Oriole's game. It's been years since I've been to a baseball game, and I had a lot of fun. We knew nothing whatsoever about the team, so we just picked random names of the players we were going to cheer for. We started out wanting to root for Koji Uehara (just because he had a Japanese name), but when we discovered he was a pitcher and not playing, we settled on Pie (because his name is Pie and pie is delicious). Our love for him was diminished after realizing it's pronounced Pee-ay, and then we gave up on rooting for individual players and just ate hot dogs, drank beer, and had fun watching.

The next day we went to Six Flags. We rode roller coasters like we were teenyboppers... until the headaches and tummy aches started, and the blazing sun fried us into submission in every line, and I was more interested in sunscreen application and the unthinkable calories in park food than in getting soaked on the rapids, and we realized we're pushing 30 and maybe we shouldn't be going to theme parks anymore. We'll see if that stops us next time... :)

Before we knew it, it was time for me to fly back to CA. It was such a fun, perfect last weekend together! Now onto our separate adventures for a while... (Speaking of, I think Corey might actually keep up his blog a bit during these coming months since he'll be having his own stories to tell. If you're interested in his adventures, check them out here!)

Castle Rock Hike

2011-07-21T11:34:00.002+09:00

Yikes, I'm getting behind in my blogging. There are several topics I meant to post about, but it's not so fun to do it catch-up style so I think I'll just skip them. Today I'll go back to a hike I took with my friend Kristan ("Stanley" to me) last week.

We went to Castle Rock state park, which is maybe only a 20 minute drive or so from Santa Clara. Nice and close, yet a very fun and beautiful place! It's great for rock climbing, just as an fyi to anyone who might be into that.

The little trail we took was a 4 or 5 mile loop and led to some really great views. The weather was good enough (meaning not deathly hot which is all I can ask for this time of year).

It was great to spend time with Stanners and get outside. Good practice for all the hiking we plan to do on our upcoming Grand Canyon road trip!

An Unexpected Hawaiian Vacation

2011-07-08T01:39:00.004+09:00

Through the magic of military Space-A travel (more on that later), I found myself on Oahu immediately following my departure from Misawa. Score!

We have some truly wonderful friends who live on the island and they were kind and generous enough to let me crash with them and show me a good time while I soaked up some Hawaiian sun for a few days.

Beaches. Mountains. Pink sunsets. Tropical drinks. Hiking. Swimming. Guava-Chiffon Pancakes. Good friends. Need I say more?

Taken on a hike before losing our trail and getting lost on the mountain side for a good hour. That was a fun adventure! :)

I can't get enough of that perfect blue water!

Eventually I had to say goodbye and make my way to the mainland. My last-minute plane ticket took me on a 6-hour layover to the Big Island. That didn't give me enough time to check out any volcano activity, so I spent most of it walking along the cutesy touristy shops lining Kailua Bay and taking photos/relaxing on the beach. My glimpse of the island was just enough to ensure that I'll have to come back some day soon!

According to my taxi driver, this whole area was closed for 3 weeks after the Japan-earthquake tsunami hit this side of the island. Yet another reminder...

This is a view of the fields of lava rock while flying into Kona airport. The black lava rock all over the island is so cool!

Sad as I was to leave paradise, I got a little misty-eyed on the plane to San Jose as the pilot announced that he could see the shining lights of the California coastline ahead. Home. It's good to be back!

And Now For Something Completely Different...

2011-07-07T12:57:00.002+09:00

I blog to you now live from San Jose, California! For anyone who might not know, this will be my home-base for the coming months as Corey serves a deployment on the opposite side of the world. That means the Japan adventure stories will be on hold until early next year, but in their place will (hopefully) be accounts of many different kinds of adventures as I try to take full advantage of these coming months with complete freedom to travel, take fun classes, spend time with friends and family, and follow in whatever direction the wind blows me. Look for upcoming posts and pictures of Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Northwest, a yet-to-be-determined European destination, Costa Rica, and who knows what else. Should be good stuff!

And for anyone overly worried about my poor husband, know that he'll likely be having plenty of awesome adventures of his own and won't be in any significant danger. And without knowing exactly what I am or am not allowed to share about the subject, I'll leave it at that.

I'm sure we'll be back to our normal lives in Japan before we know it, but until then- enjoy a different part of the world according to Patty!

Oirase Brewery

2011-06-26T05:28:00.002+09:00

This weekend we got together with a bunch of friends for one of the last nights out we're going to have in Misawa for a while. We finally got to try a place we've heard a lot about but have never made it to: The Oirase Brewery. It's not a bad deal; for 3000yen a person (or about $36) you get a chartered bus to take you to the brewery (about an hour away from Misawa) and two hours of all-you-can-eat yakiniku (grill your own meat and veggies) and all-you-can-drink beer. Delicious + fun + no need to worry about who's going to drive= good place by my book!

We even ended up going karaoke-ing afterwards. It had been over a year since we'd sung and danced our hearts out at La La La's. Now we have our fill again for a while. We're definitely getting old- gone are the days of recovering from a night out with the sole aid of a cheeseburger. I think it'll be a good long time before either of us feels like having another beer-fueled night out. But the good times were worth it!

Scenery on the bus to the brewery

Aomori Art Museum

2011-06-03T17:36:00.003+09:00

Last weekend we took a trip to the Aomori Art Museum. It was... strange.

Sculpture by Yoshitomo Nara

This giant dog was the only exhibit that could be photographed, but others on display included neon fish/penis sculptures displayed in dioramas alongside detached clay noses, a post-apocolyptic-looking beach set up with huge brains in beach chairs, melted people, and a baby's cry playing on a loudspeaker audible in most of the entire museum, and a series of paintings that all included hidden (pardon my language, but for lack of any word that would make it more pleasant...) assholes.

There were more, shall we say... traditional pieces too that were nice. It was an interesting museum. Is that the right word? Interesting? Sure.

A Beautiful Drive in Akita

2011-05-30T09:52:00.003+09:00

After admitting camping defeat, we decided we could at least take the scenic route for the drive back home (along Rt. 341 in Akita prefecture, and then driving over Mt. Hachimantai back to the Hachinohe toll road). Wow, are we glad we did! It was absolutely beautiful. I think these pictures will speak for themselves...

After passing through lakes with insane bright blue water, calm enough to slice through with a knife, we headed up into the foggy mountain side. We passed through tons of cooky little tunnels which took us up to the still snow-packed summit (where there was no view to speak of thanks to the clouds).

Definitely a drive worth taking! (Although be ready to replace your break pads after going over the mountain; that road is no joke!)

Another (sort of) Failed Camping Trip

2011-05-29T20:15:00.004+09:00

Why, rain, WHY do you get us every time?! (see our Yagen camping experience last summer)

Corey and I and some friends of ours decided that camping sounded good for this 4-day weekend. Lake Tazawa in Akita prefecture (3.5ish hours south of Misawa) was our destination this time around. Tazawako is Japan's deepest lake at 423 meters and has a campsite situated right on the shore. It's beautiful, but a little pricey (8700 yen, or ~$107 for 6 people and 3 tents for 2 nights) and is laid out a bit inconveniently. And, as we discovered, has at least one giant hornet flying around its grounds. Ew. Other than that, it's a nice location (I'd imagine especially in the summer when it's warm enough to be cavorting on the lake all day).

The plan was to stay for 2 nights. After a full week of sunny weather, we arrived optimistically to beautiful, warm, blue skies at around 1pm and got to setting up camp. After all the work was done and we headed down to the lake shore to start the fun and relaxation, dark threatening storm clouds rolled in and stole the sun away. Luckily the rain did manage to hold out for the evening. A few of the guys spent a very brief amount of time kayaking on the lake, us photo buffs spent time taking lots of pictures, we got in a good game of Bohnanza (have you played Bohnanza? If not, you're missing out on loads of bean-y fun!), we had a good meal, and roasted marshmallows around a strange, makeshift campfire (this place provided an odd cement U-shaped apparatus at each site to build a small fire inside of, but many campgrounds in Japan don't let you have fires at all, or regulate them to one communal fire pit somewhere in the campground. It's kind of a bummer.). So all in all, we had a decent (if slightly chilly) half-day of camping.

The rain began shortly after a rather large earthquake rattled everyone awake during the night (fyi, being woken up to a loud, strong earthquake while lying in a tent directly on the ground is a little disconcerting). We woke to complete and utter sog (as in, the state of deep, saturated sogginess). It was quickly decided that the outlook for another 24 hours of camping in these conditions was poor, so we schlepped our muddy, water-logged tents, chairs, coolers, canopies, etc back into our cars and high-tailed it back to Misawa. The drive back was something special, but I think I'll save that for another post...

Maybe someday we'll make it through an entire camping trip.

A Perfect Day in Misawa

2011-05-16T07:45:00.003+09:00

In contrast to my last post, this one is inspired by the most beautiful weather I've seen all year. Yesterday was GORGEOUS! I even got a little sunburn on my face while we were out and about taking in the sun.

After going out for Indian food (yum!) with friends who just got back from a looong deployment (yay!), we spent a few hours at Swan Park (yippee!). We played bocci ball and frisbee, climbed the tower, explored the park taking pictures, enjoyed the remaining blossoms, and took in some much needed vitamin D.

On the way home we stopped at the Cake House for some ice cream. Some delicious, wonderful ice cream. This place is very dangerous now that I know the deliciousness within.

Crossing my fingers that this nice weather stays around so we can have more great days like this!

A Very Rainy Trip to the Lake

2011-05-04T20:43:00.003+09:00

Today Chessa and I took a little day trip out to Lake Towada. In the morning when we made the decision to go, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. Twenty minutes after our departure, the complete opposite was the case. It rained harder today than I've seen in a very long time. We decided to keep going and hope the weather was better at the lake. That sort-of worked out for us. It was still pretty rainy, but we found little windows of dryness and were able to get out of the car and walk around a bit. We had lunch in a cute restaurant overlooking the lake and then took the girls out on a swan paddle boat for a rainy ride.

On the drive back we stopped at a few places in Oirase Gorge to look at waterfalls. So pretty! This is always one of the most beautiful places in Northern Japan, and it makes me love living here so much.

Sakura Matsuri 2011

2011-05-01T21:37:00.003+09:00

It's that time of year again: cherry blossom season! YAY! The trees have been coming into bloom over the past week, so there's lots of prettiness to look at around these parts.

We once again went out to the sakura matsuri (cherry blossom festival) in Hirosaki to view the blooms. We got to hang out at the park for 2 or 3 hours in the morning before rain came and herded us back to our cars in the afternoon. There was just enough time to take it in.

Corey got to enjoy a ton of his beloved festival food (including the obligatory tentacle on a stick, giant blocks of unknown gelatinous substance served with spicy mustard sauce, apple ice cream, yakisoba, meat sticks, and pineapple quarters), and I got to go hog wild with my camera. Something for everyone!

This year we went with our friend and her two adorable daughters. In Japan, the land that worships all things KAWAII (cute!!), these little picture-perfect blond cherubs attract quite a lot of attention. Dress them up in festival kimonos and it's all over- they had a following before even getting inside the castle park.

Yay for Spring! It's hard to believe we only have one more sakura-viewing season left in Japan. That seems insane. We just got here!!

Noda Village Clean-Up

2011-04-13T17:46:00.003+09:00

On Tuesday, Corey and I went on a volunteer clean-up trip to Noda village, about a 2 hour drive south of Misawa. You can read an article NPR did on Noda a week after the quake HERE, but the basic rundown is that this small village of 5,000 residents was hit hard by the tsunami. 27 people were killed and 400 homes were destroyed after waves destroyed the concrete seawall protecting the town.

All that's left of the once forested and sea-walled coast

A month later on our visit, we saw that the devastation is still jaw-droppingly apparent. Much of the rubble has been cleared (and transferred to a gigantic mountain of metal and wood that we drove past just outside the town), but a lot still remains in what looks like an empty wasteland of total destruction. I've never seen anything like it before. I only had my point and shoot camera available to take quick shots with during work breaks, but these photos should give you an idea of what the scene looks like.

So we dug in. For most of the day, we moved rubble, piece by piece, into piles along the side of makeshift roads so that trucks could come haul it away. Among the wood and metal building remnants, trees, cement, etc. were haunting reminders of lives and livelihoods lost. Shoes. Dolls. Playing cards. Electric blankets. Dishes. Puzzle pieces. Photos. Makeup bags. Flooring sample catalogues. Lots of little glimpses of "before." I hope the owners of those things are alive, healthy, comfortable, and safe, wherever they might be now.

The "before" shot of one of the sections we worked on clearing

One area we cleared. At least a bit better than when we arrived.

Later in the day we helped a construction crew salvage (heavy) clay roof tiles off the top of a house that had been destroyed. With our volunteer group, we formed two giant lines and passed the tiles down across a muddy field. It was basically like doing 10-15 pound dumbbell raises nonstop for 45 minutes. With 50 big burley military men. In a muddy pit where your boots were firmly stuck in the mud so you couldn't move. Sound fun? Yeah, it wasn't. I'm just glad I still have the use of my arms.

It was a long, hard day of work, but very rewarding in the end. It was an intense place to visit and a very humbling experience. I'm so glad we went, not only so that we could appreciate and properly recognize what our neighbors are going through, but also so that we could help put a drop into the bucket of the task that is rebuilding northeastern Japan. It was a very small drop in a very big bucket, but it was something.

Toward the end of the day as we were clearing debris from a field at the edge of the destruction zone, a group of school kids walked by, waving and shouting "Goodbye!" (presumably one of the only english words the knew) to our group. In that moment, it felt like a group of smiling, happy kids getting on with their lives was the most beautiful and hopeful scene in the world. If those kids can be smiling, there's nothing stopping the rest of us. Japan will be alright.

For a few more pictures from the Noda clean-up, click here.

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

2011-04-13T10:53:00.002+09:00

Blossom buds are only a couple weeks away from blooming. We're all ready for a hopeful dose of spring!

People keep telling me they're waiting for my updates here, so I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with it very well. The first 3 weeks or so following the earthquake and tsunami were a bit... blah (although I'm feeling better now). Life was mostly back to normal on the base in a practical sense, but so much seemed so very different. With all the uncertainty in dealing with the aftershocks and the nuclear plant and knowing all the suffering going on around us, it was hard to settle into any kind of groove or feel like things were ok again. But things here are ok, and where they aren't, they will be someday. Japan is resilient.

It's been such a surreal past month, but now spring is starting, the snow is gone, the sun is shining, and everything feels much better (haha, a mini earthquake literally shook just as I wrote that sentence. The earth loves to remind us not to get too complacent...). Radiation levels in Aomori haven't risen, so all seems to be ok (for us) on that front. I don't know what the long term effects will be with food, water, travel, electricity costs/future blackouts, who knows what all. We'll deal with those kinds of things as they get figured out, I suppose. For now, we're going to try to enjoy the last chunk of time we have here together before Corey leaves for his deployment and life gets weird again.

So, I'll try to get back to posting more often now that things (and my mood) are on the upswing. I hadn't done much photography at all in the weeks following the earthquake, but I'm feeling the pull to do more coming back. Hopefully I'll have some stuff to share soon. Thank you so much to everyone who has been there for us and the people of Japan, near and far. I love you all so much!

One Week Later

2011-03-18T18:30:00.003+09:00

It's hard to believe it's been a whole week since the earthquake and tsunami. Who would think a 9.0 earthquake would only be the beginning of this disaster...

Yesterday the base announced the beginnings of voluntary evacuations for military families who want to leave. They say for now we're still safe with regard to the Fukushima nuclear plant, but at this point it's a quality-of-life issue as the base's resources are dwindling, more and more focus is getting put on recovery efforts, etc. The future up here is very uncertain and it's possible that there will be some tough weeks ahead. We won't starve or freeze, but we might be a bit uncomfortable. I can live with that, so I've decided to stay. I'm confident that if radiation conditions worsen or a more obvious threat begins to affect Misawa, they'll get us out at that point. For now, there's that whole "for better or for worse" thing and while a hot bath and long hugs with my friends and family sound great, I don't think I would enjoy those things much knowing Corey was here all alone.

I think my contribution to the functionality of things around here is going to revolve around helping with childcare as daycare centers and other childcare options dwindle when people leave, and local (Misawa and Hachinohe) cleanup efforts. I don't know what's going to happen or what we'll have to deal with over the coming weeks, but I know it'll be far less than most in the region, so I'll be thankful for what we do have every day.

My heart still breaks so much for Japan.

The Aftermath

2011-03-14T17:17:00.003+09:00

Man, life sure feels different.

Everything has changed so quickly here. The worst part is that if I'm saying that and feeling the effects of the aftermath (in one of the least affected towns in the Tohoku region), it's hard to fathom the position of the millions of people facing so much more. As we get caught up on the rest of the country's status and more news stories unfold, it becomes more and more obvious that we got unimaginably lucky. It's a strange position to be in; of course we're extremely thankful, but it's hard to escape a sense of survivor's guilt or something of the sort knowing what's going on around us. The following is a video circulating around FB that was taken 17 miles south of our house in Hachinohe. 17 miles. And Hachinohe hardly scratches the surface of the devastation.

Here's a rundown of our status in Misawa:

First, the base is in full swing supporting "Operation Tomodachi." It's establishing itself as a hub for relief operations and several international relief teams arrived here today and have headed out to the heavily-damaged areas. Volunteer plans, donations, etc are being coordinated. Everyone is very eager to do what they can to help. Right now it's a matter of figuring out how to best help without getting in the way or becoming more of a liability or burden to the Japanese people.

As for our personal situation, we have all our utilities up and running right now (although rolling blackouts are likely). Our landlord came by a while ago to tell us there is no more kerosene in Misawa (the storage tank cracked somewhere) and no way of knowing when more might become available, so we'll be losing heat and hot water at our house soon. Gas is being heavily rationed; we have about a half tank in each car, so that should last us for a while. I don't think food will be a problem for us personally (the only things being rationed currently at the commissary are water and bread), but it's rapidly becoming a big issue for the Japanese. Store shelves are emptying very quickly.

The aftershocks have slowed way down. There was only one sizable quake today. There was a false-alarm second tsunami warning at one point today and there's still a 70% likelihood of a 7.0 or higher happening within the next 3 days, so there's definitely plenty to keep us on our toes. In fact, our toes are getting pretty worn out. It's exhausting constantly being on the edge of our seats waiting for the next disaster to strike.

Speaking of which... there's that whole pesky nuclear situation in Fukushima. Yeah, I don't know what to say about that one. If you listen to the news, it's either the end of the world or nothing to think twice about. I'm no nuclear physicist, so I've given up trying to figure out what the real dangers might be. The official party line up here from the powers that be states: "Official studies indicate that Misawa is far enough away to never be impacted by a nuclear disaster at the affected facilities." So... there you go. Since there's nothing we can do about the situation whether that statement is true or not, I'll just pretend it is and not think about the alternative. No sense crying over spilled radiation...

In the end, we have the base and the American government taking care of us. They've done a great job so far, and I have faith they'll continue to do a great job as time passes. We have it easy. This isn't our catastrophe, our pain, or our loss.

My heart is so very heavy for the people of Japan.

The Big One

2011-03-13T09:53:00.003+09:00

Wow. It's been a crazy past few days. At our house we're thankfully back up and running with power and heat. The ground is still shaking. And shaking. And shaking. Who knows when that will stop. We're counting our lucky stars that we are safe and not suffering the devastation that so much of the rest of the country is in the midsts of. I hear the tsunami wave was "only" 18 feet high along the coast of Misawa and didn't get close to our house, although (from the rumblings I've heard) the fishing ports here and in Hachinohe are destroyed? I have no idea what the real damage is around here, but I'm sure we'll be finding out soon. I'm sure I'll be writing with updates soon.

I wrote my last post 2 days before all heck broke loose. To think that was just a little hiccup before the real thing...

Shaken!

2011-03-09T14:14:00.003+09:00

There was a magnitude 7.2 earthquake today 120 miles off the coast of Japan. Luckily it was far enough away that nothing bad happened, but we still felt a big shimmy! It was seriously around 2 minutes long. Definitely the biggest earthquake we've felt during our time in Japan so far. There have been a couple of aftershocks, so we've had a motion-filled afternoon. The ride has been kind of fun!

Thank you, earthquake, for happening where you did and not 100 miles to the west. That probably wouldn't have ended up being very fun.

A Note on the Yen Rate

2011-02-02T17:03:00.002+09:00

The yen/dollar exchange rate has gotten increasingly sucky over the last two years that we've lived here. From what I've heard, a year before we arrived in Japan one could exchange a dollar for 120 yen. When we first arrived, the rate hovered at just about 100 yen to the U.S. dollar. As of today, a dollar will only buy you 80 yen. Not cool!

What does that mean? It means we're paying 20% more for everything we buy with yen than we were two years ago. It means our rent rate hasn't changed, yet it now "costs" $400 more a month to live in our house. It means I now do 90% of my grocery shopping at the commissary on base instead of 50/50 like I used to. It means we go out to eat less. It means the ridiculous costs of traveling in Japan are even more ridiculous (like $900 roundtrip for the two of us to take the 3 hour train ride down to Tokyo, for example. If anyone wonders why we don't take more fun weekend trips down to Tokyo when we're bored up here, that's why.)

Japan is already an expensive country, and a lame-o U.S. dollar doesn't help. I'm thankful we have the option of buying our food, gas, household goods and other day-to-day stuff on base with American money since I'm pretty sure we'd be broke if we had to buy all that stuff out in town.

We're crossing our fingers hoping the exchange rate will go back up soon!

Update (With a Mustache Bonus)

2011-01-17T15:23:00.003+09:00

We're kicking along with daily life. I have nothing interesting to write about, but here are a couple of little random things I've been meaning to mention and haven't:

1. I have revamped my "Project 365" blog and turned it into a "Project 52" for this year. I think I'll actually stick with this one since it's more structured and fun. I'll post at least one picture a week (more if I'm inclined) surrounding a particular theme set forth by Digital Photography School. So if you'd like to follow along (or do one of your own and share), please do! Here's the link.

2. Corey grew a mustache for a little over a month as some kind of very strange group requirement for a snowboarding trip he went on a couple weeks ago. I think the point was so that they would accumulate snow mustaches as they went down the mountain... or something. I can't say I fully understand (or appreciate =P) the "look."

Ok, that's it for now. Winter is kind of boring. I need an adventure...

Our Watchful Snowman

2011-01-12T13:09:00.003+09:00

We've got winter magic going on up here in Misawa! Puffy white snow has transformed the world. I'm so close to being a snowy-winter-loving convert. I'd be on board with it 100% if it weren't for having to drive on icy roads. I think that's something this California girl might never be fully comfortable with.

Corey and I went to Swan Park this weekend to play in the snow. While we were there, we threw snowballs (or more accurately, Corey threw them while I threatened horrific consequences should he nail my camera with said snowballs), watched the swans and ducks freezing their behinds off in the partially-frozen lake, and watched kiddos sledding down hills.

At the top of a big hill we built a little snowman. When it was time to leave, we made him a perch on a railing overlooking the whole park where we left him to sit and oversee all the winter fun. For the rest of the season, I like to think our little guy will be happily watching over us and bringing us snowy good cheer and safe-driving...

... unless the sun comes out and he melts.

I folded a lot of laundry today.

2011-01-07T21:04:00.001+09:00

Told you.

Snowboarding

2011-01-02T16:13:00.005+09:00

Winter is very late to arrive in northern Japan this year. We've gotten some snow in Misawa now, but nothing big. The mountains nearby are doing a little bit better, but there are still some ski resorts that haven't been able to open and every weekend we hope rain won't come in and melt away the few precious centimeters there are. What's up?! It's January!

Anyway, Corey has been a couple of times, and I joined in for my first trip on Thursday. We went to Okunakayama, which is my favorite place because it has a nice big bunny slope (where I spend most of the day). The weather was gorgeous and although the mountain was pretty crowded, we all had a good time.

Corey's gotten SUPER into snowboarding and is dedicated to working his skill-level up. I, on the other hand, have more of a recreational attitude towards the sport (aka, I stink and don't particularly have a great desire to improve). I definitely enjoy it, but my favorite part is being on the mountain and taking in the views. I'd really prefer to just stay on the top of the mountain and take pictures all day, but I guess that's really not the point (plus, there's no way I'd bring my dslr up with me so I'm left with point-and-shoot photography which isn't nearly as fun).

Corey's leaving tomorrow for boy's snowboarding trip up to Hokkaido. Three or four days of non-stop snowboarding... sounds like fun (for him)!

'Tis the Season... for Pickles!

2010-12-14T18:41:00.002+09:00

I've been waiting to write a blog about the first snowfall of the year. I'm still waiting. Every weekend for the past month, Corey and his crew have geared up to head out to one ski resort or another, only to receive that call on Friday night: it's too warm, the man-made snow is melted, and there will be no snowboarding. Week after week, same story. In fact, it's raining out right now. So screw it- I'm starting my Christmas blogging without the snow.

CHRISTMAS!! We're in full-on holiday spirit mode. We won't be with any family this year (other than each other, obviously), but we're having a big Christmas party with lots of friends, so I'm sure it'll be a great holiday anyway.

We made gingerbread houses again this year. Can you guess who's is who's?

I'm squirming with anticipation... This is my big present from Corey:

I know it's something camera-related, but I don't know for the life of me what it could be that would come in a box that big. I would think he got me a lens and put it in a giant box to throw me off, but I picked up the package at the post office myself, and it really is this big. What could it be?!?!

Now- pickle time. Every year Corey and I buy each other ornaments (well, I buy him the current year's Hallmark Star Trek spaceship and he picks out something fun for me), and this year was the best one ever... Hide and Seek Pickle!!

I hear it's a German tradition to hide pickles in the Christmas tree, and this (plastic) one shouts out little clues while he's hiding ("Yoohoo!" "I'm over here!"). So cute! Given my love of pickles, this ornament is a serious winner. I want to play Hide the Pickle all day long.

They say tonight's the night for snow. I'll believe it when I see it. It better come soon before Corey tries snowboarding down the roof or something.

Happy Winter!

China Recapt Part 4: Shanghai

2010-11-30T17:52:00.003+09:00

Our last city to visit was Shanghai. To be honest, I'm not really sure why we came here; there was nothing in particular we wanted to see, even after scouring guidebooks for suggestions. I guess we just figured it was a big, famous city and we should see it while we were there. So we went, we saw it. That's just about how exciting it was.

We flew in from Chengdu in the evening and checked into the Grand Mercure Hotel. It was swankier than I had thought it would be when I made the reservation (which wasn't particularly a bad thing). Nice and luxurious. The view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in our room was nice.

We woke up leisurely the next morning and ordered (western style) room service for breakfast. Now this may seem like a silly thing to do on a trip to China, but it's rare (living in Japan) that we get the opportunity to have an American breakfast, so we were excited by the prospect of eggs, bacon and french toast. Plus we don't stay at nice hotels very often, so we figured we'd round out the experience.

We spent the rest of the day haphazardly walking around the city, seeing what there was to see. It was basically like being in New York or Tokyo or any other big city around the world, only less interesting somehow. It seemed sort of bland. Big stores. Big buildings. Big business. Nothing particularly noteworthy. We walked the Nanjing pedestrian mall and along the Bund, checking out the views to the Pudong area across the Huangpu River. We also took the "Tourist Tunnel" which runs underneath the river connecting the two areas, which was one of the more bizarre things we saw on the trip. It was a tunnel of trippy lights with a voice on a loudspeaker stating random Earth-related words like "meteor shower" and "basalt in blue ocean." We didn't quite get the point of that one...

The next day we had planned to take a day trip to the nearby water-town of Zhujiajiao. Lonely Planet said there were tour buses running every 30 minutes, so we woke up leisurely again and made our way across town to the stadium where the buses departed. When we got there we discovered there's only one bus a day to Zhujiajiao and it left an hour prior. NUTS! Our plan was foiled and there was nothing else we particularly wanted to see instead.

We were leaving that night on an overnight train back to Beijing (to catch our return flight home), but it wasn't leaving until 9pm, so we had most of a day to kill. We wandered over to the French Quarter where we proceeded to play on the internet via an iPad in an Apple store for a while. Then we walked the streets a bit and eventually had lunch at a German cafe. The weather was gorgeous (even a little hot!), so we sat outside and people watched for a bit.

After lunch we started wandering around again, wondering what the heck we were going to do for the rest of the afternoon when we just happened to pass by a movie theater that had a giant sign for Harry Potter. It just so happened there was a showing starting in 10 minutes, so that's what we ended up doing on our last afternoon in Shanghai. Hey, there were Chinese subtitles, we were umm... immersing ourselves in the culture of the language?

We had a bit of an adventure trying to catch our train that night. Who would have thought Shanghai would have not 2, but 3 gigantic train stations?! We may have ended up at the wrong one and then we may have spent an hour getting lost trying to run across town to a different train station in time to catch our train. Thank goodness for our paranoid, always-2-hours-early-to-everything ways.

We had to share a cabin on this train and it was slightly less comfortable, but the trip still went fine. Corey got to amaze our bunk-mates with his sweet Mandarin skillz, and they had a nice conversation.

We spent one more night in Beijing before flying out, back home to Japan!

A few general thoughts:

1. The pollution was not nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be. Apparently we got lucky and arrived just after a big wind storm came and wiped the air clean in many places and before they lit the coal furnaces for winter.

2. I found the giant fancy stores (Gucci, Prada, Tiffany, etc) that were in every.single.city interesting, as they were sometimes blocks away from fairly striking poverty, and in the case of Beijing were a block away from Tiananmen Square and the tribute to Mao. Interesting juxtaposition.

3. I won't miss many of the smells prevalent in China.

4. The food was surprisingly similar (to me at least) to the American version of "Chinese food." Better, yes, but ultimately the dishes and most of the flavors were familiar. Everything was veeery oily, but it was delicious.

5. I was surprised by how "foreign" things seemed to me. I was naively expecting things to be more similar to Japan than they were, and I had figured the things that were different wouldn't feel so strange since I've spent so much time living in "different" and would be used to the feelings associated with that. But I definitely experienced some culture shock.

Overall the trip went extremely well and we were really happy with it! I highly recommend going!

That's it! The full set of China pictures is up and ready (in case you didn't get enough here).

Time to plan the next trip! (Hmmm, I think I hear India calling my name...)

China Recap Part 3: Chengdu

2010-11-29T20:41:00.003+09:00

If Xi'an wore us down a little bit, then Chengdu picked us right back up. We loved Chengdu- a lot! We had just 24 hours in this city, and the main attraction was PANDAS!!

We flew in from Xi'an in the morning and easily got a cab out to our hotel, The Buddah Zen Hotel. It was in a (kinda touristy, but didn't seem so relative to the major hubs we had just come from) Tibetan area that was really cool. The hotel was gorgeous and calm, our room located above a courtyard with a fountain and chirping birds. We were upgraded to a suite upon arrival (yeah!), and they even had a bowl of fresh, delicious apples waiting for us in our room. Perfect hotel!

After we cleaned up a bit, we walked around the streets of our neighborhood. Lots of street food, tea shops, and vendor after vendor selling ivory combs. The Washu Temple connected to a prominent Buddhist monastery was literally a block away, so we spent time wandering around there. It was gorgeous, but unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of the prettiest parts.

For dinner we wanted to try a vegetarian restaurant (The Floating Lotus) featured in the Lonely Planet guide and it looked like it was not too far away from our hotel on the map. We walked around for a while trying to find it with no luck. Finally after walking a giant circle, ending up right back where we started, Corey checked the guidebook to see the Chinese character name of the restaurant, looked up and said, "Oh, here it is!" It was right in front of us, literally connected to our hotel building. We felt dumb. It was a cool place- very Buddhist, complete with monks dining and only non-alcoholic beer served. We tried vegetarian hot pot, which was great.

We woke up early to have time to eat our free hotel breakfast before leaving for the pandas (after the debacle with getting to the Warriors in Xi'an we played it safe and just booked a private car through the hotel to get us there). Soon we were at the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base.

PANDAS!! We saw big ones and small ones (very small ones- little 2 month olds in the nursery wobbling around), playful ones and sleepy ones.

Then the best part came... we got to hold one!

For a "donation" to the center, you get to take pictures with a "baby" panda (in quotes because while they're still babies, they can still be pretty darn big!). We got to hold him on our laps and he was so cute and cuddly! I fell in love. Definite highlight of the trip.

That was all we had time for during our brief stay in Chengdu, and after the panda center we were off to the airport to catch a plane to Shanghai. Stay tuned!

(More Chengdu pics added to the China album!)

China Recap Part 2: Xi'an

2010-11-27T16:07:00.004+09:00

After 4 days in Beijing, it was time to move on to Xi'an. Aaahh, Xi'an... this wasn't our favorite city of the trip. But I'll get to that.

We had booked soft-sleeper overnight train tickets to travel the 570 miles between cities. We weren't sure what to expect from this mode of transportation, and after making our way through some pretty um, interesting waiting areas at the Beijing train station and using the most horrifyingly disgusting "toilet" I've ever come across in my life, we were starting to second-guess our choice. However, once we got aboard the train we happily discovered it was going to be a perfectly luxurious trip. We even scored and didn't have a full train, so the top bunks were empty and we had ourselves a lovely private compartment! It was a great night of snuggling up in our comfy beds (I grew up riding Amtrak, and these were bigger and nicer than their sleeper cars) with the train rocking us to sleep, having not a care in the world.

Then we pulled into the Xi'an train station early the next morning, and all the niceness stopped. It quickly turned into the worst day of our trip.

This is the station as seen from the city wall the next day. Imagine it with about 10x this many people when we were there.

It was insanity. Advice: don't be at a Chinese train station on a Sunday. People everywhere, noise everywhere, smells everywhere, people bumping and yelling, and we had basically no clue what was going on or what we were doing. Trying to find the taxi line (while constantly deflecting the swarms of scammers and hawkers trying to come between us and our money in one way or another), our stress levels were starting to get maxed out. Then a "taxi driver" latched himself onto us, Corey couldn't get him to go away, I was oblivious to what the heck was going on (obvious hint: it's nice to know Mandarin when in China), and things got a little ugly for a while.

Eventually we made it to our hotel (The Bell Tower Hotel, which was ideally located, but otherwise just mediocre).

The Bell Tower Hotel

We were grumpy, tired, and overwhelmed, but not wanting to waste any of our precious time here, we hit the streets to go see the Terracotta Warriors. According to the hotel, the options for getting there included 1) hire a private car from the hotel for 450RMB ($70-ish) 2) Take a taxi for 350RMB or 3) Take a bus for 30 RMB ($4-ish). "Well that's an obvious choice," we say. "We'll take the bus!"

Only problem: the bus left from the train station. Stupidly, we made our way back to the train station, naively thinking we would actually be able to maneuver the crowds and find this alleged bus. FAIL. After dazedly walking laps around the station, we go for plan B and hail a taxi. A real character of a taxi driver picked us up and agreed to drive us. While he was friendly, I'm not totally convinced that the guy wasn't either a wee bit drunk or not quite all there mentally. Getting out of Xi'an traffic he was yelling and swearing up a storm (so says Corey, I wouldn't know...), and at one frustrated point he purposefully drove straight into a large group of pedestrians, causing quite a street flare up.

Things calmed down a bit when we got out of the city, until he pulled the car over to the side of a busy highway to pick up a man walking along the side of the road. Not a part of the plan, but honestly- not much we could do about it at that point. At some point it becomes apparent we're driving this new random guy around instead of going to the Warriors and we have no idea where we are. Random guy eventually gets out, and we spend more time driving around some backroads, until our driver is motioned to stop by some young girl (?) who says we can't go further because the government has closed the road. Of course it has.

So then this girl gets IN our taxi, and our driver turns off the road onto... nothing, basically. There's sort of a dirt road into fields. Girl starts asking us to come see "special local goods" she is selling. Corey asks where we're going and driver doesn't seem to know, and is instead turning whenever this girl tells him to. I'm thinking, "Wonderful, we are getting kidnapped, they're taking us out to the middle of nowhere and aren't going to bring us back to civilization until we give them money." Corey and I start a bit of internal panicking, thinking we've gotten ourselves into a horrible situation. Stress level back up to where it was when we first arrived. Not happy.

Then suddenly we made one turn onto a populated street and they told us to get out. We were at the Terracotta Warriors. Just like that. The driver took 40RMBs off the price he quoted us because of the hassle (even though he sort of ripped us off even with that discount). I suppose that girl was just helping a lost driver get us to our destination. Moral of the story: we're paranoid.

Once we were there (safe and sound, having avoided kidnappings and pedestrian maulings), we enjoyed the Terracotta Warriors very much! The site is made up of 3 "pits" and a large museum. Each pit is in a different state of excavation, and there are places to see rows and rows of fully intact "soldiers" displayed like they likely would have been and other places where the artifacts are still mostly buried. It was really, really interesting. I miiight have stuck it out as an archaeologist if I could have worked on something half this cool (hmm no, probably not...).

After this sight, we were pretty much done for the day and we crawled into the hole of our hotel for the rest of the evening and night.

The next day we felt a bit better and went out exploring the rest of the city. Our hotel was right in the town center across from the Bell and Drum towers, so we spent the morning visiting those.

The Drum Tower, as seen from the Bell Tower

View to the south gate of the old city wall from the Bell Tower

We spent most of the rest of the day walking the entire length of the old city walls that surround the city. It was really cool, and since the walls were pretty much empty it was a nice break from the crowds. It was a long (8 mile) walk. The original plan was to bike it, but thanks to my gimpy knee, that was a no-go. So we walked.

For about a mile on the north side, the wall was lined with these old decaying decorations. No idea what they were for or when they were used, but in their current state it gave the wall a strong "abandoned Alice in Wonderland" vibe. Creepy!

After the wall walk, we decided to check out the Muslim district of Xi'an. We had wanted to see a purportedly impressive mosque, but we're lame and couldn't find it. We did walk around plenty of super lively streets where people were cooking, tending to their sheep (there were sheep everywhere, right on the sidewalk), and eating. We were really intrigued by this area and wanted to try a bunch of the food and explore some more, but exhaustion and something akin to culture shock overtook us and we weren't really feeling up to diving into the experience. It's something we wish we had done now though, because it seemed completely cool.

And that was pretty much our experience with Xi'an. When we think about it, we sort of think, "ugh." But it's not Xi'an's fault. We found it to be much more overwhelming than Beijing (more people, more pollution, more noise, more crowds just about everywhere), and we let it get to us. If we had gotten off on a different foot, I think we would have enjoyed it much more. A couple of bad experiences ruined our moods, so I don't think Xi'an got a fair shot. I don't want to put anyone off of going there because there are a lot of great things to see.

Maybe book a tour to the Warriors though. That was all very annoying.

More pics of Xi'an have been added to the China album on my picture page.

The next stop was Chengdu, coming soon...

China Recap Part 1: Beijing

2010-11-25T10:48:00.005+09:00

Warning: this post is long, and quite picture-heavy!

We're back from China! It was a perfectly amazing trip, and we had a great time. I have lots of stories to write about and even more pictures to share, so I'm slowly going through and getting things together. I think I'll end up doing 4 separate posts (one for each city we went to), so I'll start now with the first part of our trip:

BEIJING:

Beijing was awesome sauce, I must say. We spent a total of 4 days here, plus one extra at the very end of our trip. We arrived (after a 4 hour flight from Tokyo, after a 5 hour train journey from Misawa) to an amazing hotel in one of the hutong districts- the traditional coutyard homes laid out in a sort of communal fashion in a network of alleyways with little restaurants and shops along the streets. So much character in these neighborhoods.

Down the alleyway from the entrance to our hotel in the hutong. The area was so interesting and I'm sooo glad we stayed here instead of at one of the more standard hotels (even with the occasional whiff of sewage in the alley).

We love, love, loved our hotel (Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel). It was beautiful, convenient and the staff was unbelievably helpful and friendly. We had so much fun here, and it was by far our favorite hotel of the whole trip.

The courtyard of the hotel

After our first 2 nights in a regular room, we were upgraded to this GORGEOUS suite. I loved that canopy bed!

First off, let me say: Beijing is HUGE. Things that look totally walk-able on a map are miles and miles apart. Even on the subway, it easily took an hour to reach various destinations in town. That being said, taxis were relatively easy to come by, and the subway system was super easy and cheap (2 RMB to go anywhere in the city, which is about 30 cents). So it was really easy to get around.

The first day we made our way to The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Again, this place was giant. We had no clue just how big it was when we got there. We spent the entire day there and still didn't even see everything. Corey loved it. I loved it too, but was a liiiitle Forbidden City'ed out by the end of the day. It was fantastic to see though.

The next day was our big Great Wall hike. Unbelievable! We booked with Beijing Backpacker's Association to go on a hike of a largely unrestored section of the wall which is much less touristy than other areas (from Jinshanling to just before Simatai, which is closed right now). In fact, we only saw maybe 10 people (other than our group of 16- who were awesome people we really enjoyed meeting by the way) during the whole 3-hour hike on the wall.

Gorgeous views- the wall wound across the hills as far as the eye could see.

Many areas were literally crumbling away. Made for stunning scenery!

It was incredible. The views were gorgeous, we saw passed through 22 towers, and while I was pretty pooped by the end, it was well-worth the experience. Definitely something I'll remember doing forever!

Over the next 2 days, we visited the Temple of Heaven park:

Temple of Heaven

This park was great for people watching. All over there were groups of people sitting around playing cards and dominos, other groups were practicing ballroom dancing in large groups, doing martial arts, playing various games and large group exercising. I could have spent all day here!

Saw an acrobatic show:

The show was ok... Corey likened it to watching a high-school talent show. One of the kids didn't look like he could be older than 10...

Went to Olympic Park:

The Bird's Nest

Toured the Summer Palace (which was our favorite sight other than the Great Wall, and wish we had devoted an entire day to exploring it rather than the 3 hours or so we were able to. It's absolutely stunning, and absolutely gargantuan.):

and took a cooking class (in the hutong home of a great lady and her family who helped us make braised pork ribs, 2 different beef stir frys, and an eggplant dish. YUM! and so much fun!):

Unfortunately, my knee has been a little wonky lately, and all the stairs on the great wall hike combined with all the miles and miles we were walking every day did a number on me. I ended up hobbling around with an extreme limp for most of the rest of the trip. It was not ideal, but luckily we were still able to do just about everything we wanted to (albeit with more pain than I would have liked). Going to the doctor next week...

Anyway for more pictures of our trip (there are gazillions; for each picture on this blog there are 30 more on my picture page, and for each of those pictures there are 30 more which are just staying right on our hard drive), visit the China album on my picture page.

Next up... Xi'an!

Rokkasho Salmon Festival

2010-10-31T13:22:00.003+09:00

It blows my mind that it's already been a year since the last salmon festival. WHAT?! When did that happen? One way or another it did, and once again the annual event came around.

I didn't end up participating this year (I had several dreams in which I was doing the salmon catch, caught one, and then was so horrified and guilt-ridden as it flailed around dying in my grasp that I decided my conscience was telling me to skip it this time). Anyway, I went along for fun and to play photographer (any excuse to take pictures, right?).

This one was thrown by a different town, and I have to say I prefer Oirase's version (which will be held in a couple weeks for those peeps who won't be in CHINA!!). The pools were much smaller, there was A LOT more waiting around, and it was sort of just a bit more... boring. That doesn't mean that WE were bored since we got to spend the time playing with the cutest kids known to man, but without that entertainment- yeah, kinda boring.

Before the catch (all 3 hours we were waiting since we didn't buy advanced tickets and had to get there early), we ate some food, walked around booths, and watched the staged events. There was some girl singing group (who the girls thought were princesses because of their costumes) and a couple of silly little competitions. There was one poor little American boy who participated in the chopstick dexterity contest and was sorely out of his league. It makes me laugh, but good for him for giving it a shot! Seriously, how funny/cute is this?

Anyway... on to the salmon catch! Corey and some of our friends got all set to catch their fish. Everyone got one (some faster than others). Corey's fish didn't go down without a fight. He has the salmon-bite scar to prove it.

Here's a video of the catching of the salmon:

I know what we'll be eating for the next few weeks...

Hakkoda Ropeway

2010-10-26T07:48:00.002+09:00

Going further up into the mountains after passing Oirase Gorge, we left the land of crazy color behind and got into the vegetation zone that has already been-there/done-that as far as fall is concerned and is gearing up for winter. The Hakkoda mountains get covered in snow up to the tippy-tops of the trees (Corey knows- he went snowboarding there last winter), but we wanted to see it before that happened.

They have a gondola that takes sightseers up to the top of one of the peaks for a little mini-hiking trail and (on a clearer day than we had) grandiose views of Aomori City and Mutsu Bay.

A gondola ride sounds kind of lovely, doesn't it? Get lifted over beautiful, serene mountain views, a nice relaxing trip up the mountain... yeah, no. You get shoved into a box with a hundred other people at a time standing squished like sardines with elbows jabbing into your stomach for the 10 minute ride, and unless you happen to be "lucky" enough to get jammed against the glass of the gondola on the outside ring of ~~cattle~~ passengers, the only views you're going to see will be of some man's neck mole. Oh yeah, and you wait in line for a half hour on each side to do it.

Aside from the gondola ride, the mountain experience was nice. We hiked around for maybe an hour, and it was definitely pretty up there. It smelled wonderful- like Christmas! Definitely my favorite smelling mountain. Click here for more Hakkoda and Oirase Gorge pics.

By the way, October is DEFINITELY the month to be in Japan. So you know, if you want to see any of these sights yourself, there's a nice warm guest bed waiting for you at Casa de Garson... :D

GORGEous!

2010-10-25T11:39:00.002+09:00

Man, I'm sooo punny!

This weekend we GORGEd ourselves on some fall scenery. At Oirase Gorge. I'm fairly certain this is basically the prettiest place in the entire Tohoku region, so on this particularly perfect Sunday afternoon at the peak of color-brilliance, the place was enGORGEd with a gazillion sightseers. It was actually really annoying. We sat (not moving) in traffic for a long time. We only got half way down the gorge before we got too annoyed and found a spot to turn around (and then sat in the same traffic on the way out). We never even got out of the car.

Here's a smattering of pics (taken from the car, so pardon the quality). Even with all the crowds, there was no arguing that the beauty was worth it.

Corey points out how it seems like half the population of Japan is super serious about photography. I think there were more tripods than tourists perched along the gorge yesterday. I like it!

We also went to Mt. Hakkoda this weekend, but I'll post about that later...

Miroku Falls

2010-10-05T10:54:00.003+09:00

Since we were already in the area for the Beef and Garlic festival last weekend, we took the opportunity to check out some waterfalls before going home. Pretty, but not a ton of water. It would probably be a more spectacular sight in the spring. (Does the top half of the rock look like George Washington's head to anyone else?)

We saw a cool frog too.

Takko Town Beef and Garlic Festival

2010-10-04T11:39:00.002+09:00

This weekend we went to the mini Japanese version of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. In fact, Takko (an hour and a half south of Misawa) is the leading producer of garlic in Japan, and is a "sister city" to Gilroy (aww, home...). This festival is not nearly as large or extensive in garlic use as its U.S. counterpart, but it was kinda cool nonetheless.

You can buy advanced tickets to participate in the BBQ where you grill your own beef and veggies, but Corey and I went last-minute and just bought a slice of the big beef slab they had roasting over a pit (and prepared with surgical-like attention... only in Japan is a BBQ slab of beef treated by immaculate workers with spotless white jackets and face masks).

The garlic sauce available to drench it in was absolutely delicious, but I couldn't stomach more than a bite of the fatty meat and had to give my slice to Corey (who had no problem gobbling it up).

We went, we tasted the beef, we bought some garlic, we made a couple loops amongst the BBQ-ers, and we left. Short and sweet. And maybe not really worth the 2+ hours each way it took to get there and back thanks to highway closures.

Brain Dump

2010-09-22T17:15:00.000+09:00

Gulp

2010-09-15T10:51:00.004+09:00

Tomorrow I'm going under the knife. I'm going to be invaded and slashed open and have chunks of my body removed.

Ok, I'm being dramatic. I'm just having my wisdom teeth taken out. However, given the level of nerves I'm feeling about the whole thing, you'd think my life hung in the balance. I've prepared a stash of mush to consume for the days following the surgery:

I have to laugh at the differences between the military dental clinic I'm using here in Japan and the nice civilian office my sister had the same procedure done in while I was visiting this summer. She got a group of super friendly, attentive and reassuring doctors and nurses telling her exactly what to expect and a whole packet full of detailed pre and post-op instructions. She got the happy happy valium to take before the whole ordeal so she'd be relaxed and carefree. It was as comfortable an experience as you can get with this kind of surgery- kinda like a dental vacation resort.

Here, on the other hand, so far I've gotten one cold surgeon who speed-ran through a memorized script of basic explanations, a one page printout of instructions (half of which was devoted to things like "Do not work with weapons or classified materials for 24 hours after surgery"... darn, ruins my plans for recovery), a staunch "no" to my inquiry about anti-nerve drugs, and a kick out the door.

Sounds like a bum deal, but I'm not necessarily knocking it; my sis' surgery cost thousands out of pocket, and I don't have to pay a dime. In the end, we both will have our wisdom teeth out. So I'm not sure who's getting the better deal.

Wish me luck! I plan to spend the rest of today eating all the crunchy foods I can and pacing the living room trying to calm my fears.

Shipwreck Beach

2010-09-13T10:33:00.003+09:00

The first time we tried to get to Shipwreck Beach, we got directions (which doesn't always mean much here since there are no street names and "turn at the rice paddy on the left" doesn't always get you where you need to go in a land full of rice paddies on the left) and attempted to make our way. We had poor results. We did not find the elusive beach that day.

This weekend we had better luck. It's a cool place to visit, with lots of treasures, sea glass and other neat stuff to see and find among the shipwrecks if you spend some time walking the beach.

The big negative about this place is the unimaginable amount of garbage washed up on the shore. I'm pretty sure this is where all refuse in Japan comes to die. We brought books and sandwiches and thought we might hang out and enjoy the shore for a while, but it wasn't that kind of beach. Fun to see, not that fun to stay.

Here's a bonus: Shipwreck Corey (and a couple more pics HERE if you're interested).

Surreal

2010-09-10T15:25:00.003+09:00

For some reason, I popped awake at 3:40am this morning. After sitting around in the dark for 45 minutes, I decided I would take advantage of the opportunity and head out with my camera in attempts to catch the sunrise.

A 20 minute drive later, I was nestling myself onto a completely deserted stretch of shoreline as the first morning light illuminated the pink clouds over the Pacific. Aside from the seabirds picking through the sand, I was the only living thing out there and it felt like this sunrise was all mine.

I realize how stupid this next statement is, but I think it anyway: I can't believe this happens every day. It's such a magical, beautiful scene that felt so rare and special in the moment, and yet tomorrow and the day after the same thing will happen again. You've gotta just awe at nature some days. For more of today's sunrise pics, CLICK HERE.

Add another great forever-memory to the Japan list...

Asamushi Aquarium

2010-09-04T21:03:00.002+09:00

Today we went to the Asamushi Aquarium in Aomori (an hour/hour and a half drive from Misawa). It was no Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. It makes for a decent little day trip destination and is definitely something worth seeing.

I spent basically the entire time playing with my camera and taking pictures. It was good practice, and I think I used all of my lenses at various points throughout the day. They all come in pretty handy in different situations.

We saw all kinds of fish and other sea life including otters, sea lions, and penguins. Cuties!

They had the most gigantic sting rays I've ever seen. These things were serious jumbos!

They put on a dolphin show that is pretty cool too. They do a lot more specialized tricks than I have seen at these types of shows in the U.S... dolphins playing fetch and carrying balls, blowing bubbles in unison on command, throwing balls to the audience, and more. They were so cute!

There are so many pictures that I'm in love with, so if you want to see more pretty sea critters, click here!

Murder Mystery Dinner Party

2010-08-29T12:40:00.003+09:00

While I was in California, Corey told me he had set a brilliant idea in motion: he wanted to host a murder mystery dinner party. I was less than enthused about the "brilliance" of this plan. I thought it was weird, and that it would turn out to be a night full of more awkwardness than fun. Corey eventually wore me down, assuring me that he was putting together the right kind of group for the event, that everyone was excited about the idea, and that the party would be great.

He was right. It was fun. Goofy and slightly weird, but fun.

Our murder mystery revolved around a group of athletes who were stranded on an island in the Great Barrier Reef after a hurricane hit during an international competition. We tried to cheese it up as much as possible with costumes, decorations, and food matching the story. Everyone came dressed up and got into character.

(Even after completing the game, we have no idea who this character was supposed to be or why he was there.)

(Wolfgang Kupersmidt- a 400lb German weightlifter)

We went through the 3 acts of the story, everyone revealing their own set of clues. The ad-libbing and goofing around as silly characters was the most fun part. The mystery itself gave somewhat random clues that connected sloppily, and only one person correctly identified the murderer.

That murderer was, by the way, Solveig Belakavich- a female Russian rhythmic gymnast played by our friend Ed (who also won best costume). He looks so innocent... sitting there quietly, enjoying the conveniences of having large breasts for an evening:

In fact, several men ended up playing female roles, and all of them were quite intrigued by their fake boobs...

Good times! Maybe we'll do another one sometime.

I feel like a kid on Christmas!

2010-08-24T15:24:00.002+09:00

NEW CAMERA GEAR ALERT!!

I've been waiting for this load of goodies in unquenchable anticipation for a week, and it all arrived in one big bang today (much faster than I expected). I'm SO excited! Let me introduce you to Lou and Tonky:

Lou is a Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS L lens. That's right- my first L glass... yay! He will replace my kit lens as my main walk around go-to. His name implies that he is reliable and handy, all the while being fancy because his name starts with an L. His friend Tonky is a Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 wide angle lens. He's a little quirky and will be so much fun to play with, especially practicing grand, sweeping landscapes. His scope is intense!

(This is the box my lenses were shipped in. I did not tear it apart in my eagerness to get my gear- that's how it was when I picked it up. I simply snipped the bits of tape that were holding it together. You can see how beat up the brand new lens boxes were in the photo above. Luckily, everything seems to be working fine, but I was scared for a few minutes.)

I also finally got some filters. 'Cause, you know, gotta have filters. They're not special enough for names.

Then there's the icing on the cake, the object perched next to me like a beloved pet even as I write this (I may or may not be softly stroking the leather and singing it's praises in soft, gentle tones):

A new camera bag! This beauty is from Epihpanie- the Ginger model. I don't even have to come up with her name; Ginger was already complete from the moment I birthed her from her shipping box. I love her. She will make a cozy, safe home for Rufus the Rebel, Lou, Tonky, Harry (the 35mm I acquired from my Dad), and all of their accessory friends.

Here's the first picture I took with Lou:

[What's all that going on in our house? Another topic for another time (namely sometime after Saturday). ]

Misawa City Festival (Goodbye Summer)

2010-08-21T10:10:00.003+09:00

The Misawa City festival celebrates the end of summer. Like last year, I was gone for a large chunk of the summer in Misawa. This means I missed out on some cool stuff- festivals, floats, the good fruit season, fireworks. However, it also means I avoided a substantial portion of the disgusting, wish-I-was-dead, sticky, heavy inferno of summer heat up here. I shouldn't be complaining because I've only had to deal with it for a week and it will probably be over pretty soon, but eww. I'm not a fan. So in that respect, I am happy to think about summer coming to an end and very much looking forward to fall.

So anyway, this festival was pretty neat. The floats were much more impressive (and numerous) than we had envisioned for a little town like Misawa. The float-makers went all-out. They were ginormous, but from our parade perch we didn't even get to see them fully displayed, as they had retracting parts that shrunk when passing underneath street signs and wires.

So you can get an idea of the size, performers, and "special effects" most of these floats had, here's a short video clip I took:

Kinda cool, right? In addition to the floats, we chowed down on the brightest ice cream cones known to man:

Good festival! Bring on Fall! (For more festival pics, click here)

Taking a moment...

2010-08-16T09:43:00.005+09:00

I haven't posted in a while now, and before I resume with normal-life kind of stories, I feel the need to take a moment and write this (more for myself than anything)...

As I'm sure everyone who reads this blog knows by now, my dad passed away a month ago after a battle with cancer. I thank all of our friends and family from the bottom of my heart for all of the amazing support we've gotten in the past month; without you this would have been impossible to face. I feel so fortunate to have you in my life.

I've been trying to decide if/what I want to write here about the awesome man my dad was and what it's been like to lose him. I realize it's not exactly happy blog material, but as I've been chronicling all the major events of my life over the past year and a half, it felt wrong to move on with the happy, normal posts without acknowledging this.

I shared at his memorial picnic what I wanted everyone to know and remember about my dad, and I'll re-share here a story I told then. Words don't really work for this kind of thing, but I guess it's the best I can do to try to explain what he meant to me.

I’ve been told the story of my birth many times throughout the course of my life. I hear it was a little bit rough- my mom had a long labor, and when I finally was born there were complications and I was immediately whisked away by the doctors to be worked on: poked, prodded, and all kinds of not-fun stuff. When things finally settled down and it was clear that I was going to be ok, it was time for the nurses to take me to the nursery for the night so my parents could get some much-needed sleep. Well, my dad didn’t like the idea of this brand new little life spending her first night in the world in a cold, impersonal hospital crib all alone, and instead of resting and recuperating after the whole slightly traumatic ordeal like he could have done, he sat up the entire night, hour after hour, holding me in his arms and doing all that he could to show me that the world was a safe, warm, happy place full of love and human connection. It was vitally important to him to start me out with the best possible introduction to this life, and he did that just by being there that night and sharing with me all of his empathy, compassion, and thoughtful humanity.

On the first day of my life, my dad was already giving me the best that any child could hope for. At my most vulnerable, most fragile state of being, he was doing everything he could to keep me feeling loved, safe, and wanted. What more could anyone ever ask of a parent? I obviously don’t remember that day, but I feel it. I’ve always felt the things he began giving me that day, and I’ll keep feeling them for the rest of my life.

I love you Dad, and I miss you.

Wet Camping at Yagen

2010-07-06T10:28:00.003+09:00

Our hopes of having a dry weekend for camping were not met. At all. It basically rained continuously for the 30ish hours we stuck it out in Yagen Valley. Don't get me wrong- we had a good time and managed to do some stuff during the less-intense mistings, but we were all thoroughly soggy by the time we packed up to leave.

Most of our time was spent like this:

Huddled under the canopy, playing cards, games, eating, and twiddling our thumbs waiting for the rain to let up. We did have some really yummy food, so spending a lot of time eating really isn't anything to complain about.

We did manage to get a hike in one morning, and had a couple of slightly blood-pumping adventures along the way. First, we came across this dude:

From a distance, we had a hard time trying to decide what we were looking at. Initial guesses included wolf, goat, hyena, monkey(?!), cayote, and mutant forest creature. We dubbed it a "Yagen" and, not knowing if it was an animal that would enjoy eating us for lunch or if there were more of them lurking around, we walked quite tentatively through the forest for a while after seeing it.*

A few minutes later we came across a cave tunnel. A very dark, very creepy cave tunnel. If it had been me, I would have taken my chances going back through the Yagen's lair before venturing through this thing, but I didn't get my way, and before I knew it we were risking our lives venturing into an unknown darkness with countless possible terrors awaiting us inside. When I say this cave was dark, you have to understand something: there was NO LIGHT. At all. It was a black hole of cold, endless darkness. We had no flashlights, just the sad little orange glow of a camera button, and the periodic flash I fired off to make sure we weren't walking straight onto a bear's dinner plate.

Of all the creepy crawly creatures I'm sure were in that cave, we only saw one bat and a larger-than-life spider at the very end of the tunnel, which is for the best, I'm sure. It was one of the more creepy experiences of my life, and I must say I don't think I'll be venturing into many more mysterious dark forest caves anytime soon.

Those were the highlights of the camping trip (along with the good company of some new friends). The lowlights included the ultimate sogginess and the ankles full of insanely huge bug bites I came back with:

It was still a good trip though, and overall we were happy we went! Can't wait to try it again when the weather is better.

*After looking it up at home, it appears our Yagen animal was actually a Japanese Serow... which is a goat. Our "we came across a wild, dangerous forest beast" story is much less impressive now.

Some more pictures of Yagen Valley (which is a really pretty place!) HERE.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-02T21:40:00.002+09:00

A couple of days early, but I'll take this time to say: Enjoy your weekends, BBQ's, fireworks, fun and whatever festivities you have planned. As for us, we're going camping! Wish us luck- it might be a very wet trip if the past few days' weather is any indication. But we've made some new friends who just moved to Misawa and their excitement about getting out and seeing things is infectious, so hopefully it'll be an adventurous weekend. What's a little rain gonna hurt, anyway?

Happy 4th!

Boston (where no one knows my name, yeah...)

2010-06-28T20:10:00.003+09:00

I've had that Augustana song stuck in my head for the last week. It's an unstoppable force that begins playing any time I hear or think of the "B" word. "She said I think I'll go to Boston...I think I'll start a new life..."

Since I had never been and wanted to see it, we spent an afternoon out in the city during our trip. It's a pretty cool place (based on the little glimpse of it that I got). I'm normally not all that wowed by old stuff (which might seem odd coming from a former archaeologist), but the sense of history here actually felt real and exciting. That coupled with the architecture, the people, the intellectual collegiate atmosphere, and just the overall vibe made it a really appealing place to me.

So we had fun! Corey's mom treated us to a harbor cruise and a trolly tour of the city. We walked around Faneuil Hall and ate our way through the marketplace. We walked through the USS Constitution in all its glory. We took the T to Boston Commons and saw the state building (complete with protestors). We paid $34 for parking (pretty as it is, Boston aint cheap). Here's a bunch of Boston-y pictures:

And that was my experience with Boston. I'll definitely be back someday to see more. Yep yep.

"Yoooouuu don't know me, yoooouuu don't even care... yeah yeah..."

Just had to point out...

2010-06-27T12:51:00.003+09:00

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the psychic bridesmaid gifts Caitlin got us girls. The personalized tote bags she got each of us just happened to match the dresses we each were randomly wearing that night. Weird or what? I think so!

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled internetting.

East Coast Trip

2010-06-27T12:08:00.003+09:00

Home again! This time from Massachusetts where we went for Corey's sister's beautiful wedding and to spend some time with his family. The trip's main event was this good-lookin' couple:

I don't really have any pictures from the wedding yet, but let me tell you- it was beautiful and SO much fun! We were so happy and honored to be a part of it.

We got to stay with Caitlin and Ryan for almost a week, which was great since it was the first time I've ever gotten to spend any real time with them, and they're completely fun and awesome peeps. Despite the overall fairly crappy weather we had during that time, we managed to have a lot of fun hanging out around the fire pit in their backyard, going to Old Sturbridge Village, taking the boat out on the lake for an afternoon, eating lots of good food, and a whole lotta other good times.

We also stayed with Corey's dad for a couple days, spending relaxing time hanging out by the pool and re-discovering Corey's old toys:

After all the wedding fun, we still had almost a week left to spend on Cape Cod with Corey's mom (and aunt and cousins who were in town too). She showed us a good time! We spent days lounging on the beach (where I miraculously managed to not get a single sunburn!), visited Provincetown and Boston (I'll post pics later since I've already got so many going on here), had cookouts, went shopping, and had tons of fun while the time went by at lightning speed.

Thank you so much to all of Corey's family for everything. We had a great time and can't wait to see you all again (hopefully next summer in Japan... right?)! :)

Yet Again, Back to the States

2010-06-06T17:49:00.005+09:00

(This was my first attempt at producing an HDR image, and obviously I didn't totally succeed, so please ignore the ugly green splotch under the sun.)

This will probably be my last post of this spring season in Japan. Corey and I are leaving for Massachusetts on Wednesday (for Corey's sister's wedding and to see his family) and will be gone until the end of June. I assume the hot, sticky summer will be kicking into high gear right around the time we return, so I'm going to enjoy these last few days of mild-weathered beauty while I have them. Poor Corey JUST got back from spending a week in Maryland for work, so he's thrilled by the prospect of enduring even MORE 24 hour travel days back and forth... :) It'll be well worth it though.

What we've been doing lately: Corey has a new position at work (and his promotion finally kicked in at the beginning of this month), so he's been having fun with training and getting the chance to do something new. I've been doing my same old routine- running (with wonderful shin splints to show for it) and yoga at the gym, trying new recipes, practicing photography, trying to teach myself how to use various editing software, killing plants as I attempt to grow them, and learning little bits of Japanese in between. We've been taking advantage of the weather with walks, drives, and little day trips, interspersed with lots of board game playing, new restaurant-trying, and festival-going. It's a rough life, I tell you... :)

I don't really know what I was planning to write about in this post. I guess it was basically just an excuse to put up some pretty Spring pictures before we leave.

Sorry for being boring! Have a great day! Can't wait to see some of you guys in a few days!

Afternoon at the Beach

2010-06-02T20:54:00.003+09:00

Corey and I went to the beach on Memorial Day to hang out for a while. Unlike a beach in the states would have been this weekend, this one was just about deserted since (duh) there is no Memorial Day in Japan.

Corey miraculously (and ever so gracefully) learned how to fly while we were there.

I love the beach. The water up north here is much too rough (and cold) to swim in, but it sure is pretty. I found this particular beach when driving around with my Uncle Rus and Aunt Eileen while they were out visiting last week, and it's the most sandy and suitable for relaxing on that I've come across so far.

The weather was beautiful and we had fun goofing around. Probably too much fun...

This is the little mini forest we drove through to get to the beach. It's so pretty with the fresh greenery! I know I probably say this too much, but really... I so completely love living here.

The End.

2010-05-25T01:42:00.003+09:00

Well, it's all over.

And it's perfect.

Thank you, Lost, for 6 years of powerful storytelling. Job well done.

Wild Horses of Cape Shiriya

2010-05-17T16:30:00.003+09:00

You know those days that sneak up on you by surprise and end up being so completely perfect and happy that you know you'll always remember them, even if you didn't do anything all that remarkable? This was one of those days.

Corey and I decided it was time to take ourselves out on another little driving adventure this weekend, so we made our way up the Shimokita peninsula (the northeastern tip of Honshu, about 3 hours-ish from Misawa). Our aim was to see the "wild" Kandachime horses that live on Cape Shiriya and to generally just enjoy the Spring weather since the weekend was remarkably rain-free (a rare occurrence up here).

The drive up and back was so much fun. Corey had a grand ol' time cruising along the curvy, coastal roads while I snapped pictures left and right. We managed to dead-end ourselves into a couple of tiny, hodge-podge little crooked villages along the way, and drove through giant windmill farms, newly green forests, and rocky shorelines. Total beauty.

The horses were sort of neat to see. I don't really think they qualify as "wild" though. Supposedly they're left over from the days when they used to be bred for the emperor. They're fenced off in a large open preserve on the coast, and apparently local farmers feed them hay in the winter. (Kandachime literally means "to stand in the cold." These horses handle the harsh frozen winters well and are, I hear, quite majestic to see standing stoicly in the snow during the winter.) Plus they're pretty darned acclimated to people- crowds walk into the fields where they roam to pet, photograph, and otherwise pester them. Definitely the tamest "wild" animals I've ever seen.

Even though it was a bit cold by the ocean, we spent a good long time aimlessly walking around the beach exploring and enjoying ourselves. We were two happy day-trippers when we arrived back to Misawa in the evening, and even happier after we topped ourselves off with some sushi and ice cream.

I have a few more pics from the day posted HERE if you'd like to see them.

Awesome day!!

More Cherry Blossoms

2010-05-06T14:48:00.003+09:00

Maybe this is cherry blossom overkill, but I'm not sure such a thing exists. They'll be gone in no time, so I'm getting my pictures while the gettin's good.

Now that the sun rises at like 4:30am, it's hard to sleep in. By 5:30am I was parking my car at the swan park to take some pics in the cool morning light. I figured I'd have the park to myself at that early hour, but not only were there half a dozen cars in the parking lot, there were parents and kids hitting balls in the baseball field and a fancy-pants photographer staking out his tripod-ed vantage point at the lake. Really? Guess I'm not the only one getting up with the sun. Oh well.

Festival Food

2010-05-04T18:49:00.005+09:00

Mmmm, treats! As far as festival food goes, Japan has many interesting typical choices. Most are fried, and most are served on sticks. Corey's favorite is always tentacle on a stick:

Other options include fresh pineapple quarters, corn on the cob, or fried plums and strawberries:

And of course the sweets... Hirosaki is famous for apples, and we had delicious "apple ice" while there this weekend:

It's not exactly healthy food obviously (and I haven't pictures the dripping-with-oil yakisoba we chose in lieu of the corn), but it's a step up from fried Snickers bars and funnel cakes, right? It's nice to enjoy festival food without going into a diabetic coma afterwards.

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival

2010-05-03T10:33:00.003+09:00

We picked a great day to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Hirosaki (about a 2 hour drive from Misawa to the east). The blooms weren't quite fully blossomed, but the weather couldn't possibly have been any more beautiful. Bright blue skies and sunshine were unstoppable forces- Spring at its finest.

We left our house around 6am thinking we'd get there nice and early before all the crowds showed up. But this is Japan during Golden Week (when basically the entire population is on vacation and traveling)- who were we kidding. It was already a stifling madhouse by 8am. Oh well.

We walked around, took pictures, ate treats (a lot of them), enjoyed the scenery, and had had our fill by 11am. Short and sweet, and out of there before it got truly insane with picnicking crowds.

If you'd like to see some more pictures, I have them posted HERE.

I love Spring in Japan!

Homogenous Housing

2010-04-26T15:40:00.007+09:00

Mass-produced, cookie-cutter housing is no uncommon thing around Misawa. These little neighborhoods usually are home to Americans living off-base, but newer construction seems to produce the same type of housing tracts for native Misawans too. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but I'll take living in one of these standard structures over one of the undifferentiated (and uglier) houses on base any day.

I took these pics on a walk today in GORGEOUS weather. Spring is (FINALLY) here- yay! Everyone is out planting their gardens, and all kinds of pretty junk is popping out of the ground. The cherry blossoms are so close to blooming too. Hopefully this weekend we'll get our timing right at the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival, and I'll have lots of pretty pictures to share soon. I love it here this time of year!

Goodbyes and Karaoke

2010-04-21T09:59:00.007+09:00

As the last of the original group of friends we made when we first moved to Japan are packing up and leaving as I write, I can't help but think about how crazy it is that we've already been here for well over a year. As of now we've said goodbye to most of the people we have gotten to know during that time, and it definitely feels a little strange. Such is the nature of military life, I suppose. With every person that leaves, someone else comes, so hopefully we'll be meeting new friends in the coming months (as well as enjoying the couple of really good friends we're lucky to still have around). Plus, with everyone moving away, we now have friends all over the world and lots of couches to crash on when we travel! :)

We went out this past weekend for one last night of karaoke glory. Good times!

We'll miss you guys. :)

A Monterey Day

2010-03-19T08:49:00.009+09:00

Did I mention I'm back "home" in CA at the moment? Well, I am. I'll be here another 2 weeks or so, and am looking forward to doing a bunch of fun stuff and catching up with everyone!

Yesterday my best bud Stanley and I took a little drive down to Monterey (where Corey is this week, although we timed it poorly and didn't get to see him- lame). We had a lot of fun; the weather was gorgeous! We walked along the ocean, took pictures, ate on Cannery Row, talked, laughed, and bought A LOT of Taffy Town's salt-water taffy (long story...). It was a great day!

A little different from the blizzard I was in this time last week...

White Out

2010-03-11T08:54:00.005+09:00

When I woke up to a blizzard warning, I looked out on our deck and thought, "Wow, that's a lot of snow!"

A few hours later, I found out what "a lot" of snow actually looks like.

Then this morning, I saw the following when I looked out on our (former) deck:

It's just... snow. I'm pretty sure everything has turned to snow and snow is now all that exists outside the walls of our house.

So much for spring.

Pictures at the Park

2010-03-01T21:23:00.012+09:00

Today while Corey was gone on a work-sponsored snowboarding trip, I decided to head out to Shimoda Swan Park to get some photography practice in. It was cold, but I had the whole park pretty much to myself and had a lot of fun just leisurely walking around and finding photo-opportunities. Here are my favorite shots from the day:

Engrish

2010-02-24T19:43:00.005+09:00

Corey and I lament about the fact that there's no pizza delivery where we live. Little did we know- there is. We received this flyer in our mailbox advertising 60's pizza. Mmm, that sounds... aged. The katakana writing suggests their new "smoke cheese with cream cheese" variety. As much as that (as well as the lady in her bra) entices us, I think we'll pass.

Towadako Snow Festival

2010-02-20T22:21:00.006+09:00

Today we took a little trip out to Lake Towada to see the snow festival they put on every winter. It involves normal festival fare- food, activities, family fun for all- plus a lot of snow. It was cool. Well, cool-ish. We enjoyed it because we had nothing better to do on this Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't mind-blowing or anything. After the 2 hour drive to get out there, walking around for 20 minutes and looking at snow in various forms was a little anti-climactic. But it was nice to spend an afternoon doing something other than snowboarding during the long, boring winter. It was snowing too much for me to feel safe bringing out my cool camera, but I took some shots with my old cheapy.

There were half a dozen life-size walk-in igloos like the one above built. Some of them were decked out. Why not take a nap inside?Various snow/ice sculptures were on display. Corey found Princess Unicorn- her horn can pierce the sky (anyone who gets the reference is automatically cool).They had a snow stage with some cool images (which I think is used for band performances at night time before a fireworks show- this probably would have been a better place to visit at night). Oh, and these pics weren't taken in black and white- the day really was just this dreary.And finally, this cute and impossible-to-get-away-from kitty was perched outside the Towadako post office.

Who's reading this thing?

2010-02-04T22:27:00.005+09:00

It's funny to see (via Google Analytics stats) the more unusual web browser searches that have led people to my blog:

-Approximately 10% of searches leading here are some variant of folks looking for "Pizza Hut." I'm pretty sure I have never written about Pizza Hut, so I don't know how that happens (although now that I've written the word "Pizza Hut" 3 times, I'm sure it'll only get worse).

- One person found it through the search, "Where was the first earthquake in the world?" Huh. Now there's a head scratcher.

- Someone spent 35 minutes on my page while searching for: "how do drummers get back in shape?" I hope I could provide some valuable insight on the subject...

- Perhaps the most random: "slippery japanese movies stairs." Hey, I've made a number of odd google searches over the years- I don't judge.

- And these two make sense, but I find them kind of funny anyway: "the world of the patty" and "patty doesn't feel good"

I can't imagine how many pages and pages of relevant hits people must go through before accidentally stumbling across my blog in these searches...

It's here!

2010-02-03T08:39:00.004+09:00

The day millions of people have been waiting for...Tonight (or tomorrow for me, depending on when it pops up on iTunes), is the premier of the last season of the greatest show in the world. I'm craaaazy excited, but also a little sad. Soon the mysteries will be solved (we hope), and the show will be over. No more Jack, Ben, Lock, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, Jin, Sun, blah blah... (ok, there are a lot of characters on this show, you get the idea).

I'm going to be on a bit of an internet hibernation starting in about 3 hours until whenever I'm able to watch the show to avoid the inevitable post-show fan explosion of spoilers. I'll be a bit late to join the analysis parties, but I'll be there. :)

Oh, and by the way, I'm joining the cast this year as an honorary Lostie.

Nice Scenery, Even in Winter

2010-01-30T17:00:00.008+09:00

We went to a coastal park to take in some pretty sights, and while it might not look very cold, it was completely arctic outside. But it was beautiful!

My precious!

2010-01-28T21:04:00.009+09:00

Imagine the title voiced á la Gollum from Lord of the Rings...

Anyway, you've probably already heard/read about it somewhere (because I'm obsessed and can't stop talking about it), but in case you haven't come across me on FB, email, phone, IM, or *shock* real life in the past couple days... I have a new camera (a Canon T1i)!

It's my first foray into the dslr world, so I have a lot to learn. This is one complicated little piece of machinery, and I'm sure I'll spend the next few weeks/months/years figuring it all out. But it's going to be one heck of a fun process, I have a feeling. So far I've just been goofing around and figuring out the manual settings. Here's a sample of 4 (out of 125 in one day... see, I told you- obsessed) pics I've taken with it:

This is so fun! :)

Finally some real snow!

2010-01-13T15:24:00.005+09:00

Snow shovels, snow angels, snow balls, snow men... it's a snow EXTRAVAGANZA! Last winter the stupid snow gave me a broken arm and a driving phobia, but this year the weather gods seem to be trying to make amends for their past assault against me. I have to say I'm having fun with it so far this year! Dare I say it- it's almost kind of nice.

Last night and earlier today gave us our first substantial snowfall here in Misawa all winter. After Corey made his way home (they were released from work early and his normal 20 minute drive took an hour) and the snow let up, we went outside and had some fun in the fresh winter wonderland.
Oh, Corey and our snowman say "Hi" too!

Produce Packaging

2010-01-05T20:05:00.003+09:00

In Japanese supermarkets, one can find produce packaged in very small amounts. Sometimes it comes in handy. For instance, we can buy a quarter of a head of cabbage to add to a stir-fry for one dinner or half a bell pepper for a salad without having to worry about wasting anything or figuring out multiple uses for one large vegetable.

But sometimes it seems a little silly. For instance, if I was going to buy cherry tomatoes (even if I wanted them for just a small snack), I'm pretty sure I would want more than 4. Yet 4 is what you can get in some containers. All that packaging for 4 stinkin' cherry tomatoes. Overkill much?

What I learned about snowboarding...

2010-01-03T09:27:00.003+09:00

... IT HURTS!!!

Like, a lot.

We went up to Towadako yesterday with a group of friends to try out the sport for the first time. The weather was beautiful for most of the day (it was snowing the whole time, but not too much wind until towards the end). My favorite parts of the day were the moments of being on the mountain or in the chair lift, taking in the beautiful scenery in silence with snow falling all around me. It really was gorgeous in an almost magical kind of way!

As for the actual snowboarding, it was definitely fun! Corey took to it really well. He even tried the intermediate slope twice. Me- well, I can't say I'm a natural (I literally didn't stand fully up on the board once my first trip down the bunny slope- which took at least an hour, by the way), but I sort of started to get the hang of it by the end of he day. By that, I mean I could do something other than scoot my way down the mountain via attempting an upright position and falling back down, causing the board to slide downward a few inches each time. I don't think that slope has ever seen so much of one butt.

I took one particularly nasty fall (ironically, after my best fully-standing slide down a steep slope) in which my forehead met the ground before I even knew I was falling. It broke my goggles and jarred me enough to end my day.

And today- OH THE PAIN!! Forget the fact that we both have tweaked ankles, knees, elbows and wrists. That's nothing compared to the deep muscle pains in places we never even knew we had muscles! Each individual finger is sore, and I'm pretty sure I have whiplash from my big fall as I can hardly move my neck (it hurts to freakin' swallow), and Corey's upper body isn't faring much better. OUCH!

Still, I guess the fun is worth the pain. We definitely want to do it again. It might take a couple weeks of recuperation, but we'll be back on the slopes!

New Project 365 blog!

2010-01-01T21:37:00.003+09:00

Yeah, I'm starting one. I'm a little late to join the trend, I know, but I wanted to do it anyway. If you're not really big into the blog-world and haven't come across one of these, it's basically a year-long photo documentary of life. If you're interested, you can read more about the whats and the whys in the link.

My Project 365

I'll still be updating this blog whenever I have something worthwhile to share, and if you're not interested in following my 365 blog, this one will still be business as usual (so you don't have to worry about missing any riveting posts). :)

Happy New Year, by the way!

Sayoonara, 2009!

2009-12-31T15:42:00.014+09:00

Less than 8 hours from now, 2009 will be nothing but memories. I honestly think this was probably the very best year of my life so far- so full of excitement and adventure! I'm so truly, deeply thankful for all the amazing opportunities we've been given and for all the astounding people in my life who have made this year unforgettable. I've always gotten a little too sentimental on New Year's Eve (my sister likes to tell the story of me as a kid, crying as I said goodbye to 1992 because I was going to miss it), but I just can't help it- closing a year full of amazing memories calls for a dose of sentiment in my opinion.

These are the top 10 things I will remember about 2009:

1. Moving to Japan (duh, right?)

2. Breaking my arm and the subsequent 3 months of physical therapy (this one wasn't so great)

3. Settling into our new home4. Seeing the Japanese cherry blossoms in spring5. Scuba diving for the first time and camping in Tappi

6. Our friends Nate and Kara getting married (in addition to all the other nights of karaeoke and fun times with friends in Misawa)7. Climbing Mt. Fuji!!!8. Exploring Tokyo (on a couple different occasions)9. Seeing the beauty of fall in northern Japan10. Some family coming out to see us for Christmas
Looking forward...

Happy New Year!! Here's to 2010! I hope it's a great year for everyone!

Our first visitors!

2009-12-29T17:24:00.015+09:00

For Christmas my mom, sister and her boyfriend came out to Japan to visit us. While we missed my dad a whole whole lot, we had a good week here and had a lot of fun!

Corey and I came down to Tokyo to meet our peeps, then we all spent three days there having some fun (since let's face it, there's a bit more to do and see in Tokyo than in Misawa, especially in the winter). Highlights include:

Visiting the Imperial Palace and seeing the Emperor of Japan speak...

Walking/taking the subway all over the city, visiting gardens, stores, arcades, shrines, coffee/tea shops, Tokyo Tower, and more...

And then there was the food. Oh holy goodness, the food. We ate a lot- mostly copious amounts of ramen and pastries (if you're ever in Tokyo, you MUST go to the bakery right outside the Hanzomon line's 5th station exit to get the most delicious chocolate croissant you will ever taste- it will change your life, I promise). Chris's favorite thing in the entire world is ramen, so he had fun trying a bunch of different places (one of which we spent like 2 hours trying to find and waited in line at least 20 minutes for that had the best noodles I've ever had)...

After all that Tokyo fun, we headed up to Misawa on Christmas Eve. There we had a nice, low-key time doing Christmas-y things like making gingerbread houses, cooking, watching movies, playing games, and basically just hanging out.

Thank you Mom, Kibby and Chris for all the fun! It's Dad's turn next time!

Why wait for New Year's?

2009-12-28T17:55:00.003+09:00

I'm getting my diet and exercise back in check NOW. These past few weeks were pretty awful- no working out, lots and lots (and lots and lots) of terrible food (the 5 people at our house during Christmas ate 5 TUBS of cookies over 3 days- eek!). I feel pretty disgusting.

I started back with a 4.5 mile run today at the gym, and Corey and I are eating a 100% clean food diet for a week to get us started.

Wish us luck!

Trim Up the Tree With Christmas Stuff

2009-12-19T22:14:00.016+09:00

It's a holiday winter wonderland up around these parts. I have for your viewing pleasure a bajillion pictures of Christmas-y Misawa...

First of all, some lights around town:

The display at American Park

A Christmas tree made up entirely of recycled plastic bottles

A couple houses on base all lit up

Then we have the Garson family decorations:

Our big ol' tree

Corey's candy pagoda and my little candy cabin (we had a gingerbread house-making party with some friends today)

The ornament wreath I made this year

Our small tree with the cute little snowmen I love dearly

A small sample of the dozens of cookies I've been baking this season

And finally, a couple random December pictures:

A quiet, calm snowy night-time walk

Us after an offical Air Force event (my first one ever!)

See, I told you- a bajillion pictures.