Isla Fam Bam: Sanity in Photos

Monday, July 20, 2009

Sanity in Photos

I have been keeping my sanity lately by diving into my photo hobby. I spent most of the weekend taking and editing pictures...it calms me! And I needed that! Friday I went out with my neighbor to look for some good photo ops. We stumbled upon this really awesome Buddhist Temple, visited the Nakagusuku Castle, and also the "Haunted Hotel".

I guess the Haunted Hotel is off limits to Army peeps (I thought it was only Marines), but George tells me when I start uploading, "You know an order just came down that we aren't supposed to go there...", OOPS! I thought I was over the whole "breaking the rules" phase. Hee Hee! I guess I can't hide who I really am. It was creepy there and cool. FULL of spiders and graffiti. Imagine this place after sunset though...I don't think I would have went in.

But there were some great spots...and shots!

The castle is before you get to the hotel. It was definitely what you would call in "ruins". I almost busted my a$$ several times from the uneven steps and such...but the view from the wall was amazing!!

I may have been channeling my inner diva once or twice...I mean come on, it IS a castle right?!

The temple find was a total fluke...all we could see was this pretty red building in the distance and so we made a quick turn to be nosey! What a payoff...

Tara got some good ones here (b/c she is savvy with her camera and took pics like a spy even after the lady told me no pictures). She got one of me kneeling in the temple...believe me, I had PLENTY to pray about!!

I tried to act on her stealth-like photo skills, but only came up with this one...but you can see the two guys from the above picture praying to the three monks(?) chanting away. I wish you could have heard it...it was astounding and piercing.

They had some shrines located at the bottom of the steps that you could cleanse your hands and also one that looked like a fertility shrine...

...this is about how close I went to that one (with the zoom on). I don't need anymore free fertility, thank you!

There is also a bunch of good luck charms and wishes spread throughout the entrance way and leading up to the Temple. I can't imagine how old some of these are....

Very cool adventure...

Saturday, Geo had a softball tournament (shocking, I know)....so the boys and I (Saige was at a friend's), decided to make a trip to the Botanical Gardens. JD was our tour guide (he would like me to call him "Explorer JD")...and Teage was our bird/insect finder. We happened to go about 2 hours before they closed, so we ended up having the whole place to ourselves practically. It was nice! More priceless shots...