Biking Around Iwakuni on a Sunday Afternoon

Stan's installed the new stuff on his bike. Thanks. Sherri! Now that the sun is out, we decide to go for sushi on our bikes.

Stan tries out his bike with his new stuff installed! Behind him are the townhouses near our mid-rise building. 

The MCX is our base exchange -- kind of like a department store. There are mid-rise apartments like ours behind it. 

A beautiful flower garden outside the "gate" (what we call going off-base into town.) 

This is what cabbage roses look like when they're allowed to get tall & bloom. 

Behind this chainlink fence was some kind of electrical stuff that we're not supposed to touch. The man's yellow hat has a green cross, which indicates anything related to medical. 

Biking along a backroad by the lotus fields. 

Parking deck? 

No, actually it's the models in a car dealership so you can see what your model in your color will look like! (Stan's just pretending to look . . .) 

Play area for children. Hmm, think their parents might stay longer and look at the new cars? 

Even the car dealers have flowers outside their showrooms. 

More flowers. 

This is a small weeping cherry tree -- still blooming in this yard. 

A beautiful flower garden outside someone's home near the sushi restaurant. 

Our favorite sushi restaurant. Today we rode our bikes. It's about a 10-15 min bike ride from home. 

One of our favorite sushi entrees. 

Stan on a bridge on the way downtown. The retaining wall separates the sidewalk from the cars. Bikes ride on the sidewalk with the pedestrians. Motorcycles ride in the street (in a separate "bike" lane) with the cars. 

Waterfront property with boat parking, along the Nishiki River. It's difficult to believe that the water came all the way up & flooded these homes last summer. 

Looking down the sidewalk where we ride our bikes 

Downtown Iwakuni 

Stan outside Granpa's -- Ingrid & I eat lunch here quite often, but today is Sunday and they have a different special. Granpa's also has a bakery and floral shop.

This is the special at Granpa's today -- cake set with coffee. No picture, but we had a choice of A or B -- each had about 5 choices, and we both chose something chocolate. 

Stan on the main street in downtown Iwakuni shopping district. We think the curved covers over the sidewalk mimic the Kintai Bridge. 

A small flower grouping outside a closed business. Look how pretty the sidewalks are. Of course, this is where we ride our bikes. 

The outside fire escape stairway on this hotel has a Japanese character on each level.