Arkansas & Washington D.C. Adventures

Time-wise these posts are a bit backwards, since we went to the States before Japan, but I was more interested in posting about Japan, haha. However, I did promise to share some of our US adventures so figured I better get to it.

Planning, packing and setting off for four weeks of globe trotting takes a bit of work, but by the time we got to our departure date, we felt like we had things pretty well sorted. However, the delays that can occur with air travel are simply something you cannot plan for. Our itinerary had us on a direct flight from Auckland to Chicago, where we planned to spend a night with friends to get some pizza and explore downtown a bit (a LOOOOOONG 15 hour flight, but worth it to get so far into the US we decided). However, we had to get to Auckland first. What do you know, it was windy so our flight from New Plymouth got delayed. Normally this is little cause for concern, but we knew it was one of the busiest days of the year to fly so as the departure time kept getting pushed out we starting to feel a bit of anxiety. Airline staff assured us we had plenty of time to make our connection, but we were not 100% confident in their assurances. However, they were right, after running from one terminal to the next and all the way through the international departure area to find our gate (and me getting stopped for a random extra security screening) we made it to the gate just as they were boarding.

Highlights of Chicago included having proper deep dish pizza (so dangerously delicious), finding the bean and a giant Christmas tree, and sampling cheddar bacon popcorn!

Once we got to Little Rock, the schedule was pretty laid-back, a very welcome change to the busyness we had juggled until the trip. Other than family time and a winter Christmas with two adorable nieces, highlights included a fantastic light display at a big garden, exploring Hot Springs, tea parties with adorable little nieces, and loads of delicious food (including hot homemade cinnamon rolls sent with us on our flight to DC, which got Troway flagged at airport security for a search; the TSA fellow said lucky us getting those for an in-flight treat!).

The BBQ chef :D 

Riverfront capital view from a scenic state park overlook

Christmas at the Arkansas capital

Bathhouse row in Hot Springs

Al Capone's piano (seen at the Hot Springs Gangster Museum)

Our final 3 days in the US was spent in Washington, D.C. We stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast in a colorful, old-school neighborhood. We were pretty touristey during the day, ticking the well-known boxes of the Smithsonian, the major monuments, etc. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves though, and found it quite awe-inspiring to visit powerful places such as the Lincoln monument, and the WWII memorial. There is something quite humbling about in the presence of a reminder of the great sacrifices others have made.

Smithsonian sea creatures

Near our bed and breakfast

Hearty American food :D  (we followed it up with funnel cake)

Okinawa

Once we knew that we had two and a half weeks in Japan, we took turns picking locations to visit but we both had Okinawa on our list, so it was an easy choice for the last several days. We were not entirely sure what to expect, and did little research in order to be pleasantly surprised when we arrived, but found it to be a beautiful island(s) and an interesting place socially.

We found the significance presence of American military personnel and their families, along with the years that Okinawa was under American sovereignty after the war, has resulted in a fascinating American/Japanese fusion hat is influenced by Okinawa's own historical culture.  One nice perk of this was the prevalence of English, it was much easier to find signs in English and people who spoke at least a bit of the language (except for the elderly taxi driver we had one day who spoke no English and was asking me to direct him to our destination, never mind that I was a foreigner haha). We lost track of how many McDonald's we found, but were amused at how some of them played honky tonk country music. The weather was a delightful treat after the more wintery temperatures of the US and our time on the mainland Japan. With daytime reading upper 70s or low 80s, we were comfortable in shorts and t-shirts; the locals in long sleeves and coats informed us it was far too cold for such summer wear, as they routinely have 100+ degrees during the summer months.

Te spelling wasn't necessarily better despite
more English speakers...

American Village was a fun part of to explore that was easy walking distance from our hotel. It featured a giant Ferris wheel, American restaurants, shopping, a beach side boardwalk and an arcade. It was constructed as a theme park several decades ago as a way for Americans stationed on the island to feel more at home.

View from the top of the Ferris wheel

I didn't say the American food they offered was good :D 

A bus tour booked for one day of our stay took us to the Northern part of the island (the day of the tour we got a call at 830 am that the scheduled 930 departure was running 20 minutes ahead of schedule so to be at the pick-up early....we had to run 12 blocks to get there in time. Only in Japan!). We got to cross the stunning bridge over to Love Island, called such due to a folk tale along the lines of the Adam and Eve story, that homo sapiens were conceived there. Beautiful place in this world so might not be too far-fetched, ha! The afternoon was spent at the Chura-umi aquarium, a fantastic place with an incredible assortment of sea creatures, including sperm whales and manta rays. My favorite part of the tour was the underwater observatory at a coral reef. We got to descend five meters under the under where we had 360 degree views of coral reef and all the beautiful fishies and creatures that live there.

View from the Love Island bridge

Okinawan ice cream on the island

Smallest of the sperm whales

One afternoon we decided to rent bikes, since public transportation was much less reliable and available than mainland Japan. One of the sites we visited on our bike journey was the underground tunnel system used by the Okinawan navy during WWII. As the American forces came closer to invading the islands, the Navy bunkered down in a system of tunnels they dug out to try and outlast the battles. It was a sad place to visit when considering the hardships endured by military and civilians alike and the high number of casualties. But we also appreciated the opportunity to view and learn about the history from an alternate perspective.

Generals uniform

Stairs down to the tunnels (lighting is not original)

This was one of the bigger tunnels

Map of the tunnel system

Generals quarters

Our final day on the island had a chunk of free time between hotel check out and getting to the airport. Due to needing to manage luggage, and running a little short on energy and cash we decided on something low-key to pass the time. Fortunately, downtown Naha city did not let us down. After enjoying an early lunch at an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu restaurant, we spent the remainder of our time at a hedgehog cafe. They offered hamsters and gerbils, rabbits, mice and hedgehogs for you to meet and enjoy interacting with. Weird, but fun in an odd way haha.