Looks to be somewhat overcast but still 82F at 7:30am this Sunday morning in Kobe.
CHAD - Have a safe trip home; I hate to see you leave - It has been very enjoyable reading of you and family's travels and sights. I like that little BLUE style train ... Pretty!
BTW - I only saw chopsticks with the bowl of ramen - do you have a spoon for the soup, or tilt the bowl?
Thanks. My kids feel the same way about leaving. Especially since school will be starting when they get back (they are actually missing the first 2 days due to the trip).
The Blue Super Hakuto was interesting. It was a diesel, but much different than the other diesels we've been on. Not the low rumble and no turbo whine. Much different transmission sound as well. It was a fun one to ride. Quite quick and fast, and the seats were not bad. Pretty interior with wood and all as well. We were only on it about 15 minutes from Sannomiya (Kobe) to Osaka, but I did some research on it and where it comes from/goes to and on our next trip may head up there as it is on the north side of the main island along the Sea of Japan. Never been on that side. Next trip is tentatively over Christmas 2020. It will be the last one my son is on probably as he'll be a senior in HS that year. We try and go about every other year, and the last several have been over Christmas breaks. This year we moved it up a few months into the summer, and so the end effect is a bit of a compressed schedule with two approximately 1.5 years or a total of 3 years instead of 4 for the last set of trips. It was good though as my daughter had not been in the summer since she was old enough to remember, I don't think (we used to go late August/early September when my son was younger and my daughter a baby), and my MIL was diagnosed with cancer last Fall (she is doing pretty well) so moving up to the summer allowed us to see her again while she is still pretty "normal" (we had tickets before she was diagnosed so it was serendipity that it worked out well).
I'm headed to Europe (mostly Germany) in June next year with my daughter. I have a reunion in Munich to attend. While I'll probably rent a car due to cost, we'll be riding some trains as well and will be checking out trains and model shops.
There was a Chinese style soup spoon tucked in next to the bowl, hidden by the flared lip of the bowl. I drank all the broth but it seems a lot of people don't. Personal preference I guess.
Chad - Glad that you are enjoying your trip. Thanks for posting all of the photos. Enjoyed them. I really feel for you having to go through LAX. When we flew back from Hawaii a few years ago the only flight left at 10:30 PM and we landed at LAX at 0500. Everything was closed up except for one coffee shop. I was really starting to get hungry, but no food. Our connecting flight to SLC left an hour later but when we got to Salt Lake, all we could find was fast food restaurants and I was ready for a REAL meal by then. Didn't have a lot of time to search because out flight to Bozeman was leaving shortly. When we finally landed in Bozeman, all of the latches on the cargo compartments were frozen shut. Another delay. This was in January and the temps at altitude were minus 67 degrees. I was ready to eat the hind end of a skunk by then. When we finally got home, I almost tore the door off of the fridge.
I can relate. Not been to Hawaii myself (except as a few hour layover on the way to Japan once), though the wife has. It seems from research that the red-eye flights are popular. But they are a killer. We took one to Boston two summers ago so I could show the kids where I grew up and it was hard to land at 5am or 6am and have a full day ahead of us.
You can get hungry traveling and besides there often not being anything open at crazy hours in the airport, they kill you on jacking up prices as well in some areas. I like traveling but I hate flying. But I hate sitting in airports more than I hate flying. I am not looking forward to this trip home as the total time door to door, will be close to 24 hours (with travel to from airports, security lines, layovers, etc) and even longer day since the flight leaves at 7pm local time so we have the whole day before we leave. And the jet lag from flying West to East is a killer (much more so than from East to West -- personal experience as well as US Army studies on soldiers going to and from Europe). Friday we all have off and though the kids school we're not making them get up. We'll be sleeping in with any luck -- funny thing about jet lag is you are wide awake at 3am and dead tired at noon. Forcing yourself into your new schedule and taking Melatonin when going to sleep helps you adjust a bit faster.
Tomorrow morning off to Tokyo. Hopefully Typhoon Krosa stays away.
ALL --
I've been enjoying all the photos posted from layouts (or prototypes). While I don't run/model or know much about US railroads, I like looking at the photos and find them inspiring. When we were in Green River WY this past February for a swim meet for the kids, we drove past a UP rail yard multiple times and it was interesting (and made me go look at some KATO models, though I resisted
).