My Weight Loss Journey

MY AMAZING WIFE lost her pregnancy weight; I did not.

That’s kind of how it all started. Just over 32 years ago on March 26, 1988 I married the most amazing woman, and at the time I was a woefully skinny 165 pounds (74.8kg, way too thin for my 6'0" (183 cm) height and big-framed body type). Within six weeks, we learned that we were expecting our first child. Michelle was SO SICK with morning sickness all the time, and quite literally the only food she could keep down was my totally amazing malted milk shakes. So I made one for her every night. Of course, I gulped one (or more) down, too. Nine months later we were blessed with our first child (of six), Justin. Michelle lost her pregnancy weight almost right away; I, of course, kept mine. We went on to have five more children over the next 10 years, so… yes… rinse and repeat five more times.

Me, in an old suit that fit me at about 280 pounds,
and in my new suit, at 200 pounds.

I haven’t weighed less than 200 pounds (90.7kg) since probably 1990, but recently I embarked on a new journey, and in the last year I’ve gone from a peak of 325 pounds (147.4kg)) to, as of this morning, 199.6 pounds (90.5kg) – I’ve hit my 200-pound goal!

I’ve gone from having to wear 4XL shirts and 46-inch waist pants to now regular XL shirts, and my-now-34-inch waist pants are no longer snug (will be in 32s before long). IT HAS BEEN AMAZING!!!

Everybody’s thoughtfulness has motivated and inspired me to keep pressing forward, despite hardships and challenges, and the very fact that I have motivated so many others has me wanting to be successful with this for the rest of my life. I won’t let you down; I’ll keep this weight off and be healthy!

Through it all, the #1 question I’ve heard is “How did you do it?!” So here I share my journey with you…

SEESAW

Recognizing the obvious problems of obesity, I’ve tried to fight it for the last three decades. It was winning. Occasionally, I’d do everything right: diet, exercise, sleep (OK I’ve always been a horrible sleeper so I failed in this category), and within weeks I would lose 20 pounds. However, no matter what I did my weight loss stopped there; I couldn’t lose any more. So I’d give up, go back to “normal” and by the time I added on another 25 pounds or so, I’d repeat the cycle. Hence the 30-year weight-creep.

As such, my doctors and I thought I would be a prime candidate for weight loss surgery because I could lose weight… to a point. I had heard nightmare stories about the traditional gastric bypass surgery and wasn’t too keen on that. However, doctors told me of this relatively new method, a sleeve gastrectomy, generally more tolerable and more effective long-term. I was in!

PREP/SKEPTICISM

In order for my insurance to cover this, they required quite a lot. Specifically:

1.     BMI: I had to medically document at least five years of continuous BMI (body mass index) of at least 35% (35% body fat). Fortunately, I’ve been seeing the same family doctor for 10+ years and this was all well-documented.

2.     Meetings: I had to meet with my surgeon, Dr. David Brown of Idaho Bariatric and Metabolic Institute, monthly for six months, to prepare for pre- and post-surgery life.

3.     Pshrink: I had to pass a psychological evaluation. Whew! Dodged a bullet in passing that one! I was cleared to mentally “handle” this surgery.

4.     Nutritionist: I had to meet with nutritionists to learn about my new diet, and even start that new diet and adapt to it before surgery.

5.     Weight Loss: I had to demonstrate that I could lose weight, before the surgery.

That last one, above, was super easy. True to form, I started on the journey and within two months had lost 20 pounds. I could lose weight, indeed. However, for the next four months, even with the new diet, I could lose no more.

The requirement to meet with my surgeon monthly was supremely annoying. After all, I had committed to this and just wanted to move forward right away. In hindsight (always 20/20), I am now so grateful for this arduous requirement. I solidly believe that six months of prep work is the single biggest key to my success with the journey to date.

Me at 325 and at 210.

Through all of that prep work, Dr. Brown told me over and over again that this surgery would literally change my metabolism and completely alter the way my brain and body reacted to food. He promised me that I would no longer get cravings, that I would never really get super hungry, and that it would likely even change my taste buds and food preferences. I WAS SKEPTICAL!!! “No way!” I insisted.

Now I’m a huge believer. All of that came true! I now even like broccoli, those ridiculous little green trees! My new diet (more on that later) calls for a lots of meats, cheeses, avocados and other high-fat foods with no sugars nor carbs, and also foods like non-root vegetables, and eggs. Last November in Seoul at a pub I ordered water and a cheese plate, and one of the cheeses had apple chunks in it. My colleagues laughed at me because I couldn’t eat that cheese as it was too sweet (they didn’t think it was sweet at all). In January I had a bite of fried pineapple at a churrasco in Tokyo, and it was so sweet it had me on the verge of losing all the wonderful Brazilian meats I had just enjoyed.

An additional part of the pre- and post-op diet prep was that my surgeon taught me new ways to eat (the process). These include:

1. No drinking... anything at all 30 minutes prior to and during a meal.
2. Chew... every bite a minimum of 30 bites.
3. Wait... a minute between each bite of food.

Regarding the no drinking, no problem there. Doing this. Additionally, chewing each bite of food at least 30 times has become second nature. Expect for food like sugar-free Jell-O. Can you imagine chewing Jell-O at all; much less 30 times! Now... waiting a minute in between bites?... NOPE. Doing very poorly there. Ain't nobody got time for that! Besides, if you can take 20 bites of a delicious steak, by the end of those 20 bites the steak would be cold. Not happening!

THE BIG DAY

With all that prep done, the day had come. On September 17, 2019 I had the surgery. It was about an hour-long procedure that the doctor said went very well.

WARNING: This next paragraph may be a bit graphic for some readers, so please proceed with caution. I want to be open and transparent about my journey. Not just share the successes, but also share with you the ugly stuff, too.

When I started waking up in the surgery recovery room, I was a huge, vomitous monster. Oh man the vomiting!!! It’s kind of hard to describe how awful this was. For hours, too, I was unable to pee. Not an uncommon reaction to anesthesia; however, once my bladder ultrasounded at 900+ cc of urine (nearly 1L or 1 quart!), in came the catheter. Finally, everything calming down and I was transferred up to my regular hospital room some 5-6 hours after surgery (quite a bit longer than usual). To add insult to injury, my blood pressure was bouncing all over the place. This yoyo would swing from a high of like 220/160 back down to a closer-to-normal 135/90, and back again, constantly. Later that night I hit my low, the darkest hour in all of this. Sometime around 2am/3am, laying in a quiet, darkened hospital room I had what was probably an anxiety attack. Amidst the pain and barfing, I certainly thought and may have even uttered aloud to nobody in particular, “Oh God! What have I done?!”

However, the next day things started to turn positive. With my BP yoyo-ing they kept this barfmonster in the hospital for two nights instead of the usual one, but I was allowed to go home on September 19^th. Then the fun really began. No… seriously… parts of it were quite fun!

AFTER THE SURGERY

For the first three weeks after surgery, I was on a completely clear liquid diet. However, after 3-4 days I started keeping all of this down as the barfing subsided. After that, I had to do another three weeks of an “interim” diet where I could introduce eggs, no-sugar cheeses, and avocados. We visited the import cheese section of our local grocers and my love of cheese has deepened.

The most fun part of this first six weeks was the daily weigh-ins. Over the last 193 days I’ve lost an average of 0.65 pounds (0.3kg) a day; however, in this first six weeks there were days that I lost over two pounds – it was crazy!

I had been told not to travel for at least three weeks after surgery, which as most of you know, is quite difficult for me. I normally travel up to 300 days a year, mostly to Asia, but also to a lesser extent Europe and even domestically. I wanted to do this right, though, and I committed to stay home and not travel for six weeks. Right at about six weeks I had a need to travel to China, a big trip. So to prepare for it, Michelle and I planned for and pulled off an absolutely amazing 3-day trip to Branson, Missouri beginning on October 21^st – I made it just over four weeks. We had great time!

After those first six weeks, I could return to my “new normal” diet, details to follow.

MY NEW DIET: HYPER KETO

When people hear of my new diet they often ask, “How long do you have to follow that diet?” That’s just it… IT’S LIFELONG. It’s not a transition diet; it’s what I’ll enjoy for the rest of my life, and I’m committed to it. It’s essentially a no-sugars-and-carbs, high-protein, high-fats diet. Some would call that a “keto” diet where your body stays in a constant state of ketosis. The average American consumes about 400 grams (about 14 ounces) of carbs every day. For the Japanese (I’ve looked it up since I spend so much time in Japan), this is about 350 grams. The typical “keto” diet allows 50g to 100g of carbs per day. I strive for no more than 20 grams. Think about all the foods you eat; this is pretty tough! However, I’ve gotten pretty used to it, and I don’t really even count carbs anymore, unless it’s a rare “cheat” day and I pop up over 20 grams of carb in a day (I don’t believe I’ve ever done more than 50g in a day since I started all of this… well except for three days before surgery when the whole family went to Cheesecake Factory and I ordered their three-cheese pasta as a “last big hurrah”).

So what does this mean? It means,

• No pasta, grains, nor breads. I kinda miss pasta but I certainly don’t crave it (again referencing the way the surgery retrains your brain). Completely restraining from bread isn’t a big deal (though lately a grilled cheese sandwich has sounded good). I’m not gonna lie: Asia being my life, I do miss rice.
• No fruit. That’s right… fruit has a lot of naturally occurring sugar in it, so I eat almost no fruit, and I’m OK with that.
• No root vegetables. Though leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus and some other veggies are allowed, things like potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables are absolutely out – loaded with carbs!
• High-protein, high-fat. At first, “Drink only whole milk” and “Sure, dip your fried asparagus in lots of butter” sounded completely contrary to a weight-loss regimen, but I cannot deny the obvious results (though, milk having some carbs, I drink only about one cup every other day)!

I haven’t eaten potatoes; I haven’t had an ice cream sundae in more than 8 months. I will drink an occasional “zero” soda (no fat, no carbs, no sugar) – still not that great for me, but hey… I’m human. I tried a regular Coke in Japan last month and absolutely couldn’t stand it. I’m sure I drank no more than a single ounce, but it tasted so gross to me that the rest of it went down the sink.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND KETO

Yeah, I had heard about keto and was always skeptical, but am now a huge believer.

March 9: I bought an entirely new wardrobe.

The human body needs food for energy, but it’s lazy (like we are). It will ALWAYS choose the EASIEST form of food to convert to energy. That would be carbs and sugars. Loaded up on carbs and sugars, there’s no need for your body to convert fats (the hardest form of food to convert to energy), and those fats ACCUMULATE (one gets fat). Therefore, if you starve your body of carbs and sugars it is forced to burn nothing but fats, which it really gets good at doing.

Sure… there are critics of the keto diet, that it doesn’t supply your body with enough of what it needs. And no diet is perfect (in my view). But… the results are in and who am I to challenge them? All that said, I take a daily bariatric vitamin, I’ll occasionally eat slightly-higher-but-still-low-carb foods when my body feels a genuine need, and my doctors and I are watching all of my blood chemistries and otherwise ensuring that I’m healthy.

And… oh… that “genuine need” that I mentioned above, welcome to the biggest side-effect of a keto diet: constipation. I’ve always considered myself a “regular guy” but now I’m anything but regular – haha! I have a daily dose of MiraLAX, and whenever I need to I’ll eat some fruit, strawberries or the like, to meet my regular needs.

BIGGEST LOSER

Dr. Brown has indicated that I’m one of his “biggest losers” in his many years in practice. As such, there have been times where we’ve worried that I could be losing weight too fast. To make sure I’m doing this safely, my doctors have ordered quite frequent blood tests to monitor all of my blood chemistries. Back in November, I had a potassium deficiency. We solved it by eating a half-a-banana (averages 27g of grabs per banana) every other day for a couple of weeks. It’s back to normal now. In December we started noticing that my liver enzymes were substantially off. We took measures against this, and now all of my enzyme levels are perfect. As are all of my other blood chemistries. It’s amazing!!!

BIG SIDE EFFECT

So here I am the picture of health and fitness, right? Well… yeah… pretty much! However, one very common (so I’ve come to understand) side effect of rapid weight loss is the development of gall stones. We first saw mine back in January when they did an ultrasound of my liver in diagnosing my liver enzymes challenges (the gall bladder is part of this scan). I had that ultrasound in January and the following day took off for Beijing (fear not, the last day I was in China was January 9^th) and Seoul and Tokyo. On the flight over, I had very mysterious back pains which were persistent that whole trip. By the time I landed in Beijing the blood test results were in with a warning from my primary care physician, Dr. Robert Perko: “Watch for abdominal cramping in your upper right side, and nausea. Oh… and don’t be surprised if you have some pain radiate into your back.” Oh really?! That explained the mysterious back pain.

We tried to deal with it naturally over the last couple of months, to no avail. Long story short, I ended up in the hospital emergency room on Wednesday, March 18 in agonizing pain, low-grade fever, and incredible chills. I’ve done the sepsis thing before, so that was a huge concern. Fortunately, there was no infection, and after scrambling to find an available operating room in the COVID-19 era, Dr. Bren Heaton removed my gall bladder and the huge gall stone therein; a single stone larger than a large grape. That was this past Monday, March 23. The first two days of recovery were particularly rough, but now I seem to be on the mend pretty well, only slightly worse for the wear and tear.

There is general consensus that gall stones are a frequent side effect of rapid weight loss, so I solidly blame the weight loss for this last couple of weeks, which have, frankly, been pretty awful! However… would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY!!!

POSITIVE SIDE EFFECTS ALL AROUND

Yes, gall darn it, the gall stone episode was pretty horrible. However, the positive side effects have been many! Here’s a brief summary:

• DIABETES: For more than a decade, with A1C tests measuring in the mid-to-high 6 range, they have called me “pre-diabetic” and I was on Metformin daily and they monitored me frequently. For a couple of quarters, I even popped up above 7 in my A1Cs and they called me “diabetic.” My latest A1C test was 5.1, smack-dab in the middle of the “normal” range of 4-6; they no longer call me diabetic nor pre-diabetic, and I’m off nearly every single one of my medications, including the diabetes-controlling Metformin.
• BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS: Related to above, we tracked my blood sugar levels in real-time quite a bit, and my finger-pricking glucometer had become my friend. While a blood glucose level of about 110-130 mg/dL is relatively normal, mine would occasionally pop up to as high as 220. That wasn’t a big problem; my big problems were when it crashed! I had noticed that if my blood glucose had dropped to 100 mg/dL, I started feeling slightly sick: a very mild but still slightly annoying headache. When it approached 90, I was feeling worse: bad headache, lightheadedness, dizziness, slight fatigue. If it every dropped below 80, I was down and out for the count! Super awful headache, dizzy to the point of not being able to balance, super upset stomach, panic & anxiety… general doom. Doctors had warned me that if I dropped below 70, I could go into a diabetic coma.
  Well… there was a day about six weeks after my surgery that by about 4pm I realized that I had forgotten to eat anything that day. I realized that because I started getting a very slight headache (nothing terrible; just barely noticeable). Out of curiosity, I broke out my trusty dusty glucometer. 74 mg/dL!!! Previously that would have put me in to a near coma; now it gave me only a barely noticeable headache. Before surgery I would have 2-3 Rizatriptan 10mg tablets (migraine medicine) every week. I think since surgery I’ve had 2-3 TOTAL.
• IMPROVED EYESIGHT: Now… this one came as a complete surprise. Last month I had my first eye exam in about 18 months, and I ended up needing a new glasses prescription because my eyesight HAS IMPROVED! This is a result of my blood sugars stabilizing, bringing all sorts of benefit to my eyesight.
• ENDURANCE/ENERGY/EXERCISE: Previously, ascending just 3-4 steps would get me winded. Now I can RUN several flights of stairs and not get all that winded. That’s right; I can RUN. Due to my knee replacement in July 2015, I cannot run on flat ground and I especially cannot run downstairs or on a declining slope – way too much impact on that new hardware and skeletal infrastructure. I have discovered, though, that I can run upstairs and I quite enjoy it! My favorite workout course are the stairs leading up to Shinagawa Station in Tokyo, on the Konan side of the station. As I recall, it’s 52 steps and I’ll run up those stairs, rest while taking the elevator back downstairs, and repeating… over and over again! I get weird looks, but I don’t care.
  

KEEPING WATCH

In the interest of transparency (I told you I’d share the full journey), we’re watching my heart in all of this. Now… I’ve been extremely blessed with a good ticker, having pretty decent blood pressure my entire life (135/85 was “high” for me) despite being obese. My heart rate (pulse) has also always been normal and healthy. However, since the weight loss my resting heart rate is a low 42bpm. Even with vigorous exercise (running) I’m hard-pressed to get my pulse above 120 to 130 bpm. The ideal max heart rate for someone is 220 less their age: mine should be about 167. As the doctors and I are keeping very close watch of my health, I was referred to and this coming Tuesday, March 31 I have an appointment with a cardiologist and we’ll probably do some stress testing, etc.

UPDATED (April 7): Cardiologist appointment:
Saw a specialist about my unusually low heart rate. Doc said, 

• If it were consistently in the 30s, we'd recommend a pacemaker NOW. 
• Even in the 40s, if you had any other symptoms (chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, etc.), we'd also be talking about a pacemaker NOW. As I'm asymptomatic, we will just watch it. 
• Just to further evaluate the situation, in addition to long-term monitoring (and a plan in place for if I ever do get symptoms), I have a heart stress test scheduled for April 23, giving me a month to recover from my gall bladder surgery last week.
• It's very likely I'll end up with a pacemaker in 10-20 years.

So it's actually all news that I'm very happy with, for now.

SECRETS TO SUCCESS

Next to “how did you do it?” the next most popular question of me is, “What’s the secret to your success?” I think these things are key:

1.     NO LONGER HUNGRY: I stop eating when I’m no longer hungry. Previously, I stopped eating when I was full. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. In fact, one time during this journey, when at Del Monico in Las Vegas eating Japanese wagyu and Alaskan king crab, I ate one bite “beyond full” and my wife and kids who were with me said they’ve never seen me run so fast, as I sprinted (as best I can) to the restroom and nearly lost that amazing meal.

2.     DIET ADHERENCE: Sticking to this diet is key. I don’t ever cheat! Well.. that’s a lie. However, I cheat rarely, and when I do, it’s for some need my body is feeling. And it’s in extreme moderation. Even in my worst cheating I’m still at one-eighth of carbs consumed by most Americans.

3.     EXERCISE: Mostly walking. I’ve tried to do a lot of this. And climbing/running stairs. I’ve strived for and often met (especially while traveling) at least 10,000 steps per day. Right now five days out of gall bladder surgery I am not supposed to exert myself nor lift 10+ pounds for 4-6 weeks. We just got a new climbing machine and treadmill, and I can’t wait to get back on them!

4.     NO EMOTIONAL EATING: Admittedly I have an edge here. While I certainly LOVE food and have some favorite foods, I’ve never been an “emotional eater.” I never ate to battle depression nor anxiety. I’ve rarely eaten to cure boredom. I’ve never “needed” to eat to counter anything else going on at the time. This is a big advantage I have, and I’m not sure how to instill that in to anyone nor to train for it.

5.     SOCIAL EATING CONTROL: I’m in business development; have been for 35 years. I’m an extrovert who frequently gathers with a lot of friends, colleagues and family where social eating is a thing… an important thing. Yet, I practice discipline in saying, “No, I’m sorry, with my diet I cannot eat that.” Honestly, growing up and still practicing my faith with abstention to alcohol and tobacco, this has become quite easy over the years. I can’t tell you how many business deals I’ve done in bars yet never lifted a drink! However, the difference now is that I tell people of my journey, and they ensure I don’t cheat. It’s amazing!

6.     SUPPORT SYSTEM: I’m so grateful for my ever-loving, ever-supporting family!!! I’m so glad they cook keto meals when I’m home, despite me telling them not to worry about it, I’ll find something else. And my friends and colleagues have been absolutely amazing.

GOING FORWARD

My target weight when I started all of this was 200 pounds, but I told my surgeon that I would be ecstatic if I hit only 220. He said I could easily beat that, and thinks I’ll setting somewhere in between 180 and 190. Some have asked, “What if you don’t stop losing weight?” to which I say I’m not concerned. Lately the weight loss has dramatically slowed; it has taken 72 days to go from 220 to 200, an average of just a 0.28 pounds (4.4 ounces or just 126 grams) per day. I am NOT worried about wasting away to nothing, but I do believe that 190 is realistic.

I have been profoundly inspired by all of those that I have, ironically, inspired. I’m glad I’ve shared this journey with others. I am beyond grateful for all of the support that EVERYONE has shown me. I would be letting so many people down if I backtracked in this journey. That, and my desire to be around a long time for completely amazing grandchildren (up to six now!), I am committed to this for life, and I appreciate you sharing in my journey.

Thank you.

Merry Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Goodales! 2016 was a bit of a wild ride for all of us, but for us we can summarize it in three words: travel, wedding, and babies!

Standing in front of a mustard field in Vaudoy-en-Brie, France, about 40 miles east of Paris.

     Now for details…

     We’ve had an awesome tradition in our family where Dad takes each of our six kids 1:1 to Japan for their 16^th birthday (one exception being that both Brianna and Andrew went with Dad a few years back). March of this year was the last of those trips. As it was the last of those trips, Steven agreed to have Mom and Grandma come along, as well. For a little more than a week right around Easter time we thoroughly wore out our Japan Rail passes and explored Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Nagasaki, Nagoya and Toyota (where Dad served for 10 months back in 1986). What an incredible time we had (see photo album here)! We’re pretty sad these trips are done, and already thinking of the next great travel tradition we need to establish.

At Ootorii Gate at Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island, Japan.

     We have that great Japan tradition from John having served a mission to the Japan Nagoya mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1985 to 1987, and Michelle has had a lifelong desire to take the entire family to France after her having served in the France Paris mission of the church during that same timeframe. In May 2016 that dream finally came true! We took 14 people to France and man was it ever the trip of a lifetime! After an overnight flight across The Pond, we had a 10-hour layover in London en route to Paris. Even the jet lagged grandbabies did a great job on our whirlwind tour of London, seeing the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, and all kinds of London landmarks. During our week in Paris we stayed at a beautiful, quaint converted farmhouse about 40 miles east of Paris, and used that as our launching point for Versailles, Normandy, Mont Saint Michel, Disneyland Paris and of course Paris itself. Of course, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, strode the halls of the Louvre and did all of those great things; however, probably even more memorable will be things like trying to find cover around the Eiffel Tower in an absolute downpour, squeezing our 14 people in to small Parisian cafes, and getting separated on metro cars or even in our two rental cars across hundreds of miles of French countryside. It was an awesome trip that will be hard to top! You’ll find pics here.

Grandma Nancy (Cotter), Kathryn Wheeler, Justin, Julia, Brooke, Caroline, Christopher, Brianna, Vivian, John, Michelle, Andrew, Mark and Steven at Buckingham Palace in London.

     In July, we welcomed another member to the Goodale family, so welcome to the “wedding” part of the year! Andrew and Leslie got married and we’re thrilled to have Leslie as part of the family; more updates on their section of this letter, later on.

Welcome to the family Leslie!

     Michelle and I have had a lot of titles over the years, but by far our favorite titles have been “Grandma” and “Grandpa” – the best jobs ever!!! It’s been so fun watching our two granddaughters continue to grow up this year; Vivian and Caroline are the cutest! Just this month we welcomed a grandson.

     Rounding out the “travel” part of this year, Steven did an exchange trip to Germany and Brianna is currently doing a semester abroad in Spain. The young tech startup that John had been working for ran out of money and shut down in September and he has been doing some consulting work since then. One of his consulting clients sent him to Vienna in November. Michelle went along with him, and Brianna met up with them while they were there. They spent some time in Prague and Vienna and had a great time; pics here.

At the State Opera House in Vienna, Austria.

     We hope that 2016 was great for you, and wish you a joyous 2017!

Justin & Julia and Family…

     Justin and Julia and their growing family have had a great year! They like to travel, and their passion is the national parks of the U.S. Two-year-old Vivian has seen more national parks than 50-year-old Grandpa Goodale has! They got to see a ton of Colorado and surrounding area while Justin was doing an internship in Colorado Springs this summer. They didn’t get to see as much as they would have liked to as Julia was still pretty sick with morning sickness, but still they got around a bit. That’s right… I mentioned morning sickness. Julia went through most of 2016 pregnant, and on December 2^nd, Ivan Wesley Goodale was welcomed in to the world. He’s such a cute new addition to our family! As soon as Ivan got out of the hospital, it was right back to finals week for Justin, as he’s in the ROTC program at Utah State University and doing well there.

Christopher & Brooke and Family…

     Christopher and Brooke had a busy year, juggling work, school, and raising darling little Caroline. She talks, walks, runs, climbs, is learning sign language (it’s adorable!), and does the cutest animal impressions. The regular Army took all of the National Guard Apache helicopters this year, so for his job at our local Gowen Field Christopher had to be re-classed to doing the avionics on the Blackhawk and Chinook airframes. They loaded up their little car with as much as they could (including a cat and 2 dogs) and drove across the country to Fort Eustis in Virginia for the summer. They had a fun road trip both out there and back. While juggling full time work, working their big property (and Christopher’s workshop – he loves it!) in Nampa and now raising horses (Brooke inherited two horses from her grandfather in October), Christopher is majoring in Construction Management at Boise State and is enjoying that, as well.

Brianna

     Brianna is close to wrapping up her studies (Spanish major) at Utah State University, and this semester is doing a semester abroad at the Universidad de La Rioja in Logroño, Spain. She is absolutely LOVING Spain. She loves her host family, she loves her classes (even her French class), she loves the food, and she loves having so many new friends from all over the Europe (and indeed all over the world) participating in the exchange program there. She has seen much of Spain, has run around Portugal, was able to visit Michelle and I in the Czech Republic and Austria, and this Christmas break will get to spend some time in Corsica and Italy. Her experiences there have given her an even greater love for all cultures, people and languages! She worked her tail off during the Spring semester earlier this year and over the summer to finance her adventures, and is looking forward to getting back to Logan in January and finding work while continuing her studies there.

Andrew & Leslie

     July 7^th was a big day for our family! Andrew married Leslie Jenson. She is originally from Lewiston, Idaho but graduated from Boise State University (they met through BSU’s Singles Ward) and works as a Certified Paraoptometric at a local eye doctor’s office here. She can tell us anything about our eyes (and a good deal more that we probably don’t want to know!) and she’s just great! Andrew is going to school full time at BSU, and working nearly full time at Fred Meyer (a local grocery/retail chain store part of the Kroger family) working the graveyard shift. Leslie and Andrew are really great for each other, and we’re really happy to have her in our family. Welcome aboard the Crazy Train Leslie!

Mark

     Mark has had a busy year studying International Business at Boise State University while working several jobs. All year long he has been the Idaho State Chair for the Young Americans for Liberty (YAL). He creates and develops chapters for this diverse network of student activists within YAL and like-minded organizations. He attended their national conference in Washington, D.C. this summer and really loved that. In the Spring he also coached the J.V. lacrosse team at Centennial HS. Mark continues to be a Manager at Peterson’s Concessions when they do events around the Treasure Valley mostly during the summer months. Then in September he got a job as a Sales Associate at Best Buy and is really loving that (even during the crazy retail holiday rush); he continues to be one of the region’s top performing associates and has been identified as such by management at the company’s HQ.

Steven

     Steven is in his junior year in high school, and has had a great year. He enjoys serving on the Student Council, and has particularly enjoyed his German classes throughout high school. This past summer through the German American Partnership Program (GAPP) he spent nearly a month in Rutesheim, Germany. He stayed with a family there, whose 15-year-old son we hosted in our home the previous October – it’s so fun to be friends with these families in other countries! He loved Germany and would definitely like to spend more time there in the future. On the way home his travel group also spent a day in Reykjavík, Iceland; what a cool experience that was! So this year Steven has been to Japan, England, France, Germany and Iceland. It’s also pretty cool that videogaming helped with those experiences. More than once when we were visiting the beaches of Normandy he said, “Hey I’ve defended that church in Call of Duty.”

Japan with Mark (March 2013)

OK so I'm a little slow in posting this. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the long read. As many of you know, Japan is my second home and I love sharing it with my family. I take each of my children there to celebrate their 16th birthday. Last March I took Mark there (my 5th of 6th children; only one more to go and I'll be sad these trips end!). We have always gone over Spring Break, have a week-long JR rail pass, and go all over Japan. At the end of each day I have sent an e-mail home summarizing our daily activities, each e-mail building on the last, so that by the end it comprises a full trip report. Below is that full trip report, with some pictures thrown in. If you start from the bottom up, you'll get it in sequential order. And coincidentally, all 810 pics and videos are posted here in my Flickr album, but with no explanation.
==========
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2013 11:21 AM
Subject: Japan Trip: DAY NINE

Writing about the final day (Monday, March 25, 2013) several days later. It ended up being a really short, long day. Details below:

• 57. Tokyo Exploration: Monday was supposed to be our day to explore Tokyo, before a midnight flight (technically 12:05am Tuesday, after a full Monday in Tokyo) that night. We were super pooped out by Sunday night, though, so we slept in a bit, thinking we had all kinds of time before our 8:35pm bus from the Park Hyatt Shinjuku to Tokyo Haneda airport that night. We about 10:30am we checked out of the Park Hyatt, left our suitcases and all of our stuff with the bell desk there, and set out for nearby Shibuya. Made it that far. From there we were going to get in the Ginza subway line all the way to the other end of that line to Asakusa and Kaminarimon/Sensoji Temple – we even made it there. From there, we were going to take a "water bus" down the Sumida River to the Odaeba area then wind our way back to Harajuku to see wacky afternoon cosplay and "Harauku girls" and end up back near the Park Hyatt for our bus – but most of this got cut short. But before I get to that story…

  

  It's too bad the big "Kaminarimon" lantern at Asakusa was under repair. Every tourist and their dog (quite literally sometimes) takes their picture under this.

• 58. "Times Square" of Tokyo: The Shibuya Crossing is where a couple of streets converge and there are high-rise buildings surround the intersection and those buildings are adorned with huge TVs – it looks like Times Square of New York City. When the traffic lights stop vehicle traffic, pedestrians cross every which way and it's really wild! We got there in the late morning but it was still a trip (it always is). I told Mark there are 4-5 times more people during rush hour. In the movie "Need For Speed: Tokyo Drift" it's this intersection where they're street racing and the cars drift through this intersection and the people magically part and the cars go right through – this would never happen in real life. Anyway it was fun to walk through with Mark.

  

  Shibuya Crossing.

• 59. Japanese Pizza: In Shibuya, we went to a Shakey's Pizza, an old American pizza chain that I haven't seen any place in America in a LONG time. It's not the best pizza around, but they have an all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta buffet – perfect for a 16-year-old boy! Mark discovered they make weird pizza even at American pizza chains in Japan. For example, they like putting corn on any pizza, even pepperoni. Mark tried pizza with shrimp on it. Lots of the stuff was weird, but you can make special requests and they'll put it on the buffet, so we did that, too. It was pretty decent.

  

  Mark at Shakey's Pizza in Shibuya, with a "Club Sega" (arcade) in the background.

• 60. Hachiko: Are you familiar with the Hachiko story? Look it up; it's touching. It's the Shibuya train station where the dog Hachiko waited for its owner in the 1930s, and there's a statue of Hachiko there. I took a picture of Mark by the statue (attached).

  

  Mark with Hachiko in Shibuya.

• 61: Downhill #1: At Shibuya station, the day started going downhill. Our Japan Rail passes had expired the previous day, and as we were taking the subway anyway they wouldn't have worked. So as I was standing by the Ginza subway line ticket machines looking to see how much I should add to the second commuter card I carry for when I'm in Japan with a guest, I remembered that I was down to 3,000 JPY (still enough to cover the commuter card but not enough for the rest of the day) and I said to Mark, "Oh shoot… I forgot that while in Shibuya I was going to look for an ATM." At which point, this other white guy nearby said, "Do you need some money? I've got some spare coins." I told him that I had enough and was OK, but then he asked me which machine he should use (there were two distinctly different-looking machines) and if I knew how much it would cost to go to Ueno. Without even looking at the guy, I pointed to the ones on the right and quickly said, "Those are for recharging commuter cards, so you use the ones on the left." I then looked up at the fare charts (all in Japanese), quickly scanned for Ueno, said "190 yen" and then stepped up to the machine. Still without even looking at the guy I punched the button for single rider, then the button for 190 and then said "There you go…" and then left it for him to put the money in and get his ticket. It was after I got on the subway train myself that I realized that I was SO TOTALLY FOCUSED on the task of what the guy asked for that I never ever even paid attention to him. Sure I answered his question, but I should have stopped, been more considerate, offered more help, and asked something like, "Are you trying to get anywhere in particular in Ueno?" (I know Ueno fairly well). But NO… I focused totally on the task and not the person. Never a good idea. So at this point I was feeling TOTALLY GUILTY, when while on the subway I hear from Michelle…
• 62: Downhill #2: So we're on the subway heading to Asakusa when Michelle replies to my post from Shakey's asking, "Did you see my text messages about your flights?" I hadn't, so I turned on my U.S. phone to retrieve said text messages, which basically said, "What are you doing in Japan? You're supposed to be on a flight home." I'm like, "No. Our flight is tonight." And so we went back and forth on text. I asked her to call the American Executive Platinum line to confirm our flights, and if we missed them, what we could do about it.

  

  On the subway, Mark and I sat across this cute old couple dressed colorfully. They were out to exercise, wethinks. Man they were fit, and they were about a bazillion years old. I snapped this picture after they exited the train (see them in the upper left).

• 63. Missed Flight: While Mark is shopping at the souvenir shops at Asakusa at about 2pm, Michelle confirms by text message that she's on with AA, and our departure from Tokyo Haneda had left about 14 hours previously and is already in San Francisco! Oops!!! I have no idea how I've screwed this up so badly – it's not like I travel all the time. I've never missed flights like this. I had somehow put it on my calendar incorrectly.
• 64. Miracle Dash Home: Though we had bus tickets from Shinjuku to Tokyo Haneda airport at 8:35pm, at 2pm Michelle learns from AA that they can get us on a flight from Tokyo Narita airport to Chicago departing at 6:45pm. Yikes!!! We've got to cross to the other side of Tokyo to get our stuff from the hotel, then cross back all the way to Narita (quite far from Shinjuku). We made the Narita Express train from Shinjuku just in time; a few minutes later and we would have cut it really close making it to Narita. Not only was the dash miraculous, superwoman Michelle managed to work with both AA (Tokyo to Chicago) and UA (Chicago to Boise) to change our reward tickets at no cost, even though we missed our flights at no fault of the airlines – really miraculous.

  

  What? Only business class? What torture I put my kids through on trans-Pacific flights!

So we finally made it home, and 10 hours later I was back at the airport on a flight to San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference. Mark and I had a great time, though I feel really badly that we missed most of our sightseeing in Tokyo! I guess now that Andrew and Brianna have missed monkeys and Disneyland while in Japan a couple of years ago and Mark has missed Tokyo, I have to take all of them back! Though, Michelle says it's her turn to start traveling overseas with the kids, to France! Fair enough. I've posted all of the pictures from our trip, up on Facebook. I hope you've enjoyed the reports and the pictures!

Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 9:37 AM
Subject: Japan Trip: DAY EIGHT

Writing day eight (Sunday, March 24, 2013) after having already left Japan, the last bit of time in Japan a bit of a relaxed whirlwind. :-)

• 49. Attending Church in Toyota: There have been a few folks (work associates, etc.) whom have been interested in my reports whom I have forwarded these to, so I've kept them religion-neutral (like my comments in #36), but I'll do a much deeper dive here (I hope it's not too boring):

  

  Mark in front of the Toyota church building.

• 49a-e. I had typed up some very personal notes (5 of them) regarding Toyota and the 10 months that I served as a missionary there in 1986-1987. I'm not posting them here publicly, but if you're interested in seeing them or hearing about them, please feel free to ping me, at johncgoodale[at]gmail.com.
• 50. Nagoya Castle: After attending church in Toyota, Mark and I went back up to Nagoya (about a 45-minute train/subway ride), checked out of our hotel, and went to visit Nagoya Castle. I like this castle because it's one of the biggest in Japan, established by the Tokugawa Shogunate as a stronghold against central Japan attacks from the Okazaki area. After visiting smaller castles the likes of Nijo Castle in Kyoto, even Mark said, "Now THIS is the kind of castle I was expecting to see." One of the unique things about the Nagoya Castle is that the main castle has two giant gold dolphins at the top of it. Mark keeps insisting on calling these "fish" and so he's conceded they are "dolfish" - you'll find a picture of him posted on Facebook of him riding a mockup of one of these, inside the castle.

  

  Mark sitting atop one of the life-size replicas of the golden dolphins atop the Nagoya Castle.
• 51. WW2 Bombings/Fires: Like so many cities in Japan, Nagoya was very heavily bombed during WW2, especially in the opening half of 1945. More people died and more property destruction was wreaked in these bombings than in the atomic bomb attacks, but obviously it was the singular nature of those latter attacks that makes them stand out. The Nagoya Castle, like so many others, burned completely to the ground in these bombings, but was faithfully reconstructed (I think it was in 1959).

  

  Nagoya Castle.
• 52. Shinkansen Back To Nagoya: It was kind of with sadness that we used our JR Rail Passes for the last time on the trip, to head from Nagoya back to Tokyo that evening (a short, 90-minute train ride). Little did we know that we really should have gone straight from Tokyo station to the airport to fly home – more on that mixup later!
• 53. Dinner with the Kamiyas: When I was 16 years old, we had a home stay student from Japan stay with us when we lived in Whittier (it was just Mom, Susan and me at home then). Yosuke Kamiya was our home stay student, and during the three short weeks he was with us, he and I became good friends. He's two years younger than I am, and he's now married and has two kids. He and I have kept in touch over the years, and we see each other frequently in Tokyo. Mark and I met with he, his wife Noriko, and his oldest daughter Yumi in Shinjuku for dinner Sunday night. Their youngest daughter, Schmelzidorf, was away at a school field trip to Kyoto and Nara (too bad we just missed her there!). Yuki just graduated from high school and starts college on April 1st, studying Applied Chemistry. I would make some sort of joke here about applying chemistry, but I'm worried about what sort of reaction it would get.

  

  At dinner with the Kamiyas.

• 54. Shabu Shabu: We had intended to go out for a yakinuku dinner, and Mark was hoping to get tongued again, but all of the yakiniku places were busy. So we went to a shabu shabu restaurant, instead. Not a bad second choice. Shabu Shabu is where they serve you really thinly sliced beef, and you cook it in a pot of boiling water at your table. It's pretty yummyriffic!!! In China this meal is referred to as "hot pot" so some of you may have heard of it as this.
• 55. Yakiniku/Tonguing: OK that comment above deserves some explanation. Wednesday night (day four) in Kyoto we went out for a yakiniku dinner. This is where you have a grill at your table, and you order various slices of meat (beef, chicken, pork – though purists stick with beef) and cook it right there at the table. One of the more popular items to order is beef tongue. I didn't even let Mark know that's what he was eating until he was chewing on it. He said it was good. Not anything like you'd expect, really. Now… I did NOT order up any "naizo" (innards like intestines) - that stuff DOES taste like you'd expect.
• 56. Five Star Treatment: Sunday night, even though our beds should have been business class seats on a JAL flight (more on that later), I had made reservations for us, using points, at the Park Hyatt Shinjuku. For those of you whom have seen an edited-for-airlines version of R-rated "Lost in Translation" this is the hotel where much of the movie is filmed in the bar up on the 52nd floor with Bill Murray drinking while soaking in the sounds of jazz music up there. It truly is as picturesque up there as the movie depicts. Just based on my stays at the Grand Hyatt Taipei last year, I qualified for Hyatt's Gold Passport membership, and so we really got treated well there. As we got out of the taxi, the bellman downstairs took our suitcases and radio'd upstairs that we were on our way. By the time that we got to the 41st floor lobby, there was a staff member there by the room elevators, taking us straight to our 48th floor room checking us in there. By far, one of the nicer hotels Mark has ever stayed at. And it cost us NOTHING.:-)

  

  The view from our 48th floor room at the Park Hyatt Shinjuku, looking nearly straight down at night.

Day eight (Sunday) was relatively relaxed so it was nice. Though Mark and I both commented that our legs were super tired, which was weird because we hardly did anything. I told him it was the accumulated effect of everything we had done that week. We had a pretty busy day scheduled for day nine, so we started it out by sleeping in anticipating plenty of time to explore Tokyo. But then it turned crazy…

Subject: Japan Trip: DAY SEVEN

For day seven (Saturday, March 23), we initially had two options: travel east from Hiroshima to either Osaka and visit Universal Studios Japan, or (near) Kobe and visit Himeji Castle. We scrapped both of those options, and instead went further west (and slightly south) to Nagasaki. A couple of reasons, which I'll get in to:

• 39. Nagasaki/Hiroshima Comparison: Mark really seemed to be interested in the Hiroshima memorial museum while we were there, so I thought it would be interesting for him to have a contrast for him with Nagasaki.
• 40. Flower Shots: Sakura, or "cherry blossoms" in English, move from west (south) to east (north) in Japan starting in about mid-March through May, for about 7-10 days in each area. Everywhere we had been this past week, there have been just a few trees in bloom, and sakura was not in full effect. Yet Mark was always trying to get good pictures of these.

  

  Picture of flowers in Nagasaki (Mark took this picture with my Canon; 1/125, f13).

• 41. "Budding" Photographer: Nagasaki didn't disappoint. The westernmost (southernmost) location we visited, sakura was nearly in full bloom throughout Nagasaki; it was quite pretty. Mark took quite a few pictures of the flowers, and they're really good. As I said, Mark is quite the "budding" photographer, and he's taken some great shots on this trip. He's also had a ton of fun with water shots, catching waterfalls and fountains, from blurry super slow shutter speeds of a couple of seconds to catching every droplet at 1/4,000 second.

  

  Stop action fountain shot in Nagasaki (Mark took this with my Canon; 1/4,000, f4.5).

• 42. Losing Mark: It was on one of those flower shooting sessions where I lost Mark today. We found this narrow little trail half-way up the hillside between the atomic bomb memorial museum and the memorial park, and it was a great trail. Mark went crazy talking pictures on this trail, and got ahead of me. Before long, he and I got separated. I thought, "Oh great! Michelle's really gonna get mad at me for losing Mark in Japan!" Mark stated that the ladies in Japan would be happy if I lost him there. Actually, I wasn't too worried that we wouldn't find each other again; my only worry was that we had to get back to the Nagasaki station for a 3:21pm departure or we wouldn't make our final destination (Nagoya) of the day. But I found him probably 10 minutes later, so we were all good.

  

  We made our train in Nagasaki.

• 43. Nagasaki: So here we have our contrast. While the Hiroshima experience is "real" yet positive, the Nagasaki experience is very real, dark, and negative. From the outset, you walk in to the museum and it literally is dark (very low lighting) with ominous music being piped in. There are also dozens and dozens of pictures of charred bodies and very negative commentary. One picture actually showed a mother nursing a baby in the days after the bombing, but then commented that the baby didn't have strength to suckle so it died a few days after the photo was taken. It's just plain depressing.

  

  At the Nagasaki Peace Park.

• 44. Photo Realism: I think there are a couple of reasons why the Nagasaki memorial experience is so much more depressing. The first and foremost is that there is just a lot more photographic evidence of the death and destruction from that bombing. Already, the press had descended on Hiroshima in the aftermath of the August 6, 1945 (Monday) bombing. Nagasaki wasn't too far away when it was bombed three days later, so photographers could get there more readily = more pictures were taken. Additionally, and this is my observation from the two memorials and the cities, the topography of the Nagasaki hypocenter (where the bomb detonated) and surrounding area is far more hilly, and offered some practical protection. Therefore, whereas in Hiroshima where literally everything within 800 meters was literally vaporized, at Nagasaki there were things within 500 meters were not vaporized. Therefore, a lot more to photograph, and a lot more victims (putting it harshly, human remains) to be photographed. Therefore, the pictorial displays at the Nagasaki memorial are very graphic.

  

  A clock not far from the hypocenter of the Nagasaki atomic bomb blast, in display at the Nagasaki Peace Museum.

• 45. Kokura/Nagasaki: I had known previously that Kokura had been the primary target on August 9th, and that it was bypassed because of cloudy weather which had obstructed the view for what was a required visual bombing run. What I had not known, which I learned today, was that they flew over the backup city, Nagasaki, twice that morning, and it had been cloudy, as well. They were about to head back for lack of fuel when a third run over the city presented a clearing and they proceeded. Kokura really avoided a tragic fate that day, and Nagasaki nearly did, as well. You wonder if they had had to abandon the mission that day, that combined with Russia declaring war against Japan on August 8, 1945 (a fact not widely known, methinks), if the Japanese would have eventually surrendered, anyway, and the second bombing would have not occurred. Interesting to think about.
• 46. Gastronomic Gifts: We've tried to economize on this trip, and instead of $30 (per person) or more buffet breakfasts at hotels, we've done Egg McMuffins and pancakes at Mickey Dees many mornings. We even broke down and at Nagasaki station this afternoon ate at a KFC. No, that's not "Kyoto Fish Concoctions" but "Kentucky Fried Chicken." We've done some nice meals, too; the teppanyaki the other night was to die for - several cows probably did. Today the KFC wasn't too bad. However, what we saw next to us was with the additional six hours on the train (round trip between Hiroshima and Nagasaki). As follows (#46)…
• 47. Fashion Freak: So under the guise of taking a picture of Mark eating some yummy(?) KFC, I really focused on this wonderment wizard sitting next to us, and even cropped a blurry Mark out in the final photo. So this young guy is wearing… bowling shoes(?), short pants, a leopard skin pullover shirt, and a green-and-yellow beanie ski cap (frustrated Oregon Ducks fan?). And his mother let him out in public like that? It could have only been topped off if he had been wearing shark shorts and holding a Barney doll, while getting his picture taken with Santa Claus. I'm typing this on the train with Mark sitting next to me, and he made me type that last sentence ("Whatever…" he says).

  

  Who learned this guy how to dress?

• 48. "Train"ing: Mark has gotten pretty good at this whole train thing. We just switched trains at Shin-Osaka station (from Hakata, down in Fukuoka), which is a huge train station in central Japan. I overheard the announcement on our inbound train that we were coming in on track 20, and our departing train for Nagoya was departing from track 25. We had only 7 minutes to make the connection. Mark hopped right off, followed all the signs, and the old man followed to the next track. He even made it right to our car number. The Japan Rail Pass is absolutely amazing; we've gotten such amazing value out of these things!

Mark in front of the "Peace Statue" at Nagasaki Peace Park.

Subject: Japan Trip: DAY SIX

Not writing this until the end of day seven, as at the end of day six went to bed early because 1) we were super tired, and 2) we needed to get up early this morning for a long day of travel. But day six comprised mostly of Miyajima.

• 30. "We're All the Same" Observation: I'll start out today's report by commenting on Mark's recent observation a couple of times on this trip that it really doesn't feel like we're in a foreign land, and really the only thing that separates people is language. I point out things like there are oodles of houses with blue tile rooftops, or that there are vending machines dispensing just about anything on every corner, or that there are buildings here that are thousands of years old and that things are vastly different here than back at home. But I guess to an extent, Mark is right: people are the same. We all smile. We all try to be happy and do what's right. We all want to please others. We all try to communicate. The only thing that differentiates us all is language. Anyway, Mark has made this observation a couple of times, and at one point he said he would write a paper on it. He volunteered to write a paper. I think he must be missing school! Anyway… I wonder if he would feel any different if I wasn't here knowing the way, and knowing the language, and if he were here like a fish out of water. But probably not… in all of my overseas travels, it all starts to develop a sense of "sameness" after a while, even in new places.
• 31.  Water Bus: So that's what they call it, anyway. It's just a high-speed (kind of) boat that transports people. Our taxi driver from Hiroshima station to our hotel told me that they  have one from Hiroshima Peace Park to Miyajima, that departed from very near our hotel. I never knew it was there, so we took that to Miyajima yesterday (on previous trips I had always taken the train, then a short ferry ride). Good times!

  

  A great picture Mark got of a seagull, drafting off our wake in the water bus to Miyajima.

• 32. Miyajima: Miyajima is a small island, probably 3x5 miles, rising to about 1,600 feet at its peak, Mt. Misen, just a couple miles offshore from just south of Hiroshima. It's a place steeped in culture and I love it! Two of its most prominent features are the Itsukushima Shrine and O-torii Gate. When the tide is in, this Shinto shrine which is up on stilts is surrounded by water on three sides, and the O-torii Gate, out just further from it in the water, appears to be floating in water. When the tide is out, the shrine is surround by sand on three sides, and you can actually walk out to the O-torii Gate. It's just gorgeous! When Mark and I were there, the tide was up just far enough to keep us from getting to the O-torri Gate by only 40-50 feet. But we got close to it and got some good pictures. There are all kinds of temples dotting the island, and several pagodas, as well (including a really cool five-story pagoda). There is a ropeway that takes you up to nearly the summit, and its an impressive, steep ride up in a gondola suspended by cable. To get to the summit requires a "walk" of about two-thirds of a mile (1.0km) from the upper ropeway station. The walk descends from the ropeway station several hundred feet before rising again to go to the summit, for a vertical climb of probably 500 feet over that mile. The views are beautiful along the way. There used to be monkeys near that upper ropeway station; when I was there with both Justin and Christopher (two separate trips), there were monkeys – a lot of them!!! But on these last two visits, there were no monkeys! :-(

  

  O-torii Gate from the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima with the mainland in the background.

• 33. Rule-Busting: The signs suggested that the 1.0km from the upper ropeway station to the Mt. Misen summit should take about 30 minutes. I didn't want to hold Mark back, and he wanted to break that 30-minute rule, anyway, so I gave him my BlackBerry (to communicate with my iPhone if he needed to) and turned him loose. He hustled it and got a good workout in the process. He made it up to the summit, took dozens of pictures on the way and while up there, and made it back, all within 30 minutes. He broke that rule! There's another rule, or more like a legend, on Miyajima. And that is that it is forbidden to be born or to die on Miyajima. So… not wanting to break that rule, also, I held back. Somehow I had a muscle strain in my right calf. Between that and my bad left knee, and I'm sure the full 1.0km walk to the summit would have killed me, and I would have broken the rule. And we all know that I'm opposed to breaking rules! So I hiked only to about the 400 meter point and back, which still had a vertical climb of a couple hundred feet. And I thought Mark might have to piggyback me out of there.

  

  Mark while climbing on Miyajima.

• 34. Brilliant Idea/Getting Lost: Having been to Miyajima three times previously, I wanted to see some parts of it that I'd never seen before. So I got a brilliant idea: looking at the English-language tourist map they give you, I decided to take the "Yamabe Path" which was supposed to lead us right by three different temples that I had never seen on the island before, on the way back to the port to take the ferry back. Word to the wise: don't do this! First of all, the "path" is not labeled in English, at least not the same way it is on the map. I don't know how non-Japanese readers would navigate this. Secondly, the "path" is merely a dirt trail a couple of feet wide in some places, with no markings whatsoever, and you wonder if it's even a path at all. Thirdly, there are forks in the path every few hundred feet, with no signs indicating which way to go! You'd venture down one fork, get a sense that it was the wrong way, retrace your steps, take the other fork, then a few hundred feet down that fork, you'd then pick up the "Yamabe Path" sign (only in Japanese, of course), finally learning you were on the right track. At one point we finally found one of the "temples" and it was almost exactly like a house; we're not sure it wasn't – we didn't venture inside. We never found the other two, and eventually realized we'd lost the trail and were lost. Of note, our entire time on this "Yamabe Path" we encountered only two other people, a couple of Japanese ladies who looked just about as lost as we did.

  

  WARNING: Two weird gaijin in the mirror above!

• 35. Fine Job, Moses: …so after being lost for a bit from the Yamabe Path on Miyajima, Mark took the map, pointed to it, and said confidently, "I know where we're at." After he lead us several hundred feet to a dead-end from which we then had to back track, I hinted, "Brilliant work, Moses; can I look at the map before we're lost in the wilderness for 40 years?" After he said, "Let's go that way!" I insisted we go in the opposite direction, from which we eventually found a main road, which led us back to the port.

  

  A view while we were walking around "lost" on the Yamabe Path on Miyajima.

• 36. Life Parallels: I suppose there are life parallels in all of this getting lost business. Take a well-marked path and have good reference materials, and in the end trust a higher source (in this case, that higher source may well have been a GPS satellite). :-)

  

  Mark on a cool bridge while we were hiking around Miyajima.
• 37: Ferry/Train: We safely made it to the port, and this time we took the ferry back to the mainland, then took the train back to Hiroshima, where we went to my favorite Italian restaurant in Japan. But what is a daily report from me without a bad pun? On the ferry I suggested to Mark that it would be a great life ambition to work driving one of these fine ships and then he could be called a ferry man, but he didn't think it was a good idea. 16-year-old football/lacrosse player… hoodathunk he would have shaken his head and rolled his eyes on that one?! :-)
• 37. In All Fairness to Mark: In all fairness to Mark's wonderful sense of direction on Miyajima, I should have listened to him back at Hiroshima station. So if I can set the scene here, I told Mark that I was taking him to my favorite Italian restaurant in Japan, but that I had no idea what it was called, nor did I have any idea where exactly it was, and that it was near a Toyoko Inn. Only that I would know it when I saw it, especially if we took the right exit from the station. Well… when we got off the train and exited the station, I told Mark that it absolutely didn't look right. He suggested we go downstairs, underneath the station, and exit the other side. But I persisted and went the wrong way. Well guess what… I should have listened to Mark. Once we got completely lost on the wrong side of the station, we went back to the station, went downstairs, exited the other stairs, spotted the taller Toyoko Inn building, and ended up at "Giovani" within minutes.
• 38. Great Italian: Had an amazing Italian dinner at Giovani near Hiroshima Station (near the Toyoko Inn on the Shinkansen Plaza exit side of the station, for the record). Super yummy!

  

  At "Giovani" in Hiroshima, one of the best Italian restaurants I've ever been to.

Mark eating "katsudon" (rice in a bowl, with fried pork cutlet and eggs); he's getting quite good with chopsticks.

Subject: Japan Trip: DAY FIVE

I apologize in advance: Despite yesterday's light-hearted and admittedly awful puns (sorry!!!), today's report offers up some pretty serious topics.

Today we traveled from Kyoto to Hiroshima (by Shinkansen or "bullet train" about two hours):

• 23. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (#1): Located on the grounds of the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park is a sprawling museum that is extremely well done. This was our first stop today (after checking in to our hotel). On display there is the history of Hiroshima, from pre-war times through the events leading up to the atomic bombing, through that day and the immediate aftermath, to the long-term effects of the bomb. The museum is extremely sobering and thought-provoking, as well as humbling. It makes you recognize the incredible evil of war, without making you feel ashamed of humanity – an extremely difficult balance. You somehow don't come out of the experience feeling depressed, yet you're tempted to cry for the immense pain and sorrow for all those who suffered there (and still suffer today – there are more than 260,000 Hiroshima survivors registered today). It's really tough to describe.

  

  You can see the museum here in the background, with the foregound of the reflection pool in Peace Park.

• 24. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (#2): While strolling the museum today, I eavesdropped in a volunteer there speaking to some Japanese tourists, and he was talking about one of the photographs on display there. There was a newspaper cameraman who was a few kilometers from the hypocenter (where the blast was centered), who went in to take pictures. He was so struck by the devastation and death that he managed to take only five pictures of the people that day (two are on display in the museum). He pointed to a couple of people in the photograph (a 5-foot-or-so enlargement that was rather grainy but clear enough). One was a girl, 13 years old at the time, who was in a concrete building 2.3km from the hypocenter at the time of the blast, who is still alive today. She has spoken to museum volunteers (he has heard her speak), and she talked about her experiences that day. She was relatively uninjured and did her best to help others. Another woman in the photograph is holding a blackened object that is unclear in the photo, but the then-13-year-old describes the object as the woman's dead infant, whom she refused to let go of for hours.
• 25. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (#3): This was my third trip to Hiroshima with my kids, and I've also been here once with work associates, as well. One one of those previous trips, speaking of eavesdropping on the museum volunteers, I heard one of them say that as horrible as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bombs were, they were key to ending the war. Otherwise, there would have been an invasion of the main islands, where at least one million people would have died, as explained by the volunteer. That helps put perspective on the horrific nature of the atomic bombs.

  

  A memorial to the victims of the Hiroshima A-bomb, with Genbaku Dome in the background.

• 26. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (#4): If you ever visit the museum, definitely rent the audio guide (300 JPY) to use as you walk around. Amongst the hundreds (thousands?) of items on display, there are 56 items that have an audio guide number printed next to them. Enter the number on the guide and it will play a story/definition through an earpiece to you that is really interesting/sobering/tearjerking/informational. Only one scene is particularly gruesome; it'll leave you kind of speechless.
• 27. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (#5): By contrast to the museum at Nagasaki, the museum at Hiroshima is downright cheerful. Nagasaki was much more thoroughly documented photographically and the museum there is incredibly graphic, and presented in a dark, dreary manner with ominous music piped in. At the end of the day, as miraculous as this sounds, you leave the Hiroshima museum feeling good about being an American… about being a human being.

  

  Mark and I just across the river from Genbaku Dome.

• 28. Genbaku Dome: Or "A-Bomb Dome" in English. The target for the atom bomb was a T-shaped bridge in the center of the city, and it missed by about 160 meters, detonating at about 580 meters (that was the planned height for detonation) nearly directly over this building that had a copper tome on top of it. Since the bomb went off almost directly over it, the pressure went outward, melting the copper dome, but leaving the iron girders and concrete walls in place. Some 20 years after the war it was decided to leave the building's remains standing and indeed to restore them to the condition they were in immediately after the bombing and to forever maintain them in that condition as a memorial

  

  The "Genbaku Dome" in Hiroshima. Many feared that nothing would grow in Hiroshima for hundreds of years, but as early as November 1945 plants were budding. Now look at the greenery there. Nature fights on.
• 29. TEPPANYAKI: Tonight we went out for a teppanyaki dinner. Teppanyaki, as you may know, is where you sit at a table (or a counter) and a chef grills fish, vegetables, beef, etc. on a big steel grill right in front of you. Some teppanyaki restaurants (like the chain "Benihana" in many states in the U.S. or like "Kyoto" in Boise) even make a big show of it. Others just concentrate on yummy goodness!!! The hotel recommended this place tonight called "Momo No Ki" and it was AMA-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-ING (and not too expensive)!!! Mark really enjoyed it, too. The proprietor, a woman by the name of Yuko Kono, cooked our meal herself. She's owned the place for 26 years!!! I realized part way through the meal that she's the first female teppanyaki chef I've ever had. I mentioned this to her, and she admitted that her trade is definitely a male-dominated trade. She has a daughter who is a teacher at an international school in Irvine. Small world, huh?! Anyway it was a great dinner, and an even better cultural experience for Mark!

  

  Mark with Kono-san at Momo No Ki, the teppanyaki restaurant we went to in Horishima.

Ahhh... heaven on an iron grill. :-)

Off to Miyajima tomorrow. My dogs will definitely be barking (like they're not, already). Hopefully they won't drive the monkeys away!

Subject: Japan Trip: DAY FOUR

AM: Finished up Kyoto. PM: Went to Nara; then back to Kyoto for dinner, walkabout around our hotel.

• 17. Nijo Castle: Or "Nijo-jo" (in Kyoto) as they call it in Japanese, is one of my favorite castles in Japanese because they have life-size mannequins throughout the castle, dressed in period garb, and not in a creepy manner, so it gives you some sense of what life was like back then (1600s and 1700s). This is the place one of the tour books I have read called "the miracle of Japanese joinery" because the wood floors are connected ("joined") together without the use of any nails. It is designed so that as you walk around on the floors they squeak – the idea being that no enemies could sneak up on you. Ingenious! I'm thinking this could have benefit to families with young children sneaking up at night! :-)
  

  

  Mark with two new friends at Nijo Castle.
• 18. Nara Park: From Kyoto we took the 45-minute express train to Nara, where we hopped a short taxi ride to Nara Park, where there are quite a few temples. Most notable are the deer everywhere. Afraid of absolutely nothing, they're totally used to humans. There are venders around that sell small packs of rice crackers for 150 yen, and the deer love them. I posted a video on YouTube, of Mark running around with some of these rice crackers, and the deer chasing after him. Funny stuff. Mark later bumped in to a couple of the deer, just to see what they'd do; no reaction – barely even moved. Crazy animals.

  

  Mark "endeering" himself to the creatures of Nara.

• 19. Kasuga Taisha: Our first stop in Nara Park was Kasuga Taisha, the temple known for featuring more than 3,000 stone lanterns. Worry not my environmentalist friends; you'd be delighted to know that none of them were burning. Does anybody even read my reports and at least give my bad puns a courtesy laugh? All of the lanterns are really cool, though… even if they all do seem a bit stoned.

  

  Mark in front of a temple at Kasuga Taisha. Along the sides of the pic here are just a few of the thousands of stone lanterns here.

• 20. Todaiji/Daibutsu: The next major stop in Nara Park was Todaiji, the gi-freaking-normous structure that houses the daibutsu, or great Buddah. Inside this building is a statue of Buddah that stands (Buddah is actually sitting in the statue) at nearly 60 feet tall. One of the support pillars in the building has a hole carved in it that is the same size of the nostril in the statue, and legend has it that if you can crawl through that hole, you're assured your entrance in to heaven in the afterlife. Brianna made it through when we were here a couple of years ago. We decided that Mark's broad shoulders, alone, would get him trapped and cause us to have to call for emergency help, and we'd have to cut him out of the pillar, destroying the structure – probably bad form.

  

  Mark in front of Todaiji, where the Daibutsu (Great Buddah) is housed.

• 21. Geeking Out with the Camera: I did geek out with my new camera in Nara. In Todaiji, for example, it's quite dark. The new Nikon D600 goes to a digitally-enhanced ISO setting of 25,600, versus only 1,600 on my old Canon, meaning I can shoot in really low light with the new camera. This enabled me to take a picture of the back side of Buddah, where it's really dark. Now you're ALL rushing off to Facebook to go look at that picture, I'm sure!

  

  To give you an idea of the size of this statue, a child could fit through an opening the size of Buddah's nostril here. Brianna has done it (see point 20, above).

• 22. Rain/More Geeking Out: While in Todaiji, it started raining like crazy. So more camera geeking-out time. Using a support pillar as my "tripod" I kept the shutter open for two seconds with a super low ISO setting, and 4-5 people walking across the wet concrete got "ghosted" out of the picture – a weird effect. Then of course I had fun shooting at 1/2,000 of a second, as well, and catching rain drops mid-air.

  

  Ghosting in the rain.

Sorry I'm such a geek. I'm sure somebody out there appreciates it, though. I know Mark does. He's shooting similar pictures with my old Canon, which he's carrying with him on this trip (and having great fun with it). I'm typing this report on the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Hiroshima; we'll get there about 11:30, and we plan to spend the rest of the day at "Genbaku-dome" and the Memorial Peace Park and Museum there – it's totally awesome (and humbling).

Mark geeking out with my camera.

Subject: Japan Trip: DAY THREE

Writing this a bit late (on a train returning from Nara to Kyoto on day four), but here goes:

• 9. Shinkansen/Mt. Fuji: Less than 36 hours after we got to Japan and after a first full day, we were feeling a bit tired in the morning, so didn't make it out until a 9:40am Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo's Shinagawa station. The bullet train tops out at close to 180mph and I've been on it probably hundreds of times. Mark has no idea how lucky he was that on his very first trip descending from Tokyo the weather was so clear. We had a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji, and I made sure we had seats reserved on the Fuji-side of the train; we got pics (already posted on Facebook). Despite my frequent travel to Japan, every time I had passed by Mt. Fuji by air or rail it had been either dark or cloudy, and I had not actually seen Mt. Fuji with my own eyes until I had been coming here for like 10 years!

  

  Mt. Fuji zipping by at 180mph (or rather we were zipping by it at 180mph).

• 10. Kyoto Arrival: We arrived in Kyoto (my favorite city in Japan) at 12:14pm (love the accuracy of Japan train schedules), and we skipped lunch, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and immediately went out sightseeing. We were quite please with how much we were able to see, despite the later-then-hoped-for arrival.

  

  Mark and I at Kiyomizu-dera. It's hard to tell here as that building on the left is in the shade, but I love the bright colors of these temple buildings.

  

  Kiyomizu-dera was our first stop in Kyoto.

• 11. Kiyomizu-dera: Or "Holy Water Temple" was our first stop. It's one of my favorite spots in Kyoto, water from the streams there thought to have purifying properties. Each of my kids except Steven (now including Mark) have now washed their hands here and drank from it. Hey maybe I should do the same! :-)

  

  Mark washing his hands in purified water.

• 12. Kinkaku-ji: Or "Golden Pavilion" is one of the most photographed temples in Japan, known for it's brilliant gold finish. I've visited this place probably 20+ times and still love it! When Mark and I went there this time, though, I had a new experience, which was...

  

  Mark and I at Kinkaku-ji.

• 13. Bahrain: There is a long dirt road that is closed to vehicular traffic, that leads up to the entrance. We were thus surprised when we were nearly run down when at least half-a-dozen limousines practically ran us over as we were approaching the entrance. It was obviously some VIP entourage of some sort. There was a huge welcoming committee for them, as well. Big beefy security guys in suits, with big bulges under their hips (they were packin'!) surrounded one dude, and they and then local Japanese security folks were keeping people away from his immediate vicinity. But they didn't close the place down or anything. We were probably within 10 feet of him and a general (all dressed in military garb) who was with him. Near me, one of the other Japanese tourists asked one of the local security people in Japanese who the VIP was and got the response, "We're not allowed to say." But later Mark and I were standing next to one of the entourage members and I asked (in English) where they were from. He said, "We're from Bahrain. How much do know about Bahrain?" The only answer I could quickly come up with was, "Unfortunately not very much, sir." Mark and I felt really embarrassed that we knew nothing about Bahrain. Looking it up later, we learned that Bahrain has a population of about 1.3 million people. Lost opportunity! When the entourage guy asked where we were from, when we told him Idaho we could have said it has about the same population of Bahrain! Oh well. We also learned by Google image search that it was indeed the king of Bahrain and one of his generals who were two of the VIPs in the entourage. We haven't yet looked up in the news why they were in Kyoto.

  

  The Bahrain delegation.

• 14. Ryoan-ji: We then went to Ryoanji, home of the world's largest rock garden. I find the grounds there very peaceful, so I like visiting here (though the rock garden is very much a great big yawn).

  

  Mark, on the grounds of Ryoan-ji.

  

  Mark, with a "What's the big deal?" look at the rock gardens at Ryoan-ji.

• 15. Tonkatsu! On the way back to the hotel we stopped by my favorite tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) restaurant, Katsukura. Tonkatsu sauce is amazing, and one thing unique about Katsukura is that they bring you sesame seeds in a bowl to crush to your liking, to mix with the tonkatsu sauce

  

  Mark, crushing sesame seeds for his tonkatsu sauce at my favorite tonkatsu restaurant in all of Japan.

  

  Tonkatsu!!!

• 16. Kyoto Tower: To wrap up the day, we had hoped to go to the Kyoto Tower observation deck, but upon arrival (it's just across the street from our hotel, the Hotel Granvia Kyoto) learned that it's closed through April 1st (no idea why). Bummer!

  

  Mark in front of Kyoto Tower at night.

Subject: Japan Trip: DAY TWO

From day two, the day we went to Tokyo Disneyland.

• 5. Tokyo Disneyland: Sorry Andrew and Brianna, we didn't get to go to Disneyland when we were here two years ago as it was still closed due to the Tohoku Earthquake of March 11, 2011, but Mark and I were able to go and have a great time while we were here. Considering it was a Monday on a non-holiday, Mark and I were surprised by the crowds; it was super crowded and there were long lines everywhere. The longest line we waited in was for Space Mountain: 80 minutes! Fortunately, we were able to get Fast Passes for Splash Mountain, or that would have been a 130 minute wait! We also did Jungle Cruise, and the only "pun" that they repeated in Japanese that they do in the English-language tour in the U.S. was the "back side of water" joke. We did Pirates, as well. And in a bid for nostalgia, and as we had time to kill before our Splash Mountain Fast Pass time, we saw the Country Bear Jamboree show. And we FAILED our kids, Michelle: Mark did not remember ever seeing that show!!! And of course, for comparative purposes, we went on "Small World." Most importantly on that, Mark and I video-recorded us singing the REAL lyrics to that catchy tune; I have posted that video on YouTube!

  

  Mark in the foreground of Tokyo Disneyland's Magic Castle.

• 6. Tokyo Disney Sea: OK… so this didn't turn out like we wanted it to. Really, the only ride we wanted to go on was "Journey To The Center of the Earth" but when we went there (after 6pm as it was half price then), it had a 130 minute wait!!! So instead we walked around a bit, took a few pictures, and most importantly, got ourselves out of the horrible wind/rain storm that cropped up, by going in to this really good Italian restaurant for dinner. It was pretty scrumdiddlyicious!

  

  From Tokyo Disney Sea. It was tough to get a good shot, in the dark, while it was raining.

• 7. Climbing: I think Mark is reverting back to his childhood (did he ever leave???). He keeps seeing structures and is tempted to climb them. Like the structure waiting in line at Space Mountain yesterday; it was everything I could do to keep him from scaling it. Oh well if I lose that battle over the course of this coming week, I'll be sure to get pictures. And hopefully they won't confiscate our cameras as they throw us out.

  

  I'm sure Mark would have climbed it if I'd let him...

• 8. Pictures: So the picture taking is a little out of control on this trip; we'll see if we can keep up processing/posting them. We have my Nikon DSLR, my old Canon DSLR, a handheld Canon digital point-and-click, and the GoPro. We've been using all four. I just processed yesterday's pics/vids from the first three yesterday, and am writing this e-mail, on our shinkansen (bullet train) ride from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Subject: Japan Trip: DAY ONE

Brief checking in today.

• 1. Turbulent Flight: Yesterday flew from Boise to Seattle then from Seattle to San Francisco (just the way the airline miles tickets worked out) on Alaska Air, then from San Francisco to Tokyo Haneda on Japan Air Lines. The JAL flight was turbulent the whole way. Not bad turbulence, just constant mild turbulence. And to think, no extra charge for the bouncy funness! :-)
• 2. Flicked Out: Mark watched "Life of Pi" on the flight and said he really liked it. He said it's one we should buy and own as a family. I watched "Here Comes The Boom" - quite enjoyed it. Then we slept a lot on the flight. Business class seats helped.
• 3. First Meal in Japan: By the time we got through Immigration (the line was really long!), we checked in to our hotel around midnight. We were both a little hungry, but the only option available to us was the 24-hour 7-11 right near our hotel. Therefore our "dinner" was comprised of a really delicious ice cream sundae kind of concoction we found, Pocky sticks, and some cheese. Oh and not to forget some Pokari Sweat. The week of healthy eating begins!

  

  Mark and I didn't eat here at Shinagawa, but I've eaten at "Lounge Foodium" - it tastes about as good as it's spelled.

• 4. Freight Trains: I denied snoring in my sleep and Mark agrees. Instead, he says, freight trains escape from my face.

Off to Tokyo Disney Sea today!