Arrival in Okinawa, Japan and Day 1 in Kyoto

My lunchtime arrival on Okinawa island lead to a happy and
hungry reunion with my Ellie bug.  It's so good to wrap my
momma arms around my baby girl, even if she is 26 years
old and married!  She took me down to the seawall, an area
that she and Herb looked at apartment rentals before deciding
to accept the base housing for officers on Kadena Air Base.
Even though it was spring like weather, the Pacific ocean
is chilly enough to require a wet suit for surfers and divers.

This Japanese local had quite the camera lens!
He was watching the F15 fighter jets as
they flew overhead to line up for their landings.

It was a beautiful view on the seawall.  I can
understand why Herb and Ellie considered living here.

Just think, one of these may be my son-in-law, Herb!

After a delicious burrito at a little sandwich shop by the
seawall, Ellie got me registered on base, and then took me
to her home.  It is so cozy! It is a beautiful three bedroom
townhouse for them, their fur babies, and any guests.
This photo captures Ellie's life at the moment- Willow and Max <3

The very next day we took all modes of travel, and spent
the entire day getting to Kyoto, Japan, for a little four
day vacation. Car, plane, train, bus, and feet finally
got us to our Air BnB.  The kids rented a traditional
Japanese two bedroom home for our stay in Kyoto-
right in the heart of the city and close to public
transport.  Like many major cities in the East,
Kyoto has a CTV tower you can visit for city views.

The train station and bus depot also included
a large shopping mall that was decorated in
Western Christmas splendor.  They seem to
have a better handle on Christmas than China...
...like my first Christmas overseas spent at Sanya
Beach, South China, where the creepy Santa had his
tongue sticking out and an Indian dot on his forehead.

It had been a long day of travel via planes,
trains, and automobiles, so we were more than
hungry for dinner. We found this local BBQ place
not a stone's throw from our home. Everything
was skewered and cooked on an open flame
like my favorite place on LuguLu in Beijing.
It was so good, we just kept ordering!

After a quick trip to the local grocery, we drug our tired and full selves home, consulted the city map, checked the bus routes and got our passes in order, and we made our game plan for the next day.  Kyoto is the land of a thousand temples and shrines, it seems, but more on her history in the next blog. 

After a long day of traveling, it was time to call it a night. Thankfully Ellen remembered her fit bit (I forgot), because I see some 20k step days in the near future.  We have a big day tomorrow; time to rest up!  

G'nite, y'all!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Willis is three down, six to go. Dern cat.

Image
If cats have nine lives, Willis has now burned through three of them. The first one was when he went overboard on Marquesa several years ago.  I think that mishap took years off my own life, and landed me with a broken toe in the ER. In my haste to 'save' him, I dove overboard but got my toe hung up on the life lines. Geesh. Last Christmas, he had an encounter with a cotton mouth, the day after I left for Japan to spend Christmas with Ellie.  That was a scary one...he was lucky he didn't burn through all the remaining eight lives with that one. Now, here we are again, at the vet with a nasty, oozing, abscess on his right side.  There is one puncture wound, not two.  Yet, the vet is certain it was something venomous that nailed him once more.  When I took him to the vet on Saturday to have his wound looked at, there was a distinctive lump, the skin was blackened, and you could see one puncture and an abrasion. On Saturday, he tried to behave him...
Read more

School's Out For Summer!

Image
There is no doubt that teaching psychology to my Chinese babies was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.  Their dedication and diligence to their academic pursuits is a bar set so high, that my American friends and family find my stories hard to believe.  All of that pressure to succeed comes with a price, however, and I felt part of my calling to China was to temper those unrealistically high expectations set by their teachers, families, and their very culture.  There is so much more to defining a person than one's GPA, transcripts, or from where they receive their diploma.  When learning is no longer FUN, there is a problem.  If I did anything right, it was to teach dem Chinese babies that it's okay to be silly and to have fun.  Life is too precious to be so serious and stressed out all the time!  Never let anyone or anything steal your joy and zest for life 😁...remember, you only get one go around. In moving back t...
Read more

The best laid plans

Image
Good morning!  We had a leisurely morning aboard Kantiya.  The Dismal Swamp Lock didn't open until 8:30am, so we enjoyed coffee and breakfast, and I checked email and worked on the blog some. The main salon is my 'office' on board- it works out fine :) The best laid plans, well.... are just that.  As we passed the 'road sign' for the Dismal Swamp it said the canal was open, but the lock was closed.  Knowing it was nearly 7:30pm and the last lock through was at 3:30pm, I figured," ok, it's closed- for the day".  I even remarked to Len that it looked like the kind of sign at a bar, that you can change from 'closed' to 'open'. Well, this morning, a man paddles by in a canoe, and Len thought, "That must be the guy changing the sign." Ah, no. I pulled off the dock at 8:00am for the short two mile jaunt to the lock.  At about one half mile out, I hail the lock on the VHF to request the 8:30 scheduled opening. I was politely ...
Read more