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Day 11: Hakone and Goodbye Japan

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Our final destination is Hakone.  It's about a 2 hour train ride from Kyoto.  Kids say even the train ride sushi makes them think they can never eat Gelson's sushi again. Sushi Snob We arrived at the Gora Kadan.  It's a ryokan type hotel in Hakone.  It's up in the lush forest mountain range of Japan.  Beautiful area.  Felt like Costa Rica meets Santa Barbara meets Hot Springs.  Hakone is known for its hot springs. We found a hot spring just outside the restaurant.... After lunch the kids were tired so they decided to take a nap... A very short nap The rooms were family style.  The kids could not wait to spend their last night with their parents.  Just like old times.  Tea time.  Family style.   One last blog game... Time to play, "Guess the Pearl Foot?" If you guessed Evan, you lied. We all got dressed in our Kimonos for dinner.  Max still needs help getting dressed. ...
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Day 10: Sayonara Kyoto

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Good morning.  It's our last day in Kyoto.  Still thinking about our Hiroshima visit.  My Dad already texted me and said Truman did the right thing.  Julia, Evan, what do you think?  They feel that we should always be supporting our President.  Amy also feels the same... After our family Meet the Press discussion, we decided to all go to breakfast.  A nice American breakfast at Eggs 'N Things. Reid representing America No set plans today.  Let's see... It's about 11:00am on a Wednesday morning.  Should I go shopping? Nope.  Should I go rock climbing? Nope.  Should I go Japanese Whiskey tasting? Happy Wednesday Yep.  Brad, Max, and I ventured to find a Whiskey bar in the Kyoto food district.  Not a lot of bars open at 11:00am.  But we got lucky... Whiskey Max   Whiskey Menu  Whiskey Dick Japanese whiskey tastes as good as American scotch....
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Day 9: Hiroshima

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I realized that my style of vacation blogging is not the perfect fit when visiting memorials.  It's almost a 2 hour train ride from Kyoto to Hiroshima.  So a lot of time to think...  The Dodgers were playing the Mets - so that passed some time.  I did think about how Japanese think about Americans - especially in the city of Hiroshima.  I could pass myself off as an Italian (nose) or a Swedish (probably not likely).  I got comfortable with just paying my respects and knowing I visited. 140,000 people died from the bombing.  Another 80,000 in Nagasaki.  It happened in 1945, my Dad was 8 years old.  I'm not going to get political.... but...... not cool to kill that many innocent people.  We probably could have used the money - 2 billion+ and planned a more micro attack vs. the macro killings.  I'm done.  I'm glad we experienced it.  I'm glad my kids and niece and nephew got to see it. Only building that survived W...
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Day 8: Happy Birthday Amy

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(Song Lyric) Da, na, na, na, na, na... You say it's your birthday.... Da, na, na, na, na, na... we're going to have a good time. (Song Lyric) Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle.  I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike. In honor of Amy's birthday, maybe today's blog will be only in song lyrics.  I'm in a singing mood. We started with a bike tour of Kyoto.  Lee and Kay were our guides.  First stop a Zen Temple built by Samurai warriors.  The warriors would go there and meditate before battle.  Hmmmm.....  Sounds like a good way to prepare for any type of work day. Happy Birthday Mom and Wife Our guides surprised us and we all got to make sand castles.  I think mine turned out the best.  Again. Happy Birthday Sis, Sis In-Law, and Aunt The zen garden was amazing.  It was pruned with preciseness.  This is the most famous person at the garden.  I was able to snap a picture of him without anyone noticing. ...
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