Edwin McCain at Camp Shields

Edwin McCain gave a free concert tonight at Camp Shields. Tomorrow night he will be at Camp Hansen. It was really a great show. There were probably only about 75 people there. He was so nice, at the end of the show he gave free CD's that he autographed. He sang two of my favorite songs - "I Could Not Ask For More" - the only thing that could have made that song better, would have been to have Stephen sitting right there with me and the other one that I love is "I'll Be", which would have been even better if Stephen was here. I can hardly wait to get home to see him. It was really fun tonight, after the show I saw a young man that I thought looked so familiar, he and his date came up to me and said they were in my briefing back in February. They had met each other at the briefing and have been dating since. Then when I got up to have my picture taken with Edwin McCain someone yelled take care of her, she's really helping everyone here. I looked around and there was a couple that was at one of my briefings and then I assisted in completing his application for compensation. They made me feel so welcome and like I really had assisted them. I am going to miss the daily contact with the service members and the outreach, but on the other hand, I can't want to see Stephen and the rest of my family!

Shikinaen Garden Haarii (Dragon Boat Races) Naha Port, Okinawa
Tuesday, May 5th was Children's Day in Japan. Carp wind socks are hung up in honor of the children. These are the crap that are hanging over the Hija River.

Shuri-jo. Shuri Castle, Okinawa

Weekend in the Kerama's

The beach at Aka. It was beautiful. Snorkeling there is great. We saw a lot of big starfish, fish and beautiful coral.This is sunrise at Aka Island. Isn't it beautiful? This island has deer, When Pam and I got up to walk down to the sunrise, there was a deer standing beside the road. This is out hotel at Aka notice there are three beds and a tatami room. Karen was sweet enough to sleep in the tatami room. Just to give you an idea, this room was bigger and had beds, we paid dearly for this room. We paid 12,600 yen, or $126.00 each for this room. That is over $500 per night for the room. Of course both of these hotels the priced claimed breakfast, the island of AKA hotel served us dinner Saturday night and breakfast Sunday morning.
The beach is absolutely beautiful at Zamami. There were beach lounge chairs and umbrella that we rented. The snorkeling at this beach is just awesome! Saturday evening we took the ferry for a 15 minute ride to the island of Aka.

We took the ferry Friday evening from Okinawa to Zamami. It was beautiful! This is the room that we stayed in at Zamami. The hotel name is Summerhouse Ya Ya, this a traditional Japanese room, called a tatami room. Yes, it really is as small as it looks, and no there is not a bed there. All four of us girls slept on the floor. It was literally wall to wall people! We paid 4,600 yen each for this room, which is about $46.00 each for one night.

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?