Mt. Fuji

Alex and I conquered Mt. Fuji. We started at 8:30 in the morning from station 5. It was a very long day. We stopped around 12:30 for lunch, good thing we got subway the night before for the hike. At each station along the trail, you can have stamps burned onto your stick. I sent Alex ahead around 3 to get to the top and the stamp on our hiking sticks. I didn't want to get to the top too late and not have proof that I made it to the top. I finally made it to the top at around 4:30. We stayed at the top for about 20mins before headed back down to the car. We finally made it to the starting point at 8:06pm.

Summer Vacation Part II

Alex was assigned a Tokyo trip. We had planned a trip to Tokyo for later in the summer so we could hike Mt. Fuji but that plan was not approved so this trip fell into our laps and I jumped at the chance to get to Tokyo at the military's expense. I got all my EML paperwork and was able to get on Alex's plane. I was able to sit in the jump-sit all the way up to Tokyo and I watched Alex fly and land the plane (the perks of being married to the pilot). We went to Tokyo Disney the first day. I think Alex was a little over the whole Disney thing since it was the second Disneyland in a month. Then we hiked Mt. Fuji. That was a long day, we started at 8:30am and crossed the gate at 8:06pm. Thankfully we went on a good day with no rain and very minimal winds. Since a week before a person died while trying to hike Mt. Fuji. I was able to get in contact with Mr. Fujita (family friend who knew me only as a baby) and meet him for lunch. I dragged Alex to another Disney park called DisneySea. We spent about 5 hours there and had a nice dinner on the ship. While we were in mainland we were on a mission to find the infamous underwear vending machine. We didn't have to go too far to find it along with some other crazy sex related machines. Alex and I walked around Shinjuku, Shabuya and Fussa at night. The only thing that I was not able to do was to go to a temple or shrine so that kind of sucked but we have at least another year left. All in all this was a action packed summer that is going to be really hard to beat.

Our Summer Vacation Part I

This summer we were on the go. I went home for a few weeks while Alex went to Alaska. We got back from our separate trips and together we went to Hong Kong and Macau. While in Hong Kong we went to Disneyland. Another day we did a tour of Hong Kong, where we went up to the top of Victoria Peak and got to ride on a sampan around the world famous Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. We went to Macua for two reasons: to jump off the Macua Tower and to go a casino and play Pai Gow. The Macau Tower is 764 feet tall. It was a lot of fun, next time we are going to bungy jump. We learned how to play Pai Gow before but they had no tables so we settled on Craps. It was a bad night at the Craps table. We hope to go back and explore more of Macau.

DMZ

One trip that you have to take while in Korea is to the DMZ. Alex and I headed to 3rd Tunnel and walked down into one of the many tunnels that North Korea dug. After that we went to the Dora Observatory. On a clear day you can look over into North Korea but we went on a foggy day so we couldn't see more then a half mile. The next stop was to the Dorasan Station. The last train station before you head to the north. After lunch we were on our way to Camp Bonifas. When we arrived is when we realized that today was Sept 11th. A little odd to be this close a country that hates us so much on this day. We had strict rules while we were there, no hats, no pointing, no fast movements. We got to go into the conference room where they held talks and this is where you can cross into North Korea. The middle of the table in the middle of room is the Military Demarcation Line.

Korea

Our first vacation while in Japan. We headed to Korea for 5 days and stayed at the Dragon Hill Lodge. While there the only thing that Alex wanted was a suit. We dropped our stuff off in the room and head to Itaewon. The next day we went on tour of Seoul. Jogye Temple is a Buddhist Temple. Then we went to Gyoengbok Palace built in 1394 and was used until 1895. We drove past the Presidential Blue House on our way to lunch, Alex was not too pleased with the lunch since it was "cook it your damn self." I on the other hand enjoyed the lunch and could not get enough. After lunch we went to another palace, Changdeok and the secret garden. Alex was a trooper since I made him walk through another palace. As Alex say "you see one temple or palace you have seen them all." Before the tour ended we headed to one of famous markets in Seoul, Namdaemun. We didn't get enough to really look around but it was pretty similar to the other asia markets. The following day we headed to the other side of the peninsula to hike a few mountains. Along the ways up the mountains we stopped at a few Buddhist temples.

4th of July

Our first fourth in Japan. Kadena had a festival with music, food, games, planes and fireworks. The static air display had both American and Japanese aircraft's. The headliners was Eve 6, we didn't stay to watch them it was just too hot on the flightine. So spent about an hour then headed to a BBQ. Then we headed to the squadron to watch the firework since the building was on the flightline.

Assignment Night

The Kelly's will be spending the next three years at Kadena AF, Okinawa, Japan. Alex will be flying the KC-135. I think we are still in shock over the whole thing. never thought I would be heading back to Okinawa. It will be very interesting to see how the place has changed since I was last there about 17 years ago.