We attend an Ai Wei-Wei exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Some of the more interesting pieces are a full-scale reproduction of a room in China in which the artist was imprisoned for a time, and a security camera reproduced in marble.
On the way in and out we also enjoy a piece called “Little Cloud Sky” by FriendsWithYou, a collaboration by artists Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III.
Jan and his friend Chris enjoy a day hike to one of the summits of Tiger Mountain in Issaquah.
Mojo pauses in the middle of zoomies. For about 3 minutes a day, Mojo and Moxie will go tearing around the house — sometimes after each other, sometimes for no discernible reason. This is accompanied by the sound of galloping. If we’re not in the house, we can tell they’ve had the zoomies by the upturned corners of all the rugs they’ve slid into.
Angela goes on her first solo day hike, up to the ledge at Rattlesnake Ledge. Despite the forecast of partly sunny weather, there’s no visibility from the ledge. This also makes the drop-off look scarier.
Angela’s childhood friend, Larry, comes through Seattle. We have brunch with him at Cafe Hagen in South Lake Union. Larry’s been to Seattle numerous times, so after lunch we try to think of someplace new we can take him. We settle on the Ballard Locks.
This turns out to be amazing. It’s a beautiful late summer day for a walk through the gardens to the locks. We watch the boats going up and down in the locks, then go on towards the fish ladder.
There really a curious number of people standing along the walkway to the fish ladder looking out at the water. We eventually see why — a giant school of coho salmon have gathered below the fish ladder.
Two seals are trying to make the most of this. Every so often, one of the seals makes a pass through the school of salmon, which quickly shoot out of the way. Some of the salmon leap up out of the water, producing frequent silver flashes and splashes.
The underground viewing area of the fish ladder is likewise satisfying to watch. We read a placard that explains that the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery clips one a small back fin off all the salmon raised there, and indeed can see a mixture of wild and hatchery salmon swimming in the windows as they hold their place in the strong current.
Jan buys a new car for the first time in 15 years. His old car still drove fine, but in recent years Jan had finally wanted a car that could connect to his phone to show maps and such.
The process was pretty short. Jan had planned to buy a car later in the year, but some Biden-era electric vehicle incentives expire next week, so it seemed worth taking a look this week. Yesterday he went to one dealership which said it had the kind of car he wanted (but, it turned out, not one ready to drive), then a second which did have the car he wanted. He drove it, it was fine.
Today he went back to buy it and trade in his old car. As always, moving over stuff from the old car to the new car was a curiously melancholy process. Thanks for your service, old car!
Jan is slightly nervous driving the new car into our tiny 1920s one-car garage — the new car is about the same size as the old one, but its dimensions feel unfamiliar. As he pulls in, the car’s many distance sensors trigger a chorus of beeping accompanied by dire red lights on the display. This is more distracting than helpful. He manages to pull the car in and park without incident.
After 25 years of driving hybrid gas/electric cars, this is our first electric car. The buying process concluded so quickly that we don’t even have a proper car charger yet, so for now we can only charge it off a regular 100V socket. That’s very slow, but at the moment we only need the car for short city trips so it’ll do.
Moxie wastes no time in checking out the parked car, walking over it and leaving little paw prints on the windshield.
Jan’s Japan trip, Day 1. I’m heading to Japan for a week that will include some hiking and biking, plus get-togethers with a number of friends.
Angela drops me off at SeaTac on her way to her church in Buckley. She doesn’t normally go down on Saturdays, but today she’ll officiate at a small wedding at the church.
The flight to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport goes smoothly, then there’s four hours of waiting for my flight to Hiroshima. I have to spend this in a nondescript ANA terminal that doesn’t have a lot of shops or restaurants. On the plus side, I can visit at Tully’s Coffee outlet.
I usually can’t sleep on planes but am exhausted enough that I do nod off on the flight to Hiroshima. I’ve been to the airport there once before – but had forgotten that it’s a one hour bus ride away from the city center. Happily the bus goes directly to Hiroshima Station, which is also happens to be where tonight’s hotel is.
Before checking in I stop at a decent gyoza restaurant in the station’s shopping mall. Alongside two orders of gyoza, I try a Hiroshima lemon beer, which is quite good.
Last year I discovered that some of the hotels in Japanese train stations are pretty nice. This seems to be true of the Hotel Granvia at Hiroshima Station. After walking into the hotel, I learn that there are actually two Hotel Granvia outlets at Hiroshima Station – and my reservation is at the one on the other side of the station.
Jan’s Japan trip, Day 2. My hotel booking comes with breakfast at the hotel restaurant, something I’d normally skip in the U.S. because there are almost always better options out in town. But in Japan few restaurants are open for breakfast, and in any event sometimes Japanese hotel buffets can be very good. Happily that’s the case with the Hotel Granvia buffet, which includes a large array of high-end toppings for the yogurt.
I don’t have much time to spend in Hiroshima this morning, but want to get in at least a short walk, so I walk about 15 minutes to Cue, a tiny coffeeshop that makes excellent coffee.
I take a short shinkansen ride to Fukuyama, then transfer to a train going to today’s destination: Onomichi, a cute seaside town on Japan’s Inland Sea. The weather is unexpectedly sunny and warm; it feels like it’s still summer here.
It’s just about lunchtime. The main shopping arcade has plenty of places serving a local ramen, but it’s way too hot for soup. I have a decent margherita pizza at Tranquillo instead.
The town is known for its main staircases and small alleys that cover the steep hillsides. I take a gondola to the top of a peak, then walk back down. There are a dozens of temples and shrines, but I only stop at Senkouji and Ushitora Shrine. Along one twisting stretch of staircases, I come to a cute Taisho-era building called Owl House with a cafe inside. The place is charming, with countless owl statues and a pair of cats. They serve a nice gateau chocolat.
A little further down the path turns into Cat Alley, whose name suggests lots of cats but I only see two. There are plenty of cat sculptures, cat drawings on the walls, little rocks painted to look like cats, etc.
I poke into a shop or two and then it’s time to check into tonight’s hotel. It’s a renovated apartment complex, so not much to look at on the outside, but the rooms have an interesting aesthetic: the ceiling, walls, and even the floors are covered with Japanese washi paper. (The floors are also treated with a waterproof sealant.) The hotel’s restaurant serves a course menu that is thankfully light on challenging food.
Angela sets off on her own trip: a week-long conference for pastors in Little Rock, Arkansas. The organizers actually run several different conferences, each aimed at pastors at a different point in their career. Angela’s attending the one for mid-career pastors.
Jan’s Japan Trip, Day 3. The hotel serves a nice breakfast, then I pack up and wend my way through Onomichi’s little maze of alleys and staircases. I head to the port, where I’m picking up a rental bike. Today’s goal is to bike most of the Shimanami Kaido bike trail, a popular 70 km (43 mi) route from Onomichi on the main island of Honshu to Imabari on the largish island of Shikoku. In between there’s a chain of smaller islands which are connected by a series of high bridges.
There’s a handful of people at the bike rental desk; this is a popular thing to do. After a short while I’m ready to set out and pedal a short way down the waterfront to a ferry dock. Although there’s a bridge to the first small island, Mukaishima, apparently many (most?) people start their ride with the ferry.
When the ferry arrives at the opposite dock, everyone rolls their bikes off the ferry and sets out. Since the ferry drops cyclists off in groups, this forms little peloton groups that start the trail together before getting further and further spread out.
The Shimanami Kaido bike route is incredibly easy to follow – a blue line painted on the road marks the entire 70 km route. There are also markers every kilometer and plenty of road signage.
Although the weather forecast for today kept changing, today ended up gorgeous, a little on the warmer side. Much of the road hugs the coasts of the little islands (the interiors are steep hills) so there’s plenty to see. The Inland Sea is a busy area for fishing and commercial traffic; there’s always at least one boat in view.
The day is spent crossing Mukaishima, Innoshima, Ikuchishima, Omishima, Hakata, and Oshima islands. The bridges between the islands are far up in the air to allow large boats to pass underneath. For each bridge, it’s necessary to bike up from sea level to the bridge deck – but thankfully the trail always follows a gentle series of switchbacks so the climb isn’t too bad. The views from the bridges are fantastic.
I make stops at a convenience store and a small art museum on Ikuchishima. After the museum it’s lunchtime, and I’m happy to discover that the little town of Setoda has a promising-looking restaurant called Minatoya. A reliable indicator of a good cafe is clean, modern architecture, and this holds true for Minatoya. I get a nice salad and sandwich to eat while looking out at another island across a channel.
Later in the afternoon it’s a little hot so I stop at a rest area that serves both a highway and the cycling route. There’s a soft serve ice cream stand selling “Hakata Salt” ice cream. This proves to be vanilla with a touch of salt; it’s not bad.
I’m riding less than 40 miles today but I’m nevertheless happy to finally get on the incredibly long and high Kurashima Kaikyo bridge. This bridge has multiple long spans, one of which is grounded on the small island of Umashima where I’m spending the night.
There’s a puzzle, though: the bridge is hundreds of feet above the island, and there’s no offramp from the bridge to the island. How does one actually get down to the island from the bike path? Incredibly, the bridge has an elevator specfically to take people and their bikes from the bridge deck all the way down to the island proper.
From the bottom of the elevator it’s a short ride to my hotel. I’m happy to make use of the bathhouse, which looks out over the channel between Umashima and Shikoku. Dinner in the hotel restaurant is a course menu focused on local seafood, with the expected mix of tasty things and challenging things.