Charcoal Chimney Follow-Up: A Happy Report

So, I tried the charcoal chimney again on a picnic with some friends. And whaddya know - it worked. All it took was patience and constant attention. Preparation for having kids one day, I suppose...

Setting everything up. Oh, did I mention the picnic spot was GORGEOUS?

Work it for papi, charcoal chimney...

How about them apples!

The Climb Up Mt. Fuji

Aaron had never even thought about climbing Mt. Fuji until I surprised him saying that on our way back to China, we were going to stop in Japan to climb it.

Most tourists start the climb up Mt. Fuji more than half way to the top.  There are 10 stations on Mt. Fuji (each station has resting areas and hostels to stay in), and most people start from station 5.

I should have known what I was getting into when I told Aaron we were hiking Fuji....Aaron doesn't consider starting halfway up actually climbing Mt. Fuji. So we started from before station 1, in the town closest to Mt. Fuji.

A non-snow capped Mt. Fuji from the nearest town

The start of the trail for us began at a Buddhist temple

He's ready to go.

We left the town around 10:15, and made it to station 8 where we spent the night (just a few hours) by 7:30pm.  Then we got up at 2:30 to make the last little hike up to the very top to watch the sunrise.

We got to the top around 3:30am and the sun was starting to rise.  We still had about an hour left from this picture.

The line of people hiking up Fuji
all of those lights are the head lamps of the people climbing the volcano

They play the Japanese National Anthem when the sunrises

trying to get a picture with the sunrise in the background

the crater of the volcano behind us

It was a hard hike for me.  We climbed from around 2,000ft to 12,388ft at the summit.  But it was worth it in the end.  And now I completely understand the popular saying about Mt. Fuji: 

"He who climbs Mout Fuji once is a wise man; he who climbs it twice is a fool."

Whoever said that must have started from where we started.

Nihom - Tokyo City and the Tokyo Dome

We spent two days in Tokyo, and two days getting to Mt. Fuji, hiking it, then coming back to Tokyo.  It was a lot of fun to be in Japan, but Aaron left pretty much convinced he never wanted to go back to Tokyo.  So I'm glad we went at least this one time :)

the city from a viewing tower

The world's busiest fish market was closed the day we went....so we took a picture and called it a day.

Yakitori under the train tracks.

Lonely Planet Tokyo told us that there were a lot of yakitori (meat grilled on a stick, like a kabob) stalls under this one train station - so we went there hoping to find a lot of places to choose from....after an hour or so of walking, we finally stumbled upon one.  Lonely Planet also told us that yakitori was cheap.  Double lies.  It was delicious when we finally ate it, a few hours after normal lunch.

Ask this guy what he thinks of Tokyo and he'll tell you hot.
And confusing.  And that we're never going again.

A must see in Tokyo:  Baseball in the Tokyo Dome

In our seats ready for the game.  

In Japan, they love baseball.  When you go to a baseball game, it's like going to a college sporting event in the states.  Each baseball team has it's own cheering section, complete with a band.  When their team is up to bat, the band plays, and the crowd cheers the whole time.  It went crazy in the dome when someone hit a home run for the home team.  This was definitely one of my favorite things we did and the tickets were only $10!  Cheap date.

Take me out the ball game, take me out the crowd,
Buy me some peanuts and sushi?

Iced Coffee from Krispy Kreme before we head back to China.  Yes, please.

Crazy Doughnut Eyes picture in another Asian City.  Yes, please.

More Faves

Here are a few more favorites:

It would appear that Stacy and I are being blinded by the sun. Grandmother? No worries.

Grandmother and Davis at Stamey's? Yes please!

Faves

Man, I love my family. And the house I grew up in. Going home is always great.

Charcoal Chimney Follow-Up: A Sad Report

I am sad to report that our attempt to achieve glowing charcoal success via the Charcoal Chimney turned out in failure. After two unsuccessful attempts, the charcoal was lit by other means.

Prepped...

Charcoal'd...

Ready...

Smoking (and still confident)...

Less and less confident. This was as good as it got with the chimney.

I remain convinced that the charcoal here just doesn't like to be lit. Plus, the paper here is pretty much plastic, so that doesn't exactly help with the ignition.

We were not, however, deterred from our ultimate objective.

The best of the best

This year, for my 30th, Stacy went all out. I'm sorry, I meant to say all out.

In addition to some pretty epic travels and hikes, she topped it off with this little gem:

When I was in Kenan Flagler Business School at UNC, this image of the Old Well was the B-School's logo - it has now been adopted by the whole university. Either way, I a) love the logo, b) love UNC, c) love the color (obviously), d) love neckties, and e) LOVE this gift!

Happy classy birthday to me!

McSamurai

Yeah, I go to McDonald's in almost every country I visit. Most recently: Japan.

Go ahead, judge me.

Fuel for the Soul

Ice cream. It's what keeps me going.

Stand Up Paddle Boarding - First Try

My lovely wife has wanted to try Stand Up Paddle Boarding, also known as SUP, for quite sometime now. Either we haven't been places where we could try, or our attempts to try have fallen through (Hong Kong in April) and all it's done is increased her desire to get out and paddle.

Luckily for us, we went home for Isaac and Caroline's wedding in Knoxville a few weeks ago, and Knoxville had a "Discover SUP" class, so we jumped all over. Double lucky for us, all my siblings (except the recently betrothed) were all able to join in the fun. We all had a blast.

It's like a stand up paddle board version of Tombstone.

Now, all growing up my father used to say a phrase he learned when working at J.C. Penny's: "Work smarter, not harder." So, to honor my father, I am going to post a few pictures and then include two links - one from the travel website I run, which describes our SUP experience, and one to my sister Hannah's blog.

(If you don't know Hannah/haven't experienced her blog, here's all you need to know - she knows how to post a picture or two. Or twenty. She should have been a photojournalist instead of a guidance counselor...)

Pre-paddle pic

The ladies, still looking glam

This is the face of "I've waited so long" bliss

Everyone's got the hang of it. Well, maybe except Hannah...

Boo-yah!

Who was that?! Let's be honest, it's probably me.

Organized Chaos - Stand Up Paddleboarding. SUP.

Get Out and Travel - How Stand Up Paddle Boarding (SUP) Won Me Over With One Paddle Stroke

Micah can photobomb with the best of 'em...