Time to catch up

The weather has cooled and our travels and adventures have slowed a bit.  So, before I start posting about late fall and winter events I will fill you in on some of the other summer fun we had.

Stoney Fork, VA Jefferson National Forest, campsite number 28.  Wow, what a nice place to camp.  You would never know that it is only a few miles off of I-77.  Site number 28 is large and flat.  A nice site if you have a camper and a tent like we did.  Other good sites are 29,32,13,3,46,and 48.  This is on our list of must visit again.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC Pisgah National Forest site number B12.  We do enjoy camping here however, the sites are not all wonderful.  Site B12 is tucked among rhododendron and is a good spot if you only have two people.  Tabatha had to stay parked down on pavement away from the fire and picnic table and while this works out fine for us it may not be ideal for everyone. 



Old train tunnel located at New River Trail State Park in VA. This is a wonderful trail for those like me that need an area with little grade.



John D Holeman and Tad Waters during Blues Outback in Dallas, NC  Mr. Holeman is a national treasure!
The Blues Outback concert series is fantastic.  Support local music please.



Lake Powhatan Recreation Area site 15 and one of the best campsites ever.




Site 15 Lake Powhatan "Bent Creek"  Fantastic site!




Me



Carabelle, Florida with my cousin.  Fun, food and Art.



South Mountain State Park, NC.  This is the calm before the waterfalls.  I love this hike, it gets my heart pumping and my lungs working.



Caterpillars and Aunt Annie

Back in July my mother became ill and I had to make a fast trip to Ohio.  My Aunt Annie and Uncle Wes offered to let me stay with them while making trips to and from the hospital.  After a stressful drive and and an even more stressful visit at the hospital I pulled into Annie and Wes' drive where I was greeted with a beer and a fire in the fire pit.  I could feel the stress of the day melt away as we sat by the fire chatting away the days events.  As the fire burned down I felt my eyelids shutting down so, I walked myself upstairs and I fell into bed.

Each morning welcomed me with a hot cup of coffee and great conversation with Annie.  Early one morning as we drank our coffee, I spotted a Caterpillar carting little eggs on its back. I have no clue as to what type of caterpillar this is but watching it with its precious cargo was fascinating.

Just like the caterpillar taking care of her egg family Annie, Wes and Wes took care of me. 

Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina

Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina is one of my favorite places.  With plenty to see and do right in the park as well as the access to fresh shrimp, well, what more might a person want from a beach vacation?

We set up camp at site number 115.  One of the nicest sites within the campground.  It is located further from the beach access but your reward is a site that has more room than most and not much foot traffic around you.

Plenty of room for Tabatha and as well as a tent.  The ground is level.  Our only issue with the site is that after day two the ants found us.
 

The park is packed full of wildlife.  Birds, alligators, deer, and salamanders were abundant.

Within the park is Atalaya.  It is the former home of Anna Hyatt and Archer Huntington.  The home is a short bike ride or a nice little walk from the campground.  For a donation of a couple of bucks you are able to tour the home all day.  The home also makes for a nice backdrop for photos.  Brookgreen Gardens is across the street from the park and is also worth exploring.

 

With its clean beaches, nice restrooms, wifi, wildlife and proximity to many activities it is a camping adventure that we will do again. 

Overall, I rate this a 5 star beach camping trip

*****

Too much fun to blog.

This summer I have failed as a blog keeper.  If I were being graded I am certain I would be in the D- range.  The only reason that I would not receive a failing grade is the fact that I have kept great notes.  My little note book is full of chicken scratched napkins, maps with circles and stars, and zig zag writings.  All of it waiting to be put in order and relived.

So, off I go and over the next several days I will put it all in order and get myself back on track with blogging. 

Choo Choo!

Standing in Union Station

First let me start out by saying that I have the most fantastic cousins that anyone could ever ask for.  They were my first friends and to this day the bonds we formed as children remain.  Last year we all put our heads together and decided that we needed to start spending more time together.  So as a result "Chenoweth Girls Cousin Reunion" was born.  This year our gathering took place in Deale, MD at a small 1920's cottage on the Chesapeake Bay.

Union Station again

Amtrak runs just a short drive from our home and yet I have never taken the train.  I was set to remedy this by taking the train from Charlotte to Union Station in downtown DC.  Coach seats were, including tax, around $68.00 each way.  I was allowed up to 5 pieces of luggage, two carry on and three checked, at no extra cost.  A bargain price for certain!  I found my seat clean, very roomy and with an electric outlet to recharge my cell or watch a movie on my laptop.  ( some trains also have free wifi.  The Carolinian did not. Next trip I will take the Piedmont route.  It is shorter, due to less stops, and has wifi )  The conductors were all very happy and willing to answer or help whenever called upon.  The restrooms were large and well supplied.  So, what is the drawback?  Time.  The train ride was 9 hours.  Had I flown my travel time would have included 1 1/2 hours for airport check-in, a 1 1/4 hour layover, and a 1 3/4 hour flight or about 4 1/2 hours total.  By car it is about a 7  hour drive and stops to use the restrooms and to refuel puts it at 7 1/2 hours.

Toilet!

So, would I take the train again?  Absolutely!  I was able to walk freely, read a good book ( "The Help" ), eat and use the restroom all while on the move and at a great price.  In fact I have my eye on a New Orleans trip and Amtrak just might have my ticket.

Florida.

After several days of sleep, upon returning from Japan, it was time to pack my bags for a road trip to Florida!  One week with my daughter, granddaughter, grandson, sister and brother-in-law, mother-in-law, nieces and great nephews. 

As I am rolling down the interstate,to pick up my daughter and grand babies, my "low tire pressure" light comes on.  Well isn't that just lovely!?  I finish the short leg of the interstate, pick up the kids and head off to a gas station to fill the tire.  I plunk $1.00 into an air compressor press the nozzle onto the tire stem to fill it..... hissssss air is letting out of the tire.  We look at the nozzle again, read the instruction and proceed to try to fill the tire.  Again, the hiss of air escaping.  By now we are down to 22psi in the tire.  Back into the car and off to "Liberty Bikes" where my son-in-law works.  He uses a hand pump to get us enough air to make it to the next station.  Hooray, the air is free at the next station and the compressor works. 

A stop to fill our bellies with grub at "French Frys" was in order.   Grubbed on a yummy "Old Fashion" all the way ( slaw, onions and chili ).  Then along with a nice mustard stain on my shirt, we are off down I-26 east toward I-95. 

Florida was Florida and all that comes with it.  Sun, heat, pool time, Mickey Mouse, beaches, sand everywhere and even a fireball in the sky.

See ya later Florida!


   

It has been about six weeks since we have been back from Japan and I have had a little time to digest all of the sites and sounds of the country.  So, after some reflection here are a few things that I found interesting about our trip.

One thing that struck me is that everything is in order.  The way people walk, stand in line, trains, traffic, merchandise on the store shelves; it is all neat and in order.

 I now know what it is like to be a true minority.  With my blond locks and fair skin I stuck out like a daisy among roses.  In the countryside it is rare to find anyone that speaks English.  Upon landing in Chicago my eyes and ears were happy to find familiar sights and sounds.

Japanese kitchens do not have ovens. 

I was in awe of the shrines and temples.  While I am not a religious person these places were spiritual.  I wish I had more time to explore these places.  I also felt at peace when I introduced myself to Harukas ancestors.

I love the Japanese "washcloth"  while not a washcloth like we use it is more along the lines of a very thin and long hand and face towel.  A far more useful item. 

The flight over and back was torture.  A combination of jet lag, bad airline food ( All Nippon food was fair but United Airlines food was some of the worst I have ever eaten ), and sitting in an uncomfortable seat made for some medieval torture chamber.  On the flight home I seriously thought I was going to come unglued.  Next time I will take a flight to the west coast, spend the night and finish the flight out the following day. 

The kindness toward us was something that in all my days I had never experienced.  If we stopped in the train station to look at a map or if we had that "lost" look, someone was there with a kind smile and helpful eyes trying their very best to help us.  Language was an afterthought, hand gestures, drawing pictures and my handy "Instant Japanese" book went far in communicating.  Yuko and Haruka along with their families went beyond what I could have imagined to make our trip memorable.

A few road blocks were put in our way and a handful of times I was unsure that we would make it. Looking back I am so thankful that we were able to make this trip and I look forward to another overseas adventure.

So much to blog and not enough time!

I have yet to finish blogging about "Adventure Japan" and I have spent seven days in Florida, another eight days in Deale, Md / Washington D.C. and now I packing for a camping journey to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina.  Thank goodness for old fashion paper and pen style of journals! I must start blogging offline when I roam because, for me, trying to catch up is near impossible.

Toilets of Japan.

Alright I fully admit that the toilets in Japan had me a bit worried. Worried about a toilet you say?  Well, yes!  After all they do all sorts of things.  Play sounds to cover up any unpleasant noises that might escape while you do what you do, buttons that deodorize the bowl, warm seats and warm water that sprays you clean in various places, some even blow you dry.

I dare you to find the flush button on this toilet.  Thank goodness I had Yuko with me to show me what one to push.  My fear was that I might push one that was meant to wash and I would end up with a toilet shower.

Even when English was written on the toilets it was not always clear.

This was the easiest to operate so it was the first one that I had enough nerve to play with.

Try as I might, I did break the rule of stepping into the toilet room in my stocking feet.  I did not put on the slippers that were placed outside of the room.  I only took one step in before I was pulled back out by my arm and instructed to put the toilet room slippers on. 

The verdict on the Japanese toilet?   We all should have one!  Should I ever have the occasion to build a new home, and have the extra cash, it just might be on my list of must haves.

Foods of Japan

Now the foods we ate in Japan were interesting to say the least.  The things that I found the greatest differences in were breakfast and the size of a cup of coffee.  For breakfast each morning we were offered a ever changing menu that always included mini hot dogs, macaroni salad, potato salad, spaghetti and a green salad.  It was much more like lunch cuisine than breakfast.  Also the coffee.  While it was always a wonderful tasting cup of coffee, it was the smallest of cups.  I think I needed three cups to equal one of my normal morning cups. 

One constant was that every single thing we ate was presented beautifully and had a very delicate taste.

Here are a few photos of some of the things we ate.

Potato Salad w/ fish eggs

Salmon

Home cooked meal at the Yamaguchi home.

All sorts of yumminess from the wedding.  Even octopus.

Beautiful fish from the wedding.

 f

More wedding fare.  Note the pink stick thing is ginger and it was outstanding.

Point at the menu and hope you like it lunch.  Mine was curry and it was good.

The Menu.  We had no real idea, other than the price, what we were getting.

Tempura lunch with Yuko and her mother.

More wedding goodness.

Grand Adventure Japan, part one

Earthquake, tsunami, and an ongoing nuclear disaster threatened to derail our plans to go to Japan.  After studying wind directions, mountain heights, ocean currents, filtering out misinformation being reported and consulting the State Department it was determined that southern Japan and the island of Kyushu were completely safe to visit.   

So, adventure Japan began on March 23 with the alarm ringing at 5:00 am.  Now a 5:00 am wake up would not bother me on most days but being excited and unable to settle into sleep made that 5:00 am alarm more like an electric shock sent into my body.

I would be on my own several days while Kenny toured Nissan and spent a day with one of his friends.  Knowing that we would be getting around by train and I would be wrestling luggage on my own, we each  packed only one suitcase and our laptops.   

Checking in at Charlotte Douglas airport went smooth.  No long lines and security was a fast process.  Grabbed a cup of coffee and waited at our gate for our flight to Chicago.  Then it started.......Flight number XYZ is delayed 5 minutes, 10 minutes, then 30 minutes.....  the crackle crackle of the intercom then announced that due to bad weather flight number XYZ would not land in Chicago until sometime after our All Nippon flight from Chicago to Japan was to take off.  Kenny was up and at the counter before the entire message was finished.  Within 20 minutes they had us rerouted onto a United Airlines flight to Washington Dulles then to Narita.  Again, the airport intercom cracked a message about moving the Helman luggage to a new flight.  The ticket change also meant that the time we had to make it through customs, after landing in Japan, and make the connecting flight to Fukuoka was only one hour and twenty minutes ( only one other flight that day from Narita to Fukuoka and it was full so if we missed that flight it would cause us to spend the night in Tokyo). So, while I am happy that we will be leaving on our scheduled date, I am disappointed that we are now flying United and not All Nippon Air. ( more on ANA vs United fights on a later post)
 
The flight to DC and the flight to Japan went well.  We got off of the plane at Narita and made a dash to collect our luggage so that we could then go through customs.  The luggage made it's way around the carousel and my medium sized black Samsonite was among the first to make it around. Kenny's luggage was another story.  All of the luggage had been removed from the conveyor belt and Kenny's large hard shell suitcase was not to be seen.  The luggage attendant scanned the luggage ticket and said " I am so sorry but your luggage is in Washington DC."  He showed us where we needed to go to fill out delayed luggage paperwork.  Tic toc tic toc...were we going to make the next flight?  The lady working the luggage counter said that it would be the following evening at 8:10pm before the luggage could be in Fukuoka but our plans were to be in Takeo the next morning.  If we wanted the luggage to be delivered to Takeo it would take another two or three days.  She explained that most workers had been sent to the north to help with the disaster and the lack of man power would make it difficult to make the delivery.  Tic toc tic toc only 20 minutes left to make the Fukuoka flight.  Agreed to stay an additional day in Fukuoka, signed some paperwork and made a mad dash to customs.  Because we did not have all of our luggage when entering the country they needed more paperwork.  Tic toc tic toc.  A mad dash to the gate where they are already loading a bus to take us to the plane.  A massive sigh of relief that we had made it onto this flight.  

Landed safe and sound in Fukuoka.  At this point I have been awake for a solid 27 hours.  Try as I might, sleep never found me on any of the flights.  As we walked out of baggage claim to our great surprise Yuko and her mother were standing there waiting for us!  It has been six year that we last saw Yuko.  She is not a big internet user so we only talk to her once a year at best.  Tears flowed and many many hugs.  This was the first time that we had met her mother and it was very emotional.  Yuko lived with us for 11 months when she was 16 years old and I had always hoped that I would have the chance to see her mother.   Bleary eyed and disorented, we were thankful to have her escort us to our hotel near Hakata Station. 

Stay tuned for more "Grand Adventure Japan"

Prep work

We have been working on getting Tabatha ready.  Not too much that needs done. However, I want her to be ready so that as soon as the next nice weekend rolls around all we need to do is hook her up and drive off to a camping adventure.  Four upgraded stereo speakers have been installed and new storage containers are waiting to be filled with gear.  We already have reservations in place for outings at the beach.  A couple more reservations for the summer but the rest we will leave open so that we are able to roll on the fly. Thank goodness that we have so many nice places to visit without having to travel very far.  Smoky Mountain National Park, Beaches, and all sorts of State and National Forests to explore.  So, as soon as we are back from Japan, we will be ready to roll.

Low heels

The issue of the high heel shoes has been resolved!  I changed my mind on what I am going to wear to the wedding and as a result the lower heels look better.  I will tame those high heels one day but for now they look super cute sitting on the shoe rack in my closet.  Now, what to pack for the other days in Japan!

Young Man, Old Man.

Last night we had several errands to run so we ate a quick bite at a deli/coffee shop.  As I sat eating my roast beef sandwich I found myself watching a young man hanging around the coffee bar/refill area.  He was tall, thin, bearded and dressed in a short black jacket and darker pants.  He also had two nap-sack style backpacks on his back, you know the type that just only have draw strings for your arms and closures.  I watched him take out a plastic grocery bag with a little bit of food in it.  He prepared the food and placed it into a microwave that was only large enough to fit a soup bowl.  While he waited for his food to cook I noticed that his black coat was torn from armpit to about his mid back.  From this tear I could see a pair of ragged but neatly folded pants, along with one or two shirts, were stashed between his back and the torn jacket.  After the food was done being heated, he took paper napkins and cleaned the entire microwave.  He then proceeded to take out his wallet and any change from his pockets.  He laid it all out in a neat row then stacked and counted it twice.  It could not have added up to any more that three or four bucks in total.  He then divided it into two piles, one went back into his wallet while the other went into his pants pocket.  Just as he was picking up his food another sight caught my eye.  A lady that had been sitting two tables from us stood up.  She was one of the largest ladies that I have ever seen.  Not fat large but a good 6'4" and 250-275 lbs and solid.  Dressed in neat black dress pants and a plain pull over shirt.  Her hair was longish and pulled back in a slick and sever half bun half pony tail.  She took two steps toward our table and I felt a wave of heat come over me.  Why was this woman walking toward me?  Crap, what had I done and what was she going to do to me?  She then knelt down next to an older man sitting near me.  The man was softly sobbing.  She placed one hand on his knee and with the other she stroked his head and hand.  She talked to him for some time and as she stood back up she caught my eyes and gave me a soft smile.  I hope that she was able to read the thank you my eyes were trying to send her.  The old man placed his hands over his eyes and continued sitting alone and the young guy at the coffee bar was now gone. 

As I left the shop I reminded myself that every person has a story.  Not everyday is a happy one and I will try to remember to smile toward a stranger, hold open a door or say a kind word.  For that one person my small kindness might be the only positive thing that happens their entire day.

Shoe School

If I could settle on what dress and shoes to wear to Harukas wedding I would be set.  At one point and time in my life I could have run, and won, a marathon in the highest of heels.  Now when I put my heels on I seem to walk like a robot. Small step, pause, small step, pause.  Between each step I must check myself to make certain I don't get so far off balance that I can't recover.  Sure I could wear lower or even flat shoes but they are not as cute.  So for now you will find me practicing my walk by running the vacuum, doing dishes and laundry in my yoga pants and black platform heels.  I hope my next post is not titled " How I broke my leg while relearning to walk in heels".

2011, The Year of Travel!

2011 is going to be filled with travel.  Some close, some far, some new and some familiar but all will be fun.  After two years, of either being ill or recovering, I am ready to get back to wondering around. 

First up Japan!  Ten years after meeting sweet Haruka, we are at long last  making a trip to Japan.  This both excites and has me nervous.  I have no clue how to speak Japanese let alone read a sign.  I am sure to mess up the whole shoes off, slippers on, slippers off, bathroom slippers on, slippers back on thing.  Not to mention the toilets....YIKES!  The "cat box" style or the more buttons and functions than a spaceship type, they both have me concerned.  Can I fall into the cat box?  What if my legs won't support me?  Do I remove all of the clothing from my lower body or just pull them down and risk peeing onto my pants?  If I squat in the woods I always get a shoe or part of my pants.  The toilet with all of the buttons, sprays and heat, what am I to do with all of that?  However, with all of this concern over communication, slippers and toilets my excitement over meeting Harukas family, new husband Sean and exploring a new country wins.  So in less than two months two economy seats on All Nippon Airlines are waiting to zip us over time zones and the international date line. 

Look for updates, on this journey, soon.

Here we go

After some time of going back and forth in my mind about posting a blog, I am going to give it a shot.  After all what is the worst thing that can happen?  Nobody reads it?  My spelling and writing skills are less than desired?  In the grand scheme of things these are minor issues.

So, here I go!