April 29 2011

April 29 2011: Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! It's been an amazing 11 years! (and isn't it nice of us to let the Royal couple share our special day?)
And now on to other things....let me just say this transition to the monkey is purely accidental (really it is) ( I had loaded the photos yesterday, then realizing today's date, added in the wedding pictures...though I do feel like I'm living in the zoo at times)

Anyway, while at our Safe Haven for the evacuations we went to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. It has improved a little over the years, but still not my favorite zoo.
There were a million and a half little people there for school field trips, but once we got past the playground area, it was better. I did miss the super polite Japanese children who may run at a park, but don't go 'round screaming their heads off and barging into others. Ah well....
Andi had a good time at the elephant exhibit. I think the skull made a bigger impression on her than the baby elephant, and a ride on the carousel.
Taken towards the end of our visit, perhaps expressions of tiredness...not sure.

Also on the big "to do" list was a visit to Thanksgiving Point for the dinosaur museum.

http://www.thanksgivingpoint.com/visit/museum_of_ancient_life/about.html

I think if I let her, Andi would've been happy to spend many days in here.

Andi and mom in front of a great white. Andi was getting in the spirit of posing for a picture. Took Grandma a few takes to realize what Andi was doing. I have one shot of Andi posing in terror while Grandma has a smile AND her eyes open. Thank goodness for digital when you can take and retake and retake to your hearts delight.

The Salt Lake Tribune ran an article about a "controversial" mural that had been painted on a retaining wall owned by The Canyon Inn Bar and Grill. Fearing that it would be painted over, I dragged my mother and child up the road so that I could get pictures. There are at least two ways to look at this....evil is taking over and the temple is burning because of it...or the temple is rising out of the flames of evil to conquer good. Either way, I think it is a delightful art piece. A link to the article.....

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/51635452-78/mural-stojack-cottonwood-heights.html.csp

And then there are the cats. My cat, Roy (who is sitting on my lap) and Grandma's cat, Fi-tu. I had Roy for years, he was around when Andi was born. He enjoys cuddling, just not with her awake. Fi-tu on the other hand, is the cat who will nip at your hand if you dare pet him in the wrong way, but never with Andi....he adores her. Andi's quest was to get Roy to snuggle with her. This is about as close of a snuggle that he would permit...but he was purring, so life must've been good.

Finally on the 23rd of April we began our journey back home to Japan. We had a good time in the states (I may recover from driving on the interstate at some point....way to fast!) but wish we could've gotten to San Diego to see May and her family.

We left Salt Lake and flew to SEATAC airport in Seattle Washington. Through processing and then on to our gate. We were going to wait at the USO, but decided sitting down to dinner would be nice. And it turned out that our gate was at the end of the terminal and no other planes were flying out. As a result the kids got to run around in organized chaos and burn off some energy.
The mural was on the windows at our terminal. Very pretty. I didn't find any info about the artist, but then I have to admit to being a little tired and not looking that hard.

We got in around 9pm the 24th (local time) and into bed around 1am. Since jet lag hadn't caught up with Andi, she went to school that Monday, the 25th. The jet lag catches up to her in the evenings. She's been falling asleep around 6pm, I rudely wake her up and make her stay awake til at least 7. I haven't done much better, I've been asleep by 8 or 9. (with a nap or two thrown in there).

It is nice to be back home. Our little corner of the country seems to be running normally. There is still a lot of work to be done in our seaside port, but the hope is that the fishery port will be ready for the June squid season.

Well, that is it for now. I'm off to watch morning talk shows (morning is not my most productive time of day) and perhaps get some cleaning done.

A side trip to Michigan

April 17 2011- I know, it's been awhile since the last post. It is hard to keep up on a blog when you are homeless. Well, not to homeless, but wandering about the country. On the 5th of April, Andi and I took a flight to Northern Michigan to visit my dad. Believe it or not, it is spring there....a little gray yet, but spring was trying to come. (at least it didn't snow while we were there) First day there Andi had Pop-pop break out the bikes for a rather brisk bike ride. Through out the stay, there were various drives around about. The next few photos are various houses in the town/village of Frankfort.

This house is in process of being painted. According to Pop, it has been a long process to get this far, but it has been worth the wait. Hopefully the homeowners (who I think are summer residents) get a lot more done this year. I'd love to see it done all the way!

Above- a design on a house. I wonder if they have a family quilt with the same pattern?

Below- Frankfort is an old logging town...I'm not sure what folks do now to survive (besides make a VERY long commute to the nearest city). Anyway, it's an old logging town, so lots of Victorian style houses.

Above: A non-descript house. Except of course it is lavender....made me a bit home sick for Japan.

Above- I had asked for a canoe ride. One of the few water going vessels that don't make me sea-sick. Since it was still cold, the rivers weren't totally free of ice. But Frankfort Bay was. The above was taken about midway through the trip.

Below, well that was the beginning. Andi was NOT enthused about canoeing at all. Even though she had never done it before. And yes, she is sitting backwards...long story short. Got Andi in, told her which way to face. I had requested the front...got in, thought the space was a little cramped. About then, heard a loud sigh from my dad as he announced I was directionally challenged. No really, it was operator errors on both our parts. As a result I ended up with the back end, and Andi facing me. We did get her turned around eventually, but not til after she realized the "ship" wasn't going to sink.

See that happy face? She wanted to keep going. But I think I was wearing Pop-pop out. As I was supposed to be doing the steering...but I kept taking pictures, I think he had to work a little harder up there on the front end. Oops!

But everybody made it out safe and dry, and big smiles all around. Andi now wants to do more canoeing! yippee! (I really do enjoy it)

Next up is a trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This is where my dad was assistant superintendent for about 10 years (before retiring after 30 years of service in the National Park Service) The main attraction is this giant sand dune that once upon a time may have resembled a sleeping bear.

anyway, this is Andi at the start of the climb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Bear_Dunes_National_Lakeshore

(the website provides some nice sunny pictures....it is usually a bit bleak looking before things turn green)

And there she goes! It is a little steep at times. But most of the hard work is because of walking in sand. She never even hesitated...off she went, bounding along. Apparently she has no problems with her lungs!

I got her to pause briefly at the first flat area, so that I could catch up....then off she flew for the next ridge.

Above we are overlooking Little Glen Lake (Big Glen is, of course, the next one over) This is the only lake you will see from this side of the dune climb. To get a view of Lake Michigan, is about a 4 mile trek across more dunes. I lived there (Empire Michigan) for 4 or 5 years, never did get to Lake Michigan via that route. It was much easier to just drive down the road.

The best part is the run down! This is just the first little part. She paused briefly for a photo op with Pop-pop...

And then the next thing I knew, she was down at the car. How does she do that? It's like the sand didn't even bother her!

Next up, a trip to the beach via the easy route...drive to it. Remember, go to that website for some nice sunny pictures. Though I do find it restful and peaceful even in a chilly fog. The first steps to the beach were a bit tentative for Andi. Even though we didn't witness the tsunami in Japan, she knows what it did. She was a bit leery about approaching the lake. Patience and talking, and we got there. I'm hoping she'll be ok with seeing the beaches in Japan again.

That's my Pop above, and below, well that's my Andi....doing what she loves...monkeying around.

Above: The old Coast Guard station located across the bay from Frankfort in Elberta.

Below: The Frankfort lighthouse at sunset.

Pop and Rose (his wife) took us for a drive up to Mackinaw to see the Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) bridge. This is what connects the main body of Michigan with the Upper Peninsula (the part that hangs over from Wisconsin....quick run to the maps....you know you want to) It was sunny on the drive up. But fog persisted around the lake.

http://www.mackinacbridge.org/

Andi practicing her "karate kid" moves. (though she has never seen the original movie)

A house nearby....get a load of the front entryway!

Driving around Mackinac City.

From there we drove to Cross Village. It's a nice little stop. Not really sure what they are known for. Though Pop and Rose have a restaurant there they like to go to, called the Legs Inn. They weren't open yet, but I did find a bit of history.....(you're going to be so tired at the end of this trip) http://www.legsinn.com/history.html

Plus, Andi spotted the "bear". It was really pretty, and very friendly!

Below: One of the old churches in town.

Next stop on this road trip was "The Cross in the Woods". Really very pretty. We missed the gift shop, but did make a mad dash through the chapel area in search of a restroom. It was a bit of a blur (the chapel that is....and no, the dash wasn't for me...but a little person who had iced tea at dinner....ummm, go figure)

http://www.crossinthewoods.com/

And now, for some more art. Across the street from my dad is "the bottle trees". The artist is Peggy Knorr (I have no web info for her at this time). She finds these bottles at antique stores and makes the trees.

They are really very pretty....and perhaps will inspire me to try to make one of my own. Probably won't end up looking as nice. The one below is an old bedspring, a work in progress.

And that brings us to the end of our Michigan trip. (though trust me, there are MANY more pictures that haven't been shown...I shall save those for any future "dry" spells)

Now, on the 17th of April, we await word as to how when we will be returning home to Japan. We know we will go (the evacuation orders are lifted) it's just a matter of when. I'm hoping to be notified as to when, and then go make a trip to San Diego to see more family.

It will be good to go home though, we do miss our corner of the world.

March 25-April 3 2011

April 2 2011 - Well, goodness, time has gotten away from me! Last I wrote, Andi and I were taking part in the voluntary evacuations from Japan. It was with sad hearts that we left. But a case of tremor stress, and of course the possible problems with Fukushima Dai-ichi were the deciding factors in our evacuation. We left Japan on the 25th, around 5 in the evening, traveled back in time and landed at Travis AFB in California around 9 in the morning....on the 25th. Oh joy, let's repeat our day! First of all, let me just say the folks at Travis AFB were FANTASTIC!! It was pouring rain when we arrived. Airmen and volunteers took our heavy loads, carried children and got us from plane to bus to terminal as quickly as they could. A fantastic reception of fresh fruit, snacks, drinks and things for the kids to do awaited us. Personally I thought their processing system went very smoothly and flowed well. The kids thought it great that the Airmen sat down with them to play, draw, or talk. Once done with processing we were taken to various airports or hotels (in my case the San Fran. airport) with uniforms to accompany us in, carry our bags (some children) and make sure we got checked in for our flights.

At San Fransisco Airport, we did come up against the usual flight delays. Several hours in the airport (though we did get a nice rainbow) and we finally got to head to Salt Lake. Another evacuee from Misawa did find us (we recognized each other by our exhausted children and our similar tired and haggered looks) It was nice to find a travel buddy for this last leg. As the flite got delayed I think we needed each other to keep our hopes up....

Thursday the 25th proved to be 48 hours long for us.

But we made it to Salt Lake. I'm happy to say, that Andi is much more relaxed, and not flinching at every movement.

Of course Shane is still in Misawa doing his job. We miss him, but feel fairly confident that he is safe. We do talk almost everyday.

Our first weekend in Salt Lake found us traveling a bit southward to the Spanish Fork area for the Festival of Colors put on by the Utah Krishna's (utahkrishans.org....if you feel so inclined)

First of all...the above picture. I have forgotten how WIDE Utah streets are, compared or our Japanese streets.

We didn't plan on going to participate in the throwing of colors (packs of powdered dye thrown skyward), just looking at others was enough for us! The llamas seemed to be enjoying the by passers. (really wonder what was going through their minds)

Some folks though got the colors on them in a true spring type fashion. (I took their picture in exchange for me taking their picture with their camera. Complete strangers.....don't know their names or anything) There was so much dye in the air that I could only imagine people with asthma must've just been having fits.

In the end, we didn't actually get far. The temple grounds were just PACKED! I had been hoping for some good cuisine...but getting to the food tent proved fruitless. As a result, we ate very American sandwiches at Subway.

Though still a bit on the winter blah side of life....it is always good to see the mountains again! (minus any volcanoes hidden within them)

AM will be traveling again this coming week, so updates will be spotty again. (yes, that's AM...we are missing the S) I'll do an update when we return back to Salt Lake.

In the meantime, Misawa continues to recover. From the updates I can gather on Facebook, the Air Force and Navy are working hard with the Japanese Nationals to restore the Misawa Fishery Port, and the Hachinohe Ports (fish and fuel). The volunteers there rock!