Japan: Week 4

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1. Toyota & Osaka
2. Osaka, Ikeda, & Takeda
3. Takeda to Shirahama
4. Shirahama
5. Shirahama
6. Shirahama to Kii-Tanabe
7. Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Wow did we make it far during our first week. We were traveling at the speed of a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train)! Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.

We went from a rain forest to an automobile factory in Toyota. Yes, it’s named after the Toyoda family which owns Toyota. Val found a sign out by the water fountain that said “this is not a gargle station”. Our response was “What is a gargle station and why is there a sign against it?” It was our next mission: where/what is the gargle station and why do they have it in an automobile museum. Going into the women’s bathroom there was a random spout maybe that is it…so we had to take a video of this new and amazing contraption. The spout shot amazing tasting minty goodness into your mouth so that you could gargle it and have lovely smelling breath. 

We both tried it out and really wanted one back in the states. Oh, the Japanese have so many cool gadgets all over the place. The gargle station was probably the highlight of our tour at the Toyota Kaikan Museum.

Osaka, Tempozan Ferris 

Wheel from the ferry dock

During our return visit to Osaka, we decided to stay near the Tempozan Ferris wheel, one of the largest in the world. It was a good place that was out of the main city, plus we could check one of our attractions off the list: riding the Ferris wheel. Although the major cities were one of the main things we were extremely excited about when planning the trip, they didn’t really live up to all the hype. The very next day we visited the Instant Ramen Museum and then off to Takeda.

Takeda Castle Ruins

Takeda Castle Ruins were in middle of nowhere. We had just reached Takeda city right before the last bus left to the castle ruins. The ruins have been quoted as being the castle in the sky, since on occasion it is completely shrouded in clouds. Catching the very last bus to the ruins, it allowed us to catch the sun setting, creating very beautiful photos and an astonishing atmosphere.

Shirahahama beach in Shirahama

Both Val and I were whipped out from all of the travel back and forth. We needed a little break from moving at the speed of a Shinkansen. We knew that if we wanted to go on the National Geographic hike on Kii Peninsula we needed to head near the beginning of the hike, which is located by Shirahama. Getting off the bus in complete darkness we were unsure of where the beach was as you could not see the sand or anything, you couldn't even smell the salt air of the ocean. The driver sounded sure and even insisted that we were at the Shirarahama beach, so we had to trust him. Low and behold, the bus drove away and poof there were the palm leaves rustling in the slight ocean breeze and the sound of the crashing waves in the dark; we were officially at the beach, which was very reassuring to both Val and I. The next morning we awoke to the sound of waves, crows, and toes in the sand. This beach is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.  We had found a tropical paradise in Japan just by chance!                             

Japan: Week 2

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A day by day account of where we were and some of the experiences we had.

1. Nara
2. Himeji & Banshu Ako
3. Banshu Ako
4. Banshu Ako & Osaka
5. Hiroshima & Miyajima
6. Miyajima & Beppu
7. Beppu & Sakurajima

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.

Nara, a little town outside of Kyoto, was one of the few places that we saw a bunch of other international tourists and we were all there for the same reason, to feed the famous deer. I believe that since of the high volume of visitors they had a higher proportion of street markets. We enjoyed visiting this city that offered some decent food from the grocery store in the train station and some photogenic and feisty deer.

Nara, Japan Market

Hiroshima, Japan
A-Bomb Dome and Eternal Flame

We felt that no trip would be complete without visiting Hiroshima and really respect our two countries history. The visit to the memorial museum was a somber event. Leaving Hiroshima, we took a ferry to Miyajima and the famous floating torii of Itsukushima Shrine. We did not feel that it would be right to urban camp in Hiroshima city so we opted for a more appropriate location on the island. Plus it would be a lot more secluded area meaning that we would not be anyone’s way. We found a perfect place that ended up surrounded by native deer and we even heard a couple of very load monkey screeches as darkness fell over us.

Miyajima Island
Floating Torii

Banshu Ako, Packs off to eat our
7-eleven cappuccino ice cream before
walking the rest of the way to the camp
ground

Ohmoto Park, Miyajima Island

By week two we were becoming overwhelmed by the big City, concrete, people everywhere, trains moving, and cramming into those trains and well.... Val was just exhausted and needed some down time. Information women at the train station called a campsite she knew of way out in the middle of nowhere... Banshu Ako.  During our walk to this campground we found a 7-11 store where we bought ice cream, we stopped at a shaded picnic bench, and I had Ash take a photo, all I wanted was there!  A bench, shade, ice cream and no pack, and better yet a nice view!  We finally made it to this campground, where we stayed 3 days. This place had showers, laundry, picnic tables, vending machines, kitchen set up for all to use... even a TV where we watched sumo. They were very kind and lent us two bicycles to get groceries. After realizing many people were there to go clamming, we purchased a sack and dug in the sand at low tide with all the locals.  I promptly got a slight burn, and many little tiny clams.  The campground personnel took our clams, poured them into a plastic tub, then poured lukewarm water over them and placed them in the shade with a piece of cardboard over the top, and motioned with their mouths that the clams needed to spit the sand out. Ash was new to the entire process... but found her fair share of clams too. They then loaned us a frying pan to cook them up in!  On our next trip to the market we purchased two boxes of ice cream and gave them to the staff to say thank you!  (They close the campground on a Tuesday I think, and were becoming worried we would never leave... we did little but rest) Upon our departure they had made a little care package of food (one of the gifts included were Ritz crackers filled with lemon cream filling... quickly became a favorite) and then drove us back to the train station so we didn't have to ride the bus or walk.... so very kind. This couple and their staff hold a special place in our hearts!

Beppu Park, Beppu

After such a great experience at Banshu Ako we wanted to take our chances in a Japanese Onsen. I knew that one place that we would be sure to find an onsen, Japanese bathhouse, was in Beppu. We picked out one that was relatively cheap and included about seven different types of baths, a sand bath, and a sauna.  After a nice soak we headed to a computer café and then on to bed in our hammocks. It was pure luck that we were able to camp next to a grove of bamboo.

Dinosaur Park, Sakurajima

From Beppu we headed even farther south to the city of Kagoshima and across the bay to Sakurajima. We had a bit of a hike up steep switchbacks to the Dinosaur Park, so named because of the life size dinosaurs and other animals statues located there. We found a perfect spot that had a functional bathroom, a little on the icky side, a nice outdoor sink, a rooftop patio, and a beautiful view of the active volcano and bay. It was the perfect place to camp out and we even had a pet hawk. We really liked this location except for the steep climb up side of the hill.

Japan: Week 1

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Day by Day account of the locations we were at:

1. Flight to Japan & Kimi Ryokan
2. Ueno Zoo & Imperial Palace
3. Daiba, Shibuya, & Yokohama
4. Yokohama & Hakone
5. Hakone & Expensive Ryokan
6. Kyoto
7. Kyoto, Torii Shrine, & Bamboo

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Wow did we make it far during our first week. We were traveling at the speed of a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train)! Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have multiple points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train except on our excursion to Katahara Hot Spring where JR trains did not reach and thus had to use the local train run by another company.


It is unbelievable how much we accomplished in the first week. Traveling from Seattle, WA to Tokyo was strange enough all by itself, but then to make it all the way to Kyoto in the same week, going from one great experience to another, and another, I just can't find the words to adequately express how much I loved and learned about Japan from the first day I arrived, through the first week, and then the 6 weeks to follow. We took the time to explore Tokyo for two and half days to head off and get a better bearing on where we were and how to travel in this amazing world on the other side of the Pacific. We definitely wanted to hit the highlights of Japan before expanding our exploration.

Our first destination was Ueno Zoo and the giant pandas. We ate some super delicious, freshly made pot stickers in the park before purchasing a vending machine zoo pass. Surrounded by school tour groups, families, and others we proceeded to through the gate and saw everything from Giant Pandas, Elephants, and Rhinos, to California Sea Lions and Otters. It was somewhat funny to have California Sea Lions as an exhibit, but I guess they would not be able to see them in the wild. Ueno Zoo was a nice place to start our visit to Japan by seeing the Giant Pandas.

It was getting late and we needed to locate a place to hang for the night, were planning to sleep in a park somewhere in Tokyo as the Ryokan we were staying at had checked for other hotels and campgrounds that may have vacancies and there were none. The biggest park in Tokyo, minus Ueno Zoo, is the park surrounding of the Imperial Palace, so that is where we chose to have our first urban camping experience. After exploring the Western Garden we nervously went tramping through layers of loud crunchy leaves in the dark all sneaky like to set up our Nubé and hammocks. Later that evening, we realized that there were many people sleeping in the same park, but right under the streetlights, so much for us trying to be sneaky hiding in the bushes.

Shibuya Crosswalk, Tokyo

During the second full day in Japan we tried to visit the Tskiji Fish Market – sadly it is closed on Sundays and we would have to visit it another time when we came back to Tokyo at the end of our stay – Daiba, Shibuya, and finally Yokohama. Since, Tskiji was closed and it was about 4:30 in the morning we decided to take some time and travel by train to an area that might be a little out of our way compared to how central a lot of attractions are in Tokyo, off to Daiba and the Gundam we went. Still nothing was open just yet, so we found some yummy vending machines and created a whole bunch of funny photos along the waterfront of this partially man-made island. Once things were open, we hit the stores, first for food and then to see what the different shops offered. This way we would have ideas on what souvenirs to get on our way back. We heard that Sundays were the best time to see the crazy outfits of the Harajuku teens, se we headed off that way and saw the famous Shibuya crosswalk. We soon became overwhelmed by all the people, navigation, and oh my all the things we had left to learn about our new life for the next seven weeks. Val and I decided that this was a good time to head out of the major city and get some breathing room. We headed to a smaller town that was a little ways out of Tokyo, Yokohama; we found a fantastic little park that was right on the river that had little piers side by side jetting over the water that would be perfect for hanging our hammocks from the railings. This was our second day of urban camping and we loved this amazing location. In the open, yes, but the locals were kind; there was a bathroom close by for clean water to cook and for late night nature calls. Overall, Yokohama was one of our favorite places to urban camp. Laying side by side on a small pier as dusk fell over Japan, we lay watching each high-rise light with different shades until they were all lit and their reflections found their way across the water right to our hammocks was a remarkable sight. We both thought, well, if this is urban camping, we were in love!

Hakone Open-Air Museum
Foot Bath

The Hakone region took two whole days to explore as we went up a mountain by almost every form of land transportation: train, bus, tram, and gondola. On this mountain, they also have an open-air art museum; where they have a Picasso exhibit of some of his less well-known pieces. This art museum also had a footbath that used natural hot water pouring from the mountain. At the very top of the mountain the Gondola stops and we elected to hike further up a mountainside to where natural hot spring pools sprouted from the earth, here they would dunk eggs into the hot pools where they would turn black and boil then be sold as good luck eggs. On the second day, we proceeded across Lake Ashi on a large boat styled like it was afloat during the days of pirates and such; we then caught a bus to a nearby JR station.

Fushimi Inari Shrine
Backpack holder

From Hakone we continued on to Kyoto, hoping to catch a performance by the Pontocho Geishas and maybe a tea ceremony. That night we were happy to get tickets to both events. We wandered around the Geisha district of Kyoto as we waited for the event times to grow closer and found a nice park that had many shrines and areas that would work perfectly for our next home. At the tea ceremony we learned here that matcha (green tea) is an acquired taste that we have not acquired, this was a once in a lifetime experience and we drank the thick green concoction despite our bodies telling us not to, for politeness sake. Giving thanks that they would only give us one serving, they then ushered us to the Geisha performance. To celebrate the end of our first week in Japan, we visited a famous shrine and famous temple in Kyoto. The first was Kiyomizu-dera Temple with a fantastic view of Kyoto from the observation deck and the second was Fushimi Inari Shrine with the famous torii gates all lined up. They were fantastic places to visit and at Inari Shrine we even strapped our backpacks to a lamp pole so that we didn’t have to carry them all the way up the mountain side that the shrine was located at. You could tell that some people were worried about someone coming to claim the bags and were very relieved when we came back. It was so sweet to see people really care and about somebody else’s items. Do not get me wrong we were a little worried about leaving our stuff there unattended, but were happy to find that people in Japan were a lot more carrying about other people’s possessions.

 Our first week in Japan had some amazing experiences. We met plenty of great people that helped us find an attraction or 7-eleven, the correct train platform, and one nice man even drove us in his personal car to two hotels before finding one that was open with a vacancy. We rode a Shinkansen for the first time. The highlights of these first seven days were endless, breathtaking, and a complete dream, even now – looking back through the photos.

Urban Camping

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We read a lot about urban camping in Japan, before ever going over there and doing it ourselves. The main thing that made me feel confident about it being safe was that my mother had approved of it and even found it herself AND that on one of the recommendations it had said a police officer had suggested the park first.

Beppu, Beppu Park

Along the way we had asked many tourist centers if there was a place to camp at _____ (fill in the blank), they all would reply that they cannot officially recommend it, but that many people do camp there.

We would of loved to have more ideas of places to stay or that would be good. As we became experienced Japan Urban Campers, three criteria had to be met:

1. A bathroom
2. Two solid, old trees
3. Those trees had to be at a distance of 13 to 16 feet apart (Mother's feet, heel to toe)

Here are a few of the places that we stayed at all around Japan. The only one that we wouldn't recommend is Himeji Castle Park as the security guards didn't really like it, but if pressed to find a place late at night in Himeji we would go back and know that we would have to take it all down before 5 am.

A few of the places we would really recommend/ our favorites:

• Yokohama, Seaside Park: beautiful and a nice way to see the city lights and close to a bathroom
• Shirahama, Shirarahama Beach: we never had to take the hammock and Nube down during our 2.5 day stay, as almost no one walks behind the storage containers placed up by the cement walkway (this was during the weekdays, not sure how that would change during the weekend and high travel season). Very close to a nice bathroom. Beautiful beach.
...

Japan Day 1 & 2: Flight & First Glimpse of Tokyo

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Set up our SMr Nube and Hammocks to make sure
that we both knew how they worked and what all
the components were.

The flight over the Pacific was an emotional one. Not bad emotions per say, but they did make the flight a lot longer  then the quoted nine hours. It was like being on a roller coaster. First me were super excited, then anxious - what if Japan didn't live up to our expectations? what if it was horrible? what if...? - then we were tired, it is a nine hour flight after all, then we would get happy - we are really flying to Japan, other people do things like this...not us, right?. Well I think you get the idea, every emotions was coursing through our veins, minus anger.

Man! have flights changed since the first time I flew back in the 1990's as a child....

• Head phones actually look like headphones, not stethoscopes that doctors use to listen to your breathing, minus the metal piece at the end.
• You actually get your own TV that has a bunch of recently released movies, instead of multiple monitors that are attached to the ceiling that play the same movie on all of them. Oh, and the you have right in front of you provides information about the flight, music, games, and shopping too.
• They feed your really good food and unlimited drinks. It also appeared that they gave an allowance of alcohol to those of age.
• There's no longer a pull down shade, you press a little button down below to set what kind of darkness you would like and then before landing it gradually brightens back up to mimic a sun-rise.

We arrived into Narita Airport at a little before 4pm Japan time. We were through customs with no hiccups and on the Narita Express into Tokyo Station. The Express was a little expensive...but we really wanted to get into the city quickly and we were new to the train system.

Or at least that's my excuse, since I was the money manager and the navigator and the translator during the trip - not that I knew very much Japanese, but since I was the one carrying the money and knew where we were going, it was kind of a default . By the time we were into Tokyo station it was a little after 6 and we were headed to Kimi Ryokan in Ikebukuro. After taking a couple moments to get our bearing and figuring out the rail system we were off.

In our Yukatas in our room at Kimi.

Once settled out our Ryokan we were back out on the town to find food. We were hungry. After wandering around for about an hour we went back to the Ryokan and asked for any recommendations for food. They recommended going back to the train station as there are food malls with plenty of options, but after a long flight and being up super early to go through TSA we did not feel like walking all the way back, so we settled for the closest decent looking restaurant.

Our first restaurant in Japan was Chinese... 

That restaurant happened to be a Chinese place named Ma La Gong Fang...alrighty, so we looked at the menu which thankfully was a picture book. And made two selections a celery, peanut stir fry and one that looked like sweet and sour. The server told us "no" and then started talking in Japanese..."uhhh, why not?" was our response. After trying to figure out some English to stick a sentence together that would make some more sense to us, which didn't work out very well, one of the other customers blurted out "chicken heads" to try and help the server and us out a little. "Well alright, we don't really want to eat chicken heads on our first night in Japan" is what was running through our heads.

We then asked for recommendations and ended up with a stir fry rice dish and some other things. Once the third plate arrived we were a little bit more confused by our food and how to eat it as they also provided a bowl of water with it. After tasting it was a sweet potato that had been caramelized in ginger which was still piping hot, so to make it cool enough to eat you had to dunk it into water and then eat, but first you had to pry it off the plate with your chopsticks. It was a decent meal and we even made friends with a couple of the other customers. Our fellow neighbors ordered us a traditional Chinese tea...oh, goodness, it was better then the sweetened chilled tea that you can buy in the US. Sharing the experience with the fellow restaurateurs was nice and even fun. It was a fabulous welcome to the country, even if it was on the basement floor of a Chinese restaurant.

Japan Countdown

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There are only 6 days until we get on an airplane to head over the pacific ocean to Tokyo, Japan for our 49 day trip to all of the major islands: Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido, plus some minor ones. It feels like yesterday that I got mother to agree to travel to Japan with me, that we drove to Barnes and Noble to pick out a good travel book, and that we purchased an overall map of Japan to start learning the locations and geography. I grew up with manga and anime, like many children in the United States, but as I became older I started falling in love with their traditions, history, and contradictions.

I have compiled a lot of research on the different attractions, combining our interest in the Japanese experience and trying to cut costs. We finally came to the conclusion that we would try camping as much as possible and pay to use onsen/ofuro (indoor bath) or rotenburo (outdoor bath) whenever necessary/we really want to be clean. While in the Grand Canyon we tested out our Sierra Madre 3 person tent with 2 vestibules. The tent was fabulous, it didn't weigh too much, was easy to set up, and had plenty of room for us and our possessions. We did have to clear a path and make sure that we found semi-level location, so we opted into performing research on hammocks, but with hammocks you have to have a shelter in case it rains (we are traveling to Japan during their rainy season).

Sierra Madre Nube and Hambunks

After hours, days, and many google searches later Val found a very interesting hammock set. After watching every video and finally deciding to splurge and purchase this amazing package, we finally received the set over the weekend (5.3.14). Val finally had a chance to set it up yesterday, although rather gusty in Eastern Idaho, and came to the conclusion that after some finagling that it would be perfect for all our trips. We really liked that it had a mosquito net, two could sleep under the same shelter, you could roll everything away to cook under the shelter, you can also convert it into a small tent by using hiking poles to prop up the two points, and it all packed down really small. Val and I are extremely pleased to be taking this on the road with us and can not wait to hang it from some beautiful Japanese trees.

We have also received our:

• Japan Rail passes 
• Studio Ghibli Museum tickets
• Reservation for our first ryokan (traditional hotel)
• Printed our Welcome Cards: discount coupons for different locations that are available to foreign visitors to reduce costs
• Written some common words we will want in Kanji, English, and pronunciation
• Copies of all vital documents
• Received two months worth of medication: you can actually receive a vacation waver from your insurance that allows them to pay for more than one months worth of medication if you are going to be gone
• Medicine documentation for entry: for some medications you actually need to supply documentation to the Japanese government for approval before entering the country. We also found that in the case of bringing medications abroad it makes it easier during customs to have:
• On your doctors letterhead, type of medications, generics/other substitutes, what you are taking the medications for, how long your have been seeing the doctor, and contact information
• Duplicates of the prescription(s)

Victoria, BC

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Oh, Canada, Oh Canada!!!

British Columbia's capitol
Victoria's government building

Testing out our passports. For my 18th birthday we traveled to this amazing city.

Best place that we have traveled to out of the country thus far. We have recently been to Vancouver and we both thought it was the ugly step child compared to this amazing city right across the strait.

Must do and see places:

• Noodle Box: amazing food! They had a great close knit atmosphere where there are only a couple of tables, local art on the walls, and wonderful service. We ate at the Douglas location. 
• Tour of the capitol building: We liking getting some basic history and knowledge about our northern neighbor and also getting to see some architecture. Plus it's free.
• Butchard Gardens: If you can make it during an evening that has fireworks I would absolutely recommend this place, even if you can't get the fireworks. Everyone was very friendly. It's handicap accessible. You can even stay into the evening and view the gardens lite up by lanterns.
• Tree top excursion: At wild play that is north of Victoria, by Nanaimo, you can bungee jump, zip line, do a tree top excursion and more. We did the tree top excursion and the zip line. Out of everything we did in Canada during our three day tip, this was the highlight. If you have a mode of transportation and low a thrill, this is your place. 

As far as places to stay the night, we spent the night in the back of my vehicle at Sooke River Campground. This campground was a little out of the way, but as we weren't planning on spending all of our time in Victoria we took my vehicle to drive to the different attractions, since I live in the Greater Seattle area. We really liked the campground. It was clean, even the bathrooms, quiet after 9, and very peaceful. There were a lot of other tourists there from all around along with some locals that wanted to get out into some forests, even if they are near a town. Located near the campground was a gas station and a small convenience store. 

Grand Canyon - Havasupai Indian Reservation

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The west canyon rim lighting up at 7 am in March

Many things really surprised me during this hike.

1. How natural it felt having my backpack on the second day.
2. How quickly my body recovered after a really long hike.
3. How amazingly beautiful it was, some I didn't realize until sitting on my couch back home and glancing through the photos. 

I guess I should begin at, well, the beginning. One thing I would really  recommend no matter what: they do NOT have running water at the rim. We could of sworn that we read on the website that they had running water, but they don't. Sadly we had to mooch some off of the fellow hikers and they were very kind, they wouldn't even take the money we offered in exchange. They do have a pretty good sized parking lot at the very top, with a permanent port-a-potty that may or may not have toilet paper and sanitizer. The parking lot also has a couple fenced off sections were they keep the mules during the day, while we were there a couple of groups used that section to camp in. We decided to sleep in the back of our rented vehicle.

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/havasupai.htm

The hike took a lot longer then we anticipated, not arriving into the camp ground until 4 o'clock or so. We would highly recommend bringing water and make sure that you have some kind of map so that you could pace yourself, or at least know how much further. About half way down, we started running into people hiking back out, 9 out of 10 times we asked people how much further or what we should anticipate they all responded "almost there". This being our first real hike, we didn't fully comprehend what their definition of "almost there" was, in this case it meant hours not minutes.

We also found out that taking a helicopter out of the park was cheaper then riding the mules. You just have to show up on a day that they are flying, put your name on a sheet before two and you have a flight out of there. During March riding a mule cost about 93$ per person, plus another mule to carry your packs, where as taking the helicopter was 85$ per person and that included our packs. We decided to take the helicopter flight and boy were we excited to leave. Not saying that we didn't like the Grand Canyon, it was beautiful.

By not under understanding that there was no running water on the rim, we had become dehydrated during the hike and we had a serious lack of confidence in our ability to hike back out of the Canyon. Looking back on the whole experience from the comfort of my couch, I would hike it again but take less food and more water. I would also like to say I would want to hike back out, but again that's coming from me while in the comfort of my home. Also I would recommend taking some compost-able toilet paper as the bathrooms don't always have toilet paper and also some sanitizer as they don't always have that either.

Random Thoughts about Blogging and Travel

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Point marks my "permanent" address and the
point where I spend most of my childhood.

So far I have a couple posts out, they seem to be doing good...I don't really know yet, since there aren't any comments, but I guess +1's are good. I really wanted to add some content onto the blog, so there wasn't only one post. It would be so lonely, thinking it has no friends. And really, who wants to go to a website that only has one page? No one, that's who. haha. The posts that are here and that will be coming up in the next week or so are really there has a guide or resource when planning your next trip. Hopefully *fingers crossed* that's what the goal of them was anyways.

During some travels I will being posting, so you will be able to follow me around the Grand Canyon, Japan, or where ever I am at that point. Hopefully passing on some points of wisdom or spur some travels ideas.

I grew up in Eastern Idaho with a lot of travel to the surrounding areas over the summers to follow my fathers work (he helped pave roads back then driving semi's) and with the ski team over the winters. From those experiences I have an extensive knowledge of camping, hiking, and local hangouts of Central and Eastern Idaho, along with parts of Wyoming and Montana. Plus some family trips down to the extended family in Arizona and California.

Kappa no Yu (Onsen), Yagen Valley
Doesn't this place just look beautiful?

I look forward to sharing my experiences as I broaden my knowledge of the world and myself. We just received Lonely Planet's "Hiking in Japan" book and there are quite a few that seem really interesting with the little hiking huts that are available, so we (mother and I) might be taking some multi-day hikes, for you nature lovers out there. Plus what better way to commune with nature and rustic onsen then after a long hike and in JAPAN none the less. Have you caught on to how much I'm really looking forward to this summer trip? Nah! it was not obvious at all, was it?

Seattle, WA

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Seattle and Space Needle from Lake
Washington on the Duck Boat Tour

Beautiful water and cultural city. Largely known for the Space Needle and being a mecca of new bands and musics. I personally know it as the land of flowers, since I always see the flower sellers at Pike's Place (more on that later). Side note: Sea hawk's just won the Super Bowl; not much of a sports fan, but it is pretty cool to live by a city that just won.

I have also been to the Space Needle, Pine St shopping area, taken the monorail between the two (great transportation), then walked down to Pike's place and the new Ferris wheel. My father also talked me into going on the duck boat tours, since it was the only time he had been to Seattle and the second time I had. Some comments on these attractions:

Getting around: If you aren't willing or able to drive around, that's a-okay is this part of the Pacific northwest. There are many buses that can get you from Tacoma, to Sea-Tac Airport, to Seattle, to Olympia, and you can even catch the Amtrak down to Portland. If you do decide that buses are how you want to travel, make sure to come with dollar bills and quarters (you need exact change) or buy an Orca card. Orca cards allow you to get a little of a discount on the pre-loaded card and give you some benefits, such as longer transfer windows, and can even work on ferries.

Activities:

Seattle Public Library

• Seattle Public Library: a very interesting and modernistic perspective on how people interact with learning and books. They offer different lectures, never been to one, but just from walking around in the building I feel like they would be pretty good. The library has different colors for different floors, one was bright red, not faded or muted, but RED! It was spectacular, had a little photo shoot, right then and there with mother. 
• Space needle: personally, I wasn't very impressed with the observation deck. It was a good one time thing, but I wouldn't do it again, I wouldn't even recommend that you go up it. They did provide a free photo that they green screen the space needle into; you could e-mail the picture to yourself at the kiosk in the top of the needle. From experience I would just stand at the bottom and look up, see it from different perspectives there. The needle is an amazing engineering feet.
• Monorail: It's a lot of fun, faster than buses, and takes you right to Pine Shopping center from the Needle. I've taken it many times and it's still fun to wander through the shops in the shopping center and get a free tea sample from Teavana. Last time I took the rail it only cost 2$ per person.



Seattle's hardest working man

• Duck boat tour: Wow was this a goofy experience, the driver put on different hats while talking about different local attractions. They take you out onto Lake Washington, the building that is shown as the outside of the hospital in Grey's Anatomy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hardest working man, the needle, and plenty of other sites. It was worth the price and gave you a very good tour of the city. Especially if you have limited time or you want a good overview of what the city has to offer.
• Ferris Wheel: Gone up in it twice and am still amazed with the magnificent view of the port. Especially on rainy days the clouds and calm of the water are breathtaking. 
• Underground tour: I heard a lot of hype about this place. It's where they give a tour of the original Seattle walk ways, before they lowered the grade a smidgen to correct plumbing and whatnot. I really had high expectations for this tour, but they really let me down. They did provide some good history of the city: fires, plumbing, how it started, infrastructure, etc. You do see a different side of the city on this tour. That's my two cents.
• Uwajimaya: If you are any kind of fan of Asia you will love this store. They have everything from candies to fruit to books to cooking supplies and everything in between. Ah, I have spent many an hour in this store and sometimes even take the bus from Tacoma up just to visit this place. 

  

   Flower stalls at Pike's Place Market

• Pike's place: Every time I visit this wonderful city I share Pike's Place Market. Yes, the market may be very touristy at this point, but I go to encourage the local flower arrangers, you can buy wondrous pieces of living art - I guess they are technically dead by the time the consumer sees them - for pretty cheap and the flowers, wreaths, depending on the time of year last a really long time. I would recommend anyone that's never been there to at least check it out once, plus you can see the first ever Starbucks and see the fish throwers. 

San Francisco, CA

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When people think of San Francisco the first thing that's conjured to the mind is the Golden Gate bridge, but there is so much more to this fantastic city. I was blessed enough to spend one month with family and friends in this magnificent city and truly marvel in all of its splendor.

Gallivanting Val (mother)
and Aunt in front of exhibit
located right in front of
Asian Art Museum

• Modern Art Museum: The exhibit that they had on display at the time seemed to revolve around the end of the world/wars. They had some very creative pieces and really made you think about what is considered art. One piece was colored lines draw directly onto the white wall.... Luckily they normally have free days but as the museum is currently under construction, you might want to check out some of the public art pieces. 
• Asian Art Museum: At the time that I visited (in August of 2010) they had the Shanghai Exhibit, it was an extra charge to see those pieces, but was totally worth it. Just checked their website to create the link and they had a yoga exhibit, makes me really want to head to San Fran and visit the museum. They even allow you to participate, how cool is that?! Don't forget to take your student ID card if you have one, they provide discounts.
• De Young Museum: Another fantastic museum, yeah I know that I said earlier I wasn't much of a museum person, but when I saw that they had a traveling Europe exhibit and this was the first and only time it was traveling to the US, I had to go. We saw Monet, Picasso, and many other amazing and influential classical paintings. I even still have a Monet print hanging up that I purchase there. I wasn't too impressed with their permanent collection, but the special exhibits are absolutely worth going to, especially on the first Tuesday of every month, when the museum is free. 

  

  Rain Forest Dome at the
  Academy of Science

• Academy of Science: We stood in a line for about one to two hours on a beautiful Sunday morning, looking back I think the line added to the experience, you know that the attraction is going to be great when all of San Francisco lines up to attend. The line stretched out the admission doors, down the block around the corner, all told, it probably totaled at least half a mile. Once in those admission doors you have free rain of the entire place. There is a four story tropical rain forest, planetarium, aquarium, and a host of other interesting exhibits. What's even more interesting is that the entire building is very eco-friendly. They have a living roof that you can go up and see, it looks like the rolling hills that surround San Francisco. Select Sundays are free. 
• On a day that my mother and I went on a full blown excursion of San Francisco, we took the Amtrak from Menlo Park (where we were renting an apartment for the month) into the city. 
• We weren't really sure what the day would bring, but we decided to head in the direction of Pier 39. Once there we got some lunch at Boudin Bakery Cafe where we both got a bowl of clam chowder in a bread bowl. As you sat and ate, you could watch the bakery section move freshly made bread on a bucket wire system that sailed above you. They bread into different shapes; my favorite was the turtle. 
• We then continued to walk towards the Golden Gate bridge. Suddenly bicyclist started cropping up all over the place, you could tell they weren't regular bicyclists, they were rented bikes. Alrighty, so how do we get one of those? Following the water front we found a bike shop! Renting one of those bikes we headed off to the Golden Gate. You can ride across the bridge and down into Saucilito. One of the best things we did on that excursion. Taking the ferry back from Saucilito, you can land back at pier 39 and drop off you bikes. One the ferry ride, you get motor by Alcatraz Prison and get a beautiful view of the city from the water. 
• A quick peek of China town for some dinner and off to the Amtrak station.
• Alcatraz Prison: as a child we went to the Prison and received a walking audio tour. You can see famous cells and get a great history of the island. It was one of the most memorable trips to San Francisco as a child. I would endorse this tour for anyone that likes history and/or has kids. 
• Environs:
• Santa Cruz Boardwalk: Admission can be pretty cheap during some promotional periods, we went when it was ten dollars off admission with a empty coca-cola can, with the pier logo on it. The best ride was the white roller coast, not jerky, took some funny pictures of us on the ride (we didn't pay for the photo, just took a picture of TV screen...), the second best was probably the Fireball (got my Aunt to go on this one, and she doesn't like roller coasters).
• Great America Theme Park: decent theme park, only had one good roller coast the Flight Deck, it was smooth, not jerky (essential for a mother that has a bad leg, she want's to enjoy the fun too), fast lines, and you don't feel like you are going to fall out of the restraints. For smaller kids they have plenty of great fair rides, I even enjoyed them as a break from the Flight Deck. 



Red woods, California

• Red Woods: With a fascination of trees (love to draw them), driving through northern California to Portland, OR (ten hour drive) we had to pull off to the side of the road and take some pictures. The Red Woods are a great place to stretch your legs and get some fresh air in your lungs during a long drive.  

Tacoma, WA

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Many websites don't really supply helpful information of things to do in Tacoma. The only website I could find for things to do was tripadvisor.com but that wasn't all too helpful when I wanted to show my mother why I fell in love with the area.

Getting around: If you aren't willing or able to drive around, that's a-okay is this part of the Pacific northwest. There are many buses that can get you from Tacoma, to Sea-Tac Airport, to Seattle, to Olympia, and you can even catch the Amtrak down to Portland. If you do decide that buses are how you want to travel, make sure to come with dollar bills and quarters (you need exact change) or buy an Orca card. Orca cards allow you to get a little of a discount on the pre-loaded card and give you some benefits, such as longer transfer windows, and can even work on ferries.

Here's a list of some of the things we did (most free or very low in cost):

Puget Park, in the ravine

• Puget Park to Rushton Way: On this walk you start in the proctor area walk towards Point Defiance but head into Puget Park, a ravine, that you can "hike" down into. You end up coming out on Alder St that leads right to Rushton Way, we turned South-East towards downtown Tacoma and walked along the water front. You can then take a bus from downtown heading up 6th Ave to make it back to the proctor area (bus fair: ~$2.50)
• Many sites talk about downtown and being able to museum hop, I love the arts, but that isn't really my idea of fun while on vacation, I highly recommend going to all of the free exhibits. Being the hometown of Dale Chihuly and main other great artists, there are plenty of art pieces among the buildings and also in some government buildings. Definitely check out the glass bridge: loaded with glass pieces and they also have faux glass torches that are a lot of fun to pose on. 
• Tacoma Art Museum: has many great local, modern, and well known pieces. They do house 50 years worth of Dale Chihuly, pieces that have been donated by him over the years, with some really cool videos of large exhibits he has done around the world. If you are an art enthusiast I would highly recommend this. They do offer free days for specific bank holders and the third Thursday evening of every month is free.
• Museum of Glass, affectionately known as MOG: had different exhibits with some interesting videos of how specific pieces were completed. The best part of the tour was when you could actually see them blowing and shaping the glass. They offer this free with the price of admission. I highly recommend taking a meander around the outside of the museum, they have plenty of pieces that allow more human interaction and a beautiful view of the port. If you are a college student you may want to take a gander on Sunday's as your admission is free.
• Other Museums: also located in downtown Tacoma are the Children's Museum and the Natural History Museum. I haven't been to either one, so if you have any information on them that you would like me to add, let me know.
• Point Defiance: a must see for anyone coming to Tacoma, even if you only go on the five mile drive. Side note: this was the first place I took my Aunt's family when she visited, we have a little bit before the sun set and drove down to the marina to take a stroll along the Sound. There are many things going on in this beautiful park, most of which are completely free! 



Walrus at Point Defiance Zoo

• Flower gardens: free and if you love taking photos you can have a blast posing around nature to create some amazing pics to share with friends and family. Or just take some amazing pictures of different species of flora. There is a rose garden and Asian themed garden.
• Zoo: They had some animals that I hadn't seen in a while, only larger zoos generally have them, ie: elephants, walrus, and many others. I would highly encourage you to go when it's feeding time. The attendants will stand at different points along the enclosures and tell you about the history, care, and facts of the animal while you get to see them up close and personal. 
• Wright Park: a great place to cool off and see a little bit between downtown and the north end.  They offer a great water park for little kids to escape the blistering heat during the summer time and a nice conservatory that only encourages a small donation when entering. 

Food:

Cashew Chicken, Pad Thai,
& Thai Iced Tea at
Wild Orchid

• Corina's: a local bakery is located only a couple blocks from Wright Park, near downtown Tacoma, and has great food. Pick up a scone and coffee then head off for a stroll around park.
• Wild Orchid: located at 3023 6th Ave, this is an amazing Thai food restaurant. They give pretty big servings for relatively low cost (general range is 9-13$). There red & green curries, cashew chicken, fried rice, and Thai Iced Tea are all really good. During warmer days they open up a side of their restaurant and allow you to eat outside.
• Engine House 9 (E-9): Another restaurant on 6th Ave is also a brewery. For 21+ year old's this is a great place hang out and drink: local micro brews, drinks on tap, and normal are all offered here. Even if you have kids this is a pretty family friendly destination with plenty of delicious appetizers. Fabulous nachos (which are mountain, easily feeding 2-3 people, for 12$), deep fried macaroni & cheese, hummus plate, and an abundance of other lip-smacking yummy's.
• Gateway to India: located on 6th Ave. has amazing Indian food, I can't remember the main dish I purchased but it was really good and I had never had Indian before. The naan was really good. If you are a student they provided you with a discount, yay! 
• Shakabrah: Is an all day breakfast restaurant. I personally haven't been their, but whenever I make that statement I get shocked faces and avid encouragement to go spend my last couple of bucks there, not saying it's pricey. Once again, located on 6th Ave.
• Trapper's Sushi: A new sushi place in the north-end they are a huge hit with the students in this area. They offer all you can eat sushi during lunch hour, so if you want to get your fill, best place to go for sushi.