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Wrapping up the posts about our short end-of-the-year trip to Shoudoshima Island several hours south of Kyoto, the third day started for me at 4am with the moonrise picture I posed the other day, then the cold and windy morning's pretty but unspectacular sunrise...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/4.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cold
and windy, on the last day of the year

After breakfast and packing most of our stuff in the car, I stepped out to take the photos from behind the hotel I posted the other day, as Fumie and Anthony went out to the room's balcony to wave...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 65 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waving Goodbye
to the Hotel Aqua, Shoudoshima Island, Japan

The view of the dam we'd visited the previous evening was better in the sun, though still hazy...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/11, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yoshida Dam

On the drive around the island, I noticed the car ferry coming in. We'd be taking the same ferry line back in a few hours...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/4000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Brisk”
still cold; still windy

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/3200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos

Being that it wasn't raining like yesterday, we thought we'd give yesterday's “Angel Road” another try...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 27 mm — ¹/2500 sec, f/11, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Sun
higher tide

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/11, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Leaning into the Wind

The wind was strong and fun, but it was nothing compared to the wind a few years ago on Amami.

We went back up to the overlook and got another family picture, much better than the one I posted yesterday from the same spot....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/11, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Try #2

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/10, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony Wave
that spec of blue at the bottom is him

We then headed to one of the many olive-related attractions, an olive orchard / tourist attraction to see empty olive trees and a fake windmill....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Olive Garden

Then back across the island to the port...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/9, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Our Ferry Heading In

We heard that Kyoto had gotten quite a bit of snow the previous day, and was forecast for more this evening, so I was a bit worried about the drive home. Not thinking I needed snow tires for the drive south, I didn't have them, and so thoughts of having to abandon the car caused worry.

The worries increased when my car navigation system informed us that the highway was closed beyond the Kyoto-South exit. We intended to exit there anyway, but it was worrisome to imagine enough snow in Kyoto (which gets very little snow to begin with) to justify the closure.

Oddly, there was virtually no snow until just a few miles from the exit, then suddenly there was some inch or so of accumulation and more snow falling, but nothing to fret over. Still, everyone had to exit, but it was remarkably smooth and I used my knowledge as a local to avoid most of the extra traffic as we made our way across town toward our place.

But then the snow and the traffic got much worse, very quickly. Everyone shoved off the highway who wanted to continue east had to funnel through only two open roads over the mountains to Otsu, both of which were hilly, curvy, and packed as a parking lot.... and our place is on a feeder to one of them. By the time we were half a mile from our place, my delight at the easy exit had turned into worry about slipping and sliding again, and for the last quarter mile I was downright scared that we'd get stuck (albeit with an easy walk home), smash something, or be smashed.

But in the end we made it fine, an impressive two hours even from Himeji, and I was glad that we'd opted for a relatively early ferry. Anthony and I went out and had a snowball fight, and the snow made for a fun New Year's Day, as reported in “When You Tempt Fate, Sometimes You Lose”.