Trip into the Mountains

On New Year's Day (Thursday) we took a drive into the mountains. The city of Kobe is nestled between the mountains and the water. This was our first trip into the mountains. Because it was New Years most everything was closed but it was still a fun trip.

As soon as you get outside of the city you start a steep climb. The road is white knuckle narrow with great hairpin turns. Along many of the turns there is no shoulder - it is a drainage ditch. If you dropped a tire off the side of the road you would be sorry. About 5 minutes out of the city we ran into a light snowstorm. We were very excited to see a bit of the white stuff - it's been a while.

We found a nice little park and campground and got out to go for a little stroll. It was cold up on the mountain so we had to bundle up good. Note that Sean is not wearing gloves, the kid refuses to keep them on.

No, I have no idea what this says.

Coming back down the mountain we found a couple cool rest stops that overlook the city. This picture does not do the view justice.

Once the weather warms up and more things are open we will definitely be heading back up the mountain for some hiking, sight seeing, etc.

Awaji Island (Awajishima)

Tracy deserved some much needed R&R on Wednesday so Sean and I loaded up in the car and went for an afternoon drive. From our balcony on a clear night you can see this really cool bridge lit up in the distance so we went to check it out.

Near Kobe there is an island called Awaji. It is only a short hop by car - maybe 45 km. Awaji is known for having whirlpools, beaches, ancient burial mounds, and onions! It also has several hot springs (we need to check those out sometime). The island also has the dubious distinction of being the epicenter for the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.

Connecting the island to the mainland is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. The bridge is almost 4 km long and it's main span is the longest in the world (about 4 Brooklyn Bridges, or 8 Sears Towers end to end). The bridge holds three records: it is the longest, tallest, and most expensive suspension bridge ever built. We drove over the bridge and stopped at a rest area to look around and snap some photos.

The epicenter of the earthquake in 1995 was actually between the two towers of the bridge - it was under construction at the time. Only the towers were erected so it was largely unharmed. The quake did move the towers apart by almost 1 meter, so the design and construction of the bridge had to be altered as a result.

Pretty impressive. It was a pretty clear day so you could see across the bay back to our island. When the weather gets better in the Spring I hope to go and check out the beaches. After leaving the bridge we spent an hour or so just cruising around the island. It was nice to be in a rural area after being in the city for so long.

X-Mas Day

Our first Christmas in Japan (and Sean's first on the planet) is now in the record books. We had a very good one. I am not sure that Sean quite got the whole concept - come to think of it the idea of putting paper on toys and sticking them under a plastic tree in your house is a little strange. He may be smarter than us.

As expected, Sean got about three times as many toys as he needs. Special thanks to friends and family for everything that was sent. We actually had to hold a few things back for his Birthday in January. We only have so much room. Believe it or not one of his favorite toys was as follows:

The kid seems to have an interest in music so we wanted to get him something to help cultivate it. I wanted a drum set but we decided on a little keyboard that has all kinds of buttons that make noise:

This is Sean opening one of his gifts. He didn't quite get the whole wrapping thing - who can blame him. He got a lot of barnyard themed toys from his Grandad in Iowa, this was one of them. An Iowa them I suppose.

One last toy worth mentioning. One of our friends/neighbors gave him this thing and it was a big hit. He pushes it all over the apartment making quite a racket:

Santa was also very good to Tracy and I. We had a new camera under the tree so you can expect some bigger and badder pictures from us in the near future!