We went with some friends to a local beach one evening and brought a picnic and a couple of paddle boards. Only one person in the group had paddle boarded before, and she took us out and taught us how. Well, except me. I am terrified of water. I am terrified of the ocean. I love going to the beach, but I HATE getting in the water. I tried SO hard to paddle board, but I was bawling before I even got on the board. I got in water that was a little over 2ft deep (a first for me!!!! I'd never been in ocean water that deep, and I don't ever really want to be again!) and sat on the board. I was proud that I got that far! Then the waves started getting rough, with water splashing up and over my head and I freaked out really bad and ran, crying, back onto land. Not getting over that phobia any time soon!
After I was able to calm down, I decided sitting on the beach with a beer in one hand and my camera in the other was a MUCH better way to spend the evening! Jonathan and our other friends did great! They paddled out quite a ways and the sunset that evening was breath taking. Despite the paddle boarding experience being disastrous for me, everyone else did very well, and we all got to have a picnic dinner under a gorgeous sky!
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| Jonathan getting ready to paddle board for the first time! |
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| He's a pro! |
We spent a day and a half in Nagoya. It's about a 5 hour drive away, but we got to see plenty of countryside on the way. We visited the Tokugawa Art Museum, and Okazaki Castle, which is where Tokugawa was born in the 1500s. Bruce got to experience his first shinto shrine!
One of our best friends came all the way from Kentucky to visit us!! We had soooo much fun, and went hard at it for 8 straight days! We explored Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Nagoya, Mt. Fuji, and Kamakura. He is now a HUGE fan of ramen and yakitori, and was absolutely enchanted by Nagoya and Mt. Fuji (who isn't??). It was the best week we've had in a long time!
Got to return to Mt. Fuji, one of our favorite places! We got there later in the day, so we watched the sunset on the mountain. It was gorgeous! The white "ocean" you see in the photos isn't hills, it's a sea of clouds! We were sitting just above the clouds, and they blanketed everything except the sunset and the summit of Fuji.
We went with some friends to a local beach one evening and brought a picnic and a couple of paddle boards. Only one person in the group had paddle boarded before, and she took us out and taught us how. Well, except me. I am terrified of water. I am terrified of the ocean. I love going to the beach, but I HATE getting in the water. I tried SO hard to paddle board, but I was bawling before I even got on the board. I got in water that was a little over 2ft deep (a first for me!!!! I'd never been in ocean water that deep, and I don't ever really want to be again!) and sat on the board. I was proud that I got that far! Then the waves started getting rough, with water splashing up and over my head and I freaked out really bad and ran, crying, back onto land. Not getting over that phobia any time soon!
