Memorial Day Exploration

I was determined to get out and see some of Japan over Memorial Day weekend. It's very rare when the guys are home and the weather is nice enough to go out and do some sight-seeing. So, even though James was still jet-lagged from his two week trip to Hawaii, he humored me with this little adventure.

We drove a couple hours north along Rte. 338 which hugs the eastern coast of the Shimokita Peninsula, then turned off onto some smaller roads so we could get all the way up to the tip of Cape Shiriyazaki. There is a big light house perched on some rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean up there, as well as some wild horses that roam around the point eating grass and patiently allowing tourists to take photos and pet them.

We were surprised how BIG the horses are. I guess they have to be pretty sturdy in order to withstand the cold and wind up there. I was excited to see the little baby horse pictured below. SO cute!

After we were finished looking at the horses, we drove southwest across "the hatchet", and took in the sights along Mutsu Bay on our way home. First we stopped for a few minutes to see the incredible fields of Nanohana flowers at Yokohama. These flowers were almost as tall as I am in places! The locals have turned it into a big maze, almost like a corn maze back in the States, where you can wander around and take photos. Normally they hold a huge festival when the Nanohana are blooming. But because of the earthquake and tsunami, it was a very quiet affair this year. I was fine with that because it meant there was a lot less traffic! A nice Japanese man took this photo for us:

After that, I introduced James to Shipwreck Beach. I've been there before, but this was his first time. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we were the only ones there so it was nice and quiet. We took a long walk down along the coast collecting polished sea glass (something we Misawa folk treasure and collect). Unfortunately, I did not find any antique glass floats. Maybe next time!! Then we took some pictures with the big, weathered boats that are beached there. Since it was right around our anniversary, we couldn't help but make them a little extra romantic! 0=^)