Random April Adventures of a Bachelorette

As I explained previously, Keenan was gone this month for some training...

I was on the move frequently, checking out cherry blossom festivals, beachcombing and going on drives. I also started substituting at the elementary schools on base as para-educator or nurse. These are a few of the random things I did in addition to those that got their own posts.

April 20th I decided to take a drive in the Shimokita Peninsula. I attempted to go to the Mt. Kamabuse Observatory but the road there was still closed. I got to Lake Osore where Osorezan (Gates of Hell) is located.

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival (the biggest and best!)

Enough with the cherry blossoms, right?! Not quite! Hirosaki Park was by far the most beautiful place I visited to view the sakura blossoms! A friend and I made the trek to check them out and were so ecstatic that we went when we did! There are currently about 2,600 cherry trees planted in the park and we were there right at the peak of the blooming! Each year around 2 million people visit Hirosaki Park to view the blossoms. It's one of the most famous viewing spots in Japan! AND it's only a couple of hours from Misawa! (Map/driving/cost info at bottom of this post)

Still a lot of snow in the Hakkoda Mountains!

AMAZING!

I'm obsessed with Cherry Blossoms...

I have a bit of an obsession going on...but, in my defense the cherry blossoms are pretty spectacular and with the hubs being gone I've got to find ways to keep myself entertained! This month I've been a bachelorette. About 2 days after I got to Nebraska in March Keenan found out he would have to be in the states all of April for some training stuff. Of course he found out after I got there (or I would have delayed my visit)! He got to spend March solo and I'm spending April solo.

Just a quick update on the weather, I think I last posted something like "looks like we've made it through our first Misawa winter"...well I spoke too soon! I wasn't around to witness it, but Keenan was and March was one for the record books! March snowfall averages 20.6 inches, the record WAS 57.8 inches...the new record for March snowfall is 60.6 inches!

Our season total for snowfall was 189.3 inches...6th highest on record! Crazy! That's just under 16 feet of snow! 

Good thing was it really never got that cold, nothing compared to the minus 0 degree windchills and single digit highs we were used to in Nebraska. Honestly, I don't know if the temperature ever got below 15° F.


And back to the cherry blossoms...I decided to check out the Towada cherry blossoms and wanted to see it both in the daylight and at night when the trees were illuminated. Rather than spend the whole day there I decided to see another cherry blossom festival (in Sannohe) and come back for the illumination. Yes, I'm probably crazy. (Map pictured at bottom of the post)

Towada City Spring Festival in the daylight (yellow marker on the map). The festival centers around a main road in Towada that has around 156 cherry trees and also outdoor art sculptures. The road is listed as a "Top One Hundred Japanese Roads."

No, that's not a giant pillow on the sidewalk!
Or is it? It's a bench!

Most cities have unique manhole cover designs.

A trip HOME! (And Tokyo cherry blossoms!)

Well after trying to get home for a couple weeks I finally made it on March 4th! I say "trying" because while living overseas I get the perk of being able to fly Space Available. Meaning if there are military flights going somewhere I basically show up and attempt to fly standby if there are extra seats available. So I made it, a direct flight from Misawa to Seattle and then on to Omaha on a commercial flight. Space A is great if you're flexible with travel because it costs little to nothing but there's no guarantee of getting a seat!

I spent almost a month in Nebraska, getting lots of family time, seeing friends, celebrating birthdays, watching basketball (niece & nephews plus NCAA tourney), catching a couple soccer games, eating foods that I've missed and of course shopping! I just wanted to wander around stores like Target and Bed Bath & Beyond...we have nothing even close to stores like that here! Somehow I ended up with more than my suitcase would hold and had to mail a couple boxes to myself...

I started my journey back to Misawa on March 30th...and arrived in Misawa April 2nd...
Catching a Space A flight from Seattle to Misawa (the only direct option) is a very lucky thing, especially for a dependent like myself that is traveling solo. I'm a in a lower priority category than if I was traveling with Keenan. If I didn't get a seat in Seattle I'd have a couple options, wait a week there and try for the next flight or buy a one way ticket last minute from Seattle to Tokyo. Both options were bad. So, instead of taking that risk I decided to try flying Space Available from Travis AFB in California. They have several flights per week to Yokota AB in Tokyo, usually with lots of extra seats available, so at most I'd only be stuck there a couple days. I flew from Omaha to San Fransisco (not the closest to Travis, but my only option, that's another story), had a shuttle lined up from the airport to Travis. Spent the night on base and showed up in the morning for Space A roll call. I luckily got a seat, but the plane was a huge SLOW one. After a LONG flight we had a stop over of a couple hours in Hawaii, but couldn't leave the terminal. From there it was another LONG flight to Yokota. I arrived there late so stayed on base and headed for Tokyo Station in the morning.
The cherry blossoms were at their prime for viewing when I was in Tokyo so I did take a short walk though a big park before catching a train to Misawa.

My total travel time from Nebraska to Misawa was a whopping 71 HOURS...yuck!

Here's a few highlights of the trip, I didn't take many pictures in Nebraska...totally unlike me, I know!

Carter modeling the hat/beard I made him.

After Carter hit a game winning buzzer beater in OT!