Flower Child

Monday we headed to the northern part of the island to a small village called Higashi to see their famous Azalea festival. We left directly from Gabi's school after pick up. The drive north was a little farther than we expected but we had some snacks to help sustain us. There is nothing more perfect for a road trip than Cool Ranch Dorritos. We stopped at a Mangrove park for our picnic lunch. They had a really cool raised walkway that allowed visitors to walk through the mangroves without damaging the fragile roots. We saw some very interesting crabs, they had one giant claw and then one small one. I'm sure one of the Japanese signs explained the species but the language barrier and our lack of patience led us to skip right by them. After our brief rest we continued our journey to Higashi. The Azalea park has over 50,000 blooms according to their pamphlets. There were a lot of beautiful flowers and the traditional festival snack foods. Greg and Gabriella shared a strawberry frozen yogurt while I just stuck to water. It was a beautiful sunny day which was slightly marred by the sandstorm blowing in from China. Even the slightly sandy air did nothing to take away from the splendidly kept gardens. We traversed the paths, up and over bridges and down into small ravines. On the way home we stopped for dinner at Jam's Steakhouse, it's a tepanyaki restaurant (think Benihana) with a very eclectic decorator. Gabriella really enjoyed trying some new foods including goya and bok choy. Our chef made some delicious food, my favorite was my prawn which was huge. They cook the whole thing including the head and the exoskeleton. To demonstrate the incredible decor I would be remiss if I didn't mention the aquarium in the toilet stall featured in the ladies room. It was quite a surprise and frankly a little shocking. However, while using the facilities Gabriella pointed out the "nemo" fish and a sand crab in the tank. It was a great day out together as a family.