Okuma Birthday

For my 57th birthday, Russ planned a trip to Okuma.  Okuma is north of Nago on the East China Sea side of the Island. It's a resort that is run by the Department of Defense as a "get-away" vacation spot for all the many U.S. military stationed on this island. We rented a cabin on the beach for thee days and Russ planned a few day trips away to nearby attractions. Before we left our apartment, Russ baked a cake and brought it with us to make the celebration complete.  We started the day with breakfast in the resort restaurant and then spent a little time on the beach.

We packed a lunch and drove to the other side of the island to Ada Lighthouse and spent the day there on the beach below and then drove up the hill to the lighthouse to explore. On our way back to Okuma we stopped at Fugawa Dam and took a few pictures before continuing on our journey.

We had dinner at the Okuma restaurant and Russ treated me to a steak dinner that was quite yummy. 

We ended the evening with cake in our room. It turned out to be pretty comical when he set off the smoke detectors while lighting the candles. He quickly blew them out for me, I ran and opened the doors and he started fanning the smoke detectors with a nearby magazine. We moved the party outdoors to a picnic table outside our room and then had to rig up a cardboard tent around the cake so the wind wouldn't blow them out before I could. He was determined and we were finally able to do the traditional candle blowout and song. It made the night fun, for sure.

Before we left our apartment in Ishikawa, Russ gave me my first present....a chest that I loved at the local furniture store. I told him I loved it because it was crooked like me so I was thrilled to see it hiding in my office before we left. I also got a new tripod and various other camera equipment as gifts. It was an amazing day of fun and laughter.

The next day we decided to hike along the Hiji River to Hiji Falls. It's about a 1 mile hike with paved pathways and stairs to get to the falls. Along the way we spotted a habu snake sleeping on the side of the stairs. Of course, we had to stop and take photos before quietly slipping by him to finish our hike. On our return trip we were amazed as a school group of Yochin (preschool) children all marched up the stairs beside the snake without him stirring. Habu snakes are venomous snakes unique to the Ryukyu Islands and can grow to about 8 ft long. They say they are very aggressive when in attack mode so we didn't stay around too long to find out.

The hike to the falls was beautiful. There were quite a few stairs to climb and bridges to cross and we spotted a few birds and butterflies along the way that needed to be photographed. The cascade of the falls measures 85 feet high making it the highest waterfall in Okinawa.