We missed the fantastic aurora seen across the US on Friday night due to inclement weather, and again Saturday night due to even worse weather. We decided to drive over to Shenandoah National Park tonight as the forecast called for good weather with clear skies.
Continue reading “Sunday Night Aurora at Shenandoah National Park”Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, 2024 Visit #2
We went back to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens today after visiting for the first time this year two weeks ago. We once again saw a variety of flowers and birds. We in particular had many Orchard Oriole sightings as well as many swallows as usual, though unfortunately no Baltimore Orioles.
Continue reading “Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, 2024 Visit #2”Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
It has been about 6 months since our last visit to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in NoVA. We missed cherry blossom season this year but were still able to see many beautiful flowers today. And, of course, a variety of birds, including the sometimes elusive Baltimore Orioles!
Continue reading “Meadowlark Botanical Gardens”Odawara
After breakfast at the Indigo Gora, we checked out after a fantastic stay and took the hotel’s shuttle bus back to Odawara Station. We spent a few hours in town, primarily visiting Odawara Castle. We then began the journey home, taking the Shinkansen back to Tokyo for our flight out of Haneda.
Continue reading “Odawara”Owakudani Nature Trail and Gora
The weather didn’t look as good today when we woke up at the Indigo Gora with overcast skies. After breakfast, we decided to head up to Owakudani again as there did seem to be bits of blue sky. We ended up getting onto the day’s first guided tour of the Owakudani Nature Trail. The weather wasn’t so great and it was extremely windy so we returned to Gora to have lunch and to walk around the town a bit. Later in the afternoon, we went back up to Owakudani to see how conditions were. It was even more windy than before! We came back down to Gora pretty quickly for an early end to the day.
Continue reading “Owakudani Nature Trail and Gora”