Last Day in Japan: We came home from the Fuji trip rather tired and spent the end of the day resting. The next morning, Sue had only half a day before she had to go to the airport, so we decided to go to a garden that was walking distance. This was the Shinjuku Gyoen […]
We climbed Mount Fuji. For weeks now I have been feeling anxious because of the Fuji trip. I knew it would be demanding and I also knew I hadn’t done the hiking practice I was supposed to. But your biggest challenges are always the ones you don’t anticipate and on this trip the biggest challenge
Shopping Day in Tokyo: Sue and I got up this morning intent on two things: seeing the fashion district and going to Shibuya Crossing, not just to see the Hatchiko statue, but also to see all the people walking across the intersection. It is said that as many as half a million people walk across
Tokyo is Fabulous. And we’re surrounded by it. What a city should be, but never is in reality, that is my first impression of downtown Tokyo. When we land in Tokyo we have no trouble getting our bags and decide to send them to our hotel using bag courier service, available at a counter across
Our last day in Okinawa was shisa day. We were visiting Yomitan Pottery Village after breakfast to engage ourselves in another art class: the class in making a shisa. As noted above, the Okinawan shisa is a relative of the Chinese lion dog protector spirit. These shisas stand outside of doorways and on the roofs
Walking Around Okinawa — I made my 10,000 steps today, but I didn’t go quite as fast as yesterday. Suellen seems to feel we are moving too fast. Possibly we have begun to emulate days of her childhood, when sightseeing would involve going on tremendously ambitious on-foot expeditions, and pushing forward, using public transit, all
It is a perfect day in Naha, Okinawa. We are doing a workshop in Bingata printing. The workshop is at the Shuri Dyeing and Weaving Museum Suikara. The museum is on a hilly street, and we sit in a textile classroom with high ceilings and windows, watching the textiles teacher get out the painting materials
Weekend in Beaumont? Just up the river from the Gulf on the Neches River, this old Texas city is known for seafood, independent business opportunities, ingenuity that led to the oil boom in Texas, and the freewheeling spirit of millionaires and hobos. It’s been called the Cajun Capital of Texas (by Lonely Planet) and Beaumont
The idea came from my daughter who’s in the Marines. She’s stationed in Japan and when I said I would come visit her this summer, she said “of course we’ll want to climb Mount Fuji Japan.” I am an avid hiker but the idea of climbing up the side of this particular Japanese volcano
Raise your expectations. There’s much to see in Twentynine Palms. You might have been told that Twentynine Palms is in the middle of nowhere, not far from Death Valley. This is not completely true. Here are restaurants, hotels, banks, a library, Starbucks …the town has all the comforts of home, really. The desert architecture
