Revisiting My Life List

Sometimes I get in a rut, as I'm sure most people do, where it just feels like life is taking forever to happen; like I'm in a holding pattern until this can happen.  I don't know if there is an always effective cure to this rut, but I know it helps me often to plan my next trip, whether big or small, whether it will actually happen or not.  I'm actually having an exciting time in my life, I just got back from a two-week vacation in Japan, and am starting a new job on Monday.  But I am still anxiously awaiting other things to happen.  I thought I would take a few minutes to rehash what I've done recently, in the more distant past, and what I still have yet to do, by way of my Life List, to help me recall my good fortune and reinvigorate my passion for life.  

Life List Achievements in 2016 

To keep myself on track, I always aspire to accomplish at least two things on my Life List each year.  This is often completed on one big vacation, which I intentionally plan in order to accomplish a few things on my Life List.  2016 is almost half over, but I have already checked off four items because of our recent trip to Japan.  Those are (in order of accomplishment):

#129 - Watch a Sumo wrestling match - Checked off May 18, 2016

After two days of trouncing around Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea, I welcomed a day spent primarily on our butts, drinking draft beer and eating

yakitori (meat on a stick) while watching sports.  Neither of us knew anything about this particular sport, but we picked it up pretty quickly - sport transcends language and cultural barriers.  I had pre-ordered my tickets months in advance, and was glad I did when I saw disappointed tourists turned away at the ticket counters - the tournament was completely sold out.  Not only did I get tickets, but I apparently did the "posh" thing to do, which is to get a box fit for four people, but only have two people in it.  I was glad, too, because these boxes were tiny, and had we had two others with us, we would have been eating our knees.  Later in the evening, a business-oriented tour group from Europe came in and sat in the boxes in front of us, four to a box, and they were terribly uncomfortable.  There was some information about the tournament in English; one of the staff was quick to identify that we may need this and gave us the English brochure before helping us find our box.  Sumo tournaments run all day, from about 8:30 in the morning until the top matches kicking off around 6:30 pm.  We didn't get there right at the start, but we got there shortly before noon and started to follow the rhythm of the rituals and matches.  We popped outside around 2 pm to gawk among the other fans and amateur paparazzi at the champions and top competitors as they made their way into the stadium.  Then we returned to watch the mid-rank wrestlers and finally the big show.  The Japanese tour guide escorted the European group had made a handy Engrish-riddled guide to the top matches, with ages, weights, countries of origin, little known facts, and who the favorites were.  Our neighbors, a woman from Italy married to an Australian man who was celebrated his birthday, had snatched up a copy of this guide, and shared it with us.  My favorite notation was that there was a wrestler nicknamed Nicholas Cage, and sure enough, if Mr. Cage put on 300 pounds, they'd be twins.  The wrestler Nicholas Cage won his match.  I had been concerned that we would be bored at the Sumo tournament, not understanding the customs and language.  But quite to the contrary, I was in high-heaven, sitting with my shoes off (no shoes allowed in the box), eating yakitori and drinking beer.

#24 - Sleep in a capsule hotel - Checked off May 19 - 20, 2016 

I actually dedicated a complete blog post to my terrific stay at the capsule hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo, but I will share a brief summary here.  This experience surprised me, I suppose, because people focus so much on the capsule that is your bed, and I don't think the unexperienced have any idea that the hotel is a whole experience, so much more than just a locker you shove yourself into.  I loved just about every aspect of the hotel, but especially being served very inexpensive draft beer while in my pjs and slippers.  As soon as I checked this item off my list, I wanted to do it again.  

#19 - Ride a bullet train - Checked off May 21, 2016

We actually rode the Shinkansen, or bullet train, three times: (1) from Tokyo to Hiroshima, (2) from Hiroshima to Kyoto, and (3) from Kyoto back to Tokyo.  I was terribly underwhelmed by the experience, which I suppose is probably a

positive testament to just how smooth the Shinkansen are.  I was kind of hoping for an acceleration more closely related to that of an airplane or roller coaster, but we were whisked along on a quiet, uneventful ride.  Jaiman pointed out that when we went over small hills, there was a subtle moment of less than 1 G, and I'm glad he did because I don't think I would have noticed it otherwise.  Our ears popped a few times, but other than that, it felt very much like we were virtually motionless.  I would say it was like riding any other train, but most trains are actually less smooth than the Shinkansen.  The experience was much like that of an airplane - of course without the turbulence, acceleration and landing - the seats reclined a bit, but not too much, there were lavatories onboard and optional food service for a small price.  There was also a vending machine, which seemed odd at first, but also very fitting considering their prevalence in Japan.  I would say if you are looking at options between flying and taking a bullet train, the bullet train is probably less time overall (they leave about every 15 minutes, so boarding is really fast), afford incredible flexibility (you buy a ticket for the day, and can leave whenever you'd like) and just as comfortable, if not moreso, than economy flying.  Plus, it's a bullet train!  

#48 - Eat a fugu - Checked off May 21, 2016

May 21st was my oldest sister's 40th birthday.  It was also a big day for me, having gone on our first bullet train and then checking into the beautiful hotel in Miyajima.  I had every intention to look for and perhaps observe at a fugu

restaurant, but wasn't sure if I'd actually take a bite.  I joked that I should wait until the end of our trip to try fugu, because then if I died, at least Jaiman wouldn't have to trounce around Japan without me for long.  For those unfamiliar, fugu is blowfish, and is deadly poisonous unless prepared properly.  Many restaurants and even whole cities have banned it or refused to prepare it because of the implications and liability.  But it is also supposedly quite delicious, and in the proper serving, just a tiny bit of the poison is left to leave the consumer in a slightly high or drunken state.  Hey, I have plenty of things to check off my Life List, so I was not ready to die.  But, fugu was served to us as part of our first dinner in Miyajima, and I unwittingly ate it, having a determined attitude that I would at least try everything served to us that evening.  It was Jaiman who googled it later and assessed the presentation of fugu, deciding that we had indeed eaten it that night.  This is one thing I will gladly check off my list with no need to repeat it.  

Life List Achievements in 2015

#23 - Confront a cadaver - March 28, 2015

This may be one of the most disturbing items on my Life List, so I feel it warrants an explanation.  I think the movie, "My Girl" made a big impact on my childhood, and I spent a good deal of time thinking about ghosts and dead bodies and mortality.  I was also a bit of a tom boy, maybe relating to the main character in the movie more than I realized, and used to dissect mice or collect grasshoppers for fun.  In school, I was all for dissecting a cow's heart, and was the only one in my class that would touch it.  In high school I was triumphant in putting a frog to sleep, slitting its chest, pulling its heart out and separating it completely from its body, but maintaining it so that it kept pumping for maybe 30 minutes or so.  And then I remember my classmate and friend, Carrie, telling me about going to medical school where she would have to work on cadavers, and the thought struck me.  It didn't give me immediate chills, nor did it excite me.  I felt like I should know how I would react if I came across a dead body, whether it be in a clinical setting or not.  So, I decided, the only way to know how I would feel would be to actually put myself into the situation.  Now, I also knew full well that this wasn't something I would necessarily be able to plan, unless I actually enlisted in medical school.  The chance came when an elderly man in Jaiman's family passed away, and they planned to have a viewing.  Checking this off was not my priority, by any means, but the situation presented itself, and I was glad to be there to support the grieving family, meet members of the family I hadn't met yet, and pay my respects to Jaiman's great uncle.  My reaction was exactly what I suppose I knew it would be - it didn't freak me out, but I didn't love it either - I felt it is was it is.  

The summer of '15 was when we took off on our #epicroadtrip, what some believed would be a test of our relationship, but I knew we'd be just fine.  The road trip had taken shape from when I scored really inexpensive season passes to Six Flags, and commented that they were valid at all parks, not just our closest one.  I had initially looked into making separate trips throughout the year to visit different parks, and the costs of flights just kept adding up.  So I proposed that we drive around the country instead of flying, and Jaiman was sold on it.  Not wanting it to be all about Jaiman's passions - roller coasters and theme parks - I then started incorporating my Life List activities that could be accomplished along the way.  In all, we hit 5 Six Flags parks, Busch Gardens and Hershey Park, and hit a total of 61 unique roller coasters.  Jaiman and I both hit our own personal 100 Roller Coaster marks, his 100th was Goliath in Chicago, and mine was Sky Rush in Hershey.  We drove 6607.8 miles on that trip, in Jaiman's brand-spanking-new blue Fit we lovingly call Blue Jay.  Perhaps more impressive, among the coasters and long hauls in the car, I checked off four things from my Life List:

#134 - Drink at the Taste of Chicago - Checked off July 8, 2015

Having grown up in the Chicago suburbs, the Taste was always a big deal and lots of fun.  But it is just as much a party as it is a foodie festival, and I was always too young to drink when I was there.  Thus, this got added to my Life List and I've looked for ways to accomplish it year after year, but it never seemed to work out with my timing.  My relationship with Jaiman revealed to me that we were both major foodies, so this event was perfect for our road trip.  Because it was the only thing that had really sensitive timing, it steered when we could start and end our trip.  I didn't really get hammered at the Taste or anything like that, but we did enjoy several local beers, and we didn't have to drive anywhere or even take a cab because our hotel was just feet from the festival.  In fact, the hotel served us better than expected, because we ended up leaving the festival to nap and sleep off some of the food, and then return rejuvenated and ready to devour more of Chicago's best.  

#84 - Tour Niagara Falls - Checked off July 10, 2015

This is just one of those things I think everyone has on a Life List even if they don't write it down.  I could have spent more time at the Falls; they were so beautiful and there were so many different activities you can do to enjoy them.  But nothing beat our hotel on the Canadian side, with a perfect angle to watch the falls from our super fancy dinner table and from the ginormous suite of a room with panoramic windows.  We got a fireworks shows and then cuddled in bed watching Canadian Amazing Race on TV while the Falls were lit up by varying colors of lights.  Oh yeah, and of course we did the boat thing, Maiden of the Mist, and wow, I mean, really.  Not to mention our detour up to Niagara on the Lake, which introduced us to the sweet, sweet world of ice wine!  Yep, we did this one with style!

#6 - Walk the Boardwalk in Atlantic City - Checked off July 11, 2015

Happy birthday to me!  We spent my birthday meandering the sad, underwhelming boardwalk of Atlantic City.  My sister had visited just the year before and had told me it wasn't much, so I wasn't all that surprised, but at one point earlier in my life it had struck my fancy, so it was on the list.  We made the most of it, having yet another indulgent hotel room with a giant hot tub, and taking silly pictures along the boardwalk.  It was an okay time overall, but I wouldn't recommend it if it is not already on your list.  

#59 - Tour the Hershey Chocolate Factory in PA - Checked off July 13, 2015

A great challenge with Life Lists is that life does not wait for you to check them off, and sometimes things change that make it impossible to "truly" check something off, in which case I try to find the most suitable replacement.  Watching a space shuttle launch was one of these, since the shuttle program was shut down before I could see a launch.  The Hershey Factory, too, has been shut down to visitors for some time.  So the closest I could get was visited Hershey World in Hershey, PA, where they have a ride that gives you a somewhat cartoonish idea of how the factory operates.  At the end of the tour, every person gets a piece of chocolate, and the tour is free, so you can ride it again and again - and we did.  The amusement park was pretty awesome, but I think my favorite thing I took away from Hershey was the chocolate tasting we did.  It was less than $10 per person, and they walk you through how a professional taster (there's a real name for it but it escapes me right now) considers chocolate.  

Life List Achievements in 2014

Unlike in 2013, 2015 and 2016, my experiences in 2014 were not all clustered in giant epic vacations.  We did, however, have a great time in Hawaii, and there I checked off just one thing from my Life List (and re-checked a couple others). 

#76 - See a lunar eclipse - Checked off April 16, 2014 

I seem to miss these a lot, so I finally got the date in my calendar and remembered to go out to actually see the thing.  No amazing story to tell, but I saw it, and can happily check it off now! 

#110 - Swim with giant sea turtles - Checked off July 22, 2014

An extraordinary guided experience in Hawaii!  Being a lover of swimming, I was the first to plop into the water with my fins and gear, and I was all alone waiting for the others to join me, when I heard someone coming up behind me.  I turned to see who it was, and was face-to-face with a beautiful giant sea turtle.  It was one of those truly breathtaking moments of my life.  As we got more comfortable with them, and they with us, I would dive down into the water to watch them swim, so elegant and careless.  

#68 - Spot a wild javalina - Checked off on Christmas Day, 2014

I officially feel like an Arizonan, now!  How it took me this long to see one, I don't know, but my whole family knew how important it was that I see one, and I got a "Christmas miracle" when my sis went to take the trash out and called to me to come running.  A whole family with little babies was prancing around the cul-de-sac outside my parents' house in Vail.  

Life List Achievements in 2013

Wow, looking back at my notes, 2013 was a really big year for me and my Life List.  A good part of that was the Alaskan cruise and road trip my family took in May, which gave us just an incredible, unforgettable family experience.  I don't know if we'll ever all be together on an adventure quite like that again (although I certainly hope so)!  On top of the cruise, I also had the chance to fly out to Florida to see the SpaceX rocket launch, I met up with a friend who gave me a legit Cuban cigar to smoke, and I met Jaiman and we danced in the rain together, and we went on a surfing adventure to California.  So yeah, really a great year all around.  Look at what I accomplished!  

#124 - Watch the launch of a space shuttle - Checked off March 1, 2013 at Cape Canaveral, FL

#38 - Smoke a real Cuban cigar - Checked off April 1, 2013 in Mesa, AZ

#104 - Dance with someone in the rain - Checked off May 1, 2013 in Vail, AZ

#37 - Go on a vacation cruise with my parents

#2 - Go to Alaska

#65 - See an iceberg

#69 - Sing in a karaoke competition

#58 - Ride in a helicopter

#41 - Go dog sledding

#131 - Learn to surf and catch some waves - Checked off July 16, 2013 in San Diego, CA

Life List Achievements prior to 2013

#21 - Ride a cable car in San Francisco - Checked off March 21, 2012

#61 - Ride a horse - Checked off February 6, 2012

#106 - Order over-priced room service in a 5 star hotel - Checked off October 31, 2011

#105 - Go to a rodeo - Checked off November 6, 2010

#118 - Slide down the evacuation slide of an airplane - Checked off November 3, 2010

#140 - Make out in a waterfall - Checked off September 18, 2010

#143 - Go wine tasting in California - Checked off September 1, 2010

#139 - Climb an active volcano - Checked off August 3, 2010

#91 - Visit Pearl Harbor - Checked off August 2, 2010

#75 - Luau in Hawaii - Checked off August 1, 2010

#128 - Ride in a submarine - Checked off August 1, 2010

#47 - Join a flash mob - Checked off January 10, 2010

#137 - See the ball drop on New Years Eve in Time Square - Checked off January 1, 2010

#126 - Visit the Statue of Liberty - Checked off December 31, 2009

#72 - Bring mom to Las Vegas - Checked off September 6, 2009

#99 - Carve a pumpkin - Checked off August 31, 2009

#54 - Walk the Great Wall of China - Checked off July 6, 2009

#79 - Celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans - Checked off February 25, 2009

#44 - Watch a movie at a drive-in theater - Checked off February 10, 2009

#16 - See a musical on Broadway - Checked off July 6, 2008

#55 - See Ground Zero - Checked off July 4, 2008

#123 - Have dinner at the top of the Space Needle - Checked off May 1, 2008

#141 - Go whale watching and see a whale - Checked off May 1, 2008

#62 - Go up in a hot-air balloon - Checked off May 6, 2006

#109 - Build a real sand castle - Checked off July 6, 2005

#50 - Hike the Grand Canyon - Checked off March 15, 2004

Stay Tuned - Still to Do!

So, I have checked off 48 of the 150 marvelous things on my Life List.  Many of those remaining require travel to new continents, namely Europe, Australia, South America and Africa (okay, and Asia, there's still a couple things left to do there, too).  The others are just trickier in their own ways.  I've got a lot of this living still to do!  

#1 - View Athens from the Acropolis

#3 - Float along the Amazon

#4 - Dance the tango in Argentina

#5 - See my art in a gallery or store

#7 - See an aurora

#8 - Drive the Autobahn

#9 - Bathe in the Ganges

#10 - Ride a penny-farthing bicycle

#11 - Ride a tandem bicycle

#12 - Ride a recumbent bicycle

#13 - Ride in a blimp

#14 - Race a bobsled

#15 - Publish a book

#17 - Watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

#18 - Build a custom house with "secret" architectural features

#20 - Watch a fire-dancing show at Burning Man

#22 - Golf in Cabo

#25 - Go to Carnival of Venice

#26 - Participate in a Carnival parade in Brazil

#27 - Spend the night in a castle

#28 - Tour Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

#29 - Read Catch 22

#30 - Catch a fish

#31 - Walk the Champs-Élysées

#32 - Ride through the Chunnel

#33 - Go cliff diving

#34 - See the Colisseum

#35 - Visit a concentration camp

#36 - Road trip in a convertible with the top down and music blaring

#39 - Float in the Dead Sea

#40 - Help dig for dinosaur bones

#42 - Swim with a dolphin

#43 - Ride on a red double decker bus in the UK

#45 - Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower

#46 - Have dinner with someone famous

#49 - Ride a gondola

#51 - Attend a performance at the Grand Ole Opry

#52 - Press grapes into wine with my bare feet

#53 - Snorkel or Scuba through the Great Barrier Reef

#56 - Stay at the Hamptons

#57 - Spend a night in a haunted house (or hotel, or castle, etc)

#60 - Make a hole-in-one

#63 - Design my own house, and see it constructed

#64 - Ice skate outside while its snowing

#66 - Travel India by train

#67 - Be interviewed by a reputable journalist in person

#70 - Kayak through the jungle

#71 - Drink a mint julep at the Kentucky Derby

#73 - Look for the Loch Ness Monster

#74 - Go on the London Eye

#77 - Hike the Inca Trail in Machu Picchu

#78 - Tap a maple tree for sap

#80 - Find a message in a bottle

#81 - Be an extra in a movie

#82 - Go to a red-carpet film premiere

#83 - Have something named after me

#85 - Float along the Nile

#86 - Golf through Nullarbor Links

#87 - Drink in Germany for Oktoberfest

#88 - Be a spectator at an Olympic event

#89 - Cruise through the Panama Canal

#90 - Be awarded a patent

#92 - See Petra, Jordan

#93 - Photograph an endangered species

#94 - Try pole vaulting

#95 - Participate in a police lineup

#96 - Walk the ruins of Pompeii

#97 - Have my portrait painted

#98 - Send in a postsecret

#100 - See the pyramids of Egypt

#101 - See the Louvre Pyramid

#102 - See the pyramids of Chichen Itza

#103 - Drive a race car around a real track

#107 - Walk a runway

#108 - Learn to sail

#111 - Give a person a second chance on life

#112 - Set foot on each of the seven continents

#113 - Shake hands with someone who has truly changed a country.

#114 - Eat at a Shenanigans

#115 - Go water skiing

#116 - Ski or snowboard in Colorado

#117 - Ski in Dubai

#119 - Learn to use a slide rule

#120 - Drive a snowmobile

#121 - Be in the stands when two rival South American club teams play each other in soccer.

#122 - Go into orbit/outer space

#125 - Visit the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Corcovado

#127 - See Stonehenge

#130 - Attend the Super Bowl

#132 - Watch a show at the Sydney Opera House

#133 - See the Taj Mahal

#135 - Attend a tea party during the cherry blossoms

#136 - Ride a camel in Timbuktu

#138 - Stay at an underwater hotel

#142 - Go white water rafting

#144 - Go wine tasting in Europe

#145 - Eat at a Wingers

#146 - Write that "one song"

#147 - Time Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park

#148 - Do the Dirty Dancing lift

#149 - Help set a world record

#150 - Open a million dollar hot dog stand

Friendly (Pillaging) Deer and other Tales of Miyajima, Japan

"There's a deer," I pointed out to Jaiman as we oriented ourselves after disembarking from the ferry.  

"Whoa," he responded, surprised even though he shouldn't have been.  We had watched a travel documentary that featured the beautiful island of Miyajima, and the deer were actually inside the ferry station on the show.  I had also told him about them.  Maybe he was overwhelmed, and it just snuck up on him.  I think he was overwhelmed by a lot in Japan, but he did a great job traveling with me, navigating the complex train systems and bustling cities, and eating food we couldn't positively identify.  We had been in Tokyo for seven days, and this morning we had taken a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima, and from there, made our way to the ferry that would take us to Miyajima.  

I had been to Miyajima 12 years ago, as part of my study abroad trip to Hiroshima.  Miyajima is probably best known for the magnificent Torii Gate, often pictured as an iconic symbol of all of Japan. During my study abroad, we had only stayed for a few hours, and I remember it being so remarkably beautiful and I had wished we could have stayed longer.  The deer just cracked me up, I could not get enough of them.  I remember sitting with a couple classmates, watching a Chinese tour group walk by in a neatly formed block, and the last row of men all had deer munching on the backs of their shirts.  These deer will eat anything, or try to, at least.  They will rifle through your open bag, chomping on any receipts, brochures or water bottles they can find, or grab a hold of your clothes when you're not looking, or even taking a bite of your yakitori, meat on a stick, while you are looking the other way.  Don't let their cuteness fool you; they are sneaking, thieving bastards.  But they are cute.  

The deer on Miyajima are considered something like messengers of the kami (gods), and are therefore treated with respect and not harmed by humans.  This means they have no reason to fear us, as most animals tend to.  They walk around like they own the place, and in a way, they kind of do.  I have heard of monkeys acting similarly, higher up on the mountain of Miyajima, Mount Misen, but I didn't see the monkeys on the short trip 12 years ago and the guys in the travel show also failed to encounter them on their hike.  They also failed to bring water, which is clearly a terrible idea.  

Anyways, when Jaiman and I had started planning this trip to Japan, I knew for sure that I wanted to return to Miyajima and actually spend some time on the island.  I had looked at several hotels with Western-style rooms, but somehow my heart was stuck on Miyajima Grand Arimoto, mainly because it had hot springs and the room I was eyeing, although it was a traditional Japanese-style room, had a private outdoor bath.  So fancy!  And, I love baths and hot springs, so a private outdoor hot spring is kind of the pinnacle of my indulgence.  A Japanese-style room is one with tatami mats on the floor, and you sleep on a futon

(pronounced with a long "o") which is basically like thin bedding on the floor.  I decided that it wouldn't kill us to try a traditional Japanese lifestyle for a few days, especially because (other than my stay at the capsule hotel) the rest of our rooms were Western-style, with a bed that, although harder than usual, is much more familiar to American travelers.  Many of the hotels in the area, including this one, had half-board, meaning they give you breakfast and dinner as part of your reservation.  I loved this idea!

So here we were in the late afternoon, with large suitcases, looking for the path to our hotel. I remembered a little bit of the layout of the city; I mean it wasn't a big place like Tokyo or even Hiroshima.  Towards the Torii Gate was the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine; there were lots of shops and restaurants in the few winding streets before that, and the hike to the summit was somewhere behind the shrine.  Based on the maps I had studied and printed out, the hotel was nestled somewhere just behind where the shops ended leading up to the Shinto shrine.  It was a little bit of a pain to drag our suitcases on the dirt roads, but they held up okay.  We didn't make any wrong turns, but we did stop a couple times just to validate that we thought we were on the right path.  We found a grand little stair case leading up to the hotel, and got ourselves and our luggage into the entrance.  

From there, we were pretty much completely taken care of.  Hotel staff took our luggage for us and escorted us to the check-in counter.  I knew that most of the hotels were sold out in the area, and we noticed a group of young adults who had apparently booked for the wrong day, maybe not understanding the time travel that occurs when flying from America to Japan, and were desperately trying to figure out a way to change their reservation.  Meanwhile, the front desk guy brought us to a pair of sofas and went over some of the hotel policies and helped us with our dinner and breakfast reservations.  
Then he and another staff member took our luggage and escorted us to our room on the third floor.  I whispered to Jaiman on the way, "Oh yeah, I suppose we are kind of VIPs here since we booked the really super nice room!"  After opening our door, I saw that we were to take our shoes off, and then they gave us a tour of the apartment-sized accommodations, having us open each paper wall individually.  We ended our tour in the main room, and they sat us down again, this time on the chairs-with-no-legs like a traditional tea ceremony, and talked with us about a few more things.  It was a little overwhelming and once they left, Jaiman and I just stared at each other for a moment before cracking up. 

We had a little bit of time before our dinner reservations, so we relaxed, took stock of our room and I made a little tour video.  Our host guy hadn't really shown us the onsen, but it didn't take me long to find it and admire it.  We also located the futons in a closet, and in another, the traditional Japanese shoes, kimonos and Japanese pj's they provided.  I couldn't resist, we tried on the kimonos and shoes, and they actually fit!  The hotel staff member had mentioned that if they weren't the right sizes, we could call down to get different ones, but somehow they had found ones that fit us really well.  

When it was time, we went down to dinner on the second floor, and they greeted us and escorted us into this tiny private room with my name on it.  They brought us beer and tons and tons of fish - mostly raw.  The courses just kept coming, endlessly, it seemed.  There was a button behind me that I knew I could push to get our waitress, and sure enough she'd come rushing in as only the Japanese do, seemingly apologetically, to take care of us.  I drank a lot of beer that night - virtually one giant swig for every tiny morsel of fish I choked down.  But I proudly tried everything.  One of my Life List objectives was to

eat a fugu, the blowfish delicacy that can kill people if prepared wrong.  Jaiman googled it after our meal and determined that we had, indeed, eaten fugu that night. I'll go ahead and check that off the list!  

Our waitress was the sweetest thing, and she even talked with me a bit in Japanese about having studied in Hiroshima.  She explained in basic English a lot of what we were eating; not that I remember most of it, but it was at least reassuring to understand some of it.  I don't think she ever used
words like intestine or heart, so that's also a plus. 

After our meal was over, our waitress arranged for the following evening's dinner with us, and asked if we had any requests.  Jaiman really wanted some good unagi, eel, but the eel served in this region is actually called anago.  So we requested anago and beef, and couldn't really think of any other requests so we left
it at that.  

After dinner, we were quite surprised to find that the futons had been set up for us, the tea table pushed into the corner.  It was a little eerie knowing someone had been in our room while we were out; I guess room service does this too, but we just hadn't been expecting it.  It was nice, though, since I wasn't sure if I'd remember how to set up a futon, not that they're all that complicated, but at least this way we know they were done right.  Thankfully, the pillows were slightly larger than the ones I had been given in my dorm during my study abroad program.  They were also not as hard and uncomfortable as I worried they'd be.  In fact, they were a lot like what I slept on inside the capsule, which makes a lot of sense in hindsight.  

The private onsen (hot springs bath) was exquisite.  The water was very hot, and the tub was plenty big.  I obsessed with it the next few days, especially when I woke up early in the morning, around 4 or 5, I would slip into the bath outside and just enjoy the steaming hot bath against the early morning chill.  I drained it to let it fill back up again so Jaiman could try it out; he's not as much of a bath person but he also enjoyed it.  Several times it occurred to me that it was "wasteful" to "keep the water running" all the time; it was so counter-intuitive to always have a fresh bath of hot water ready to go, all for me!  It may have been a very expensive hotel stay, but I think I got my money's worth.  

The next morning we ventured down for our traditional Japanese breakfast.  It was a lot of fish, a small salad, rice and soup with oysters in it.  Not the most appetizing meal for me, and I think I wasn't mentally prepared for that kind of food so early in the morning.  I opted for a lot of plain-ass bread; at least I got some calories in me.  We were a little surprised that our futons were still sprawled out on the floor when we returned from breakfast.  They got put away later in the day.  

We visited the elaborate Itsukushima Shrine;

washing our hands, following the prayer ritual, buying omikuji - fortunes, and generally observing.  The tide was high, so the Torii Gate appeared to be floating, but we knew better.  We had come over on the ferry the night before when the tide was low, and we saw people walking up to it.  It looks like it is buried deep in the seabed, but actually, we were told, it remains standing of its own weight.  

Then we headed up the mountain via two ropeways, one was a smaller 5 -6 seater, and one was a larger vehicle with most of us standing.  We saw, of all

things, a submarine out in the sea!  The ropeways bring you high up the mountain, but not to the summit.  The summit was another kilometer or so of fairly steep hiking.  There wasn't a ton to see along the way, save for the breathtaking view of the sea and smaller neighboring islands, but there was one stop near the top that housed a "lover's sanctuary".  We poked our heads in the little sanctuary but were choked by the smoke; someone had done something wrong in there.  We sat for a few minutes to regain our (read: my) strength before heading to the very peak.  Up there was a large, shady deck you could sit on and enjoy the views from every angle.  There was one floor above it that afforded more of a 360 degree view, but no shade.  Not going to lie, it wasn't the most rewarding summit hikes I've done, but now I can say I've done it, I supposed. 

We had intentionally only purchased a one-way ticket for the ropeways.  I wanted to hike down the mountain, because I am better at hiking down, and because I was hoping to encounter some wildlife (especially monkeys).  We flew down the mountain; I found it easier to basically run rather than taking one step at a time.  By the end, I was exhausted and hurting, and my quads paid the price for the next week or so.  There were some very pretty waterfalls along the way, and we encountered several different kinds of butterflies, but no monkeys.  Near the bottom was a Buddhist temple, and I showed Jaiman how, going up the steps, you run your hands over the scrolls in the railing, spinning each one, and they say you inherit the wisdom of those scrolls.  There were two such staircases; we both went up the first and I rested while Jaiman went up the second and back down again.  I had gotten that wisdom before, and didn't feel like I needed it right then.  We admired the Buddhas and other statues and architecture, and then headed back down into town to get ourselves cleaned up and get some lunch.  

The place we went to for lunch was one of my favorite meals of the trip - I got yaki udon and it was so much like the meals I cherished at my dorms that I scarfed it down.  It could also have been my desire for protein after the crazy hike and the lack of meat from the previous meals, but still.  It was delicious!  I also had some local Miyajima beer, which wasn't great, but I felt special for drinking local stuff instead of the typical Asahi.  

The first several times we saw deer, it was from small distances and the deer left us alone.  The signs around the island warned not to get too close to them, and not to touch them, although I saw plenty of kids riding them like they would their pet dogs at home.  We didn't touch them, and only took pictures of them from a close proximity.  But then we went and got ice cream - I, of course, opted for the deer poop ice cream featuring little nuggets
of chocolate - delicious!  We sat on a ledge, and before long, we had a friendly deer approach us and make licking and biting attempts towards our ice cream.  This, of course, was hilarious, and only moreso when a second deer came up from behind us.  They were double teaming us now, and it made it very hard to avoid the loss of ice cream.  Many of the tourists around us laughed with us, and we were cracking up.  Jaiman was able to snap a pretty funny picture of me, which I will always treasure, before a third deer approached, this one with antlers, and I knew better than to mess with a deer with antlers.  So I stood up and finished my ice cream out of the immediate reach of the adorable thieves.  

There was something resembling an owl cafe, I suppose it was more like a petting zoo for just owls; we thought about going in, they did advertise a specific breed that Jaiman wanted to see, but it was a little pricey and would be closing soon.  We had gone to Fukuro no Mise just a few days before, and had gotten to hold owls for about an hour, so we ended up passing on the owl place in Miyajima.

We then strolled down the walkways lined with shops back towards our hotel, and Jaiman got some yakitori and squid on a stick from a street vendor.  The squid wasn't great, and he ended up feeding the rest of it to a grateful deer resting in the shade.  We sat down on a

bench by the sea, and laughed with the two girls on the next bench over as they were bombarded by two friendly deer trying to steal their snacks.  

Then we walked down into the sand and approached the Torii Gate, the tide being low again, and took some pictures out there.  The base of the gate was covered
with Japanese coins, looking as if they had been there for ages, having been slammed into the wood by the intense waves. 

Soon, it was time for our dinner reservations.  We made sure to pick up the room a bit, knowing that the hotel staff would be setting up our futons again for us.  I had forgotten that we had requested anago, eel, for dinner.  Boy, they gave it to us!  I think we had four courses in all that consisted primarily of anago.  I can eat a piece or two, but I was over it real quickly.  The steak was amazing, and we ended up using the hot plate it came with to cook a lot of the raw fish served to us, even though it was meant to be eaten raw.  Even then, I really didn't eat a lot, and Jaiman did better than me but still was over the anago by the end of the meal.

The hotel had a decent sized gift shop in it, and we had a 10% off coupon as part of our stay, so we checked out some of the goods.  There was also a public onsen bath in the hotel, one side for men and one side for women, so I ventured down that evening just to check it out.  There was an indoor bath and two outdoor baths, reminiscent of the onsen I had gone to with my host mom 12 years prior.  There was nobody in the women's side, but after just a few minutes, I got
bored.  It would be inappropriate to bring my phone in to the public bath with me, whereas, in my private bath, there was nobody to object to taking my phone in with me.  So I went back upstairs and hopped in my private onsen with my phone.  If you want to go to Miyajima and don't want to splurge on the fancy room like we did, you can certainly get the benefits of the hot spring by going to the public bath.

I think two nights is the right amount of time to stay on the island of Miyajima.  I mailed some post cards in the morning and then we checked out and the hotel shuttle took us to the ferry station.  What?!?  They have a shuttle?!?  Okay, lesson learned, I should have arranged for a shuttle to pick us up when we had arrived.  Ah well, now I know.  For anyone visiting Japan, I highly recommend this beautiful little island, along with the Peace Park Memorial Museum in Hiroshima.  Besides, if you're going to Tokyo, you can take a Shinkansen down to Hiroshima, which is another thing we checked off our life lists.