Leaving Japan for the Summer!

It's Friday night 6/15 & we're leaving Japan in the morning for our summer trip to the US.

To our loved ones in the US ~~ we can't wait to see all of you again SOON ~~ especially our grandchildren, and we're very excited to meet #5, Cody.

To our Japanese friends ~~ we'll see you when we return to Japan. Stan will be back about the middle of August, and since I'm having total knee replacement(s?) in July, I won't be back until the end of September. But I'm looking forward to some quality time with family & friends while I recuperate.

I'm already missing Japan, but we're looking forward to another fun summer. Keep reading so you can keep up with our US travels this summer, and I plan to journal my knee surgery experience . . .

Love, Margie & Stan

Another Campagne Dinner

Stan & Margie . . .

















and Matt & Emilie at Campagne.

















The chefs at work.

Margie, Matt & Emilie at our table.
















Our server smiles for me!

Our server grates cheese over this Japanese-style Caesar salad. Instead of croutons, there is a large fried "tortilla" that is broken up when served.
















Notice the poached egg on the top.
















Yum -- this was my fish broiled in foil, along with several little clams. It was delicious!

Emilie & Matt
















Look at this tiramisu . . .

















. . . and ice cream!

Sunday Drive to Hikari . . . and beyond!

Well, it's not as early as it looks. We intended to go to the Hikari Flea Market today -- it's the 4th Sunday, but we got a late start, and the traffic was heavy leaving Iwakuni. We're driving in the same area where we rode the train yesterday -- Hwy 188 along the sea.

It's a little hazy this morning as we drive southward along Hwy 188, along the railroad track. See all the power lines for the trains?

















There's the Oshima Island Bridge. We were just here yesterday.

There's the local train that we rode yesterday along this same route!
















Look at this beautiful home RIGHT on the highway.

















This sounds like an interesting place, but it's a little early in the day . . .

Driving along Hwy 188 toward Hikari.































Since it was late when we got to the turnoff for the flea market, we decided to continue on along 188 into the city of Hikari & see what we could find. All of a sudden, we saw a hillside covered with yellow flowers and this sign, so we decided to stop.

We've parked near this pink rose tree.
















This is the yellow hillside that we saw from the road!

















Driving in, we pass several beautiful new buildings.

Oh, this is overwhelming! You know I'm a sucker for pink roses . . .

Roses, roses & more roses at the base of the yellow hillside. You can't imagine how good this smells!

Stan buys koi food for 100 yen -- honor system, of course.




















This map shows this area around Hikari -- wish I could find this map in English!

















And this map shows this entire garden area -- it's much larger than we thought, but we still don't know the name of this beautiful garden!

Koi pond.
















Wow -- isn't this beautiful?

















Dragonfly on the edge of a pond.

Wow, if we hadn't walked up this hill, we would never have known this beautiful garden was here!

Closeup of pink azalea.
















Looking over a pond toward the yellow hillside.
















Water iris.

Water irises




















A Godzilla tower . . .

















This little girl was very interested in us.

One last look back -- maybe we're not so scary after all . . .?

















White callas for Holly . . .
















Little boys on the rocks in the pond.