Japan - Konnichiwa!

Japan! Land of the rising sun, gastronomic country of destination (AKA amazing food), low crime rates, clean streets, hospitality and impeccable manners, geisha, samurai, temples, funny English translations. Oh the imagery fills the mind!

Japan's been high on our list to visit so when we bypassed it during our Round the World trip we were itching to return and make good on experiencing the nation. Our planning started early in 2017 and would encompass 5 weeks (all of March and first week of April). And in usual Terry fashion, ambition started big with dreams of eating our way through the country, North to South. But then I remembered we actually prefer to hunker down, dig deep, and see/try things off the beaten path. So our focus for Japan (this time!) is the Kansai region.

Kansai - primary cultural and historical centre of Japan

The themes we were looking to experience revolved around Nature, Food, and Culture. Key specific regions:

• Iya Valley on Shikoku Island - an island where time slowed down and lifestyles of pre-industrialized Japan still exists, rural mountain farming communities.
• Kyoto - imperial capital of Japan (geishas, temples, & castles)
• Kumano Kodo hike - 1000+ year multi day pilgrimage hike (now UNESCO designated, 2nd only to the Camino de Santiago)
• Tokyo - modern capital and contemporary cultural centre of Japan

We were hoping to hit shoulder season and then trail a tiny bit into the Cherry Blossom high season of tourism and so far have been greeted by some early blossoms from plum trees (mistaken for Cherry trees).

That's a funny looking person...

Our first couple days landed us in Tokyo. With many English signs, helpful locals, and an easy public transit system, we had a fairly smooth intro to Japan's capital city. Our focus here was preparation for the Iya Valley (i.e. cell sim card, car rental, directions, groceries, etc). So we'll be revisiting Tokyo before we leave.

Streets of Tokyo

Bullet train, like a luxurious magic carpet, amazing!

Way better than flying 

Bento box from 7-Eleven!

With our brief stop in Tokyo finished, we set off to Shikoku island, home the 88 temples pilgrimage covering 1,200km, and the historical land of exiles!

2017 Outdoors Extravaganza Pt.2

Visiting Family & friends
We had a packed season with family and friends from out of town. Our nephew Patrick stayed with us for 3 weeks and Terry spent a week with him in the interior of BC hanging with close friends. Joseph and Karen stayed with us for a week and were able to enjoy the gorgeous weather of a dry and sunny summer. Terry's mom and friends were also in town and went on a hiking adventure to Dog Mountain.

Looking west out beyond Vancouver

First Japanese meal experience

Who knew golfing was so exhausting!

Cherry picking with Edwin & Mary Jo

Canoeing with Mike

Sunny days with Karen & Joseph

Phylliz & Friends toughing it out!

Dog sitting
Rhonda & I had the honor of dog sitting for our friends and we had a wonderful time with Jasper. Although I think he is part pig cuz he was covered in mud as often as he was clean!

*oink*

"I see a squirrel!"

"But I don't wanna take a baaaath...."

Outdoors Training - AST, WFR, NOLS
Terry filled the rest of the year developing skills in the outdoors: Avalanche Safety Training thru work, Wilderness First Responder (guide level first aid), and topped it off with a 90 day wilderness expedition in the USA with the National Outdoor Leadership School (Sept to Dec, 90 days, the whole time in tents, no electronics, no connection to civilization when in the field).

Managing avalanche terrain & conditions

Caring for the injured in remote wilderness settings

Navigating across the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mtns

Climbing sheer rock in Colorado

Magnificent slot canyons in Utah

We actually drank and cooked with this water!!

Mmm...mud water meals...

So that sums up our 2017 for the most part! We're currently on our next adventure in Japan - Land of the Rising Sun. We have a bunch of pictures to sort through and hope to share our experiences with you as we go!

2017 - Outdoors Extravaganza in Vancouver Pt.1

2017 was a year themed around family, friends, and outdoor adventures!

Winter camping
Rhonda & I went on a backcountry snowshoe adventure on one of the local mountains and experienced the majesty and muffled silence of camping in snow. It's a lot more work to do all the basic day-to-day things but when you're surrounded by snow there's water everywhere and it's like everything is play dough. You can mould anything you want! Including kitchens, couches, tables, seating, etc!

Wedding in Mexico
Our nephew got married in Playa del Carmen, Mexico and we spent a hot, sunny, beachy week making memories with family. It was an honor to witness the romantic event and hilarious to see Ryan tough out a post-reception hangover.

Rock climbing
Terry had a number of rock climbing trips spread throughout the spring/summer. From a week climbing with his work in the interior of BC (Penticton), to day trips up to Squamish (world renowned climbing), and local cliffs up in the mountains of Vancouver.

Local boulders

Skaha Bluffs in Penticton, BC

A few hundred meters above the town of Squamish
Outdoor recreation capital of Canada

Stay tuned for Part 2: Family & Friends, Dogs, and Outdoors Training!!

Revisiting the blog...brief catch up

Wow it's been a long time! First let me start off with apologies for the long hiatus from posting on our blog. As you can imagine, our year of travel gave us a lot of reflection and we were excited to implement and pursue our re-affirmed life priorities.

Here's a quick catch up on the remainder of our 1 year of travels (2016):

Yellowstone National Park - amazing, very popular/busy, we spent 3 days here and could've used more time!.

Eastern Wyoming - unexpectedly gorgeous badlands. No one talks about what's "after Yellowstone" and simply based on our drive Eastbound through Wyoming...it would've been worthwhile to spend another few days here.

Chicago - yup, between Wyoming and Chicago we just bee-lined it. Pretty flat, very rural. ALL YOU CAN EAT KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN restaurants. After spending close to a week in rural USA, it was odd yet familiar getting back into a big city. We enjoyed our brief stay in Chicago but were ready to move along.

Upstate New York - Not being familiar with NY state, I always thought of it being very urban like New York City. Wrong. We were surprised to see how many Trump posters were plastered around the countryside. But that's history now. We visited the Watkins-Glen park and took in the amazing geological formations made by water/ice in the shale rock.

We spent a week visiting our friends Erin & Brian in Vermont on their Farm Co-Op. We got to experience living in a community where 17 families shared their co-owned farmland and helped run/farm/manage it together. Terry got his first experience handling chickens (and being attacked by the rooster), collecting eggs (and being attacked by the hen), and milking a goat (luckily a peaceful interaction).

Yup...walking the goats

Ontario was our next stop and the focus was spending time with family. We had a week of visiting, catching up, meals, and great times hanging out. We made our way back through Canada and enjoyed the patriotic duty of driving through most of the country.

Here's a teaser of some upcoming posts from recent and current adventures:

• 90 day backcountry trip
• Exploring the Land of the Rising Sun