Fletcher Climbs To Iwakuni Castle

One Saturday while Jesse was working in Okinawa, Fletcher and I decided to head to the Kintai Bridge and hike our way up to Iwakuni Castle. The Kintai Bridge is pretty neat.  It's a historical wooden bridge that was built in 1673 at the bottom of Mount Yokoyama.  At the top of Mount Yokayama is Iwakuni Castle, which you can also tour. When you cross the bridge, there's a really pretty park with big fountains that kids can play in. There are also a few shops, restaurants, and the best soft serve ice cream I've ever had (I had 2 on this trip).

There are several ways to get to Iwakuni Castle; paved road, cable car, and forest hike. Fletcher and I chose the forest hike because we're adventurous, and also didn't know that there's a paved road. It took about 30 minutes to get to the top. It would probably be faster without a baby strapped to your chest. The view from the top is pretty incredible. After taking a short break, we walked a bit farther to the castle.

We didn't go inside on this trip, but we did do the castle tour a few weeks later with some friends.

Fletcher Visits Miyajima Island

A few weekends ago, Fletcher, Jesse and I decided to check Miyajima off of our Japan bucket list.  Miyajima is an island about 40 minutes from us, and it's famous for the Torii Gate and tame deer.  We had an awesome time. We drove to the small town and took a ferry over to the island. Jesse grabbed a map of the island as soon as we got there, but before we could look at it, a deer snatched it out of his hand! We walked around for a few hours, checking out the different shrines and shops, and eating a ton of delish food. Miyajima is also known for its oysters, so I was in oyster heaven. I've never seen oysters that big and they had stands set up around the island where you could order them prepared in all different ways (I think the grilled oysters were my favorite). We also went into a shop that offered soy sauce tastings, which was pretty cool. We tasted about 20 different kinds of salty goodness and went home with our favorite.  It was a super day and a trip that we will definitely be making again in the near future!