Japan Part I: Fukuyama, Hiroshima, and Miyajima

School started two weeks ago, our jet lag is now gone, and I'm slowly making my way through hundreds of pictures (when you're gone for a month...). This is part one of who knows how many parts haha. So here you go!

Our trip was everything we wanted it to be, plus a few inevitable bumps. Chris and I had gone on lots of road trips but hadn't gone on any long vacations before this one so I was extra excited to travel with him! We started out by flying to Tokyo and the plan was to fly to Hiroshima after a short layover. Technical problems caused a cancelled flight, so the airport put us up in the "Prince Hotel." It sounded fancy so we joked that it would probably be the most expensive place we stayed at our entire trip ;) The outside of the hotel and the lobby were gorgeous but when we opened the door to our room...two twin beds. We laughed at our fancy hotel, went to sleep, and then enjoyed our free breakfast in the morning before catching our early morning flight.

Our first week spending time with family was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was so nice to be able to have a few laid back days adjusting to the time and hanging out with people I don't get to see very often. One of the purposes of this trip was to introduce Chris to relatives he hadn't met yet. And since he's my husband now, we figured it was kind of important he meets the family ;) He got to meet my Obaasan, aunts, uncles, and a few cousins! We also took lots of pictures of my nephew, played lots of board games, and somehow survived the ridiculously humid heat (bless you AC).

^^Riding the train to the hotel. We were bummed but we were trying to be optimistic! 

^^Freeeeee breakfast. The wine glass has chicken broth in it. And I thought they were bringing coffee when they brought the teapot by haha. 

^^I don't know why, but I think this photo is hilarious. I had a major jet lag headache and my brother was checking out the honey that I brought him haha. 

 ^Meeting two cousins! They came over for okonomiyaki, games and of course, to meet Chris. They were impressed with his chopsticks skills ;) 

^We walked through the Fukuyama castle for a few minutes while my dad sat in the air-conditioned lobby. It was just a preview for other castles we would see, since it was tiny! 

We also played tourist for a day by going to the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park and Miyajima. We spent a thoughtful morning at the Peace Park and museum and then we headed to Miyajima in the afternoon. I've been to both places a few times but never in the summer. It was so hot and so crowded but it was still fun showing Chris these places. 

^^My little nephew was a great little traveler the entire day. 

^^The critical historian in me reading the newspapers articles that were hanging in the park. Definitely didn't believe everything I read but it was interesting. 

^^My sister-in-law had to work so she couldn't come with us, which was a bummer. 

 ^There are deer everywhere on Miyajima!

 ^It was kind of too bad that the tide was out. It's cool to walk out to the torii but it's so much prettier with water! 

Chris and I (...mostly Chris) put together a video of this portion of our trip. We're still learning to remember to bring out the camera for little moments, so some of the best parts of our trip didn't make it into video (like playing board games every night!). Hope you like it!

Here's a post from the last time I went to Miyajima! I can't believe it's already been three years.
*This was our first big trip with our new camera and it was definitely trial and error. So, some photos are better than others :)

our next travel adventure

Next week, Chris and I get to go to Japan! We've been planning this trip since before we got married and now that it's finally happening, it's a little surreal. We'll be there for a total of four weeks and as of right now, we are going to nine different areas. Most are in northern Japan, on the island of Hokkaido, which is where we both served missions for our church. Me 18 months, Chris 2 years. We bought rail passes since we'll be taking the train from one end of Japan to the other and then all over Hokkaido (it's cheaper than low-cost airfare). We are spending time in Fukuyama (which is where my family lives), Yokohama (which is where Chris' distant relatives live), Hakodate, Sapporo, Asahikawa, Kushiro, Shiner, Atsubetsu, and Obihiro.

I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being able to go. We won't be fine dining or staying in five star hotels but we won't be eating granola bars the entire time either. We enjoy traveling but this trip has multiple purposes. It's our honeymoon, a visit to introduce Chris to my extended family, and a visit to our mission area all rolled into one. It's extra convenient that we were in the same mission :) Overall, we feel pretty lucky.

As I've been planning where to go and who to stay with, memories of my time there have been coming back. Precious experiences, personal growth, and incredible people, all things I'm looking forward to sharing with Chris.

Since we drove to Washington instead of flying, we were able to bring a few things back, like a box of my stuff, which had all of my memory cards! We spent hours going through all of the pictures, laughing and reminiscing the entire time (a year and a half leaves you with a lot of pictures..). Definitely not my best looking years but here are a few fun pictures from the last time I was in Hokkaido :)

And in case I didn't make this clear enough, I'm so so excited to go again!

 

 

^^Look! A picture of husband that I didn't even realize I had!