Author Archives: zinredhead

You would think I was famous, but alas we were greeted as we left the boat in Xiamen with what looked to be a college class working on their journalism assignment. They gave us red scarves and red bags with gifts for the New Year – it was actually fun but Larkin had to pullContinue reading “XIAMEN, FUJIAN, CHINA”

The photos above are of the Sakurajima volcano and you’ll note the ash and steam rising – not clouds close to its surface. After our bus to car/ferry trip we stopped off at the Kirishima- Kinkowan National Park – Kagoshima the city is in the background below. We enjoyed a foot bath with the warmContinue reading “KAGOSHIMA AND OKINAWA”

After docking in Hiroshima, Larkin, Haru and I joined about a dozen other folks on a bus to drive to a charming little town, Kumano, that has a very famous brush maker’s Brush Pen Studio, Fude no sato kobo. Fude means brush and the city has been making them for over 180 years. This studioContinue reading “HIROSHIMA AND BEPPU”

This is one of my favorite photos of the Kinkaku-ji or the temple of the Golden Pavilion. I think I might like the job of the tree trimmer. What a beautiful place to work! Looking back, I wish we had taken the high speed train that would take us to the train station but no,Continue reading “KYOTO AND OSAKA”

Monday the 13th…our luggage was out by nine and we meet downstairs in the conference room for a bus to Happo en. There are 180 of us on an almost 600 passenger boat for the full world cruise. We had actually found that 180 versus 300 plus on a world cruise makes meeting the fullContinue reading “Silversea Dawn”

Before we left for Tokyo, we had an unbelievably spectacular sunset the previous evening. Mikey, the bear had to come with us. He was a lovely gift from a friend using Michael’s jeans and shirt! He will make us smile and help us remember why we are on this very adventure. Thank you Michael…We’ve missedContinue reading “The Adventure begins in Tokyo…”

He was larger than life…How do I describe 31 years with this grand man? The tears have settled down and yet the nights are lonely as my cute pupster JJ tries to keep me company. The house is quite. I try not to fill it up with incessant noise from the television. I am nowContinue reading “Alone but not Lonely”

The Blue Lagoon is located in the Reykjanes peninsula in what is now a UNESCO Global Geopark. In 2012 National Geographic named it one of the 25 wonders of the world. The lagoon is actually man-made due to the discharged water from the Svartsengi geothermal power station that did not seep back through the lavaContinue reading “THE BLUE LAGOON”

After checking out of the Ion Adventure we headed to the Reykjanes Peninsula to visit the Fagradalsfjall volcanic area which had erupted in March of 2021. Valdi told us when he met us on Friday that if a volcano went up we would detour to visit and of course with two of us being geologistsContinue reading “REYKJANES PENINSULA”

Valdi picked us up at the Ion Adventure and drove us toward the southern coast winding our way through Selfoss, a quaint little town that is upgrading their image. The town has many retirement apartment buildings that looked like fabulous places to live! The town’s growth is due to its lower property prices and itsContinue reading “ICELAND’S SOUTHERN COAST”