Apr 2007

off we go... out of the wild blue yonder

16.04.2007 - 27.04.2007 -17 °C
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we had to outprocess in the US, so we went to hawaii for a few weeks to finalize all kirks paperwork and celebrate his new-found freedom. kirks wedding ring is still celebrating its freedom somewhere on the bottom of a bay on the north shore of oahu... we stayed right on waikiki beach for a few days and explored oahu and then spent the weekend with our buddy kevin from korea and his family. it was great to meet kevins family and see him again.

we also spent a few days on kauai, hiking, kayaking and relaxing. we stayed 5 nights in a cottage right on the beach. the longest we have stayed anywhere in 5 months...

Posted by MorrisAK1 16.04.2007 9:30 AM Archived in USA Comments (0)

Domo Arigato Mr Roboto

01.04.2007 - 12.04.2007 -17 °C
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Japan was the most orderly and easy place we have ever traveled. The people were super-friendly and helpful, the trains ran on time, and just about everything was in English. We traveled south from Tokyo to the city of Kagoshima on the tip of the main Japanese island of Honshu via the shinkansen (japans 185 mph high speed train), visiting the temples of Kyoto, the memorials at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the volcanic hot springs and geysers of the Kyushu region. Our trip coincided with the incredible annual display of the blossoming of the cherry trees, so everywhere we went was not only spectacularly scenic, but also temples were open and lit up for night viewing, and almost everywhere we went, we found Japanese out celebrating the blossoming with picnics, toasts, lots of saki and sapporo drinking, and all kinds of festivals. Here we are rowing around a moat of a castle in Tokyo...as usual, Kirk is doing all the work!

We were happy to learn we’d unintentionally purchased tickets in the smack center of the ‘organized cheering section’ at a Japanese baseball game, and had a great afternoon following along with our whistle blowing cheerleader to the pre-canned cheers they have for every possible situation ( including every strike, foul, fly out, home-run…) and shooting balloons around the stadium at the 7th inning stretch. Domo arigato japan.