Tucson - As Much Mexican as Possible

and Homecooking of Course
Living abroad for so long, there are three things I miss a lot: burgers, Mexican food and home cooking.  I got all three in spades.  Jenny whipped up an amazing dinner that lasted for days.  While not stuffing ourselves with her home cooking, we made sure to stock up on Mexican.  I tried a Sonoran style hot dog for the first time.  As far as I can tell it's a normal hot dog loaded with all kinds of condiments like chiles, salsa, mayo and cheese.  It wasn't as good as I hoped for.  I made up for it with plenty of tacos and huevos rancheros for breakfast.

Tucson - The High Road

Up Over the Mountains
To get to Tucson, we took the high road, through the mountains.  The speed limit was an impossibly fast 75 miles per hour, much too fast for the creaking two-lane interstate.  I tried to keep a modicum of self-respect but even moving vans were passing us..  "Babe, you ok?  Your eyes are getting really small!"  Of course, she asked me this after waking from a short, deep nap.  What did she expect?  Two red-eye flights and hours of sandy monotony were taking a toll.

Palm Springs - Refuel

Elitist Breakfast
It didn't look like much when we checked in but the next morning in the light of day, our hotel impressed.  Dodo booked it using a chunk of award points accumulated through her travels.  Most of its charm was lost on me however, as my brain wrestled with the confusion of bright sunlight at midnight.

Los Angeles - Second Slice

Star Struck
We shared our Tokyo to Los Angeles flight with a Japanese movie star.  According to Dodo he starred with Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai and I took her word for it.  We landed to a crystal clear Los Angeles morning, we could see all the surrounding mountains.  The smog is no more, apparently they've cracked down and eliminated it.  While getting the car at Enterprise, I checked and re-checked my pockets.  Too many young salesman in starter suits shaking my hand and calling me by my first name.  After years in the more formal cultures of France and Singapore, I found their easy familiarity strange.  It felt like a con man was selling me a recently "borrowed" car that would probably break down once on the freeway.

Narita - More than an Airport

A Japanese Pause
We carved our Tucson trip into three easy-to-digest slices, the first being an eight hour layover in Tokyo.  Well, not exactly Tokyo but the town whose namesake, Narita, has been subsumed by the airport.  We stored our carry on luggage at the arrival terminal, something still possible in Japan, and took the train one stop into town.  It was cold, in the upper forties, but there was little breeze in the narrow lanes. Many of the small stores were just opening for the day, the shop keepers placing their wares along the sidewalks.  Narita is known for two specialties: traditional rice crackers and barbecued eel.

Tokyo - Goodbye for Now

I'm Gonna Miss You

Tokyo - Yanaka Neighborhood

Going Back in Time
Yanaka is the only neighborhood to survive the WWII firebombings and as such, it looks like no other area in Tokyo.  This is the first time either of us had visited.  Unlike the rest of Tokyo, there are few high rise buildings.  There are a lot of weathered wooden single family homes, many covered in vines and flowers.  No one house looked like another, as if each had been built by hand by the great great grandparents of the current tenants.

Tokyo - the Signs

Open for Interpretation
Like any large city, Tokyo comes with instructions.  There are signs telling you what to do and how to do it.  However, since I don't know Japanese I often applied my own spin.  Are you only required to stop when a serious man in a hat is crossing?

Tokyo - Sumo

Fall Tournament Live
The fall tournament was showing live on television.  Every day, no matter what we were up to, I would harass Dodo to go back to the hotel from 4pm to 6pm to watch.  At first she did so just to keep me happy but after a few days she got caught up in the drama.

Tokyo - Neon

Shooting in Shibuya

Only Ginza has more neon than Shibuya.  At night, you feel like you're walking inside a giant light bulb.

 

Tokyo - Back to the Maze

Sayonara Sapporo
On this visit we stayed near Shiba Park, home of the Tokyo Tower.  Neither could be seen from our hotel window.

Sapporo - Wandering

Without Tour Guides

After eight glorious hours we popped out of bed and hit the streets, just the two of us. Like Toronto, Minneapolis and many other winter cities, Sapporo can be criss-crossed on foot underground.  Our hotel was linked to the underground by a small staircase in the lobby.  We joined the throng, who were walking, shopping and pondering the many small art exhibits.  These strange dolls peered up at the ceiling as if expecting the arrival of a spaceship.  

 

Hokkaido - Sapporo

Greysville
I'd only known the word Sapporo from their famous beer.  It was nice to put a face to the name.  It was cold when we arrived, near the freezing mark.  Perhaps that colored my perception.  The buildings were hunkered down together, trying to find warmth in numbers.  What little light there was struggled through the clouds to get there. 

Hokkaido - Soba Master

It Ain't As Easy as it Looks
After our Otaru afternoon we headed to the outskirts of Sapporo for a soba making class.  If you're not familiar with soba noodles, they're made from buckwheat and are often eaten cold with a dipping sauce.  The word "soba" means buckwheat in Japanese.  I was really looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint.  This is the finished product that Dodo, David (a colleague of Dodo's) and I made.  Looks good, right?  The small round container holds the dipping sauce.