Okinawa, Day 1

I'm exhausted y'all! Steve and I finally made it to Okinawa last night, basically 24 hours ago. Our day started early with homemade omelets made by David that were yummy! Sadly David then had to leave for work, but we headed out to enjoy our first day in Oki.Steve says, "David made me some fancy coffee." Yoshi and Mogli (their dogs) needed a walk so we headed down to the sea wall and enjoyed the beautiful view. Lots of surfers were out this morning. Next we had to take care of some business at the base so we can come back to the U.S. when we want and then we also needed to get  some Yen.

Family mart was another of our stops because Cess and I are snackers so we needed to get some food for our day trip north to Nago. I got a japanese salad and dressing, onigiri (a rice tuna sandwich), beef korokke, chips, and Haagen-Dazs cookies and cream ice cream! All was yummy believe it or not!

Finally we began our Japanese touring at Pineapple Park! This park is sooooo funny and strange. It's a tourist attraction for the Japanese. You ride in a golf car with half of a huge pineapple thing on top of it while listening to some lady tell you about pineapples. Then you get off and go inside to rooms that have TONS of seashells for absolutely no reason considering it's a pineapple park, not a seashell park. After the crazy seashell galleries (yes there were multiple rooms of seashells), we came to the pineapple wine making. This was pretty sweet. Then we came to the best part: taste testing! We tasted many pineapple wines, cookies, cakes, chocolate, and vinegar. They also had items made from the leftover parts of pineapple such as soap, perfume etc. And of course we had fresh pineapple! YUM! Steve tried a purple sweet potato custard pastry puff, that I thought was nasty, but he said it was, "cho-oishi" which means "very delicious."

We left pineapple park and headed to the Oki Aquarium or ocean expo park. This was by far the coolest aquarium I have been to which includes the Newport Aquarium, the VA Beach Aquarium, the Mystic Aquarium, and probably more. It was raining and we forgot our raincoats. That thankfully was not a problem because here they have little umbrellas for you to take at the entrance, then you return it when you get inside and at the next door there are more for you to use, but you always return them. Loved it! This aquarium has the largest water areas and huge fish. The largest was a whale shark. We could even go above and look down in the huge tank. Dolphins, manatees, and turtles were also at the aquarium.

Time for dinner! We ate a a sushi go-round where I ate some sushi! My sushi though was not raw fish, I had one with shrimp and the rest were seafood-less. It was okay to me. Steve LOVED it! Dessert was at Yogurt-land and then we walked around American Village, specifically in the macman (pronounced make-man) which is a home depot for the most part. The appliances and furniture are much smaller here.

Oh and I forgot to mention that there was a Baskin Robbins in Guam, although it was on base. AND there are multiple Baskin Robbins here in Okinawa, Japan! I cannot believe it, I'm so thrilled! I don't have one in Groton, CT, but I get one here in Okinawa, Japan. Imagine that! We will be going to BR tomorrow since Yogurt-land was dessert tonight.

In case you have heard of the typhoon coming Monday, they are not a big deal here because the buildings are all concrete. The Okinawan's go about their normal business and grocery shopping when typhoons come so please do not worry. :)

Comments and questions are always welcome :)

Guam: Update and Sushi suggestions

There ended up being 0 seats on the first flight out of Guam to Okinawa, but the NAVY has come to the rescue so the second flight out has 68 confirmed seats. Our bags are checked and now we are waiting for the plane to get here to board. Cannot wait to see our dear friends Cessily and David!

We have done nothing today except sit at the airport. This trip is about to get way more exciting. Our first order of business in Okinawa is to get some sushi. Now I may be brave and try a few, even though I hate fish of any kind so I'm taking suggestions for sushi that tastes as little fishy as possible.

Please comment with your favorite sushi or a suggestion for me to try. I will do my best to be brave, but only if I get suggestions! :)

Guam, Day 2

Hello! Well, we ended up getting stuck in Guam for a second day. Instead of continuing to wear ourselves out we stayed in for the day. We Skyped with family, napped, and watched the Olympics. Then we went to have a very late lunch at the exchange followed by renting 2 movies: Gone, and The Artist. As I write, we are preparing for bed and our second movie of the night "the Artist."

Since we ate a late lunch we forgot about dinner until we went to the Night Market that is held every Wednesday night in Guam. Many tourists come, but we mostly saw islanders themselves. Lots of souvenirs to buy and food that was OK. We ate and walked a bit and then came back. Nothing to exciting today, but that was just fine for us.

Our next try for a flight is tomorrow morning at 10:10 am. There are 10 T seats. Pray we get on please!

Exploring Guam

Wow! Today was so fun. God has blessed me with the BEST husband ever. I cannot imagine a better person to explore an island with than my Steve. He is so adventurous and encourages and helps me do more than I would on my own. But I'm ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning of the day.

We went to the airport and found out that the 40 tentative seats to Guam went to 0, but we weren't the only ones out of luck, the other flights with tentative seats were also canceled. But Steve and I made a  day of it. What else would you do stranded on a tropical island, but explore it?!

The island is small and we had a vague map so we decided to go around the entire island. Starting at the base we took route 1 to Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon. If you have been to Cancun, Mexico than you most likely know of the Hotel Zone. This area was the Hotel Zone for Guam, but a much less thrilling, beautiful place. We parked walked to the beach and decided to leave feeling gross and uncomfortable, the smell reminded me of each 3rd world country city I have been to.

Next we went to the War in the Pacific National Historic Park Asan Beach Overlook. "Overlook" isn't actually an overlook in Guam; it merely means a beach you look at that has history. I don't remember what we saw here. The next place we went was Apaca Point. This place was pretty cool. The Japanese built a "pillbox" in the rock for a place to hide with their guns. The guns could shoot out across the shore as the U.S. ships came (obviously not great for the U.S., but nonetheless a cool alcove). There was also a cave where they entered the "pillbox." We also came a cross signs that were a little disturbing, but we trudged on anyway. The signs read: Old bombs and shells can kill! Recognize WWII bombs are dangerous, move away and call 911.

Then we came across Sella Bay,  Cetti Bay, and Cetti Bay Overlook. Gorgeous view is all I have to say! Well actually the bays are fresh water and silt which prevents coral growth at it mouth creating the bay openings. From this view we could also see the Cocos Island and resort and Mount Lamlam. From there we headed to Umatac Village. On our way we came across a "scenic view" so we stopped and walked back to the area we assumed was the scenic view. Well it just so happens that while we were walking towards the water, I look back. We saw a house but weren't sure if it was the backyard we were in. When I looked back a HUGE pig was coming straight at me so I got Steve's attention and we walked away quickly and he followed! We ended up loosing him at a grate we had to walk over. Haha  Umatac Village had a monument for Magellan, as well as some church ruins and a nice beach alcove where the locals were surfing.

Next we stopped at Merizo Pier Park for a short bit. Got a close up look of the water which was beautiful, but surprisingly not clear like I had thought. By the way chickens and wild dogs roam freely all over Guam which reminded me of Costa Rica. We happily left the chickens at Merizo Pier Park to visit the Inarajan pools. Very cool, natural place to swim. They had a diving board as well.

Talofofo falls and Yokoi's Cave was a very strange amusement park. Only stopped to use the restroom because we didn't feel like paying $20 to see some small waterfalls that will be nothing compared to what we will see in Okinawa. There was also some strange creepy music along with gunshots. Very creepy. We did realize that there was a shooting range at the park, but still a creepy place.

After that we stopped at Jeff's Pirates Cove for a late lunch. It was awesome! First tons of pirate stuff, which was fun, but the best part was sitting and eating with the view. There was beach volleyball, basketball, hammocks, and more (I think it is a camp). Absolutely worth the money it cost for lunch. It was expensive.

Last we drove back around to Hagatna to see the Plaza de Espana. The Spanish inhabited Guam before the Americans and then Japanese. Guam has an interesting history that I'd like to learn more about some day. But for now, I am pooped so I'm going to try and find the Olympics on TV to rest and relax for the rest of the evening.

Pictures are on facebook. We forgot our camera so used the iphone. :)
Comments are welcome!