Orchid Borealis

This post is more of a reminder (or diary) to myself about what we did in Japan after Hawaii ( part 1 ). Well, we were mostly chasing creatures since that is what my son, Taiga, loves at this moment.  So it doesn't have too much about cool places in Japan, or cool things to do (for grown-ups). Kyoto We were warned about the unusually severe heat wave in Japan and a bit concerned about Taiga, especially after a fairly long flight (9 hours) from Honolulu to Kansai International Airport.  As soon as we got out of the airport, our energy got sucked out by the hot, humid, and heavy air.  Taiga's face turned red like a boiled octopus; Alaska grown kids don't have many sweat glands, so they don't sweat and they overheat.  Fortunately, he took a good sleep in the airplane, and his excitement was over-riding the heat.  One week of Hawaii, where it was hot during the day, but cool after sunset, could have been a good buffer, too From the airport, we took this cool-looki

Overlook of Allerton house from the bus at Allerton Garden, Koloa, HI Hawaii is a fairly popular vacation spot for Alaskans.  While most people would go there during the winter to escape the cold, we decided to leave the pleasant and beautiful Alaskan summer behind, and visit Kauai, Hawaii.  Well, we were also planning to visit Japan, so it was a nice middle point to break the long trans-pacific flight from Seattle to Japan.  This was the first time visiting Hawaii for all of us, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was fun.   For an Alaska-grown kid, who can't sweat much, it could have been a bit hot, but he had a blast, and eating lots of shaved ice kept him cooler. After the early morning flight to Seattle, we had a half day there before the next flight to Kauai.  So we took Seattle Link Light Rail to Pike Place Market area. Taiga likes to see different kinds of fish sold in the market.  We ate local oysters at Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar, located around Pike Pl