The Ride of a Lifetime

After 4 times of being canceled for any number of reasons, today was Sandy's first time traveling at over 500 knots, sideways, upside down, and practically inside out while pulling up to 7.3 G's in the process. Her first word after getting out of the jet...amazing.

It all started with a pre-brief from "PIG"(call sign) where all the basics of flight are covered. Things like ejecting, ground egress, dealing with bird strikes in the canopy, and a once over of every button that you should never ever touch. Some basics huh? Even though I wasn't the one flying I had to keep telling myself that "this will be fine, they have hundreds of flights per year and no incidents here in Misawa." Further, even though I'm a believer in odds...I do know that when something goes wrong it did so 100% of the time THAT time. Not sure what it is...but this part really struck me as it was such a casual once over of some very critical bits of life saving information.

After the brief Sandy suited up and then it was time to head out to the jet!

On the way out to the jet we met up with the other two flyers and pilots decided to try and go out as a 3 ship formation which would have given everyone the chance to see a little bit of what it's like to fly right next to another fighter...BUT...as is usually the case with aircraft, flexibility is truly the key. First Sandy's jet wouldn't start and then the 2 others couldn't afford to sit around burning fuel while they waited. So no cool formation flying for Sandy today.

The pre-flight routine is pretty neat to watch when you don't see it every day. The process is almost choreographed. The crew chiefs run their steps, the pilots run theirs, and in the moments where the two cross paths it's as if they've timed everything just right and the hand signals, words, and actions just flow. Based on what Sandy described of the radio traffic and the actions I saw standing out around the jet, it really is just like in the movies. A thumbs up here, a whirl of the hand there, and flaps begin to move, engines fire up the sound of freedom, and then it all culminates with a quick salute and off goes the jet. Here are some pictures leading up to taxiing and take off.

Within 10 minutes of takeoff PIG had given Sandy control of the aircraft and the first thing she did was try to maintain an altitude of 18K feet. Apparently that's much harder than it sounds. Then commenced the show and go portion of the flight. PIG would give a 5 second verbal instruction followed by the expected result of the input to the aircraft and then it was her turn. She performed barrel rolls, loops, split S, engaged in some cloud racing, and several climbs and dives between about 13K and 21K feet.

Her favorite part of the entire flight was the feeling of zero gravity while performing the split S maneuver. Next was the loops and the actual take off. The worst part...pulling out of a split S and directly entering a barrel roll. This quickly induced a return delivery of every fluid consumed in the hours leading up to flight. Not to worry though...all that life support equipment comes with barf bags and she made good use of both of them.

After the 1 hour 15 minute flight they touched back down in Misawa where I was waiting along the taxiway to get some final pictures of a memorable day.
A big thanks to PIG for making this an awesome day which truly was the ride of a lifetime.

Canyoning in the Gunma Prefecture

Now for the reason we took our trip to Minakami, Japan. It all started last summer while camping in Yagen Valley when the campfire conversation was reliving the exciting jump from a small cliff into the 6 foot deep stream. (I know...smart right)

Well someone brought up canyoning during this conversation and mentioned that there is a place in Japan that has tours. After a few days of digging we found the Canyons Adventure Experiences company which could show us the way to even larger cliffs and much deeper water as well. It wouldn't be until over one year later that we finally pulled the trigger and setup our very own canyoning trip.

Having arrived in Minakami late Saturday night, we got a full nights rest before setting off to the Canyons office on Sunday morning. After meeting up with Mike, our guide with 12 years experience and considered to be one of the pioneers of canyoning in Japan, it was time to get into our wetsuits, strap on our life jackets and helmets. We loaded up in the van and set off for our first half of the day in Maple canyon which turned out to be a great warm up for the second half of the day. Here are the pictures from the first half of the day.

Fake smiles as everyone gets over the initial shock of the cold water

Trekking back further into the canyon

All 10 of us heading down the large slide

Sandy & I headfirst down the slide

Sandy headfirst and backwards down a slide and into a pool

While the first half of the day was a good time by anyone's measure, we were all looking forward to the second half in Fox River where the cliffs and slides were supposed to be about triple the size of the ones from Maple Canyon. Fox River did not disappoint.

From the very start we laid down in a slide and headed into the canyon. It was literally 15 minutes in and we were faced with a 60 foot waterfall which we were about to ride into a giant pool down below.


From the top you could barely see what you were getting yourself into...but from the bottom you're able to look back on what was one helluva ride.

After the waterfall we climbed up the wall and onto a pedestrian bridge over the pool that we had just been dropped into and then made our way out onto a wooden chairlift. A few pulls of a rope and we were again out over the pool, but this time suspended in mid air by a handle bar before letting go and falling over 45 feet into the water below.




As if that wasn't enough of a rush, we then took it upon OURSELVES (not part of the tour as clearly indicated by our guides) to leap from the 50 foot bridge. I think this was the best part of the entire day.


The rest of the course was just as fun but couldn't quite compare to the size of the jumps and drops above. I could put up another 50 pictures of everyone sliding, jumping, flipping, and diving from cliffs and waterfalls alike, but I think you get the idea by now.

After our tour was over we got our Canyons membership cards which opens up a whole new list of canyoning adventures. Unfortunately Sandy and I won't be able to take full advantage of them as we're now two months away from PCSing to Virginia. Maybe somewhere along the way we'll get another chance to do some extreme hiking, but until then this experience will be one not soon forgotten.


Pictures made possible by Eddie's shockproof, waterproof Olympus Camera

Hotakasan Campground

Ten of us set off from Misawa for the 8+ hour drive down to the Gunma Prefecture. Specifically the Minakami area in search of this amazing time Europeans call "Canyoning" and Americans have coined "Canyoneering." Details on that in a post to follow.

Our home for the Columbus Day weekend would be the Hotakasan Campground which turned out to be one of the nicest campgrounds we've ever stayed at. It had concrete pads setup randomly along a hillside in a dense birch forest with running water to wash dishes, cooking grates if you so chose, and an abundance of fire pits. My only complaint was that the bathroom smelled like a zoo. I guess that's an acceptable trade-off when next to it is a ¥200 hot shower.

As always, everyone packed enough to feast at every meal. From seasoned ribs, to the jambalaya, steaks, and smores in the evening and hash browns, bacon, eggs, steak, and Starbucks Coffee for breakfast. (Starbuckscourtesy of me of course)

About a 30 minute walk, or 5 minute drive, from the campground was a beautiful waterfall too.


Then the greatest benefit of all...the Takaragawa Onsen. Approximately a 20 minute drive from the campground, this three bath, open air, and all natural coed onsen hit the spot after a full day of banging up the body on rocks, waterfalls, and ropes. The actual bath names are Maka, Hannya, and Kodakara. Our favorite being the Maka bath which is one of the most famous onsens in all of Japan.
It is the most frequent bath featured in TV shows, magazines, and advertisements. The whole area is actually very public. While you're enjoying the onsen there are people...tourists even...walking within 10 or so feet of you along the trails. Interesting to say the least.


All in all, great accommodations with plenty of luxury nearby from a camping perspective. Sure wish we could head back and do this again!

Yagen Valley in the Fall

As summer turns to fall and our time here in Misawa comes closer to an end, we're getting our fill of travels, sights, and activities. Having had a great time on our last visit to Yagen we decided to get a large group of people together and head up for one last trip. Only difference in this trip was that the air was a little cooler and the leaves had just begun to turn.

Setting up near the main fire pit this time, the perfect weather made for a relaxing evening as the sun set behind the hills. Everyone had a chance to enjoy cold drinks and grill up their steaks, dogs, and eventually smores.

The rest of these pictures are from the valley and surrounding areas. On Sunday Sandy and I just headed off with no particular goal but the guarantee that the GPS would lead us home
eventually.



We're both going to miss the Shimokita Peninsula...especially in the Fall.

Sea Kayaking on Lake Ogawara

So in the process of researching things to do around Langley AFB in Virginia, I came across a website dedicated to sea kayaking. Reading a bit more I found myself becoming quite interested in the idea of a relaxing paddle in and around some of the channels that feed Hampton Roads.

Not having the first clue about what it takes to go Kayaking, off we went to Outdoor Recreation and signed up for the Sea Kayaking course here on base. While not an official course in any way, it's a prerequisite to being able to rent a kayak or participate in any of the kayaking trips offered by Outdoor Rec. Even though we don't have much time left to enjoy kayaking here, we figured this would be a good way to learn the basics of kayaking so that when/if we decide to buy our own we won't be starting out from absolute scratch.

After 3 hours in the pool on Thursday evening, it was out into Lake Ogawara for a leisurely paddle. A little history here, Lake Ogawara was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy to practice the attack on Pearly Harbor. The lake was chosen based upon its resemblance of Pearl and the depth of the water allowed pilots to practice launching torpedoes in conditions they could expect in Hawaii. Anyway, back into the water...

Since nobody had anything pressing to do today, we went for it all and set off to completely cross the entire lake, return back towards a northern point, and then follow the coastline all the way back to the base beach. It looked a little something like the map below and covered about 5 miles by my rough measure.

We were fortunate enough to have perfect weather throughout the morning. No wind, plenty of sun (too much sun for me), and a water temp that was quite refreshing when we ended up playing around with the different rescues. Below are some pictures of our trip around the lake.








At the end of the day we were plenty exhausted but we're both eager to see what the Virgina waters will have to offer us...oh, and Thailand too...I've read about some beautiful kayaking/canoeing trips that we can take advantage of in December.