Trip to Morioka

Okay... I am back up and around.  Maybe at 70% energy level...

My cold wasn't the only reason that I haven't posted in awhile.  Tetsu and Choco and I took off for a three day trip to Morioka, about a 6 hour drive north of us.  We've been planning to go to Morioka for ages (it is Tetsu's hometown and where I spent my first three years in Japan) but 6 hours one way on the highways, too much work, weather considerations always waylaid our plans.  It has been two years since we went back (some of you blog readers may remember our last trip) and we decided to make it a TWO nights, three day trip rather than just overnight.  We had hoped to get a couple of Tetsu's friends involved for his 60th birthday celebration, but that didn't work out.  Still we had a great time.  BUT IT WAS COLD!!! and that's where I caught my cold...

We left Nikko around 5:00am on Friday morning (I took a day off from crosswalk duty) and headed north.  The sun met us over the landscape.

As the morning brightened we found a rainbow in the sky...  When we had visited Morioka two years ago we had been sent off by a rainbow too!  This area must get a lot of rainbows.

After 6 hours of driving (all Tetsu's job... I don't really like driving all that much) we reached Morioka.

Our first stop was at the cemetery which may seem odd to non-Japanese but is probably the norm for Japanese.  Grave visiting should be done at least twice a year and we haven't been doing our duties...  Visiting the grave was the main reason for our visit to Morika this year.  Tetsu and Choco and I weeded the little plot and washed the gravestone.

The tiny Christian cemetery is behind the city crematorium and looks out over the city.

This is Tetsu and my personal grave site which we had to acquire not long after our first daughter passed away 30 years ago. Tetsu and I were still in our twenties so the little grave and stone is certainly not very grand.  The Bible verse on it says:

The Lord is my strength and my song 

And he has become my salvation.

Exodus 15:2

On the stone below there is our family name.  I STILL can't write my last name and you can see why!  We were surprised to see that the grave stone had moved a bit from its foundation.  Probably just because of age, or maybe because of weeds crowding around.  Maybe because of earthquakes.  Tetsu pulled the "name" stone away and we could see down under where the ashes urn was placed.  No, I did not want to bring out the urn and look at it.  Tetsu pushed the stone back in place.

 Choco and I aren't smiling so much as squinting because the sun was in our eyes.

This trip we decided to take Choco with us even though she isn't very good at riding in a car.  Usually she paws at us and prances back and forth in the back (or the front if we let her).  This time we brought along Choco's kennel and though it took up a lot of space in our car, she rode quietly there all through the trip.  The expressway has Service Areas and Parking Areas with food and shopping, and we found a dog run that Choco enjoyed immensely.  During our trip Choco could "participate" in our conversations and feel like part of the family.  So much better than being tied out in the yard or left at a pet hotel!  At night after a potty run Choco slept inside the car in the kennel with blankets.  I think Choco enjoyed our trip a lot!

Oh dear...  Too many pictures.  More tomorrow.