Beautiful Weekend Excursions

We had a great weekend enjoying beautiful Okinawa.  Noa started the weekend early with the annual "Man Day" trip with the guys.  They traveled out to Ie Island, which is up north.  Kenny's dog, Yuri, wishes them luck (isn't she a cutie?!)

Here's the mandatory* group shot of the guys on the ferry on the the way to Ie Island:

Noa and I spent Sunday exploring a new piece of the island....actually another island. We drove about an hour to Ikei Island, which is located on the eastern side of the island. The drive was beautiful and I couldn't help but take pics along the way.

First, we spotted carp kites from last week's Boy's Day/Golden Week on the way there:

I really want to purchase one of these large carp kites.  I don't know what I'd do with it, but they are so fun!  I'm sure I can tie it in to my decor somehow.

Once we got to the island, we kept going under these cement structures.  We're guessing that they are preventing falling rocks from damaging the roads.  Whatever their purpose, they were fun to drive through.

The island seemed to be primarily fields, cliffs, and beach.  It was a beautiful, scenic drive.

On the way to the beach we stumbled upon an Ikei Okinawa Circuit.  

I like this sea wall much better than the one near our place.  This one had murals and dolphins painted all over it.  It was so cheerful!

We found this *gem* in the parking lot of the beach.  You can't really tell from the picture, but it was very sparkly and said TRUST in the back window.  I guess they trust a lot of people because if you look carefully, you'll see the keys in the lock of the front door.

The beach was cute!  There was a small fee, but there was lots of space, tables, rental equipment, and food.

Here's the beach!  I'm sure we'll be back.

*I got the idea from Jess to always send a camera with the spouse.  She's fond of saying, "don't come back if you don't take a picture."  All in good fun, of course!