Rog and Jane's Blog

Unusual sites:  black Q-Tip's, go cart city tours, sink on toilet tank cover, auto open car doors, buttered bread packaged & sold ...

I've been home a week now.  Yesterday we buried my sister, Sal.  It's been a sad whirlwind.  Here's the rest of our trip:   ...



We are on our way to the airport. My sister, Sally just died. She had a heart attack and was improving until she wasn't. My heart is ...

We got off the train in Asa. Gotta be honest, after walking around a bit and getting blank stares when we tried to ask about attractions, w...

Our next train ride took us to Iwakuni. As we stood talking about how we'd get to our hotel, a man came over & after chatting a bi...

Hiroshima Peace Museum. It's hard to put into words how I felt today as we moved slowly & silently shoulder to shoulder along the ...

We took the train from Nara to Himeji. When we came to one of the stops on the way to Himeji, everyone got off which clued us in that we s...

You might be getting this twice?! Nara was the first capital of Japan in 700 AD so it is filled with ancient buildings most of which hav...

Nara was the first capital of Japan in 700 AD so it is filled with ancient buildings most of which have been or are being reconstructed. O...

Well we're off the floor and in a bed and also sitting down to go to the bathroom! The traditional Japanese bed is a 1-2" pad calle...

 Our last day in Okinawa was a chill day…both the weather which is about 50-60 F and our activity level. We were staying at a place near t...

We were surprised when Chris said he wanted to take a day off and take us around Okinawa. We told hime he really didn't need to do that...

The last couple days we spent mostly at HelpOki. Chris needed to make a detailed inventory of all the items in the personal care section an...

We left Naha and headed to Uruma where HelpOki is located. Since it's not a tourist area, it was tricky to find a place to stay. When t...

   

 We slept well & were ready to take off about 10 the next morning.  Our Airbnb host, suggested we go to the Shurijo Castle & the U...

We took a pause in our travels to visit with Jake's family near Pittsburg for a few days. We'd rented a room in a hotel with a pool...

Charleston…once the richest port in US, birth place of the Civil War and now getting polished up to be a beautiful tourist town. It's f...

After more than 1000 phone calls, almost 100 home visits and upteen logs sawed, we took off our Inspiritus volunteer Tshirts and headed to C...

The stories are endless and the last 4 days, Chan, my niece got to hear them too. She lives just 5 hours from here so she drove up and with...

Well, I didn't expect this! About 3-4" of snow & freezing cold for 3 days! Really???!! Rog and Zach had been on a roll getti...

This morning Rog fixed his famous frittata and he & Zach gobbled that up then took off to cut up a huge tree that took all morning. I ...

 Intro: So we're off again…too cold to stay home and adventure calls. As always, I will NOT be editing. I write these updates mostly...

I reluctantly agreed to visit Vietnam. So many lives lost and so much pain for both sides. Why stir up old memories…won't it cause...

We loaded our plane on Sunday at 9:30 pm.  A couple movies, some visiting with the Irish lady next to me and some sleeping filled our 10+ ...

 We caught a flight back to HCM & took a Grab from the airport to the closest beach area, Vung Tau…about 2.5 hours. We'd booked ...

One and a half more days in Hanoi gave us time to visit the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology which was fascinating covering many customs display...

Before we left home, our friend, Dan Ellsworth gave us contact information for an English teacher he met here in Vietnam last year. So we ...

 We made our way to Tam Coc which is just 3 hours south of Hanoi. Toll roads with actual traffic signs & well marked lanes made it an...

Left Hanoi by a limo is headed to Halong Bay. En route we saw homes huddled together with rich green rice fields surrounding them. The riv...