Our trip up north.

Phillip and I took a tour with MCCS that took us to the northern part of Okinawa.

We visited the Ryukyu Glass Factory where I actually blew my own glass. It was fun.

We also went to Fruitsland where we had lunch and then went to Pineapple Park. At Pineapple Park we rode the Pineapple Cart and then walked through the Corral Museum.

They have everything that you can think of made out of pineapples from candy to cakes, body products and wine. It was amazing. I didn't realize that there were so many differnt kinds of pineapple plants. We then went to the Orion Beer factory which is the only place in the world the Orion beer is made.

Arriving in Okinawa

We finally made it to Okinawa, Japan on June 3, 2011. It was a long 18 hour flight but the airline was so very hospitable that it made it an easy flight. We checked into the Westpac Lodge where we spent the next two weeks. The picture below is a view from our window at the lodge.

On Friday, June 17th we picked up the keys to our house and began the moving in process. It has taken us two weeks but we are finally all moved in and boxes gone. So far I love Okinawa. It is beautiful, especially the water.

Journey to Okinawa

Okay, so it's been 5+ weeks since I updated this blog. I'm a horrible blogger as you can see. We flew from Charlotte, NC to Reno, NV and checked into The Grand Sierra Resort for the night. The next morning we drove down to Gardnerville, NV and checked into the Carson Valley Inn. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. The beds were comfortable and the hospitality even better. The room was very clean as well. We had a few things to take care of in Coleville so we drove down there and saw a few friends while there. We spent a couple of nights in Gardnerville before beginning our journey north to Seattle, WA.

When we began our drive north to Seattle, we stopped in Squaw Valley, CA, the sight of the 1960 Olympics, and it wa beautiful. When then traveled through CA for what seemed like days, but was only hours until we came to one of the prettiest places in that state I have ever seen, Lake Shasta and Mt. Shasta. We spent the night at a very small but hospitble town called Lakehead. The whole drive through the mountains it was raining off and on and the weather was cool but it was beautiful.

We spent the night in Lakehead, CA then drove into Oregon the next day. We had a good time driving up the Oregon trail and seeing places that the pioneers went over in wagons wondering how on earth did they do that without killing everybody in the wagon train. As we were going through Oregon we stopped at a little museum about the Oregon trail where I learned a few things I didn't know. Like the fact that the Oregon trail split into two different trails at Fort Hall, Idaho. The actual Oregon Trail took them further up north where they had ride a part of the Columbia River to reach their destination. The split off was called the Applegate Trail after the two brothers who found the trail after one of them lost both of his sons in the Columbia River. They felt that there was a better way to get to where they wanted to go and they found one or so they thought. After seeing the wagons that they had at the museum I can't imagine what it was like traveling for months in one. They had to just drop stuff along the trail in order to get the wagon up the moutains. I admire their spirit for what they had to endure in order for our beautiful country to be what it is today. I don't think I would have been able to last in such harsh conditions. Okay, so now back to the Black's journey... after spending a little bit of time at the museum we then traveled on through Oregon and finally reached our destination for the night, Vancouver, WA. It is located just north of the Oregon/Washington state line. By now as you can imagine we are tired of traveling and really want for the whole thing to be done and over with but we have a few more days rather a few more weeks of living in hotels ahead of us. After spending the night in Vancouver (Washington not Canada) we traveled the remaining way to Seattle.

As we traveled to Seattle we made one detour which turned out to be a great detour. We went to Mount St. Helen's. For those of you too young to know this is a volcano that erupted in 1980. It destroyed a lot of the forest area and some of the towns that were located at it's base. Yes, that is snow you see in the picture to the left. It was snowing when we went up and they said that they actually had to close down the day before because it was so bad up there. I highly recommed a trip there if you are in the area. It's beautiful.

We then spent a few days in Seattle preparing for our flight to Okinawa. We put the truck into storage (I miss my truck) and we did a little sight seeing. The one place that I insisted on seeing was the Space Needle. It is a wonder to behold and the view from the top is amazing. I rained everyday we were in Seattle but it is a beautiful place despite that. We then traveled to the airport and began preperations for our flight to Okinawa. We literally spent the night in the USO at the airport where we just happen to run into some friends from our days in Jacksonville, NC. They too were headed to Okinawa. What a small community the Marine Corps has. Well, I'm going to end this page and start another one which will tell of the trip to Oki and what has happened to us since arriving here. Love to all and we miss y'all.