May 1st

Today is May 1st here. Only 14 more days. Part of me is glad and part of me is sad! I am headed to a beach adventure today after work. We will ride the ferry to Zamami spend one night, then Saturday evening ride the ferry to Aka and come home Sunday evening. I am really excited. It is supposed to be a nice weekend weather wise also! I'll write more later. Luv ya!

Zamami will never be the same!

You know me, I say the more the merrier, so I started working on a weekend beach trip for Karen and I and it grew a little. There are now four of us going. We will be going to the island of Zamami and then on to Aka. We will catch a ferry after work Friday and sail to Zamami, spend the night and go Saturday afternoon by ferry to Aka. There will be four of us ladies; it is the beginning of golden week, so my Japanese friend could only locate one room on each island. Mind you the islands aren't very big. You can't even take your car over. Anyway, it is a traditional Japanese Tatomi room means we will all be in one room, sleeping on the floor. The hotel Saturday evening will pick us up at the ferry port and take us to the hotel. We have to eat dinner and breakfast at the hotel because there aren't any restaurants on the island. Then Sunday morning they will drop us off at the beach and we will make our way to the ferry to return to Okinawa Sunday afternoon. The beaches and snorkeling is supposed to be best in the world on these islands. They are located in the Kerema Islands. Stay tuned for the details on this adventure!

The sun doesn't rise over Okinawa

I went looking for the perfect sunrise this morning. I came to the conclusion that the sun doesn't rise over Okinawa. I will explain, last night I watched the sunset at the seawall outside Gate 1. The logical place for the sunrise is directly across the island, which is straight out Gate 2. If you go straight out Gate 2 keep straight all the way, you come to Sam's by the Sea, which should have a beautiful sunrise. Wrong! I left the house this morning at 5:00 a.m. I sat on the seawall by Sam's and the sun never came up. I could see a pink glow to the left, so I decided to get in the car and follow the glow. I knew if I drove long enough I would eventually see the sun. It took me driving to the island of Hamahiga then on to Miyagi Island and there it was, a perfect sunrise. It was about 6:30 a.m. the sunrise was 5:53 a.m. Next time that I go, I will not waste 30 minutes at the wrong location!

Sunset at the Sunabe Seawall

Sat on the seawall at Sunabe to watch the sunset. This seawall is across the street and about two block down from Gate 1. The seawall gets busy every afternoon with people watching the sunset. I have spent my share of evenings there! You know that I have taken a thousand pictures of this very scene. How do you pick the best?

Do they know me?

Karen and I went to eat at Sam's by the Sea, do they know me? After we ordered they came and put a bib on me. Karen didn't get one. I haven't ever been to this restaurant, but they must be able to tell that I always wear my food!

I ordered flaming steak on a sword, it was very good!

Can you guess why snorkeling was cancelled?

As you can tell, the water was pretty rough on Sunday. It doesn't seem like I am ever going to get to go snorkeling! In addition to the water being really rough, it was cool outside! I guess I will try again next week!

International Killers Meeting

Tonight I went with Danita, her husband Kevin and her Aunt Diane to a murder mystery dinner play. There were about 25 parts, so you only went if you got there in time to get a part when they first announced the tickets were on sell. It was so much fun. I guess you can tell from my picture that my part was the clown. It was really fun. I got runner up for the best actor. I know that it is hard to imagine me as a clown! Danita was the Black Knight, Kevin was a Chinese man, Mr. Will choke u, Diane was the President of the Killers International Club. Which was the name of the play? Karen and I are headed to the beach on IE Island for the Lily Festival tomorrow. Karen and I got a room at the YYY Resort. I will write more on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Making Shisa Dogs

My yellow shisa dog.

Karen Waltz=-Davis, Tracy Bender, me, Jeff Runnfeldt(Tracy's husband)

I went with my friends Karen, Tracy and her husband Jeff to make Shisa dogs. We had so much fun. I didn't know how creative that I am!

BEACH TIME!

Submarine

I got up to see the sunrise Sunday morning

Same islands as below at high tide


View from my camper
I rented a camper this weekend at White Beach. It was wonderful. When the tide was out, you could walk out to other little islands. When the tide came in that night and Sunday morning the some of the islands were under water! It was the first weekend in at least a month that it has been nice outside! I kept looking toward the west toward the sunset and seeing something in the water that I was not sure what I was looking at, and then it dawned on me that White Beach is a submarine base. So, it was a submarine that is in port. Of course it wasn't under water, or I would not have been able to see it. Here is a picture of the beach from my camper, the island that I walked to, and the island when the tide came in.

A beautiful weekend finally!

The weather was perfect this weekend. I spent Saturday night at White Beach in a camper on the beach. It was awesome! Will post more later!

Margaritaville on Okinawa

Friday night at the Butler officers' Club they had a Margaritaville Party. It was a lot of fun. Danita, Janine and I took the bus from Kadena, so no one had to drive. Luckily the bus left from the USO which is just a block from my BOQ! It was all you care to drink margaritas and all you can eat food - which was excellent. They had all types of fish and seafood. I didn't drink too many margaritas; I have an image to uphold over here! Several of my customers that I had met were there, especially Colonel Lamson and his wife; he spread the word fast that the VA Rep was in the building. I met a lot of new people, several which are very close to retirement, so they will be coming to see me. The members of the band that played Son of a Sailor were from Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I had to go talk to them, as they are the only other Arkansans I have seen on the island!

Cherry Blossom Festival at Hiroshima

Hiroshima was having their Cherry Blossom festival while we were there. The Cherry Blossoms Festival here in Okinawa was in late February. So you can tell the difference in the temperature of the two places! The cherry blossoms in Hiroshima were a much lighter pink than in Okinawa.

Mt.Misen at Miyajima Island

There is a ropeway that will take you to the top of Mt. Misen at Miyajima Island, it is really pretty up there. You can look around and see the ocean all around you. At the top of the mountain not only are there deer, there are monkeys. Check out the picture of the momma monkey with her one week old baby.

Gimme my map!

The deer at Miyajima Island like to eat paper. Linda and I were fighting to get my map back. Them he got my saki and almost got Linda's also!

Miyajima Island - Hiroshima

Linda, JD and I went to Miyajima Island on Sunday. It was a great place to visit. We took the streetcar from our hotel ANA Crown Plaza in downtown Hiroshima to the ferry port and road the ferry over. There are tame deer walking around all over the place. The largest Torii Gate in Japan is located in the water at Miyajima Island. When there is a high tide, it looks like the Torii Gate is floating on the water. When the tide is out, you can walk out on the sand to get to it.

Hiroshima

I spent last weekend with my friend Linda and her husband in Hiroshima. Linda is the VA Rep on mainland Japan. We had a great time. We spent the day Saturday going to the Peace Park, A-bomb Dome, Museum, Hiroshima Castle and to Shukkeien garden. Hiroshima is a huge city! It is very hard to believe that the city was leveled about 64 years ago! The shell of the building in this post is called the A-bomb dome, which is the only partial building that was remaining after the bomb. As you can tell from the pictures there was a slow steady rain all day!

Only 35 more days!

I am counting down to May 15th. I am getting really homesick! If anyone out there is reading my blog I would relaly love to hear from you! I know I haven't updated it in a while. Last weekend I had a whirlwind trip to Hiroshima, so I will be updating my blog this weekend to share my adventures. Please keep me in your prayers. I look forward to seeing all of you in May.