Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
Weddings are more than a ceremony or even the beginning of a new part of a couple’s life. It’s a way for a couple to express themselves to family and friends through parts of the whole event. In that way, the weekend was a perfect expression of Tynor and Mallory.
The Japanese American National Museum has had an exhibit open for the past couple of years, Irei: National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration which includes three elements: a website (Ireizō), light sculptures (Ireihi), and a book of names (Ireichō). Tynor, Mallory, and I were in Southern California before Melody, Kellen, and Noël before my dad’s memorial service, so we took the opportunity to go to the JANM to stamp names in the Ireichō.
This past weekend, we held a memorial service for my dad, who passed away at the age of 97. Of all the stories told at the service and shared among people at the reception, the conversation always came back to family. Being one of eight children, he and his siblings always made sure that the whole family never lost touch with each other, and we, the next generation, work to maintain that.
It was time to head home. Among all of us, we went via car, plane, and train to get home, stopping over in two different cities on the way.
For our last full day in Texas, we went to Natural Bridge Caverns and had a quiet rest of the day. Even so, we made the most of the day.
Eclipse day! We were watching the chance of clouds continuing to rise, but as long as it wasn’t raining, we would still try to take a look. In the afternoon, we saw the Alamo and walked a bit on the San Antonio River Walk.
This was a travel day, driving from Houston to San Antonio. Before we hit the road, we spent time at the Houston Space Center. And on the road, we stopped by Buc-ee's to fill up to see why it's so popular.
For our other full day in Houston, we spent the bulk of the day with Lindsay, Joe, and Noah. It started with lunch at the Farmers Market, then a walk through the Houston Arboretum, then snacks and dinner. After saying goodbye, we tried to see bats emerging at sunset.
After everyone got up and had breakfast, we went to Hermann Park to view the Japanese Garden, the Centennial Garden, and other parts of the grounds. After stopping by the Rothko Chapel, we went back for lunch and hung out. Lindsay and her family spent some of the afternoon and dinnertime with us, where we celebrated her and her baby's birthdays.
I’ve been thinking for quite a while about trying to see the 2024 total solar eclipse. I do have cousins in Ohio and Indiana in or near the path of totality, but it occurred to me that I also have a cousin in Texas whom I haven’t seen for several years. The fact that it could be likely that the chances of good weather seemed good, I asked the kids if they were interested. Hearing “Yes” all around, a plan started to form.
My grandmother, Hisa, was very accomplished at the piano. She did a lot of accompaniment for others. I found this story as written by her sister, my Aunt Eiko. I also found a copy of the program, autographed by the tenor, which is after the story. I’ve also included a picture of my grandmother and aunt at the bottom.
This was the day of the last leg of our trip. Unlike the flight to Halifax, this time we had daylight for the whole flight, so where there wasn’t cloud cover, we saw a lot of out the plane window.
First of two travel days. We drove today, leaving Cape Breton Island to return to Halifax before we fly home tomorrow.
For our last full day in Chéticamp and the last non-travel day of our trip, we did one more hike and watched the sunset from our room.
It was back to Cape Breton Highlands National Park to do a hike and stroll around a bog (which is actually a fen).
We drove a sizable segment of the Cabot Trail. Along the way, we did a few hikes, including one that gave us a great view of fog and another where we got very wet.
This day had one activity, driving over to Louisbourg to visit the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, which took a good part of the day.
It was time to go back to Nova Scotia, this time to Cape Breton Island. We first took the ferry, then drove a couple of hours to the middle of the island to go through the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.
Our second and last full day in Charlottetown had a lot of downtime to recharge for the last week of our trip. We walked to and around Victoria Park and took a quick spin through the Cows Creamery.
For our first full day on Prince Edward Island, we again went east to see the Greenwich Dunes in Prince Edward Island National Park. After a relaxing afternoon, we went to a lobster dinner in New Glasgow.
