Japan

I spent the weekend in Japan with Tom and our friend Rachel who was my lifeline and sanity in grad school. It is safe to say we were each other's lifelines. Rachel is now a tenured Physics professor in Seattle and is pursuing her PhD in Education, along with getting married this summer. We have not seen her since our wedding celebration in August 2005, so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Here are Tom and Rachel at a curry place in Yokosuka. Yokosuka has a long history as a Japanese Navy town and is famous for it's curries. I had no idea that there are such things as Japanese curry dishes. However, there are, and they are delicious!



On Saturday we pretty much walked around Yokosuka and took in the sights there.
It can be challenging to find your way in a foreign city sometimes. That is why I am glad to have Tom to figure these things out for me...


The city has a huge water fountain with shows timed to music a few times a day:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2670032553_260cbb5823_b.jpg

By far the coolest thing we did was to travel to Kamakura to see the Giant Buddha also known as Daibutsu. Daibutsu was cast in bronze in 1252 and is currently on springs to protect it from earthquakes. The statue stands 30 m (more than 90ft) tall. It is quite a sight...




From the Daibutsu we hiked along an ancient trail connecting the local towns to the small village of Kamakura Kita where we visited two large Buddhist Temples. The grounds and statues were very striking.




Here is one last shot of Tom and I along a tree lined walk in the town of Kamakura.


On Monday Tom and I had a little adventure in Tokyo which ended in me arriving at my gate five minutes before boarding started...not within my comfort window at all!

So the trip was nice, and Japan was fun. I will definitely go back while they are still there and hopefully get up to the North some. I heare the skiing is great in Hokaido, so a winter trip may be in order...

There are more photos over on Flickr

Rainy Season

The rainy season is officially here. It rained all night last night and all day today. When I got home from work this afternoon there was about four inches of rain in a bin I left outside.

This waterfall appears across the road whenever it rains a lot. I think it is a nice addition to the scenery:


The rainy season lasts from July through December or so. Personally, I prefer the dry season, even though it is hotter. At least it is not quite so humid in the "dry" season, even though it still rains a fair amount.

One of these days I will have to go out and take two pictures when the weather changes completely in the course of five minutes. Tropical weather is downright odd.

Happy Fourth of July

My July 4th present to myself was a new camera. I spent Friday night camping at Tarage Beach and playing with my new toy. We had much better weather for camping this time, compared to the last time we camped up there. As you can see, the sky and beach were beautiful...



I took several pictures of the sky and clouds throughout the day. This one was close to sunset:





Traci and I went for a nice hike in the morning, before I headed back home to keep Sylvester company. Overall, I had a very nice weekend. The new camera takes gorgeous pictures, I will put more up on Flickr soon.
Here is a good sample of the nice close-ups the camera can take:



Work tomorrow for me... blah. This time next weekend I will be in Japan visiting Tom and Rachel! A week after that I will be in Virginia with Katie! All the travels make the time go by so fast. It is really hard to believe we have been here just over a year.

"Single" Again...

Tom left on Saturday morning for their DryDock in Japan, so I am back to my non-Tom routine. Back to the time warp, as I like to call the odd plethora of time I seem to have when Tom is not home.

Anyway, I got a hanging tomato planter from some folks who just left Guam and will be planting that with tomatos and herbs soon. I am looking forward to fresh, home grown produce. I am actually going to Japan next weekend. My friend Rachel, from Seattle, is going to be there for work, and since Japan is much closer than Washington, I am flying up to see her and Tom. Although I have flown through Japan a few times, this will be my first actual adventure in Japan.

I am also traveling to VA at the end of July. I will be in Portsmouth from the 21st to the 25th, then do a bit of traveling around to visit family and friends.

Tom took the digital camera to Japan, but I am going to buy another one to use here, so more pictures should be coming soon.