Abroad With The Schaubs: September 2016

After that miserable Thursday at Miyajima to see the fireworks, we took Friday completely off to recover. I can't even remember if a single one of us got out of our pajamas that day and if that is true, there is no shame.

On Saturday, we took the train to Yanai, South of us, to witness a greatly talked about Goldfish Lantern Festival. The main event is the parade. When we got there, it was about 4:00pm. The parade didn't start until 6:30pm so we had time to walk around, take in the sights, and make our own goldfish lanterns. It was another ridiculously hot day, even if the sun was not at it's peak. It stayed hot our entire duration and there wasn't a moment that I wasn't fanning myself or the kids. It was just that hard to cool down.

Even thought it was crowded, it was nothing like the traumatic experience days before. Plus, there were a ton of Americans from base there so we didn't feel quite so alone. After we figured out where things were, we found the craft area and painted some goldfish lanterns. Rylan decided he didn't want to paint one so I painted his. I really enjoyed it. We went from there straight to a spot on the side of the main street to hunker down and wait for the parade. Because we were at the end of the parade path, it took a while for it to reach us but was so neat! Each part of the parade really took a lot of time to do their thing. There was a traditional dance performed and then a class of drummers that stopped right in front of us and played for at least a half-hour. They even let the kids play on the drums when they took a break. Then they had their goldfish floats as the finale to the parade. After asking around a bit, we were told the best place to see the fireworks was from the bridge, so we headed that way to claim a spot (not tarps here). Did I mention it was really hot? To avoid carrying a bunch of weight, we decided to not bring water bottles and just get some from vending machines as we needed. The problem was because it was such a small town, they didn't have as many as we're used to seeing and the ones we did come across either didn't have water in it at all or was sold out. Chris sat with the kids while I went on a mission to find some. I was able to find a small shop front selling drinks from a plastic tub with ice and took all 5 of his remaining waters. Carrying 5 ice waters back to our spot was glorious, I was able to put my fan away for the entire walk back.

When the fireworks started, we learned the best spot was not from the bridge. A large building stood in front of where the fireworks were actually displayed...closer to the train station where we were standing originally for the parade. The tears started again- we were 0-2 on fireworks so far. Tired, overheated, and disappointed, we loaded the train back home and decided fireworks are overrated.

On the Wednesday of Chris's week off, the day after our Toko-Toko outing, Chris woke up with a well-timed sinus infection. This man, you guys, is the king of sinus infections at the most inopportune times. I know thats insensitive because the poor guy is miserable but seriously, I just want to tell him to get it together, man! They always come when he has time off, which is rare in itself, and usually when we have some bigger plans made. For example: Our Disneyland trip that we took last year he woke up the day we were driving to Disney with a sinus infection. We had two nights stay at the hotel near the parks and the day of he was sick and was MISERABLE the whole trip. We were in CVS after the late fireworks show the first day looking for drugs to help get him through the rest of the trip and Chris isn't a fan of Disney as it is, so the sickness didn't help in the slightest. So he woke up sick and I made him call in and see a doctor to get a Z-Pac or something to clear that up quick so we could go to the Miyajima Firework show the following day. He went and got some Flonase and came home telling me that people with high-stress jobs getting sick on their leave time is a thing. That because the body is able to let down it's defenses during relaxing, it's not as on guard as it is during the high-stress working hours. Mind blown...and here I thought he somehow controlled it to get out of things all these years. Wednesday was a down day for him to recover.

Thursday morning, Chris woke up still not great but good enough to make the trip. The Miyajima Fireworks are a really big deal. People come from all over the world to see it and photograph it. You're only allowed to stake out sitting areas at midnight the day of....only, because if people could they would literally camp out for days to get a prime spot. There were photographers in those fishing overalls in the water as the tide came and went all day in front of the iconic Torii Gate for the shot of a lifetime. We drove to the local train station and took the train to the ferry station to get to the island. This was no walk in the park. We knew it would be super crowded, and hot, and probably miserable. Why on Earth would we still go with three small kids in tow knowing those factors? Because I have seriously lost brain cells in the last six years, thats why.

We arrived about 3:00pm and my grand idea was that we would walk to the aquarium on the island for a few hours until they closed to entertain the kids and have a bit of AC to help break up some of that horrid heat. The walk was a bit far for little legs in the heat and the whining from the one whose name starts with an R, was relentless. Unfortunately, I'm not the only genius and the Aquarium was so packed with other like-minded people that you could hardly notice that there was AC at all, let alone enjoy it. We went to some sea lion show and snagged some seats and right as the show was about to start, so many people came out of the woodworks! There were like 4-5 rows deep in the back standing section that could maybe comfortably fit 2 rows of people standing. It was so crammed it felt like we were in an incubator...and we had seats! We left early because of the lack of personal space and convinced the kids they would be able to use the opportunity to see the other sea life less crowded because all of the people were surely crammed in the dollhouse version of a stadium compared to a Sea World one. Nope. Another wrong assumption as the rest of the aquarium was still crowded. People were actually sitting on the benches and on the floor asleep!
The island was pretty crowded when we arrived but still manageable. When we walked out of the aquarium at about 5:00pm, there was barely room to walk. On the main drag back to the food vendor tents and ferry station area, we were crammed in and moved along like cattle. That is no over exaggeration, friends. My steps couldn't even be the length of one whole small foot length in front of the other. Chris and I had the kids sandwiched in a line just to make it through together until what seemed like forever, we were able to break free from the crowd and find something to eat. We got pineapple on a stick for the kids and then ice cream because in that heat you have to get your priorities straight, ya know. There were tons of food vendor tents so there was definitely not a lack for food. The problem was the lack of appetizing, palatable food. We ended up finding glorified chicken nuggets...the only "normal" food in a sea (no pun intended) of octopus tentacles, small squid on a stick, some other fish stuff, etc.

Every square foot on the banks of Miyajima facing the Torii Gate was claimed with tarps, blankets, picnic mats, the works. We decided to sit as close to the ferry station as possible so we could bail quickly after the fireworks. The best seat we could get was behind a tree sitting on a short stone wall right in front of the trash and recycling bins. Glamorous. It did beat having to stand for 2 hours until the fireworks were scheduled to shoot off and continue standing with antsy kids that run off. When, at last, the fireworks started almost two hours after bedtime and after many more hours that we had been enduring the heat and crowds, we saw a glimpse of the fireworks through the branches of the tree. Great. The kids started crying because they had an obstructed view and we literally had no where else to go to improve the view. Because the fireworks lasted an hour and had a couple breaks in between, we decided at "half-time" to just go wait for the ferry in hopes we could see them in line or on the ferry boat. Well, once again, we weren't alone in this thought and to make matters worse, they decided to tarp all of the openings in the ferry line so people couldn't just loiter there for a good view. The tear saga continued and we were crammed together yet again, fellow cattle comrades once more, to wait for the ferry to start loading again. The sound of fireworks taunted us and the kids knew they were missing out- just added fuel to the overheated and over exhaustion. Even after dark, it was so unbearably hot. If I was never terribly claustrophobic before, I certainly was then. We had our same Schaub train in place with a plan to get a spot along the ferry railing so the kids could watch. "Ok guys, hang on, do not let go of me or daddy and move as quickly as possible." Valiant as our efforts were, we were vastly outnumbered. We had about 150 people crowded ahead of us, all of whom surged toward the ferry railing and obstructed our view once more of the fireworks. More wailing, more disappointment. Then the boat turned as it left the dock and the crowd shuffled from one side of the boat to the other for that view. The boat felt like it might tip with all of those people on one side.

The ferry ride wasn't long and once we reached the other side of the water, there were more crowds on that side and more tarps blocking the view. We managed to catch a bit of the finale and then ran with the other tourist lunatics to be shuttled like cattle into the train station. Another pep talk was given to the kids, and we made our way to the Southbound train for Iwakuni. Chris held Finley and I stood in the doorway that led to another car, Rylan and Quinn both sitting on the floor asleep on the way to our last stop. At each station, the train was rid of more and more people...the advantage, I suppose, of living in a smaller town.

Good. God. Almighty.

Now do you know why I waited to retell this experience? I feel like we should get a marathon medal or maybe a cold bucket of water on the face to say, "What the heck were you thinking?!" Probably the latter....the cold bucket would have felt good that day.

I bet those fireworks were incredible. I bet those people wading in waist-high water got some amazing shots. I bet those people standing 4 deep on that little stone stairway about 2 ft wide that scaled a mountainside had a great view despite their dangerous proximity to each other and the cliff-edge. I bet people with young children are smart enough to not attempt such a day trip no matter how reputable the display- lesson learned.

The beginning of our trip on the train when we still had our optimism