Christmas Came Early This Year

After much anticipation the Dangerfords are leaving on our Christmas vacation to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. We are thrilled to get a little distance between us and Japan and to see more of the world. Thanks so much Shanna and Kyile for all your help and advice. We would be lost without you, this being our first (and defiantly not our last) backpacking adventure.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love you!

-The Dangerford

Super Lungs

Since being left by ourselves to explore Japan, we have been a little lazy. Peter is busy working on his graduate school applications. However, we have found a little time to relax and play. Here we are on our bicycle. In Japan boys ride their girl friends around on the back of there bicycle, I always think its super cute.

We found a yakiniku restaurant close to our house. We were very excited because its our favorite food in Japan, really the only food I like in Japan. Who doesn't like grilled meat.

This is our new sandwich shop. Its amazing we can get a sandwich that tastes like America and doesn't have a fish, seaweed or teriyaki flavor. They even gave us an olive and pickle, my first in 6 months.

While Peter has been working on his applications I have had to keep myself busy. This is proving very difficult due my clingy nature these days. But thanks to Courtney and Chris I have inherited an oven and a sewing machine. This is a picture of my $12 pumpkin bread.

The Dangerfords have a deep love of anatomy. So I decided to make myself a cadaver sweater. Kidneys are in the works.

Now its time to make some Christmas crafts!

Happy Halloween!

These kids made the cut, they were my favorite of the day. Except these first two but I just had to tell you that the chica on the left thinks I am ultra scary and won't come to my class alone.

Enjoy!

Oh Lacy!

Here are just a few reasons

why I love my wife...

Her irrational fear of Ostriches

Her sassy attitude

Her strong inclination to be a vagrant

Her underwater sense of humor

And, of course, her uncanny ability to hide behind trees

Like I said...

These are only a few reasons why

Lacy Dangerford

is the love of my life

We live the life we love and love the life we live.

I am about a week behind on my blogging but have vowed to pick up the pace. So, here are some pictures from our adventure last weekend.

I think Courtney and I found four different locations to test out these springy-animals. They were everywhere in and around the island of Shodoshima, which is where we went kayaking. This one, oddly enough, was on the ferry that we took out to the island. It only made the ride that much better.

We have decided to pick up kayaking when we return home to America. Moving to Montana for the summer and kayaking on Lake McDonald (as long as our plans work out, and I am confident that they will) would be an ideal situation.

How can you not love that face?

Chris lost his wedding ring while playing in the water, so the boys went diving for it. After about 30 minutes our guide became intrigued by what they were doing and asked what they were looking for. He then jumped into the water and immediately pulled up the ring. It was bizarre.

It was an amazing day to be out on the water.

I am really trying to get Peter into more tank tops these days. Granted, he is only wearing a life jacket, but I love this look.

Taco rice anyone? Mexican food is unheard of in Japan, but due to Chris' food allergies our guide bailed on his original fish idea and cooked a real mexican feast. It was wild, our kayaks were packed with all this cooking material and we didn't even know it. Taco rice is basically a burrito without the tortilla and it was amazing. He even had salsa, which was a huge surprise. And it wasn't the salsa you get out of a jar either, this guy makes his own salsa. It was delicious and we were very impressed, to say the least.

This is us on the ferry home. We were really tired.

Our Mother the Mountain

We know we have shown you a lot of rafting pictures but our latest rafting voyage was by moonlight. We got on the river around ten and finished around two in the morning. The water was low and the experience was cathartic. Period.

It's taken us 5 months but we finally got to Mt. Ishizuchi, the tallest peak on Shikoku. Taking the ropeway half way up the mountain to begin our hike was beautiful. The fog was so thick we couldn't see where we were going or where we had come from.

I look happy here but like at Moony Falls in Havasupi by the time I had reached my destination I was sweaty and angry. Watching little old ladies (weighing no more than 85 lbs or 38.5 kg) climb these "God Chains" only made us feel worse. I hate heights.

Peter at our stopping point for the day. Due to time constraints we couldn't reach the real peak. No one was really up for a full day anyway, due to our late night rafting, "God Chains", and the stairs (they felt endless).

Peter is finally starting to use the camera. Its nice getting pictures of myself once in awhile. I am easily the cuter one in this relationship.

Isn't this a great view? The picture doesn't show the half of it.

I love you Peter!

I definitely think you are the cuter one in this relationship.

PS- We will miss you Chris and Courtney! It's been a good ride.

Let's Go Away For Awhile

Our most recent adventure in Japan was by far the most memorable to date. We rode 45 miles on bikes from Shikoku to Hiroshima across a series of beautiful islands and large expansion bridges. And all we took with us was a change of clothes, a tent, and woobie.

Here are Peter and Chris. They may be smiling in the picture, but thanks to some really uncomfortable bikes everyone's butt fell off soon after mile 5.

Luckily we were able to find our butts at this nice rest stop.

Even though our booties were really sore (and we mean really sore), the bike ride was actually really fun. Peter and I were able to stay in high spirits the entire time. Honestly we were on the road for 12 hours. By the time it was all over, we were zonked.

Hoboin' ain't easy.

Peter is now an adventurer.

I never believed he could go so many days without a shower and prepared meals. So, everyone needs to send all future mail to Adv. Peter Dangerfield.

This is the photo shoot location of Chris and Peter's up coming comic book. Details coming soon!

You know how sometimes they say you look just like you feel.

Here is one of the many famous pagodas in Japan.

In Miyajima, the second stop on our trip, deer roamed the town like pigeons in New York. Paper was only one of the many odd things that we saw the deer eating. Chicken, plastic, wooden sticks, clothing and butts (seriously) to name a few.

One of the most visited sights in Japan is the Itsukushima Jinja Shrine, also known as the "Floating Torii".

At low tide you can actually walk out to the torii. Because we spent the whole day there we were able to see the torii at high tide, low tide and at night.

All we are saying, is give it a chance.

Even though it was raining on us while we were looking at the paper crane display, it was still inspiring.

A-Bomb Dome. Hiroshima.

The only building left after the dropping of the atomic bomb.

We were blown away by seeing pictures and models of what the bomb actually did to the city. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was eye opening.

Peter was bugged by how many times I rang the peace bell. There was a line, but I wanted this picture and I really love peace.

Eating at Subway may seem like nothing, but finding a good sandwich in Japan is next to impossible.

In all honesty, this trip felt cursed in some way. Nothing seemed to go right. Needless to say, we weren't too surprised when it started raining while we were at the Peace Park. Thank heavens for the 100 yen store and its cheap ponchos.

Due to the rain, we had to cancel the bike ride home and hopped on a Shinkansen Bullet Train home.

Sure, a lot of things went wrong...

Bad Bikes

Sore Butts

Expensive Water

Missed Ferries

Japanese Food

No Blanket and Only One Pillow

Everything Shutting Down at 5:30

Bad Walking Shoes

No Banks

Rain, Rain and More Rain

Not Speaking Japanese

Being Socially and Racially Profiled By Most People

Lying Hotel Managers

Indecisiveness

But trips are always more memorable when things go wrong.

It was great.