Pink Arrow IX

Yesterday, I was privileged to be part of Pink Arrow 9, the Lowell community's annual event to raise funds to support those on a cancer journey.  My participation was via representing Gilda's Club as their mascot, Sparkle the Dog.  My first stop was at the high school gym for their pep rally.  Ali, a new Gilda's staff member, spoke about Gilda's Club and I just made an appearance.  Introduced by Tommy & Brook from Star-105.  That was pretty cool...   Nice to watch all the goings-on as the student body got fired up for the game.

After the pep rally, I headed down the road to Meijer for a break, then returned to the stadium.  Hadn't been to a high school football game for many years, and this one was definitely over the top, in a good way.  Most of Lowell's restaurants had booths there, and you could buy just about any kind of food you wanted to eat.  Price of admission was a Pink Arrow T-Shirt, all proceeds going to the Pink Arrow fund which helps those in the Lowell community that are on a cancer journey, by meeting some of their financial needs.  The Pink Arrow fund also is a major supporter of Gilda's Club in Lowell, hence our support of Pink Arrow in return.   After wandering around for a while, waiting for other Gilda's staff to arrive, decided to go back to my car and just change in the parking lot, so my costume bags could just go in the car.

I'd put on everything but the "head" when a staff member finally came by on a golf cart.  They picked me up (after I put the head on) and we headed for the Gilda's booth.  I spent the next three hours "Sparkling" which meant that I was giving high fives, fist bumps, hugs, posing for pictures, and just generally being an ambassador for Gilda's Club and Pink Arrow.  I had a Pink Arrow shirt on over the costume, so it got pretty warm in there!  It's lots of fun being a mascot, even if I did get warm.  And just the incredible experience of being at Pink Arrow - they have each football player and cheerleader play in honor or memory of someone on a cancer journey, and there is a walk around the track (which surrounds the football field) with the players and honorees.   The entire stadium is a sea of pink shirts.  Just incredible.   I left at halftime, three hours is the longest I've ever stayed in the costume without a break and I was done, even though I was having a great time.

Sunday, September 4 - our 36 hour day

We woke up at 5 am in Tokyo so that we could check out by 5:45, giving Scott time to go get his car and get us on the road to Zama by 6 am.  Woke to steady rain which we were glad wasn't happening the prior two days.  Got on the road by 6 am as planned, and arrived at Camp Zama by about 7:30.  Filled up the car with gas on base, use the bathroom, then picked up Marty at the kennel.  He was really excited to see Scott, less excited to go back into his box for the trip to Narita.

Got to Narita in good time, didn't have to go back into the concrete underground jungle.  Our first stop was the animal quarantine office.  More paperwork, another exam, and then Marty was cleared to leave the country.  Then on to the Asiana check in desk where there was more paperwork, and Scott paying 300 yen with the taxes for Marty to be added to my ticket as excess baggage.  Scott was ok with that because he'd been quoted 2000 yen to ship him unaccompanied.  Judging by the friendly reception he got from all the female gate agents oohing and aahing over him, he was treated well on his trip.

Then on to security for us and a farewell to Scott.  We won't see him again until he comes back to Michigan for Eric's wedding next June...I'm very thankful we got this chance to visit with him here in Japan.  Scott made it back to Misawa after a 7 hour drive and two five hour energy drinks.... I'm sure it's very quiet around his house now without all his house guests and especially without Marty.

We shopped a bit in the duty free shops after security.  Got to try lots of expensive samples but only ended up buying some hokkaido melon flavored kit-kats.  Had to keep them under the duty-free seal until we were home which was probably a good thing.  They tasted good...

Once on the plane, we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes.  Unsure of the delay, but we finally took off and had a pleasant flight to Incheon.  We were served a meal in a box along the way, not remembering exactly what it was.

Got to Incheon.  I had been debating whether or not to leave the terminal to go caching while we were on layover.  I think if I'd been by myself I would have.  But leaving Steve with all the luggage, and having him fall asleep...no.  Spent an uneventful layover there.  Had a nice conversation with a young Korean-American man and got to talk about Gilda's Club with him for a while, among other topics.  Bought a pretzel from the Auntie Anne's store, paid in US dollars and got change in Korean won...so have a bit of a souvenir.  Will probably pass them on to Scott when he gets back to Korea.

On to our 13 hour flight back to Chicago.  Long, uneventful, didn't get a whole lot of sleep but what I did get was thanks to the pillow, footrest, and eye mask.  Served a meal not too long after take off, chose the Korean option again which was Sisimbop this time.  This was beef bulgogi and rice, wrapped in lettuce leaves.  There was some sort of a bean paste that I was supposed to add as well but opted out of that.

After that it was pretty much lights out for the majority of the flight - literally - as the flight attendants made sure that all the shades were closed and the lights were dimmed, left enough so you could see to get to the bathroom, etc.  Slippers on the plane as well as toothbrushes and tiny tubes of toothpaste, little tubes of mouthwash, combs, were all available in the bathrooms (except for the slippers that were at our seats.)  I have a few new travel toothbrushes now...

Lights were turned back on over the Dakotas and we were served another meal.  Not sure whether you want to call it breakfast (if you based it on when we left) or dinner (by US standards) but it tasted good.  I chose the chicken and pasta this time as the second meal coming over had been fish and rice.  It was that again so glad I chose the chicken and pasta.  Not too long after that, we were landing in Chicago.

I had downloaded an app before leaving that was from customs and promised to cut the time in line.  Well, it didn't work out so we waited in a very long line to get through customs.  We sure wouldn't have made the connection to the flight to Grand Rapids!  This line literally went down three different hallways, took us about 45 minutes to get to the front then there were a few other lines before we actually saw a customs agent.  No questions for me but Steve was asked why he had been in Japan.

Finally we were allowed to enter the US officially, then on to baggage claim and Marty.  He survived the trip amazingly well, had not even messed in his box in almost 24 hours.  Once we had him, we had to go through one more stop to get him cleared.  The officer asked if he was in good health and up to date on shots.  We answered yes and he was cleared to enter.  Didn't even look at his papers.  So much easier than leaving Japan with him.

Finally - out into the waiting area.  Didn't see Eric and Trina right away, but saw the signs for the animal relief area so I was going to head that way while Steve looked for them and then joined us.  We caught up to Eric and Trina soon after so we all headed for the relief area together.  Got there and realized that the box was zip tied shut in about 4 places (had been done after we'd dropped him off, we didn't do it...) and a few minutes of confusion before I remembered that I had a small clippers in my luggage.  Soon had him out and he peed like a racehorse, imagine that!  Then off to where Eric had parked my car and we were headed home.

Stopped at an oasis along the tollway for a pit stop then back on the road.  With all the delays at the airport, it was 2:20 am Monday when we arrived home, 7 hours after we'd landed in Chicago.  Made for a very long day!

This has been a wonderful trip for me.  Got to see a new part of the world that has been a part of our oldest son's world for the last two years.  New culture, new experiences.

Steve was less than thrilled overall - seeing Scott was good for him, but he says he'll never leave the US again.  His choice.  We'll see.  Passports expire next year.

Now that I've rediscovered my blog, hope to be writing in it more often.  It was great to go back and read posts from years past.

Saturday, September 3 - Meiji-jingu temple, Shibuya, Tokyo Tower, Imperial Gardens

A long day, tiring but fun.  We walked more than 7 miles today, according to my fitbit.  I believe it.

Started out at Denny's again for breakfast.  I decided to be a bit more adventurous today and chose the Japanese sides with my eggs - miso soup and rice.  Tasty!  Back to Kameido station where today's first stop would be the Meiji-jingu temple.

The torii gate was a short walk from the train station and we were soon on a beautiful shady walk with more temple buildings.  One interesting sight was 100 barrels of sake wrapped in decorative straw stacked along the walk.  I was also able to gather the information for a virtual cache while along the way - though the area that it brought us to was closed, the information sign, thankfully in English as well as Japanese, was outside the closed area.

Once we arrived at the main temple area, we were fortunate enough to witness a wedding processional coming from the temple.  The bride and groom as well as many of the participants, were in traditional Japanese wedding kimonos.  Bonus!   Finally remembered that I had a Laughfest smile with me so took a few pictures with it, not only here but at the Tokyo Tower.

After the Meiji-jingu temple, we headed to Shibuya station where we wanted to see Shibuya crossing, one of the world's most busy intersections.  An incredible amount of people coming from 5 different directions.  It was a spectator sport for me, but Scott and Steve went into it just to take pictures.  After watching the crossing for a while, we found the memorial statue for Hachi the dog, and also tried to find the nearby cache.  Too many people at GZ for me to search.  Got some beverages out of the vending machines.  I finally tried Pocari Sweat - that's its name - which was sort of like gatorade but with more of a grapefruit taste.

Headed next to the Roppongi area where the main Hard Rock Cafe was located.  Apparently the one we went to last night had the actual location printed on the glasses and not just "Tokyo" which is what Scott wanted.  So while he walked down the street to get his glass, we hung out at the nearby Wendy's and had a snack/lunch.

When Scott returned, we decided that Tokyo Tower was within walking distance so off we went.  Nice walk.  One interesting thing we saw was a roller coaster track on top of a building.  Scott found out that the roller coaster had been built but there was never permission given for the ride to operate so there it sits.

Got to Tokyo Tower and Steve did not want to go up.  He sat in the lobby while Scott and I went up to the first observation level.  Great views of the city, and glass floors in several places so we could look straight down.  We decided not to go up to the top observation level as it would just be the same views.  Did some gift shop shopping and soon headed back to Steve.

Headed to the nearest train station to get us to the Imperial Gardens, our last planned stop of the day, and discovered another temple along the way.  Zojoji Temple was nice.  One interesting part was seeing a tree that President Bush (the 1st one) planted while he visited the temple many years ago.  A healthy, thriving tree today.

Headed to the imperial gardens area from the train that brought us there.  Got there with less than 45 minutes to spare before it closed.  Free admission but they had us take tickets which were slabs of plastic that we had to turn back in at the gate when we left.  We took a quick walk from the gate we entered, through part of the gardens, and back out another gate.  Were able to see part of the moat surrounding the castle, and some pretty areas.  Overall consensus was that we weren't all that impressed though.  Maybe because we felt a bit rushed and didn't get to see everything.  Probably the prettiest part was the bridge to the gate where we exited.   There was a cache near that gate which I was able to find.  As it was looking like my last cache opportunity, I dropped one of my own trackables.  Will be taking quite a few home, perhaps I shouldn't have taken quite so many on the trip but it was hard to say no to friends.  At least they've been able to "travel" that far...

Headed back to Kameido and started thinking about dinner.  Steve wanted to eat at McDonalds.  I rebelled - we are in Japan and I'm getting tired of American fast food.  Compromised - Steve got his McDonald's and Scott and I picked up food from a nearby Japanese takeout place.  Not sure what I got but it had rice and beef and onions.  It was good.  Took it back to the hotel.

By now we were accumulating quite a bit of trash at the hotel.  We knew that there was not daily maid service at the hotel and were ok with that.  Nobody going into our room during the day.  But what we didn't realize is that we were expected to sort and haul our own trash.

This is what we had to sort into:

• burnable trash
• plastic recyclables
• cans
• non burnable trash

There were bins for each, located around the corner and down the street, next to the hotel's parking area.  I was a good girl and took care of it, even though it wasn't what I was used to.  Ended up doing Scott's the next morning as well.  He'd sorted it but was going to take it back home.  But while we were waiting for him to bring the car I took his over as well.  Scott has to sort his like that at home, too, so he's used to it.   The Japanese take their trash seriously, I guess.

We are packed and ready to roll in the morning.  Everything fits into the suitcase but it's going to be heavy...thought about checking it but it's not packed for that.  Oh well.

Friday, September 2 - Tokyo - Sensoji Temple and Ueno Park

Started our morning with an almost American breakfast at Denny's  near the train station.  Thankfully Scott's phone got us there as I was turned around when we started and could have sworn we were going the wrong way!

I say "almost" as there were similarities.  The menu was in Japanese, of course, but there were pictures.  We could choose a main dish, we all chose scrambled eggs which came with a sausage, a strip of bacon, and a salad.  Then to choose an side - we all chose pancakes which were smaller and thicker than at home - with a small jug of syrup.  Then a beverage.  Steve chose coffee, of course, and Scott and I had orange juice.  So almost American.  Less than $20 for all three of us to have a nice meal.

Then on to Kameido station to head into Tokyo proper (the hotel was in Kato ward.)  We soon learned that you need to wait to buy your ticket until just before the gate you want to leave by.  We have several tickets that were no good because we bought them too soon. Lesson learned.

Our first stop was the Sensoji temple, in the Asakusa area.  Very popular area.  The streets leading to the temple area are lined with all kinds of shops selling souvenirs and other Japanese goods.  We started at the Kaminarimon gate and found a cache there first.  It was hidden in the structure of an information sign, very cool placement and it was big enough for some of my bigger travelers.  I wish I'd crammed a few more in there as I only was able to drop one more during the trip.

We shopped our way up the street, buying some small souvenirs along the way - pens, shot glasses, etc.  The bonus was that all the shops had cooler air - the humidity was high and the temps got up to 88 degrees today.

On to the temple - magnificent!  Very traditional, very Japanese.  Lots of Japanese women in kimonos here, must be a tradition for them to wear them to this temple.  The only disappointment was that the famous 5 story pagoda here was covered up for repairs.

While in this area, I was able to try shaved ice.  That bowl was huge!  Was a good thirst quencher and the shop was cooler than the outside, too.  I've been a bit indulgent with myself but my clothes aren't getting tight so think the exercise and the food are cancelling each other out.  (Had actually lost two pounds from my last dr. visit by the time I went to the doctor the following Wednesday...)

We discussed heading for the Skytree Tower.  Steve didn't want to go up, I was ambivalent, mainly due to the cost, and Scott claimed it didn't matter to him either way.  I think that he did want to go but didn't want to leave dad at the bottom alone.  I felt kind of bad - He's in Tokyo and he has to experience it with his fuddy-duddy parents...

We then decided to head for Ueno Park next.  As we arrived and started walking around, there was a performance going on.  We couldn't get close enough to see much of the performance, but were able to see the large floats surrounding the performance area.  Must have been a parade before the performance.  Very nice!  Wandered over by the zoo but nobody really wanted to pay to see the zoo.  There was another 5 story pagoda here but it was within the zoo.  We next visited a nearby temple from which we were able to see most of the 5 story pagoda anyway.

Next to the National Museum of Nature and Science.  Eric and Trina had visited it and recommended it.  Much of it was mystifying to me as there weren't always English translations.  One cool thing though, in the nature part, was a display of preserved dogs.  Took a picture and then later discovered that the white dog was the actual famous "Hachi" from the movie of the same name.  Hachi accompanied his owner to the train station (Shibuya) each day and waited for him.  One day, the owner died while at work.  Hachi waited for his owner for the rest of Hachi's life.  There is a statue honoring him at Shibuya station which we hope to see tomorrow.

By now it was time to eat so we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe nearby as Scott wanted to visit there.  He had said he would pay for it as it was a bit out of our usual price range, but Steve insisted on paying.  Later Steve found out the bill was the equivalent of $100 for three of us.  But Scott IS doing a lot for us on this trip.  Nice dinner though, and I got to keep the glass...

Dusk by now so headed back toward the hotel.  Busy time to be on public transportation in Tokyo!  We were standing wall-to-wall people much of the way.  Made it back, and searched for the cache that was next to the hotel while Scott checked on his car.  No luck on the cache but the car was just fine.  Chilled out for a while, then went to the Lawson for snacks and drinks.  Hung out for a while longer, planned out our Saturday, and that was that.

Thursday, September 1 - Road trip to Tokyo!

Road trip to Tokyo today - leaving Misawa.  I've really enjoyed getting to know Scott's "hometown" area this week - interesting area and a great introduction to Japanese culture.

We were on our way by 6 am, knowing we had an approximately 8 hour road trip ahead of us and needing to be at Camp Zama by 5 pm to drop Marty at the military kennel there.  Marty was not the happiest of travelers as he spent the trip in his box.  There just was not room for him in the back seat where he is accustomed to be.  He of course got out and had a nice walk at each of the rest areas we stopped at.

We took the toll road down to Tokyo.  Getting a bit used to everything being on the "wrong" side but it's still a bit strange sometimes.  We stopped at three different rest areas along the way.  They were nicer than most of our rest areas back home.  There were the usual toilet facilities, of course - with those wonderful Japanese toilets - but also there were lots of vending machines, restaurant facilities, and gift shops.   Caches at just about every one as well.  I was able to find the cache at the first stop we were at, but had to DNF the second, and the third was not along the route that I thought we were taking so if there was a cache there, I didn't know about it.  The toll roads in Japan are expensive - it cost the equivalent of $150 to drive all the way down.

Arrived at Camp Zama about 3 pm, Scott checked us into base, and we got Marty squared away at the kennel.  He was not a happy camper!  While we were on base, we took advantage of cheaper on base gas, and had subway for dinner so Steve could get some American food.

Then to navigate the roads to get into Tokyo and our hotel.  They were crazy!  I kept my nose in my tablet and read quite a lot of the time so I wouldn't get freaked out.  I think Steve described it best, I'll quote from his facebook post:

We made it to Tokyo from Misawa . Trying to get to the hotel with a GPS , 8 hours of concrete jungle , then the road dove under an apartment building and spiralled down underground to a "Y" split , then spiralled down more to a underground expressway and then didn't see the light of day for another 15 minutes , the GPS doesn't work underground and signs are in Japanese , of course. After crossing the same large body of water twice + more concrete jungle , we made it to the hotel which has no parking. My son scoured the local area to park his "large car" ( a '03 Subaru Forester RHD ). Did I mention Tokyo metropolitan area has 38 million people , 16,000 people per square mile density ( I'm used to 2 people per 3 acres of woods ) ; apartment buildings are crammed together for many , many miles . But Scott got us here and is keeping our sightseeing on a even keel with the local trains and all, he understands enough Japanese to get by. Have only seen 1 GoldWing on the expressway on the way down , lots of scooters with people that must have a death wish in this burg. It's NUTS here !

As Steve said, we made it to the hotel eventually, and Scott was able to find parking a few blocks away for the equivalent of $11 per day.  Not bad at all for a big city.  Scott is on the 4th floor, and we are on the 5th.  There is a courtyard in the middle so we can see his room from the elevators.  Our room is small by US standards but not bad by Japanese ones.  The bed is big enough for both of us, there is a desk, a small couch, and a small bathroom.  Wi-fi and air conditioning.  It will be fine for three nights.

As we'd had a late lunch and it was dark by the time we were settled in, we went to the Lawson convenience store right across the street from the hotel.  Scott and I got onigiri and Steve found a sandwich that he liked.  Hung out for a while, planned out what we wanted to do on each day, and then called it a night.

Tomorrow we explore Tokyo!

Wednesday, August 31 - Oirase Gorge

Day 1 post-typhoon.  Took Marty for his usual morning walk and surveyed the damage in the neighborhood.  Really very little.  Scott's antenna is bent over sideways, there's a strange trashcan in his yard, there are lots of leaves, little apples, and a few branches down but overall the area weathered the storm nicely.  A big to-do over not so much.  Suppose it could have been much worse.

Marty had an 8:30 am appointment at the base vet clinic for a health check that he needed before leaving Japan.  He checked out well and we received the paperwork we needed.  Back to Scott's to get Steve, and then we all (even Marty) left for Oirase Gorge.  This was one of the places I really wanted to visit in the area, and we probably would have all gone together if not for the rainy weather while we were all here.   Because of all the rain yesterday with the typhoon, the water was running fast which made for prettier waterfalls!

We started at a rest area where there was parking, then hiked about 4 km down the trail.  Beautiful all around - waterfalls, scenic bridges, trees.  A bit muddy in spots on the trail, occasionally we took to the nearby road instead.  At our agreed upon turn around point, we started back to where we'd parked the car.  We decided to continue down the road by car, stopping where we saw waterfalls.  The waterfalls farther into the gorge were even more beautiful than the ones we'd hiked past.  We ended up at Lake Towada which was big.  Went into a store and bought some Towada apple drops.  Hard candy, I brought them to work and keep them at my desk and have one or two each day.  They are lasting lots longer that way!  Also found another manhole cover.  The guys are teasing me a bit about them but I think they're cool!

I did have one cache in the GPSr for Lake Towada, which showed up as half a mile away.  Of course that was "as the crow flies" and it took longer than that to get close.  Unfortunately, the road leading to GZ was closed so we couldn't get to the cache.  Another missed opportunity.  

Drove back down the same road we had taken through the gorge and headed back to Misawa, about an hour and a half's drive away.  Some last minute prep, washing clothes, packing, as we are leaving for Tokyo in the morning.  Supper at home and an early night for all.

Cataract update

Things are coming along well in the aftermath of my first cataract surgery.  Went back for a post-op check on Wednesday morning.  They removed the shield and gently cleaned away all the accumulated gunk around my eye.  Then some testing - they determined that my vision is now 20/25 in that eye, where it was 20/40 with glasses before the surgery.  The interesting thing is in the contrast between the two eyes.  Looking out with only the left (still has a cataract) it's fuzzy and faded.  Cover the left, and look only with the right - everything is bright again and pretty clear.  Amazing.  And the eye is still recovering.  I have another follow up appointment next Monday, where there should be more improvement.

Still under restrictions - don't get water in it, so no hot tubbing or swimming for 3 weeks (darn!) and no lifting over 25#.  That means not Marty!  We figure that the pulling he does on the leash when he is excited probably exerts about as much pressure as lifting him so I am keeping my walking of him at a minimum.  Ideally I shouldn't at all, but tell that to Marty first thing in the morning when Steve is still sleeping!  I'm also to keep out of dusty and dirty places for five days - so apparently most geocaching is out as well.   Drops are a constant (seemingly) - two different drops four times per day, and a third drop in the  morning as well.

Went back to work yesterday after being cleared to drive.  I have this really "cool" pair of wrap around sunglasses that I am supposed to wear outside so wore those instead of my glasses and did ok on the roads.  I'm not sure I'd want to take on a long road trip yet, but on the familiar roads to work I did ok.  Started out my work day in Lowell, with a Pink Arrow assembly at the middle school.  Sparkle made an appearance, and I felt like a rock star with all the middle school kids chanting "Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle...."    Then off to work.

The drive home was a bit more interesting.  Before surgery, night driving was becoming a challenge with lights having an aura of sorts surrounding them.  Last night, the right eye didn't have that aura any more but it was more of a long line of light coming both ways off the middle.  I'm hoping that is a temporary thing because if it's permanent, it's almost more disconcerting than what it was like before.  Will have to see how it goes.

The shield is still a part of my sleeping attire for the next week.  Last night, I didn't think about the tape so much so ended up covering most of the holes.  Figured that wasn't so much of a problem for just night as I should be sleeping anyway.  Got a good night's sleep for a change, not always easy with two dogs sharing my bed!

Typhoon Lionrock - Tuesday, August 30

Typhoon Day!  Obviously we survived to tell the tale.

The day started out windy and rainy.  You could tell that something was brewing.  TCCOR 2 when we woke up.  (Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness - meaning damaging winds imminent within 12 hours.)

We figured that we had some time to see the Misawa Aviation and Science Museum, since the storm wasn't expected until later in the afternoon.   While we were headed to the museum, Scott received a phone call that we were now in TCCOR 1, and he thought at the time the person said the storm would be starting by 1 pm.  Later found out that was only the time that nonessential personnel were dismissed to go home.  So we figured we had about two hours to spend at the museum before we really needed to be back home.

Once at the museum, we walked around outside first, and saw all the planes on display.  Looks like there were some that you could normally climb steps and look inside, but those stairways were all closed off due to the winds and approaching storm.  After checking out the planes, we went inside and first visited the gift shop, looking for that t-shirt.  Steve finally found one:  in his size, with Misawa AB on it, and he liked it.  Finally the search was over...

Headed for the ticket machines next and then into the museum.  Nice airplanes on display inside as well - a replica of Miss Veedol, which was the first non-stop transpacific airplane (Misawa to Washington state) as well as one of the first Japanese planes flown in the country, at least in this area I think.  There was also a passenger commuter plane, I think from the 1960s, that you could walk through.   Some other planes as well.  Then we went on to the science part of the museum.

There were lots of interactive exhibits.  Most had explanations in English as well as Japanese which really helped.  Some of the interactive exhibits were limited to persons between a certain weight and height range, that Steve and Scott were both too tall and above weight for.  I had fun simulating walking on the moon, among other things.   On the second floor, there were lots of science experiments that were interesting as well as a large display of model airplanes.

We were done a little after noon and headed on home.  Back at Scott's, we actually parked the car in the garage and took the lawn furniture into the garage as well.  Spent a quiet afternoon watching the storm intensify and watching movies.   By 5 pm or so we were in the middle of our (Steve's and mine anyway) first typhoon.  Not something that had been on our bucket list for this trip, but it is what it is.   Good thing we'd changed the date of the geocaching event - it originally was to be held on Tuesday night!

Cooked dinner at home - garlic lime chicken and veggies.  Scott had most of the spices needed and I had the recipe on my tablet.  Scott did not have measuring spoons that I could find though, so I guesstimated on seasoning portions.  Good dinner by all accounts.  Nice to cook for my boy even though I was on vacation.

The storm was pretty much a big to-do over not much.  It was pretty much over by 9 pm.  We thought it was just the eye, but it never really intensified again after that.  Damage the next morning seemed to be limited to a few trees down on base, lots of branches down all over, and Scott's antenna on top of the house was bent over sideways.  He never uses it so not a big deal for him.

One more day in Misawa and then we are headed down to Tokyo.

Look Like A Pirate Day, Part 1

Interrupting my trip blogs as today was the day of my first cataract surgery.  I've had cataracts for years, and this summer I was referred to a cataract surgeon as they were getting noticeably worse.  The surgeon agreed that it was time to take care of them.  Since flying for several weeks after surgery was not advised, the surgery was planned for September, after the trip.

Today was right eye day.  With a 7:15 am arrival time at the surgery center, I was up and getting ready by 6.  Steve was already up by then as he got to eat breakfast....

Arrived a few minutes early, then realized that I'd forgotten my picture ID.  Thankfully they already had it on file, so not a problem.  Signed paperwork then was called back to prep a few minutes later.  Drops, forms, drops, blood pressure, drops, IV, drops, oxygen prongs.  Lots of drops!  Then after a few minutes wait, off I went to the surgical room.  I remember some of what was done but not much, thanks to the magic of versed.  It only took about 15 minutes, so they say.  I was soon back in the original cubicle with Steve joining me.  After a cup of juice and some peanut butter crackers, it was time to go.  Start to finish within two hours.

So now I'm home, taking it easy today.  I have a metal shield over my eye, hence the "look like a pirate" jokes.  What I didn't expect was that there would not be a bandage under that, and there are holes in the shield, so I can see if I want to.  I'm keeping it closed much of the time as it's more comfortable that way.  Lots of eye watering which is bugging me.  But the shield stays on until I see the doctor for the post op check tomorrow morning.  Probably a good thing as it's reminding me to leave it alone.

Not supposed to lift over 25 # or over exert myself in similar ways, so walking Marty is out for a few days.  Giving my arms a rest!   Not cleared to drive until at least after the post op visit, hopefully tomorrow I'll get the green light for that.  I have tomorrow off from work and guess I'll take advantage of that.  Back on Thursday.

Results?  Hopefully good.

Monday, August 29 - The nines market, Aomori, and the Big Buddha

A quiet morning in Misawa, settling into the routine of taking Marty for his morning walk in the neighborhood.  The days of taking Max outside in my pajamas are probably over...

After Scott and Steve got up, we got ready and then went into Misawa for the nines market.  It is an outdoor farmers/flea market that is only held on days that have a 9 in them.  Scott had never heard about it.  I'd heard about it while researching Misawa, and we had also found a cache at the site the day before.  There was light rain, so even though much of the market was under cover, the turnout of vendors was pretty light.  I did buy two secondhand shirts for 100 yen each.

Then on to our main destination:  Aomori.  About an hour and a half's drive west, through the mountains again.  Several tunnels made the drive interesting.  Our destination was Seiryu-ji Temple, home of the Big Buddha.

Seiryu-ji is a relatively new Buddhist temple founded in 1982.  There were several areas that we visited before getting to the Big Buddha.

• Kondo (main hall) - this is the center of the temple ground and various ceremonies are held here.  It is made of natural Japanese cypress produced in Aomori prefecture.  
• Five-Storied Pagoda - 120 feet high, it is the highest wooden pagoda north of Kyoto.  The central pillar hangs from the top, which helps a pagoda stay resistant to earthquakes.
• Jizo Bosatsu and pinwheels - the pinwheels are for unborn children.  Their mothers come and pray to their unborn children, offering the pinwheels along with candles and incense, sweets, stuffed animals, and clothes in hope of consoling their souls.  Jizo Bosatsu, standing on the edge of the slope, is the guardian deity of deceased children.
• Bokeyoke Kannon - it is a deity for older people who are beginning to forget things.
• Showa Daibutsu (Showa Great Buddha).  The "big" attraction.  It was built partly as a symbolic gesture to express gratitude and pray for war dead.  The second floor of the inside is a room for consoling the souls of war dead.  The guide expresses that "when we look up at the sacred Daibutsu with a backdrop of a natural halo of trees, we are wrapped in ineffable peace and tranquility

After the Big Buddha, we continued on the path back toward the beginning.  We saw:

• Ichigan Kannon - Ichigan means One Wish.  (Hmmm, then what would Michigan mean?)
• Fudo Myooh - he severs people's bad thoughts with his sword
• Kobo-Daishi - the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.
• Pond, modeled after Shikoku.  It has sand from each of the 88 temples where Daishi once trained himself.  Each footmark shaped plate holds the sand from one temple.  It is suggested that you follow the footsteps of Daishi by stepping on the plates one by one, chanting his honorific name (we didn't.)

Very interesting temple, made more interesting by the excellent English guide that we were given.  We actually could figure out what each area symbolized.  

After leaving the temple, it was still pretty early in the day.  Scott wasn't as familiar with Aomori, the capital city of the prefecture.  I had some caches earmarked just in case, and one was at a temple in the downtown area of the city.  That's where we headed next.  Utoh Shrine was smaller than Seiryu-ji, of course.  Interesting to see the older structures juxtaposed with the modern offices and building surrounding it.  Walked around and enjoyed the beauty.  As far as the cache - everything was missing except for the obvious lid of the cache, still attached magnetically to the structure it was hidden on (just outside the temple.)  Others had logged it as a find so I did, too.

Looked for and found a new manhole cover, and then stopped at McDonalds for some lunch.  That was an experience.  There was a picture menu - Steve and Scott ordered Big Mac combo meals.  I wanted a cheeseburger and they said I couldn't get that as a combo meal so I wanted a small fries.  Something in the communication got garbled because they brought an extra jumbo family size package of fries out to me.  Cost 500 yen, too.  We managed most of them.  

McDonalds is where we found the fanciest bathrooms yet, surprising for a fast food place.  Deluxe functions including the noise covering function and the deodorizing function.  

We started for home, and the rain had pretty much stopped by then.  There was a full double rainbow stretching across the road - wonderful!  In the pictures you can see a faint third rainbow, too.  

A quiet evening at Scott's.  Our meal at McDonald's was late enough that we just snacked in the evening.  We are starting to hear reports that a typhoon is headed toward the area.  The base is in TCCOR 3 which means that damaging winds are predicted within 48 hours. 

Sunday, August 28 - Hachinohe and Geocaching

An early morning for everyone today as Eric and Trina's Shinkansen for Tokyo left Hachinohe at 9:05 am.  We loaded the car and made it to the train station with 15 minutes to spare.  Goodbyes are always hard - it was nice to spend three full days with the entire family though.  They made it home safely (as I'm writing this two weeks later...) with a layover in New York City that was longer than anticipated.  Once in Cleveland, they had to pick up their car at the hotel where they'd left it for park & fly, and then drive back to Grand Rapids.  Made for a very long day for them.

Once we said goodbye, our next stop was a bathroom.  Unfortunately, the only bathroom stall open in the women's room was a slit toilet.  Porcelain but a large slit in the floor with places to put your feet on either side.  It was a situation where I didn't feel I could wait to see if the other toilet was a western toilet, so went in the stall, took my pants completely off, and did what I needed to.  The complete opposite of the fancy Japanese toilets!  TMI I know but it was what it was.

After that, I wanted to get the geocache that was at the train station.  We walked outside only for me to realize that it was outside the opposite entrance....so went back through the station, and after a short search I finally could say that I'd found a geocache in Japan!  It was a round metal container that was magnetic on the bottom, about 4" wide and 2" deep.  It was stuck to the bottom of a Japan postal box.  After signing the log and leaving some trackables, we walked around the shopping area near the train station for a little while.  We went into a store that had lots of different apple-themed gifts, mostly food related, as Aomori prefecture is known for their apples.  I bought some apple candy to bring home as gifts.  Steve was still looking for that elusive t-shirt, still no luck.  Also looked in the general area for another manhole cover but didn't see any that weren't just general run-of-the-mill ones.

Hadn't really done a lot of research on what there was to do in Hachinohe, but Scott was somewhat familiar with the area, so we first went to the Hachinohe Fish Market.  Steve was a little reluctant to go because he'd had a bad experience with rotting fish at a fish market in Boston once.  We made a quick tour, and though there was a definite fishy smell, we didn't see any rotting fish.  Some very unusual fish there, though we didn't buy anything.

Next stop was the Kushihiki Hachiman Shrine.  This is the shrine that Scott visited when he first arrived in Misawa, while on the mandatory "get-acquainted" tour of the area.  Another nice shrine set in a wooded area with cedar trees that are hundreds of years old.  The shrine dates back to the year 1166 with the present location being built in 1222.  I can't pretend that I understand very much about these shrines but they are beautiful to visit and we are respectful as we tour them.

After leaving the shrine, we next went to the Lapia Mall, still in Hachinohe.  It was a typical Japanese mall, with department and food stores.  Notable to me was a kimono store selling high end elaborate kimonos, new of course, for the equivalent of 500 USD plus.  A big difference from my summer secondhand kimono at $15.  I also enjoyed the equivalent of a dollar store, wanted to spend more time there but Scott and Steve wanted to move on.

We stopped at the Big Boy in Hachinohe as Steve wanted to eat at the Japanese equivalent of one of his favorite restaurants back home.  Once there, we had to wait - Sunday mornings are the same at restaurants everywhere, I guess....  While waiting, we looked over the menu.  Steve wasn't too happy with the menu choices, not understanding much of it of course, and we decided we would go ahead and head back to Misawa instead of eating there.

Went on base when we got back to Misawa, and had lunch at Burger King.  Gotta love all this American fast food we are eating while in JAPAN...grr.  Whatever.  Went back to the commissary again to take another look at the tshirts without any more luck, then back to Scott's.

Steve stayed back with Marty, watching movies, while Scott took me out geocaching.  It was a good fit as he played Pokemon Go while I was geocaching.  Ran into a snag at first as the coordinates on my GPSr were in degrees, minutes, seconds, and the ones on his phone weren't.  Couldn't figure out how to convert them, but thankfully I'd printed a geocaching map of Misawa so he could pretty much figure out the general area, and once we got in the general area my GPSr led me to Ground Zero (for the most part anyway.)

First stop for a cache ended up as a DNF - the parking area where we needed to be was closed for an event.  We tried going down a nearby path and got close but there was 250 feet of impossible bushwhacking between where we were and the cache.  Oh well.  The 2nd and 3rd caches were at small parks in town, we found them both.  This brought Scott to a couple of areas that he wasn't aware of.  Next we were downtown, to a cache on a train that we didn't find.  Next, we were searching for the Misawa Public Library, where a mystery cache that was missing was located.  I had been given permission to replace it, and had brought a nano cache from home to do just that.  This was the last weekend of the summer geocaching adventure, in which you were supposed to find a mystery cache.  Well, this was the only mystery cache in the area and I'm glad I was given permission to replace it and therefore count it as a "find."  Scott was a little disappointed that nobody was around as he wanted to practice saying "Where is the library?" in Japanese since he knew that phrase.

Next, we headed up to the Misawa Public Airport to find the cache that I had used as ground zero for my geocaching event that was to be held that evening.  It was a small park across the street from the airport.  Tree branches down all around (and this was before the typhoon), no lighting, and I realized that it would be dark by the time 6:30 rolled around.  Great planning on my part.  Not.  But I didn't know the area well and thought a travel bug hotel would be a good place to also have an event.  The cache description said there was a little pavilion which helped.  We found the cache and Scott retrieved it for me since it was up in the rafters of the pavilion.  Squeezed four travel bugs into it and then we went on to do a few more caches in the area.  Really trying to drop off as many travel bugs as I can since I brought way too many of them.  Just couldn't say no to my friends who wanted their bugs to travel..

Stopped at a Circle K convenience store for drinks and snacks.  Scott bought some onigiri, which is a rice cake with meat filling, wrapped in seaweed.  I stuck to a drink.  Then we headed back to the airport, waited in the car for a bit, then headed to the event.  The event was small but good.  Two pairs of adults with their sons, both scouting families from Scott's troop, attended.  One set were experienced cachers, the other set were newbies that had never been caching but were interested.  There was also another cacher that came, also American military but not connected with the troop.  They took some of the travel bugs but I still had quite a few left.  I ended up taking about half of them back to the US with me after finding a few places in Tokyo later in the trip for others.

Home to Steve and Marty after the event.  Marty apparently whined for Scott for quite a while.  Pizza at Scott's then an early bedtime for all.

Saturday, August 27 - Cape Shiriya and Osorezan

A beautiful day in northern Japan!  The sun was shining and we had a wonderful day of exploring.

Everyone got in the car and we headed north toward the NE tip of the main island and Cape Shiriya.  It was about a two hour drive away, a nice drive.  A bit crowded in the back seat but nothing unmanageable.   We got to the cape and soon saw what we'd come to see.  Horses.  "Wild" horses.  Lots of them!  This herd stays within the confines of the park but is not otherwise managed.  They are deemed "wild" but they were tame enough to let people get up close and personal with them.  We brought carrots which made us instant friends to them.  The combination of horses and the background of the nearby lighthouse and the Pacific Ocean was magnificent.  We all enjoyed the visit, but I think Trina enjoyed it the most.  She spent quite a bit of time picking burrs out of several of the horses's manes.   Scott, Steve, and I headed toward the lighthouse and it was open for visits.  Scott said that it hadn't been open when he'd visited shortly after coming to Misawa.   We climbed the 128 steps and had a great view of the ocean and of the horses, too.  Came back down about the time that Eric and Trina finally made their way to the lighthouse.  While we waited for them, we visited a nearby snack area where I bought a set of pink chopsticks with horses on them.  We all bought drinks out of the vending machines - there are vending machines everywhere!  Most of them sell hot and cold beverages but we also saw (while on the entire trip) machines that sold noodles, eggs, cigarettes, and rice.

When Eric and Trina joined us, we went over to the rocky shore near the lighthouse.  Scott and Eric climbed the rocks for a bit while Steve watched and Trina and I did a little beach combing for shells.  Soon it was time to move on and we walked back to the car and headed down the road.

There was a geocache a half mile down the road, and Scott said we could stop for it.  It would be my first chance to cache in Japan.  We found a place to pull over that had somewhat of a trail leading into the woods, and the cache was about 350 feet away.  There was some standing water but nothing we couldn't handle.  Scott started down the trail with me while the others stayed at the car.  I was about 200 feet away from ground zero when Scott called me back to the car after the others had called to him.  Seems a Japanese conservation officer didn't like the fact that we were walking back into the woods....so my first cache was a DNF before I could even get to it.  I was in no way shape or form prepared to explain geocaching in Japanese so we just minded what we were told and went on down the road, out of the park.

Our next destination was Osorezan, otherwise known as the "Gates of Hell."  To get there, we took a very nice mountain road complete with switchbacks.  Just the kind of road we like to ride the motorcycles on.  Soon, we arrived at our destination.  Osorezan is one of the three holiest sites in Japan, founded in the ninth century by a Japanese Buddhist priest, En'nin.

At the center of the sacred area of Osorezan is Lake Usori, and next to it is a large tract covered with white sand.  Surrounding them are eight peaks, and in the central area there are 108 ponds of boiling water and mud, which correspond with the 108 worldly desires and the hells linked to each of them.

To me, this was a very similar landscape to Yellowstone National Park.  Similar sulfur smells, too.  We paid our 500 yen each to enter the temple, Osorezan Bodaiji, and walked respectfully around the temple area where we were allowed.  Once we'd seen that area, we were free to walk around the pathways and see all the shrines, statues, and sacred areas.  The path led us to Lake Usori, and then eventually back to the beginning.  We thought about having a meal at the teahouse, but it was already closed.  We did a little souvenir shopping, and then bought more drinks out of the vending machines to tide us over until we could find something else.  This was Steve's first experience buying HOT coffee in a can.

We had talked about driving further west on the peninsula to find the area where snow monkeys hung out, but realized we would not have much time in which to do so as it would be dark before we arrived there.  Darkness fell by 6 pm while we were there, earlier than we are used to at home.  So we reluctantly started heading back for Scott's home.

We did make one more stop along the way, and that was at an observatory on top of a mountain where we had a great view of the city below, as well as the coastline.  Then back down the road we went.  Once we were through the mountain area and headed south towards Misawa, Steve decided he wanted to drive.  He had obtained an international drivers license before leaving so it was legal for him to drive in Japan - and he did pretty well overall, though Scott as the front passenger admitted to a few anxious moments when dad was a little closer to the middle than he perhaps should have been.  Kudos to Steve for giving it a try though!

Dark by the time we arrived back in Misawa.  We were all getting pretty hungry, Trina and I especially.  Stopped at a sushi place for dinner where we sat at a table with an electronic screen, next to a conveyor belt which was circulating various sushi pieces around.  You could also order from the electronic screen, and the sushi that you ordered would come on the belt on a different plate so you knew it was what you ordered.  The other plates were color coded so the restaurant would know how much you'd eaten by the plates that you had used.  I did try sushi for the first (and probably last) time - two pieces of tuna roll from a plate of Scott's.  I survived.  There is a great sequence of pictures that Scott took of me while I was eating the first piece, three were published on my facebook page.  I also had burger cheese sushi (a mini cheeseburger on rice instead of a bun) and some other cooked sushi type things.  Interesting meal!

Back to Scott's where Steve went to bed and the boys, Trina, and I played a long game of Monopoly.  I eventually gave up my stuff to Scott when he had lost everything as I was too tired to stay awake any longer.  We all have to get up early tomorrow to get Eric and Trina to the train station in Hachinohe as they will be heading for home.  They came a week before we did as Trina starts back to school next Monday.

Friday, August 26 - rainy day shopping; I buy a (secondhand) kimono!

Today was a rainy, drizzly day.  Woke up 5ish again, did some tablet work in bed then got up and went for a walk with Marty.  Got a picture of the Japanese manhole cover right on Scott's street.  I had heard the manhole covers in Japan were interesting and varied - my first of (I hope) many pictures of them while I'm here.

When everyone else woke up, we had breakfast and made our rain plans.  First went to base so we could use the ATM.  I tried my 5/3 card this time and it worked!  Not sure what's going on with Steve's but at least we have a reasonable amount of yen now.   Headed to a souvenir store off base, searching for t-shirts and shot glasses for Steve.  He did find a shot glass but still no t-shirt.  I ended up buying a set of chopsticks.  Our next stops were Japanese stores, mostly just for the fun of it.  First was a home-improvement type store called Homac.  Interesting to see all the Japanese home goods and building supplies.  I bought a plastic storage container that I will use for a cache back home, since I have a "My Favorite Foreign Caches" series going. Will have to add one for Japan!

Next stop was Universe, a local grocery chain.   Found kit-kats in both green tea and dark chocolate, as well as other snack foods that were unique to us because they were Japanese.  Bought some other snack foods just to try them, and for thank you gifts for my volunteers in Noogieland.

Back to Scott's after our shopping trip, hung out for a while and had lunch.  Next, we went on a trip to Towada, a nearby town that had a secondhand kimono store.  We arrived at the store, and Trina and I were both fitted with nice summer kimonos.  Secondhand, they cost us the equivalent of $15 each.  They showed us how to put them on (though I'll have to google how to do it now since I don't remember much about it...) and took pictures of us all.  Quite the unique experience.  They spoke no English, we got by with the few words of Japanese that Scott knows and also with his translator app on his phone.   A great way to spend a rainy afternoon.  Ended up having to leave mine at Scott's, to be mailed with the box of Marty's things that we couldn't fit in the suitcase.

Also scored my second manhole cover picture - this one was in color, had horses on it. Beautiful.

Back to Misawa and dinner at Thunder Ramen.  This was a little ramen shop in town that Scott, Eric, and Trina had already visited and they wanted to share with us.  Steve finally found something he liked and I enjoyed my ramen as well.  Fell asleep on the couch at Scott's about 9 pm and that made for an early night for me.

Thursday, August 25 - Misawa Air Base and Sand Dollar Beach

Found myself waking up around 5 am as the sunshine hit the windows about then.  This would prove to be the case for most of the trip, so just decided I'd work on my blog and get computer stuff done.  Went to sign in on the blog and the sign in was in Japanese, and I was unable to sign in.  So decided to email my mom every day and write the blog when I got home.  That's what I'm doing now...

At a reasonable hour, got up (everyone else was still asleep) and took Marty for our first neighborhood walk together.  It's a strange little neighborhood by American standards.  Very small front yards, but interesting.  Several others out walking dogs at this time of the day, a smile and nod will have to do as I have no conversational (or other) Japanese language skills.  Marty is strong, much more so than Max, and that will take some getting used to.  He has a pretty regular route that he showed me...

Back to Scott's and soon everyone else was getting up, we had breakfast, and then were on our way.  Our first stop was to the base.  We had to stop and get passes for Steve and I, took a bit as there was a line.  Finally were set there and on we went.  Misawa seems similar to Spang in many ways but different as well.  First there is the difference of driving on the opposite side of the road.  Then there are the signs in Japanese and English.  But otherwise it's a military base with much the same stuff as we'd seen on our last trip to see Scott.

We were able to stop at a jet hanger that is a restricted area, but Scott was able to get permission to bring us in.  We weren't allowed to take pictures of the flightline but got to see a jet and also quite a few of the different missiles that Scott works with.  It was pretty much the only taste of Scott's work we were to receive as the bomb dump was off limits.  We did drive by it, though, and got to see Scott's "piss-pot" that he had made in Jordan and that was on display outside the bomb dump (though within the fenced area.)

Shopping at the commissary was next - first the "department store" section, then the grocery store.  We didn't need a whole lot, but did buy some more pizza as well as some diet coke and some snacks.  Also stopped at a base ATM and still weren't able to get any yen with Steve's card.  Will have to call later to see what's going on.   Then on to Burger King (still on base) so that Steve could get some American food.  Not to say the rest of us didn't enjoy it too...

Then stopped at the clothing store on base as that was where Steve was able to find souvenir t-shirts back in Spang.  He was out of luck today, out of his size, but I found a nice one, as well as a wooden holder for my coins and two challenge coins as well.  One was for Misawa and the other was an Air Force Mom coin.  Between my two boys, my birthday was covered!

Back to Scott's after that, picked up Marty, and we were off to Sand Dollar Beach.  A great afternoon of walking the beach, looking for shells and sand dollars.  Mostly shells at first near the parking area, but the farther we walked, the more sand dollars we found.  First ones were partials, then whole ones with some middle holes, then finally we were getting perfect ones.  Lots of nice scallop shells too.   Scott and Marty had a great time together, getting to run and play in the ocean's edge.  The Pacific Ocean from the other side is beautiful!  I think Scott is starting to realize, if he hadn't already, that goodbye time with Marty is getting closer.  Trina and Eric found so many shells that they also "found" a bucket to carry them in.  I found quite a few as well, and had a plastic bag to carry them back in.  There was also quite a bit of garbage on shore, washed up from the ocean.  It's a shame to see what is carelessly (or purposefully I suppose) discarded.

Got to see the beginning of the sunset on the beach, then headed back to Scott's to drop Marty off.  Then we were off to a Japanese restaurant in Misawa for yakiniku, which was a grill your own meat and veggies restaurant.  When Scott had described it, I thought it would be a great place for my belated family birthday dinner.  I was right!  We chose to sit in the Japanese section at a low table.  Custom is to take off your shoes at the entrance to that section.  After situating ourselves, we went back to the area where we chose the meat and veggies we wanted to grill, right at the table.  Great food and a great time with my entire family, including my future daughter in law.  Steve was the only one who didn't enjoy it.  Even though he could cook his own meat to insure that it was cooked to his liking, he also worries about radiation levels from the Fukushima incident of a few years back and only ended up eating a few shrimp and some eclairs.  A waste of the boys money, grrr.... but we're in Japan and I'm trying not to let his choices bother me.  My first attempt at chopsticks on this trip - I have a ways to go to be proficient but I didn't starve.

Back to Scott's afterwards where we just hung out for the rest of the evening.  So nice to spend time with everyone together.

Konnichi-Wa! - Our trip to Japan, 2016

We just returned (at 2:20 am on Monday morning...) from two wonderful weeks in Japan.  My intent was to blog during the trip but when I first tried to sign onto my blog while in Japan, everything on the sign in screen was in Japanese and I just couldn't make it happen.  So settled for writing an email to my mom each day and now I'm going to go back and post in the blog...

-Traveling-   (Monday 8/22 thru Wednesday 8/24.  Tuesday kinda got lost in the shuffle...)

We left Grand Rapids at about 12:30 pm on the Megabus to Chicago.  The Megabus is a bus that leaves from a street corner in downtown GR.  You buy your tickets in advance online, and the earlier you buy them, the cheaper they are.  We paid $5 (yep, $5) each for our tickets.  Plus $1 seat reservation fee each and $1 ticket fee each.  So for a grand total of $14 we both got to downtown Chicago.  Not a bad deal.  Reserved seats put us "upstairs" where we could look down on the semis and other cars.  Steve felt the ride was bumpy up there, I didn't really notice too much in that regard.  There was wi-fi and there was a bathroom.  That was enough for me...

Got to Chicago and we were, again, dropped off on a street corner.  We knew which one, and had directions to get to the CTA station nearby.  We had thoughts (ok, -I- had thoughts) of going to Millenium Park which was only about a mile away, but was already feeling the weight of my carry on, and we had been running a bit behind, so decided to head on out to the airport.  Short walk to the CTA station, where we were panhandled at least three times in two blocks.  Hello, Chicago!  Got to the station, bought our tickets, and soon were on the CTA Blue line, headed for O'Hare.  First time on the CTA for me, Steve was a former regular customer from back in his intern days at Sears.

Got to O'Hare, needed to get from the station there out to the International Terminal (5.)  Had to hike through a parking lot without a lot of direction but finally managed to figure it out, then got to where we needed to go.  Passed through security without having to go to the Asiana counter (our airline) since I'd checked us in at home and printed our boarding passes.  Got to go through the whole routine of putting stuff on the scanner belt, getting scanned, and picking it all back up.  Apparently braids are suspect these days because the female TSA agent felt mine up pretty good.

Then the wait, since it was oh, maybe around 5 pm by now and our flight didn't leave until 11:55 pm.  We found our gate, then decided to walk around for a while.  We were not impressed with Terminal 5 as there didn't seem to be a lot of entertainment and dining options out there.  There was a noodle place that normally would have been my choice but since we were flying an Asian airline thought I'd get enough of that later.  Ended up at a Mexican place that was confusing with their take out and seating lines.  We ordered take out - they were "out" of what I ordered so I settled for nachos.  We then were going to take a seat in the seating area but that was just for ordering from the menu.  I asked if they had the menu item that the take out had said they were out of.  Yep, they did.  So I ordered it off the menu so we could sit in the seating area.  Weird but it worked.  Go figure.  Then spent a while after dinner walking and looking at planes.  Watched several different international flights come and go from our gate, which was actually two gates.  Finally, our flight was called.

Steve had brought his cane on this trip, with more of a possibility of actually using it this time around since he's had some ankle issues lately.  That worked to our advantage since we got to board early because of his cane use...which ensured we would be able to have room for our luggage by our seats.  We had an aisle and a middle seat, so that Steve would have the possibility of a bit more leg room to stretch out on.  Being in the middle was not so fun, but it was what it was.  Blanket, pillow, slippers, and headsets at our seats.  Very pleasant flight attendants, bowed as we came aboard.  Kind of disconcerting to hear everything in Korean first, then accented English.  Made us feel sort of like Chris Farley in that SNL sketch about him being on a Japanese game show...

Soon we were off and not too long after were served our first meal.  We could choose the western option, which Steve did, or the Korean option, which I did.  Steve's was some unremarkable mystery meat.  Mine was Bibimbap, which was Korean vegetables and beef with rice.  Only disappointment was no chopsticks...needed that practice!   Also noted that the portions were adequate for me but Steve felt they were small.  We finally wised up and I ordered coffee as well so that Steve could have a "full" cup.   After the meal things settled down for the night.  Shades were all closed (nobody was given a choice here) and lights were down low.  I broke out my J-pillow, my portable footrest, and my eye shades.  Between the three, I was able to manage a fair amount of sleep, though not the greatest.
A few hours before reaching Incheon Airport in Seoul, the lights were turned back up, and we were served another meal.  No choice this time, we were all served fish and rice.  Not half bad I guess.

Arrived at Incheon about 4 am local time on Wednesday.  Tuesday sorta got lost in the shuffle.  After going through a security, we stayed in the transit area of the airport and went to a lounge area that had wonderful lounges where we could stretch out and use wifi.  We also walked around for a while, and Steve wanted something to eat.  We found a restaurant where we could still use USD and Steve got a bacon cheeseburger meal.  I had a drink since we had just had a meal on the plane a few hours earlier. Much of the transit area amenities were not yet open as it was too early in the day.  Also considered whether or not to attempt to get at least one of the geocaches just outside the terminal.  Opted against it because it was so early in the day.

Headed to our gate with several hours to spare.  Scored seats near the charging station so I was a happy camper until our flight to Tokyo was called.  We also had a pretty good view of the planes so Steve was a relatively happy camper as well.  Flight to Tokyo left without any difficulties.  We were in a window and aisle seat for this flight, and were served another meal enroute.  Again everyone received the same, a boxed meal which was rice and beef bulgogi.  Tasted good to me.

Soon we were landing in Tokyo and that's where our fun began.  Well, not.    Jet-lagged, we got through security and immigration and began to figure out the money and train situations.  First fun.  Our bank card was rejected.  No yen for you...We were just getting into wifi contact with the boys at the same time and were a bit panicked at what might be happening.  To make a long story short, we figure part of the problem at this point was that we were asking for more yen than our bank wanted to part with at one transaction.  Anyway, we changed $200 USD into yen so we had some spending money, and then went to buy the Narita Express and Shinkansen tickets to get us up to Hachinohe where Scott, Eric, and Trina were to pick us up.  Got the tickets and were advised that the Narita Express was leaving soon so we should get right down to the platform.  In all the confusion we lost our wifi signal and weren't able to let the boys know we were on our way and would be on the 3:20 Shinkansen.

Tokyo had just gone through heavy rain the last few days.  We sort of knew that, but it didn't really register until our Narita "Express" stopped on the tracks not too far from the airport and was delayed for about an hour because of the heavy rain.  Then it finally started again, only to stop about 10 minutes later because of a wiring issue.  In all, our 45 minute trip took over two hours to get to Tokyo Station.  We missed our Shinkansen because of it.  Dealing with this while jet lagged and hearing announcements in Japanese without much English explanation was pretty intense, especially knowing the boys didn't really know what our status was.  Tried to get wifi on the express but everything was in Japanese and wanted passwords, couldn't figure that out.

Once we were at Tokyo station, more confusion.  Finally found a place where we were able to exchange our Shinkansen tickets for the next available train, which was at 5:20 pm.  Got to the right track after some additional struggle, and finally made it onto the train.  Let's just say we were exhausted by then.  Good thing the man next to us didn't appear to understand English very well.  We had very briefly been able to log onto wifi, enough to let the boys know that we would be on the 5:20.

Finally - Hachinohe Station at about 8:30 pm local time.  Thankfully, Scott was there waiting for us.  They had figured we would probably be on the train we should have been on, and were on their way to the station when they got our message that we would be on the 5:20.  So Scott took Eric and Trina back to his place, then came down to get us when the time was right.  Never so happy to see my eldest son in my life!

Drove back to his place in Misawa.  Pretty weird to be on the left side of the road, and Scott driving on the right side of the car.  Made it back, had some pizza, and soon went to bed.

Traveling to Japan was very long........