Northern Okinawa with the Steins (April 2012)

After getting back from Ishigaki, we had a day to hang around home, and then it was off for more adventures! We did go to the Japanese Naval Underground, which was another staggering reminder of WWII.
Our first adventure in Northern Oki with the Steins was to IE Island. A bunch of us signed up for the IE Island 'Marathon', which featured races with several distances: 3K, 5K, 10K and half marathon. Every race in Oki is called a 'Marathon'...you just sign up for the distance you want :) Our friend Hanashiro san helped us organize everything! She is amazing, and always lets us join in with her family here in Oki.
IE Island is pretty small, and when we went last year for the same race, we noticed that the campground seemed really nice. So we rented a bunch of camping gear, loaded up the van and headed across to the island on a ferry! Not only were we traveling with the Steins, but we also met Temi, his daughter Nyla, Luke, and Luke's new fiancee, Yuri! I'm sure our crew was a sight :)

This sign was in the ferry terminal...the bottom right photo is HILARIOUS! Seriously...we have no idea what it means.

Teaching Nyla how to stretch on the ferry :)

Camping gear explosion :)

Ok, so let's just say our camping gear was not the best. Temi and Nyla's tent was clearly missing some necessary poles, so we had to billyrig it with ropes...tie it up to the trees and use what poles we had. Awesome.

Temi showing off his billyrigged tent. 

After getting all of our gear set up, we went to get our stuff for the race. The race was actually in the afternoon, and then there was an after-race celebration. This is probably one of the most fun events in Okinawa! 

Pretty tough lookin' crew: Chrisx2, Nyla & Hannah

Temi & Nyla before the 3K

The mass insanity of the 3K...lots of orange shirts and lots of kids!!

Here are all of our race photos:
3K: photos of Hannah, Chris, Jenny, and Temi & Nyla
5K: me
half marathon: Chris

All smiles after the race :)

Chris and I both won prizes for our age groups!! 

He got 2nd in his age group and I got 3rd in mine.

I got a cool Ryukyu glass medal and a box of vegetables that were home grown on IE Island! The beans were delicious!

Chris looks like a giant!

Tim hangin out with all of our goods during the race!

We had some interesting Japanese food after the race...one of the most tasty treats was a taco type wrap...I don't know if was really that good or if I was just hungry, but I swear it tasted like it had Doritos in it. Hannah and I both chowed down! They also had a 'beer giveaway'. All of a sudden they announced free beer and everyone went running for this random tent. Temi and I just followed along :)

Well, we hit the sack early and woke up the next morning to some rain. It was very peaceful in the campground. We went out to explore a little bit in between the rain showers too! 

Nyla, Hannah & Chris

Van party!!!

We went down into a cave on IE Island... supposedly there is a rock down there that is special for pregnant women...depending on if it feels light or heavy will predict if you are having a boy or a girl. I picked it up for good luck anyways :)

Yuri just got engaged...she didn't want to lift up that rock just yet :)

Cave exploring!

After exploring the cave, we went to climb up to the tallest spot on IE Island. It's just this random rock that juts out of the center of the island. Here's our crew on the top! ...and the views coming back down. 

We caught the afternoon ferry back from IE and split off from our friends for yet another fun adventure with the Steins...Okuma! Okuma is a military resort here on Okinawa that has a ton of fun stuff to do. Chris stayed with the Steins for 3 days up there and they went snorkeling, jet skiing, rafting, etc...! We also walked to Hiji falls one day...nice walk in the woods with lots of spiders and lizards!

Hiji Falls

We had another amazing time with the Steins in Oki!!