I love Onsen!

One of the best things about Japan is their Onsen, or hot springs. These photos are from Tejimaya, a great onsen in town. I managed to take photos inside because I timed my last visit perfectly to have the whole women’s side to myself. I absolutely love going to onsen and enjoying a nice, long soak.

Unfortunately, all of my onsen buddies here have now graduated, but I haven’t given up hope that some new onsen buddies can be recruited. Last year I enjoyed going to dinner with friends, and then following that with a trip to our local onsen. ♥

One of the great things about winter here is going to the outdoor bath when it is snowing outside. I highly recommend that you visit an onsen or two, should you ever have the opportunity. It is definitely something you should not miss if you are traveling in Japan.

Roadtrippin 2010: Chicago

I have been meaning to share some of the awesome things I’m getting up to during this, my last substantial summer vacation for the foreseeable future. One of which is the road-trip that I took to visit my fiance in Chicago. The drive from Atlanta to Chicago took around 12.5 hours each way, but I broke it up on the way there by spending the night in Nashville with a friend at her new apartment. We had a fun night where in addition to enjoying the good company and seeing her new home, I was also lucky enough to share in the Bridal Shower gift I had given her only a couple of weeks earlier (a margarita-themed basket with Pier 1 margarita glasses, lime juice, sweet & sour, margarita salt, and the secret ingredient Herradura 100% agave tequila ♥).

After a good night’s sleep I woke up to knock out the last 7 hours of driving, which quickly turned in to NINE hours as soon as I ran into metro Chicago traffic. Up until that point it had been an enjoyable drive, and I hadn’t hit any major delays or traffic snags. There is even a great stretch of a dozen miles or so of massive wind turbines which dominate the horizon in both directions for as far as the eye can see. And it certainly is quite a sight! (Upon consulting with the vast knowledge of the internet it seems that there are actually two farms – the Benton County Wind Farm and Fowler Ridge Wind Farm – boasting more than 400 turbines between the two of them)

Eventually I fought my way through Chicago’s dreadful traffic in order to meet up with my beau. We went to dinner with some of the other men and women studying to be Navy Corpsmen. It was great to spend time with him and to meet some of the people he had been telling me about over the phone. When he finally had weekend liberty, the two of us headed away from the Naval Base and in to the city.

Chicago has a dramatic skyline, and is quite a city to look at. We had a great time exploring the city on foot! We walked along the Millennium Mile, explored Lincoln Park (where we saw a wedding! ♥) and basked in the availability of stores like Trader Joes and Columbia within a few blocks of each other. It was so much fun to just see Chicago, and it was a blast to people watch on her streets. I was in awe of Lake Michigan too – when you look across the lake it seems unfathomably vast. The two of us wrapped up our first Chicago night with a romantic dinner at Brasserie Jo’s. I liked the food there, but honestly I was a bit disappointed to find so few veggie restaurants in Chicago when I searched online. I’m sure I could delve deeper and find more vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly establishments if I lived there.

The weekend also happened to time perfectly with an Air & Water show, which we caught glimpses of every day. On Sunday we went to the Lake Shore beach to watch it for real. It was great! There were tons of people out, riding bikes, eating ice cream, playing volley ball, and soaking up sun. We watched tons of trick flying and the beau taught me about the various planes – what they were called, what they were for, and whether or not they’re still used in the military. We saw sea hawks/black hawks, warthogs and many others, but my favorite was definitely the stealth bomber. It was apparently the kind used during the Vietnam war, and it was unbelievably quiet on the approach, suddenly roaring shortly after it passes you by. The plane passed us twice. The first time was at a moderate place, but on the second pass it flew by so fast that a few moments later it almost seemed to leave a sonic boom in its wake.

black hawks

stealth bomber

This whole trip was a blast, but after a cumulative 26 hour drive I am sick of driving for a while. I think I have reached my threshold for long-distance drives for a while (And that’s something I am surprised to hear myself say). Chicago was really nice though, and I would love to visit again.

Relaxing in Saluda

Last week I went to Saluda, North Carolina to visit with family again, and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the newest member of my family. The beautiful baby above was the center of everyone’s attention the whole time we spent in the mountains. The rolling blue peaks of the Appalachian mountains were a dramatic backdrop against which to relax and catch up with family & friends.

PS. On second thought, basically my entire family voted for the Athena dress and as my ‘first love’ among wedding dresses I must say I kinda agree.

Partial Development

My poor battered Canon Powershot has finally really died, with a critical lens error. In honor of my deceased camera, and the fact that I can not post my new book or paintings now, I’m going to post some of my manual photography. Here are some photos that I printed using various partial development techniques. I love the intimacy and flexibility of darkroom processes, and particularly enjoyed this process for the whimsical ways in which you can reinvent a single image (or even resurrect a failed or poor slide).