- - - 5/27/2018 - - -

Trip to Ise

Filed under: — Andy @ 5:52 am

I finally took the family to Ise in Mie prefecture for a long weekend. Ise along with Ise Shrine is one of the more famous Japan travel destinations that I had not yet been to. The Ise Grand Shrine is considered the most sacred Shintō shrine in Japan, and along with the top of Mt Fuji is considered a must visit sometime in your lifetime place. Of course we did many of the other activities in the area and made sure to eat all the famous foods:


We took the shinkansen and express trains there and back


Purification stream of the inner shrine


At the inner shrine. There are always lots of people visiting.


The Uji Bridge


The famous shopping street in front of the shrine. There were lots of traditional shops and foods, and we saw a Taiko performance.


Eating ‘Akafuku’ the famous Japanese sweet of the area


Eating the local style Ise Udon


For dinner we had the local style ‘TekoneSushi’


At the fairly impressive Toba Sea-Folk Museum


Melina loved playing in the submarine


Eating Unagi for lunch


Taking a boat ride around Ago bay, famous for Japanese Perl cultivation


A quick stop at a park for slides, running around, and ice cream


We hiked up to the overlook of the bay at Yokoyama


Eating Matsuzaka beef (up there on the rankings with Kobe beef) for dinner along with other things Melina likes.


‘Okayu’ at the outer shrine for breakfast


Finally was Melina’s favorite part of the trip; Toba Aquarium. She got to see and touch a whole lot of sea animals, and a snake. It was my first time to pet a walrus as well.

- - - 5/19/2018 - - -

Spartan Race #2

Filed under: — Andy @ 2:18 am

My second Spartan race was the Sprint, which is only 5 kilometers with about 20+ obstacles. Unlike the first race where it was pouring the entire day, this time we had some nice weather. The obstacles were still challenging and my two teammates did well. I am now debating with myself whether or not to do the next one in Japan this year.