Discovering Enoshima Island.

For our second staycation trip, we decided to break out our bikes.  A couple of weeks ago I rode my bike from just outside of base to Enoshima Island with a friend.  There really is no set path; you just follow the local river and end up at the island (clearly, we had a thorough plan).  I loved it so much that I wanted to take Matt on the bike trip.  Since our car is the size of a golf cart, there was no way that two bikes would fit in it.  So we decided to bike from our house to Enoshima, about 30 miles. 

I should tell you that we are far from bikers who actually know what they are doing and this is obvious to anyone that we meet on the trail, which became even more apparent when we ran into real bikers who were also on their way to the beach.  Let’s just say that they looked a hell of a lot more prepared than we did.  We woke up, slathered on some sunscreen, filled our water bottles, hit the road, and prayed to God that we would make it there and back in one piece.  I’m happy to say that we survived with only two teeny accidents.  We also ended the day with a stop at base to pick up some Coronado Island IPA and frozen pizza, which fit perfectly in my bike basket.  All in all, it was one of my very favorite days in Japan.  

We were biking on Children's Day (previously known as Boy's Day), a holiday in Japan celebrating the happiness of children.  The carp represent strength and success and are flown all around the country on this day and the days leading up to the holiday.  

This gentleman was playing his flute and serenaded us for part of our trip.

We finally made it!

We also biked to Enoshima Island during Golden Week, a week when virtually all of Japan is on vacation (and, apparently, at Enoshima Island).

At one point there was an ambulance that had to get on the island.  I thought that it was incredible the way that everyone created an open lane for it (even more incredible after you see the previous picture with the crowds of people).

Discovering Hakone.

Matt left a couple of days ago for another deployment, but before he left he took a little time off of work for a staycation.  I feel like we are always trying to take advantage of traveling to other places and forget that all we need to do is hop on the train for amazing day trips that are all around us. 

So our first staycation trip was to Hakone.  Hakone is a vacation destination for Japanese families.  It is filled with onsens (hot spring baths), the cutest little restaurants, and beautiful sweeping views of the mountains and Mount Fuji.  

We started the day with a trip to a local onsen.  I have wanted to try an onsen since we arrived in Japan.  It was awesome, but so unbelievably hot that I could only stay in for a few minutes at a time before hopping out.  We had an hour reservation and I would say I spent about half the time in the hot water and the other half pouring cold water on myself.  Apparently, I am not made for hot springs.  I am made for eating, though, so we headed to lunch next.  After lunch in town, we decided to go up to Owakudani.  My guide book described Owakudani as “a volcanic cauldron of steam, bubbling mud and mysterious smells.”  Who wouldn’t want to see all that?!  But the real reason that we went up there is because there is a local belief that if you eat one of the eggs that has been blackened by the sulphurous waters then you will live an extra seven years.  

Here is our trip to Hakone.  On a side note, the book was right about the mysterious smells.  It did not smell good at all, but seven years is seven years (plus, Matt ate three eggs and I ate two, so...worth it).

Don't let this picture deceive you - it was scalding hot!

Can't you just picture those trees in the fall?!

Transporting the eggs.

All I could think of was Sanka in Cool Runnings.

This is the look of a guy who just added 21 years to his life.

DIY: Pallet sign

It has been awhile, so I thought that I would check back in and share a little something that we have been working on lately.  I have seen so many pallet projects on Pinterest and wanted to try one.  The original inspiration for the project was this:

Credit

Of course we kept changing it along with way, but I’m so happy with our final result:

Here is how we got from start to finish. 

Step 1:

Go to a local business and ask if you can purchase a pallet.  They will inevitably give you one for free (tried many times and now have multiple pallets on the side of my house).

Step 2:

Break apart the pallet.  

Step 3:

Sand the pallet slats.  If someone else is sanding for you, make sure that they are hydrated and happy.

Step 4:

Stain the pallet slats.  We chose to go with a grayish stain because it matched our bedroom furniture.  We applied three coats of stain.

Step 5: 

After the stain has dried, put the pieces together.  Matt figured out how to do this with extra wood that we had around the house.  We decided to only put three pieces together because it was super heavy and would either break a hole in our wall or be the death of us during an earthquake (of which we have many).

Step 6:

I printed out the letters on my Cricut and Matt traced them on the wood.  He is way better at measuring than me.  I'm more of an eyeballer, which really wouldn't work with this project.

Step 7:

Since we had an outline of each letter, we taped the stencil back in place and painted.

Step 8:

Let it dry.

Step 9:

Hang and admire.

It is far from perfect, but as we like to say, it is perfect for us (messy letters, chipped wood, and all).