Wakuya....

Friday, I woke up and was pretty slow moving for a while.  I finally caught the 12:49 train to Ishinomaki.  I waited around there for an hour before the next train came that would be heading West (okay, I just want to note that it is still really weird for me to think about the Pacific Ocean being to the East of me, especially since I live so close to it).

I ended up getting off the train half an hour later at this little town called Wakuya.  Yeah, I know, not very far, but it be a step in the right direction.  Besides, after wandering the town for a few minutes, I saw a sign that said "Remains of Wakuya Castle" and headed that way.  It ended up being a really fun trip.

Have I mentioned yet that when I left Ishinomaki, the sun was blazing and there was not much cloud cover, but when I stepped off the train in Wakuya, rain and thunder greeted me?  It was amazing =)

I ended up spending about three and a half hours at what I think are the castle remains (the last sign I had seen told me "Remains of Wakuya Castle, turn left, 200 meters).  For a while, I sat at a large stone table, writing for a bit before moving on to reading.  For the rest of the time, I mainly just took pictures of anything and everything I saw that caught my interest.  I have to tell you, when I returned home and started looking over the pictures I had taken, I was really wishing I had a better camera.  Josh (and Tatiana) will be the best judge of these:

 All closed off =(

 This is where I really wish I had a better camera (and had been wearing my glasses).  Honestly, I thought that the bird was a crow--mainly because I kept seeing and hearing crows all over.  I did not realize that it is a hawk until I returned home and looked at the pictures (so ashamed -.-''')

 Should have been a big clue.  I found this on the walkway the bird had flown over.

 I almost sat on this guy... I thought he looked pretty cool so I got a few pictures of him.

 Entrance to the nearby shrine.

 While I was reading, this guy just landed on one of the poles holding up the roof.

 The stone table I sat at. If you look carefully behind it and to the left, you should be able to see the Shrine entrance.

 View from the Shrine parking lot.

 This spider was huge! I wanted to get better pictures, but he was too far away.  This is the best of the bunch I took (at least I think so).

It was an amazing day.  The sounds of rain, thunder and crickets-that-aren't-crickets (I forget their name...) mingled with a nearby school band playing "Oh when the Saints go Marching in."  Absolutely beautiful and peaceful.

Sorry for another overload of pictures.... they are hard to choose from, and I left out a lot of shots I wanted to include.