A Visitor from Home

Those of you that have navigated our Links section likely came across a blog maintained by some family friends back in San Diego, called Gingers Mom. Gingers Mom's material is generally focused around the life of her three children, her husband (Dan), and herself; and the mischief that they encounter or instigate in their daily lives. It's a humorous read and well worth a visit if you haven't been around their blog yet.

Recently, Gingers Mom announced that Dan would be heading to Japan, compliments of the US Navy. With that information in hand, we figured it would be a great opportunity to kidnap Dan during his spare time so that we could show him around. As it turns out, Dan ended up in Nagano on a ski slope for his first couple of days in country, so he wasn't available until Monday evening, after finishing up his work-related duties.

As soon as we got the call from him, I headed over to Atsugi to pick him up and bring him back towards Yokosuka. That night, we took it easy, chatted away the night, and made plans for Tuesday. Early Tuesday morning, I got thumbs up from my boss to take the day off, so we headed up to Yokohama. Our first stop was Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. We hopped on board the second fastest elevator in the world to the 69th floor observatory. There, we walked around and marveled at our view, which was clear enough to see the outline (but not all) of Mt. Fuji. After grabbing a round of drinks at the 69th floor restaurant/bar, we headed back down and hopped a train to Chinatown.

In Chinatown, we walked the streets and stopped at various vendors to create a piecemeal lunch. We did some shopping and Dan picked up a few presents around town for his kidlets, then we headed through Motomachi district (the Rodeo Drive of Yokohama) back to the train station. Then we worked our way back to Yokosuka.

For dinner, we decided to take Dan to one of our favorite Thai restaurants... I can't tell you the name because I've never heard it and I can't read it. But it's in the heart of downtown Yokosuka and I've never had a bad bite of food there. We chowed down and left just enough room for dessert... yakitori from a 60 yen street vendor in an alley next to the restaurant. As it turns out the 60 yen per stick of yakitori set us back another 1000 yen, and we learned that Josh has a passion for teriyaki chicken on a stick. But I have to concur... that yakitori was delicious. We polished off 17 sticks of meat between the 4 of us. Afterwards, Dan wanted to wet his whistle, so we asked Nicki if she'd be alright heading back home without us so that we could hit a few bars. Knowing I had to work today, we took it easy, but I was able to show Dan four different drinking establishments in the "Honch" area across from the Yokosuka base's main gate. Because it was a Tuesday, the streets and bars were fairly uncrowded, so it was a relaxing chance for us to just sit back, sip frosty cold beverages, and talk about old times.

This morning, I got up bright and early, tired and unmotivated to go to work, but I made it there anyway. Nicki and Josh took Dan around town to do a bit more shopping and to see some local sights, then they met me for lunch at our favorite ramen shop near base. Between the three of us, we demolished two large bowls of spicy miso ramen, a large plate of chahan (fried rice), and some gyoza (pot stickers). Meanwhile, Josh ate plain white sticky rice happily.

Afterwards, I bid Dan farewell and Nicki drove him to the Fleet and Family Service Center to catch the shuttle bus to Narita. He hopped a 7:00pm flight and should be mid-air as I type this. Thanks for the good times, Danno!