We are experiencing a bit of jet lag and all of the pictures that I have taken on this trip have been of our new grandson. But I'll get some pictures for this part of my story in a few days.

Yesterday we got up at a normal time for this time zone after being awake much in the night due to jet lag. We had breakfast at the train station and caught the Hayabusa, one of Japan's famous bullet trains, from Ueno to Hachinohe, in the Amoori Prefecture, which is the northern tip of Japan's big island. The train reaches speeds of 180 miles per hour and we arrived in Hachinohe by noon and caught the 12:10 express train to Misawa. The paperwork of obtaining our temporary passes to travel on and off of the base took a bit of time and we were really eager to meet Patrick face to face and see our daughter, but soon we were at their home and were able to spend the afternoon and evening with them.

We've enjoyed amazing travel and have seen beautiful sights, and are feeling very fortunate to have been able to make this trip. I'll focus some attention on getting pictures today.