Two Good Finds

Well, as my family back home knows I have been on the hunt for some interesting, fun, family friendly places, especially before our little guy gets here and travel becomes a tad more complex. We hit two home runs in the last two weeks with the Tama Zoo and Enoshima Aquarium. I need help figuring out a better way to post photos since they describe our trips to both locations in better detail than anything I could write. I am getting better but I know it ain't great. So without further adieu:
One thing Walter and I keep laughing about is how traffic can take such a huge chunk of time on any trip. One might recommend just taking the train here and there . . . but even on the train, with a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and big 'ol pregnant lady, just hopping on the train to go "here and there" isn't exactly easier. So for now, we load into our rusty green monster (that seems to have developed its own new unpleasant scent), and head out. The Tama Zoo for example is I believe 11 kilometers from our house. With the red lights (not censored here), takes on average fifty minutes of driving. That's basically an hour from point A to point B. A train ride from our nearest station is a fifty minute ride, plus you would need to tack on time getting to the train station. OK, so, we drove to and from the zoo but our effort was worth it. Tama Zoo is very large, hilly, and has an awesome butterfly garden. It feels like you are walking through a beautiful English garden, filled with vibrant colors and swimming with butterflies of all shapes, colors and sizes. The kids could get nose to nose, watching the busy little creatures drink nectar from any flower of their choosing. Otherwise, while it was a very nice zoo, it reminded me a bit of Japan and Tokyo in particular. There were a lot of animals in each enclosure, much like there a lot of people living a small square foot of space where we live. With that, I put the observation out of my mind and enjoyed the day. In addition to the butterfly garden, another highlight was the lion den. A bus ride will take you through their living space. Fifteen lions (male and female) were probably living in that area. The bus also had meat hanging on small hooks on the sides of the bus to entice a willing participant to come right up to the glass window. The kids of course thought this was totally cool. Regretfully, we didn't have a camera with us to capture a shot of them "touching" the lions face as she gingerly took the meat of its hook with her tongue. Oh, and one last funny picture is of Gabe eating french fries. The food tends to be hit or miss with the kids. French fries tend to be a safe bet that bridges American and Japanese cuisine. However, one thing Gabe and usually Genna loves with fries is ketchup. Fortunately, I had brought some packets with me (saved from a previous outing), and they came in more than handy. Since there was no place however to put the ketchup, Walter came to the rescue by squirting the ketchup directly onto the fry. The end result was happy kiddos and a cute picture.


                 Yum. Ketchup. And no, I did not even bother attempting to ask for some from the cashier.

Gabe has caught onto the peace sign.

At the butterfly garden.

Here we are heading out, you can see we are coming down a decent hill and if you look into the horizon, you can see homes and buildings and such (the city beyond).

Enoshima was another fantastic find. The GPS said 49 kilometers. It was a three hour car ride; THREE hours ONE WAY. And it wasn't even crazy traffic. It wasn't even a weekend! This was our  4th of July trip, which is of course not a holiday of any sort in Japan, so it was a great way to spend a free day off. All I could keep thinking was IMAGINE coming here on a weekend or Japanese holiday. The crowds were plenty, not crazy thick or anything, but I can only imagine how crowded it can become! The aquarium was actually very nice, with a fantastic dolphin show. I have the cutest video of Genna. Her excitement literally coudln't be contained, and Walter and I loved it. Sometimes, I have determined, it's good to hear kids being loud, especially when they are just so amazed by what their eyes are seeing. 

We ended up taking a lunch break to eat at an Italian restaurant on the beach. Walter and I had a whole conversation about that in the car ride back home. Suffice it to say, we have made some interesting observations comparing our time in Misawa to our time here closer to Tokyo (supposedly a more desirable location . . . hmmmmmm). When our meals arrived, I had to take a picture of our spaghetti bolognese with a fried egg on top. I had to steal a quick photo because while the spaghetti looked appealing to Gabe, the egg did not, and Walter quickly removed it from the plate. Too funny.

After lunch, we finished up at the aquarium and then moved onto the beach. The water was very warm, and the kids had a blast. Gabe even got his shorts all wet so you know he was having a great time! Below are some areal shots. Our car was parked out on Enoshima Island, which can be seen from the right below here. 

           Here we are playing on the beach. We are playing where you see waves in the picture above.

A closer photo of the long bridge on the peninsula taken to reach the island (where we were parked).

Walter standing just as we come off the long bridge (seen above). You can see the Tori Gate and then behind that, not seen, at the top of the hill is a shrine.

 The last part of the adventure was paying our parking fee. Apparently it is important to always have 1000 yen bills because the 5000 yen bills are not accepted. Something Walter apparently knew and forgot to mention in the last couple of purchases on the way to the car! That's tip one. Tip two is that when you want to get home, eating in the car is the way to go, and McDonalds fortunately is highly prevalent here in southern Japan to help accomplish this task. I think we passed one about every 10 kilometers (how I wish they were Starbucks instead!) I ate at McDonalds once in Misawa, and again on this trip. Tip number three is that there isn't always an English menu available, so be ready to play some form of sherades and smile a lot while ordering. We got home with time to spare by an hour. So we did a quick bath, some chill time, and then a short bike ride out to see the fire works show on base. Hope you all had a great 4th of July celebration too!