Miyajima Island

Last Friday, we got spontaneous and went to Miyajima after the kids got home from school. I was darn determined to get out and see something new instead of spending another evening bored in a half empty house.

We drove up to the ferry station and caught the ferry boat just as it was getting ready to board passengers. The kids were so excited to go on a boat, until they got on it. They stayed far from the railings, begging me to come sit with them so I wouldn't fall in the water, except for Finley of course. He came over excited and ready to see some fish (that we did not see) and one by one the other two came over and reveled at the bubbles in the water that were created by the movement of the boat.

It was a perfect time to get there, about 4:30pm when it's not super crowded, the sun wasn't too intense, and the tide was low enough for us to walk under The Grand Torii Gate. Coming out of the ferry station, we were greeted by deer who were more than willing to interact with the kids and mostly sniff us out to see if we had anything for them to eat. They're known for stealing food and even tourist maps to munch on.

Because we got lucky with the tide, we headed straight for The Grand Torii Gate which is part of the Itsukushima Shrine. The island has many shrines and temples. I need to brush up on the history more so I know what I'm looking at next time we go but enjoy the pictures anyways! It was so beautiful there.

We saw several European and Australian tourists so we didn't stand out quite as much this time, which I was grateful for. There were some women that were taken by Finley as he was having a meltdown. They wanted to sit with him and try to cheer him up and one picked up the drink bottle he had thrown. Stinker!

On our way out to the gate, we saw several ice cream stands and little restaurants as well as a plethora of souvenir places. We even found two really awesome coffee places that had these crazy machines and ancient methods of brewing. That will have to be a stop the next time we go for sure! We had planned to stop and eat and get ice cream of course (because it's not an official outing without ice cream!) but surprisingly to us, around 5:30pm, everyone was closed down or closing down and we got one last ice cream shop by the ferry station that allowed us to get some ice cream before officially closing shop. Smart business man! All was saved and a deer nearly followed me right into the ferry station trying to get my ice cream cone. Not even a cute deer can get ice cream from this girl!