For Thanksgiving we decided to go on a road trip down to Hiroshima. Even though it was a 12 hour drive...it really wasn't that bad. The scenery was beautiful! We drove pass Mt. Fuji, through mountains, right past oceans and lakes, saw a cool castle on a hill, we also passed Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. It was actually a really nice drive (thanks to the portable DVD player that helped entertain the kids).
The 12 hour drive down
See the little grey van between the blue & white semis on the left. That's us! We rented this 8 seater van from our base and it was AWESOME!!! The van payed for ALL of the tolls. The tolls cost us $520....seriously...but we DIDN'T have to pay any of them because just renting the van covered all of the tolls.
The van was so BIG that we actually SLEPT in it the first night! No joke! Why stay in a hotel when the van you have is big enough? Now, we don't normally do these kind of things, but it saved us a couple hundred dollars...so why not! I would never do this in the states, but Japan is so safe that it wasn't scary.
Speaking of doing this in the states...I know my parents and siblings are all remembering our Yellowstone trip 20 something years ago. This trip to Hiroshima made me think of that trip many times...I laughed all weekend telling Shane about it. It was the 4th of July weekend and my parents forgot to reserve a hotel room...we arrived and ALL the rooms in the entire city were OCCUPIED! Here we were, 8 kids (1 was an infant), 2 adults, 1 Cassette (Bobby Brown..."Tear Down These Walls" ha...I still remember all of the words to those songs), and an 11 seater passenger van. We ended up in a RV park and all 10 of us slept in the van. What a crazy night, but none of us have ever forgotten that trip :)
Anyways, we drove and drove until we were tired (about 8 hours). We ended up pulling into a rest stop at the top of a bunch of mountains. It was a chilly night.
We jammed everything up in the front.
Dad and the kids slept in the back of the van in this awesome WARM sleeping bag my mom bought us a few years ago.
I laid across 2 bucket seats in the middle of the van...not the most comfortable, but it worked. I was okay until about 3 a.m. when I woke up because my feet and hands were frozen. Shane and I then switched places and we all slept until 7 a.m.
Here's a cool castle we passed on our drive.
We drove for about 4 hours the next day (Thanksgiving Day) through beautiful scenery like this.
Iwakuni
Thanksgiving Buffet:
We arrived in Iwakuni (southern tip of Japan's main island) on Thanksgiving Day around 11:00 a.m. There is a military base there that we stayed on. We signed up to have a Thanksgiving Buffet at their Club. It was nice not having to cook a single thing, or clean up and it was really fun still being able to celebrate Thanksgiving on a vacation in a foreign country (thanks Shelby for the idea). The food actually wasn't that bad, but I did really miss home made rolls :(
There's this really neat bridge called the Kintai Bridge in Iwakuni. It is made with NO BEAMS. It's a beautiful bridge and there is a castle up on the hill behind it.
Here are some pictures I took while walking across the bridge. It was a beautiful day.
Cute boy under the bridge.
We took the tram up the mountain to go see the castle.
We found a real WELL. It was dark, wet, & kind of scary.
The Iwakuni Castle.
Miyajima
About 30 minutes from Iwakuni is an island called Miyajima. You have to take a Ferry to get to it. It has a famous red Torii floating out in the water.
There are deer all over the island that just walk right up to you.
When the tide is LOW you can walk right out to the torii.
More deer.
We took a tram up the mountain.
It was breathtaking!
Overlooking Hiroshima.
Having fun in the cool red leaves.
And more deer....I was a little sick of deer by this point, but the kids were loving it!
The colors were just so beautiful!
MUST READ THIS SIGN
10 minute walk (7 if run a little)...how funny is that?! What if I ran fast would it only take 5 minutes? Shane and I were busting up. It still makes us crack up.
Miyajima is really into wooden rice spatula's...we still have no clue why, but they were EVERYWHERE. This guy drew a picture of Jayden and Tia on one. It was really fun to watch.
Chicken Shack
This place was back near Iwakuni (about 30 minutes up into the mountains). They were a little OVER DECORATED but it made if fun for the kids.
Playing the drums
They have fabulous FIRE GRILLED Chicken breasts doused in Teriyaki sauce. It comes out on a big long stick and you eat it like a caveman would. We really wish we would have ordered 2...they were YUMMY!
Hiroshima
The A-bomb Dome.
Thousands of cranes made to represent PEACE.
The children's monument remembering the children that died.
Students all over Japan make pictures & hangings using small cranes and send them here each year. They are not just pictures OF cranes, but they are MADE OUT OF MINI CRANES. There were billions of them.
Here is the mound covering the ashes of Tens of Thousands of those that were killed by the bomb. This made me really sad.
A-Bomb Dome in the back.
Here's a picture of what Hiroshima looked like after the bomb. EVERYTHING BURNED to the ground...INCLUDING the people. Most of them did not die right away, some survived the bomb, but slowly died a few days later (or years later) from the effects of the bomb. My heart ached looking at these pictures and learning about the whole thing.
We learned so much about the war and had a wonderful experience visiting Hiroshima. We are very glad that we went!
Hiroshima is famous for their Okonomiyaki. It is a Japanese pancake that means "what you like" or "what you want". It can include: flour, eggs, shredded cabbage, green onions, meat, octopus (yuck), squid (yuck), shrimp (not so yuck), vegetables, cheese, etc. In Hiroshima they add noodles...that was my favorite part. You top it off by pouring okonomiyaki sauce on it (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter) and mayonnaise.
Back in Iwakuni we found a hotel overlooking the Kentai Bridge and went to their HOTSPRING...of course! The hotspring was outside on the top of the hotel. It was a beautiful night. You could see the bridge and castle all lit up. A perfect way to end a wonderful vacation!
