End of the Road - Honshu Style

We've been hearing about snow monkeys in Northern Japan for over four years. We've heard different stories...you drive for 4 hours and see a monkey in a cage...others have said they saw them by the roadside....we've kept our eyes open every time we've driven that way and have never seen any. 

This was our last chance. We decided to combine two goals...find some monkeys and reach the most western point at the bottom of the "ax head." Checking out the map below - the wild horses are at the top right, Cape Oma to the top left...we wanted to see the bottom left.

I found a map in English....SCORE! Our atlas leaves much to be desired. There was a "monkey park" on the map and if we didn't see monkeys before we reached it we'd stop and watch them in a concrete cage. (See red arrow).  We told the kids we MAY not see monkeys in the wild - but this was our last chance. We also told them we were going to drive to the end of the road....and off we went. 

We shouldn't have been surprised to find a Japanese Naval Station - but we were. Of course, I had to take pictures of these beautiful frigates.....decided I'd settle for this as the next step was over a barricade and probably ill-advised. 

We stopped for a picnic lunch and a bit of stretching at/or near Jogasawa Beach. 

Concrete stairs is a new one - sleeping her way through the goodbyes? 

We've noted all kinds of concrete in seawalls...but whiffle balls were new to us! 

The drive was BEAUTIFUL and eventually we began to see signs that alerted us we may find Snow Monkeys in the trees.

We saw the turnoff to the monkey park before we saw monkeys. We overshot the turn off and ended up in a parking lot with a little white pickup truck. Michael spotted monkeys in the tree and shortly we all joined him.

The branches moved....we heard some "hooting type" calls....and then we saw them. Snow Monkeys - EVERYWHERE.....what a blast!

Mama kept throwing flowers at us...

Yes, I took the next three shots!  Gherkins in their natural habitat! ::snort:: 

Eventually we decided to explore the "park" and discovered bungalows and cabins nestled in the trees. We have info and plan to call and possibly stay there before we leave.  The trees with the monkeys are right outside your cabin. (WHY aren't these photos side by side as they ARE on the compose screen???)

We skipped  the animals in the concrete cage, but enjoyed looking around and buying drinks from the vending machine. I was inspired by the monkeys, no one was around but the kids and me and so I broke into a Snow Monkey Dance.....never overlook the man across the road with the big lens. 

Arielle's so reserved....

 

Stacia's joining in! 

We still hadn't reached the end of the road....we started further inland (the road curves back to Misawa) - then we headed back down the road to find a little road that would go to the edge of the island. We found Atagoyama Beach and stopped to enjoy a bit of fun. 

This is a GREAT swim beach. Oh boy, Stacia fell and landed face first on the concrete jetty. It could have been much worse...she ended up with goose eggs, scratches on her face, elbow, hands, legs...but nothing broken or knocked out.

We all felt Wakinosawa Village was the end of the road...but Michael kept driving until we got to Kaizaki! And that truly was the END OF THE ROAD on Honshu. The experience reminded us of finding our way to Homer, AK - the end of the road in America. 

There is a story here. You may remember the Call of the Foam G from Thursday.  Unbeknownst to me - not fully trusting in the providence of my foam G - Michael had said a prayer of his own on Thursday. "God, if I find three glass rollers - together - I'd take it as a sign we are returning." ::snort:: Now - in four years we've never found these types of rollers....I didn't even know to look for them!  Michael wanted to find three and wanted them close together. These do not float. They sink - they don't often wash ashore.  I went off exploring beyond those rocks you see above. I came back and Michael said, "We're coming back." I'd could tell he was having a moment of some type. I was happy but a bit perplexed...and then he told me about his prayer and showed me three ceramic rollers and here's the picture of them on the beach at the end of Honshu. Still not skywriting....but we're starting to feel a peace that somehow it will all work out. We're content to follow it out - though we don't know for sure where it will lead.

Loved this little island - doesn't it look like a whale? 

The road ends at a little fishing spot

Ferry in the background going around the corner of Honshu

Our geography is weak but because of where we are, we do not believe the land in the distance is the other side of Mutsu bay (that is to the south and left). We think this is the south end of Hokkaido - though at first we thought it was China. 

The housing at the end of the road

Sure enough - as we turned to start back home we found a little white truck...proving at the end of the road in Japan - you will find a little white pick up truck! 

These make me want to go back and try hunting the beaches a bit south from this village. LOL 

 We drove straight up 338 on the way....Coming home we dropped onto 279 at Mutsu and drove to Noheji and then on to Misawa on Hwy 8. It  shaved a good 30 - 40 minutes off the trip.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Stacia meets Aki

BOP it on the Airplane????  ::snort:: 

The week's keep flying by. Other than plane days we filled the days with a very tiny bit of math and reading, playing with our friends all the way around (Michael had the whole base exercise thing going on)...and a few home repairs. 

Nolan spent the day with five friends. I enjoyed 3.5 hours meeting with a young leader - excited to see God build new vision on a foundation of past vision. I snuck in lunch with a friend as she ferried a car full of boys from homes to bowling ally to sports field. 

I managed to get a few items checked off the to do list...to include getting Stacia in for a fitting of her flower girl dress.  This was an adventure. We never could find a person at Wellingtons so we headed for Aki Mode Salon - a hole in the wall by any account.

We walked into a store and saw no-one. We kept walking towards the sounds we heard and found a tiny, elderly lady drinking tea and watching Japanese television.  She was no taller than Staica. Hoping she was the dressmaker, I shuffled Stacia behind a curtain to try on her dress.

"Pretty, pretty, pretty." She liked the dress....and evidently Stacia's hair as well.

Words failed and so I tried to scrunch the material together to show what we needed - though it was apparent we should have got at least one size smaller - but the length is perfect! ::snort::  Aki (big embroidered name on her jacket) slapped my hands away! "Chotomate! Dame, Dame!"

Alright!

With a tape measure slung around her shoulders and tons of stick pins in her hands and mouth she set about nipping and tucking.  She insisted today was 26 June (it's not - I checked) and the dress would be ready in one week - 3 July. I paid her cash and hope what I got in return is a receipt. I'm 99.9% sure it is. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Letters in the Sand

Michael has worked twelve straight days - the last three days being 14+ hour work days (only chaplain for an exercise).  Tomorrow is his CTO and he is not going to get it off - so he took today off. YES.

We debated on the best way to spend the day. We settled on driving up to Tanesashi Beach. This area along HWY 1 reminds us of the OR and Northern CA Coastline - in other words it reminds us of home. It also reminds me of Twyla and her boys as they were the ones who first took us to this area.....we'll  always remember discovering how HOT white sand can be in 100* heat without flip flops. ::snort::

Yuuki loves the beach! 

I like Michael's reflection in my glasses

 It was a PERFECT day for the beach. Often it's cold at the beach in Northern Japan...or scorching hot. Only one of us went for a dip....it's still a bit early....but you know...accident's happen as Stacia explains....

We noted a BRAND NEW BATHROOM on the beach...the old one had been severely damaged in the tsunami. We were just below the grassy seaside area (locals will know what I'm talking about).

What's an aging woman to do? I need sunglasses - I needed reading glasses for a moment.

It began to drizzle motivating a break for lunch...we headed up the hill to check out the options. It turns out our favorite ice cream stand (introduced to us by the lovely C family) also run a restaurant. We all opted for Ramen.....

 In a moment of terrible insight we realized I've not purchased any Ramen bowls. I've been tasked with finding at least six for our fast ship....because the Gherkins say Ramen goes with Beach.... We loved eating, warming up, watching the waves and joking about going to "Mo sans" in Oregon.

Michael had Ramen with seaweed, crab legs, oysters, shrimp and all sorts of other sea vegetation.....he gets the "green award" but all that seafood would have landed me in bed for a few days at the best. LOL

Yes, they DID get ice cream. Arielle got the apple and I claimed the one bite rule. We instituted the one bite rule when I went nutritarian and we were traveling. If there is something I really, really want - I can claim one bite. I claimed a bite of the Apple ice cream after Arielle raved about it - YUMMO - chunks of apple in the tart/sweet ice cream. Worth the drive to Tanesashi even if you hate pristine beaches, grassy fields and seagulls.

We haven't driven south of Tanesashi -until today. We found a great deserted beach. It was BEAUTIFUL....lots of seagulls....Yuuki's a bird dog...Yuuki loves to run on the beach...there was no one on the beach....we let her run!

Who would have guessed she'd be more interested in sniffing the sand than chasing the birds? ::snort::

 Gherkins like chasing seagulls

This next part is a bit "out there" - but if you've read the blog long you won't be overly surprised. As I walk the beach, I talk with God. I realize this may well be our last time at this beach. We are praying about our future. We wonder if God is going to open doors for us to return to Japan.  My heart so wanted to return to the Philippines...I was SURE I'd return when I left there over 30 years ago - and I haven't. I prayed, "God, I wish you could just give us a clear sign that we are coming back." It's hard to know if we should be saying "forever goodbyes" to Japan or "see you later" goodbyes. I walked a bit further and found a foam "G" planted in the sand of Japan.  We've never found foam English letters on the beach and we've spent a lot of time on a lot of beaches in the past four years.   It would be like walking along the beach in OR and finding a foam Hiragana character that matches your last name.

I shared the story of my "G" with the Gherkins. Could be a coincidence....I HAD just asked for a "clear sign" - I mean it could be clearer if our NAME was written on it I suppose...Greatly cheered up we laughed about what it could mean...Gherkins planted in Japan? Gherkins are all washed up?

Yes, I DID keep the G (can you see it below?)! I don't know if it means a thing at all...other than a heavenly hug. This would make a really strange missionary call story,  don't you think? Paul had the Macedonian call....we have a Foam G in the sand????

 Maybe I'll pray a bit more specifically...like a mission board contacting us about the possibility of moving to Japan. Or Pizza Hut offering one of us a job in two years (Yes, you DO get SOFA status if you work at Pizza Hut on base). ::snort::

We saved the coordinates to this beach and named it "Yuuki's Beach" so we can find it again.

We thought Akikosan was coming over tonight, but she can't make it this week. We enjoyed another parable in family circle (master and the slave - wow) and a read a chapter in a biography on Jacob Deshazer - WOW.

The last 30 minutes have been spent with Acey Deucey, Go Fish and blogging......

and sleeping.....

Check out those last two photos! We really enjoy our new minimalist lifestyle. It is LIBERATING to be a Spartan. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Wet Summer

We had to leave at 0430  for base - Michael and I are feeling a bit old and tired. ::snort::  The kids don't have this problem but are graciously trying to keep the house quiet at night.  One more day of Exercise. 

I participated in a Skype this a.m. which brought encouragement, challenge and direction for the upcoming weeks. 

Stacia and I joined a play group/Bible study on base this morning. 

It was strange to enjoy a week and a half of SUMMER in Korea and come home to wind and rain. Today's weather was  schizophrenic. Windy and rainy this a.m. - I started a yummy veggie soup in the crock pot. I cooked up some ground turkey and squash as "condiments" to be added at the table. ::snort:: Yes, we ARE eating down the pantry and we aren't ALL totally thrilled with the dinners coming forth. I was THRILLED to see most liked the soup without adding meat....winning them over one at a time. ::snort:: 

By this afternoon the boys were having the first rip-roaring water fight of the season.... I noticed they didn't entice the rest of the neighborhood kids to join the fun and I was happy they didn't force the participation of others. LOL

It didn't really feel like soup weather by dinner time....what's a cook to do????

A few random closing thoughts:

Mr. Chef man - "vegetarian black bean wrap" does not mean "hamburger patty with black beans added." Just a thought..... ::snort::

Plane Days....sigh...yesterday Marvie, Ashley, Jim and Alex flew out of Misawa. Today we said goodbye to RayeJun and Jessica and their families....Matta ne. As Stacia said, "We're the LASSSST ones here." ::snort::

Four weeks until our plane day.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Father's Day 2013

It's been year since Dad G's home-going to heaven on Father's Day 2012. There are still times we miss him so much. On this day I watched his son preach two sermons encouraging men to bless their children. That's a legacy. And I'm thankful to partner with Dad G's son in parenting the nine Gherkins. Happy Father's Day Michael, Dad....all the beloved Father's out there in cyber land....you're investment in children is essential. 

Between services we fit in lunch and gifts.....the box the boys worked on at the craft shop in Korea 

Arielle painted an Angry Bird on a flattened blue glass bottle - and made it into a clock. 

If you've not watched this clip - you'll get a kick out of it!

Of course you can tell it's REAL because I bought it in Korea. ::snort:: 

We're ending the night with games....this one and some slappy card game that I avoid as I like my fingers intact! 

One month from today, 16 July, we will board a plane for America. Stay tuned to see how much we can fit into the next month. ::sigh:: 
Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Plane, Planes and Bowling Balls

It is a plane day. The day when dear friends fly out of Misawa - but not out of our lives or hearts. You may remember the post from a couple of weeks back about the birthday bash at the bath in the mountains (Aoni Onsen).....all those who participated, except Arielle and I, have PCSd.  Plane days cause us to be a bit introspective...and sad...but it's a good sad....a glorious sorrow. 

Mary, had suggested on Thursday I need to keep everyone busy these next few weeks doing things we love when the lonely, sad times hit. Great advice.  We don't ALL love the Air and Science Museum as much as Stacia and Zander, but it was a drizzly day and our plans to go to the beach were scrubbed. We headed to the museum. 

I love the  various expressions as the kids compete to see who could cross the red line running the fastest....

Stacia wanted to show Michael how easy it is to lift yourself with a rope - and was surprised it was harder with him on the bench. ::snort::

The kids certainly learn more at the science museum when Dad is along.....and he saw first hand what we've been telling him - Stacia simply does not get dizzy...we can spin her around and around on the platform and she'll get off and walk a straight line. ::snort::

Arielle and I are not crazy about the spinning room...the others love it. 

 Since she was a BABY - this girl falls asleep in the strangest places...BUT THIS was a first - an airplane display at a museum. I may make her go in for some lab work if this keeps up - I know she didn't sleep well last night knowing that Emily is already gone and Alicia was leaving this a.m.

We grabbed lunch and caught several games of bowling. 

I am fighting a summer cold. I went to bed when we got home - I've discovered I love Benydryl. Best night sleep I've had in a long time. Michael and the kids went back to the chapel  - they watched a movie (we don't have a TV, projector, DVD player any longer at home) and Michael did a bit of work.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...