good times, great fun, niigata-ken

this weekend was quite nostalgic for me. i road-tripped to niigata prefecture with erin, cynthia, and shane. the nostalgia set in when we reached the border between gunma and niigata. you see, niigata was where my first experiences in japan began, about seven years ago when i was a senior in high school. amber was living in gosen city, a suburb of niigata city, and i took my first trip out of the U.S. solo to visit her. i remember driving on the highway, loud techno music blaring, looking out over the relatively flat farmland (rice fields) in amber's little daihatsu parco. i have a similar car myself now. it's funny how so much has changed and yet stayed the same. i messaged amber from my keitai informing her of my whereabouts. natsukashi. nostalgia.



anyway, we found ourselves a campground next to the ocean/beach. both campground and beach were basically empty except for some surfers and a few picnickers, which was fine by us. we hung out and napped on the beach until we got hungry and made a feast via bbq of yakisoba (fried noodles and veggies), yakiniku (bbq beef), and grilled vegetables, and of course "mallows". we walked down to the beach that night and saw the brightest falling star i have ever seen.




the next day we actually swam for awhile in the ocean dubbed "too cold to swim in because it's not officially summer yet" by the japanese season police. we ended up spending a good 3-4 hours swimming (body surfing next to the 'real' surfers) and lying in the sun...it didn't seem that hot due to the ocean breeze and we don't get much ocean in gunma so we soaked it all up. and as i sit here and ice my face, i shake my head at how ignorant we were for staying out that long in the sun. ah, you live and learn. and apply plenty of aloe vera to infected areas.


i saw this drawing for father's day and thought it was pretty funny. this kid's father must be proud that his daughter/son can draw so well, but not-so-happy about the accurate rendering of ol' dad.