Fun Time Randomness

Over the past few months, we have had the opportunity to do a lot of fun and interesting things. Some typical life events like baby showers and camping; then other Japan or military specific things like the Navy Ball and touring the Mazda factory. None of them generated enough pictures to deem their own blog post, but together, they paint a picture of the past few months of our lives. So here it goes - first off, a baby shower!!

If y'all recall, at last year's Marine Corps Ball, my friend Tracy got pregnant. She blames my apple sangria, LOL. A group of us ladies pooled together to throw her a surprise, made in Japan themed baby shower! And it was a success! Here is our attempt at a Japanese flag made from cupcakes. :)

Specially made onesies

My poor attempt at a group shot, ha ha! We had Tracy's favorite country music playing in the background and I downloaded over 50 pictures of Pugs to put on the TV to remind her of her pup back in the States. It was definitely catered to Tracy and her loves. 

Next, Joel and I spent Labor Day weekend in Hiroshima. It rained, like it ALWAYS does when we try to go to Hiroshima. But we still had fun!

Gotta have some food pics - we went to a juice cafe and ordered a mixed fruit crepe. It was YUMMY. The purple looking stuff on the top left is actually a sweet adzuki bean paste that is really popular here in Japan.

We were coming off of a three week detox which basically consisted of a vegan, caffeine free diet (still caffeine free now, woot!) so we located the one and only vegan restaurant in Hiroshima called "Shanti Cafe". That's DECAF in the picture, people! I ordered the risotto and it was stellar!

Joel ordered the mixed plate and everything was SO delicious! Hard to believe it was all vegan!

We went to a giant craft store and found the Japanese version of Settlers!!!!! Hilarious! (We are COMPLETELY addicted to this game and play with our friends at least weekly!)

The Mazda factory does an English tour on Mondays and since we were actually off work and in Hiro on a Monday, it felt right to finally go! We invited some of our friends who drove up for the tour and a trip to Costco afterwards. Sadly, we weren't able to take pictures of the assembly line, but it was an unbelievable and enlightening experience to observe how vehicles are created. Mazda's have come quite far over the years!

These pictures are a very small sampling of the cars Mazda has constructed over the many decades...

LOVE the upholstery, LOL

Even though we went out to a Japanese restaurant for lunch, the thing to do is go to the Costco cafe following your shopping trip. American style pizza and hot dogs are a HUGE hit for the Japanese patrons. :)

Right after Labor Day, my co-worker, Heather, and I flew up to Camp Fuji, a tiny base outside Tokyo. We stayed for three days and helped them set up there substance abuse, alcohol screening, and urinalysis program. They were so grateful for our help and we got a real inside look as to how the folks live on this base. NO ONE in Iwakuni can ever, EVER tell me they're bored and all there is to do is drink alcohol. This base takes the cake with how little there is to do and how limited transportation, mobility and even food options are. I feel for these guys. The lodge we stayed at on base did not have AC (it was sweltering!), I had ants sharing my bed with me, and I blew two circuits because I used the microwave while I had a fan running. Craziness!

Heather and I literally walked across the flight line throughout the day to get from one side of base to the other.

Good thing there weren't any planes landing!

It's called Camp Fuji because it's literally located at the base of Mount Fuji. This was the most we were able to see out of all three days we were there. I'm not kidding when I say it has its own weather system. It was covered by clouds the WHOLE time we were there! And the weather in Camp Fuji itself was crazy - sunny to rainy to hot and humid then frigid all within the same hour!!! Spooky!

On October 12th (my birthday!), we attended the Navy Ball. It was held in the ball room at the club since there are far fewer sailors aboard MCAS Iwakuni so everyone can fit in a smaller venue (the Marine Corps ball is held over three nights in the gym to accommodate everyone!).

Chillin' with my gal pal Ericka

Our fellow Settlers game freaks, the Coffey's!!

Sporting my $10 dress from Deb that I was able to purchase the ONE DAY I was in Texas in August. That was a trip to remember! ONE DAY! Talk about jet lag and travel insanity!

Since we also had Columbus day off, the day after the Navy ball, we packed up the car and went camping with our friends at Hamada Beach. We hadn't been to the North side of the island yet, and what a difference! Hamada was like a REAL beach! There were surfers everywhere, cliffs, a lot of sand that was there naturally (not imported like at our local Yuu beach) and a good beachy vibe all 'round.

Joel setting up our new camping kitchen set. It's AH-MA-ZING

View from our cabin, which was literally just a roof over a wooden floor. We only brought sleeping bags, so it was definitely an uncomfortable night's sleep, but memorable, LOL. We had to pay an extra 500 yen just to use the one outlet inside to charge our phones!

All smiles with our friends Abbey and Javier. SO glad they also appreciate the outdoors and the camping life! We cooked white chicken chili over the coals with our new Dutch oven and it was scrumptious!

No angst among friends, LOL

Last but not least, the Halloween Howl. This is a yearly tradition for the officers and senior enlisted and what a BLAST! Each unit comes up with their own tent theme and they were so super creative! MCCS and the school personnel (of a certain civilian rank) were invited for the first time ever so we totally jumped on the opportunity! Our tent theme was a 1950's haunted diner and Joel developed the diner sign.

Setting up early in the day - the signs on the right and left are Joel's creations!

Just a few gals, hanging around the diner

Allison's tent theme was Vegas, so she dressed up as a crazy tourist! She even put on her makeup to look like she had a sunglasses sunburn, LOL!

Our friend Hilda looked so fine

Attacked by a couple of biker zombies!!

Our Navy friends playing a little rock band in the 80's themed tent

Eric got the creepy eyes down, that's for sure!

Phew! Well, I think that's a good summary if I do say so myself. We like to stay busy and do what we can to enjoy Japan. It's such an amazing experience - the country, the culture, the military lifestyle, all of it. We are SO VERY BLESSED!

The Great Mount Fuji!

Joel and I needed some major recovery time before we could speak freely about our insane hike up Mount Fuji, ha ha!! It was the most traumatic, awe inspiring, challenging, and crazy things I have EVER done, EVER. We literally thought we were going to die up there a few times. The Japanese say that hiking Fuji is a very spiritual experience, and we can attest to that. It was spiritual for me in the sense that I was begging God to spare my life for hours straight and praying like I've never prayed before!

Hiking Mount Fuji (still an active volcano) is something we have wanted to do since we moved to Japan, and now that we're in better shape, we figured we should go for it! But we had to jump on the chance to go since it's only open for hikers for two months of the year (July and August) because it gets so cold and treacherous at the top during the other months.

So, Joel and I made a road trip up to Kawaguchiko, a beautiful lake town at the base of the volcano, and hiked the beast on 05 July, the first weekend it was open to the public. It was still quite cold. We knew to pack layers, so we were prepared in that respect. We also had plenty of snacks and water, but we failed to bring plastic bags to cover our backpacks, so all that prep was for naught when the rain viciously made its way through our backpacks and  all of soaked our backup hoodies... and killed our camera (hence the lack of pictures after the first hour). Lesson learned the HARD WAY!

We wanted to hike Fuji during the day, even though to supposedly have the "real" experience you're supposed to hike at night so you can watch the sunrise from the summit. Joel and I both agreed we would rather see what we were doing and not fight the major crowds that do the night hike. As it was, we didn't see many fellow hikers since the weather was TERRIBLE the day we hiked indicating that we were some of the only folks crazy enough to still try it! (along with two other families from our church of all coincidences - shout out to the Ricafrente's and Staley's!)

But enough chatter. On to the pics we DO have!

Our beautiful guest house in Kawagushiko. We stayed in a traditional Japanese room where we had to remove our shoes before we could even walk down the hall and slept on futons on the floor (hard to get up the day AFTER we hiked Fuji, LOL)

The view of Fuji from our window. It basically has its own weather system so you cannot judge the hiking weather by what you're experiencing at the base.

The guesthouse had an onsen you could reserve for personal use, so it was pretty to use when we got back from our hike.

Each of us had this stash in our backpacks. Thankfully, we ate most of it before the rain soaked through our stuff. Notice the amount of sugar and energy - CLUTCH. We also stopped at one of the hiking stations to eat lunch - over priced microwave yakisoba and udon. Also, to stay inside the station, you had to pay! But, we got 15 minutes free because we bought food. There was simply no respite from the elements on Mount Fuji unless you were willing to pay up the wazoo.

Beautiful cloud formations

We look fresh here because we just got out of the car - do ya like the shirts we bought especially for the hike? LOL! We drove to the fifth station (where everyone begins the hike).  No gas stations were open that early (we left the guesthouse at about 0600) so we decided to just go for it and push our rental Camry to its limits. When we parked at the fifth station we were on "E" and had been there fore many miles. So, nervousness about running out of gas on our way back to town weighed heavy on my mind for sure!

It was pretty cold and rainy at the fifth station, so we put our rain gear on right away.

Here we go! We are DOING this! Little did we know what we were REALLY getting into!

The path starts out all nice and pretty. There were even trees along the the way for the first half mile.

We took the Yoshida Trail.

This is still toward the beginning. That is lava rock and ash. The one good thing about the rain is that it kept loose dust from blowing into our faces and clothes... somewhat. Notice all the people coming down. They're the ones that saw the sunrise.

Once you hiked out of the tree line, it was all ash and rock to the top. You can kinda see in this picture how people have to weave all the way up to the top. It may not look like those folks are that far away, but that's a lot of hiking between us and them!

Now we have a BIG gap! The camera got drenched and stopped working because we got caught in a complete downpour for HOURS. We really thought we'd be able to get up to the summit in four hours and down in three, but because of the elements, it became five up and four down. Not only was it raining so hard we couldn't see, there were extreme gusts of wind that nearly took me over the side SO MANY TIMES! Joel had to save my life at least twice. One time, I was completely airborne - he grabbed my backpack and pulled me down before I blew off the edge. At that point, I started laughing and crying hysterically because there's no easy way to call it in and quit. You just have to keep walking. So, blame the lack of oxygen or the irony of the situation, but I was not a happy camper! I did everything I could EXCEPT ask Joel if we could turn around (I didn't want to be the quitter - but I would let him make the decision, ha ha!). For at least half the hike, I was crying and whining about how uncomfortable and miserable I was, LOL.

So, even if our camera had been working, we really weren't able to see anything. There are several stations where you can stop to sleep (REALLY expensive for a mat) or eat. You have to pay to rest there even for a few minutes. You also had to pay for the restrooms and you weren't allowed to linger there either. So basically, we weren't able to sit down for hours - the wind and rain made it impossible to sit down on the few benches there were outside - so we tried to find a wall to lean up against that would block some of the wind, but there really were no places to go. Hence me walking around telling Joel, "I am SO miserable" for hours, LOL. .

But don't let me sound like the only one in pain - Joel was struggling plenty on his own! When the gusts of wind came every couple of minutes, you'd have to stop, plant your feet, and cover your face to protect it from all the flying rocks. And I swear a boulder flew into me at one point because I had a nice bruise on my shoulder from where it hit me. Plus, Joel really felt the lack of oxygen on the hike up. He'd feel good for about a minute, then he'd have to stop completely to just work on breathing because his legs would lock up and not move another inch. It was a really weird and kinda scary sensation.

OH! And really quick - the hike up was mostly steep, ashy trails and boulders that we had to scale with the help of chains. Hours of this. Hours!! And because we couldn't see anything, we missed the turn off for the descending trail, so we wound up walking down the way we came up which was an additional challenge to say the least!!!

This is us at the top, I promise! 3776 meters (over 12,300 feet) altitude. I whipped out my phone for this quick pic before it got too wet and died too. Unfortunately, it was impossible to see anything at the summit. It was also like a huge wind tunnel and I got pretty scared up there. We probably only lingered for 10 minutes before we said, "Welp, we did it. Let's get out of here!!".

The mountain looks so non-threatening from a distance. 

We did make it down, praise God! After putting the car in neutral and coasting down for 20 minutes, we had just enough juice to get to a gas station. And then we went to McDonald's. And can we just say, those were the best Big Macs we have ever or will ever eat. I gobbled mine down in three bites and wanted another one - it tasted SO delicious! (Probably still suffering from a lack of oxygen).

Needless to say, we were extremely sore the next day. My quads and gluts and have never felt such pain! But we had another day to explore Kawaguchiko so we went to a really cool bat cave, a scary forest, and a beautiful, authentic Japanese town. Then we had to make the 9 hour trip back to Iwakuni. But, we did it. We conquered Mount Fuji. We will NEVER do that again! :)