Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 95 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Getting Wet

Picking up my “Camping with Anthony” story from after our early-morning walk on Day 2....

The campground is on a cliff overlooking part of Kotobikihama (northern Kyoto Prefecture, Japan), a large beach more than a mile long, with many distinct sections. We spent the rest of the morning, and the early part of the afternoon, exploring, but it eventually came time to get wet.

Nearest the campground was a section of wide beach fronted by rocky outcroppings....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 31 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 62 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Running in the Water is Fun

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 31 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
It's Fun to Get Wet

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 50 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from Near Our Tent

( Anthony is right of center )

In the picture above, you can see Anthony sitting in a small stream that's cutting through the sand. That's from a hot bath at the base of the cliff below the campsite, fed by pumps from a natural hot spring. The water continually overflows the bath, and the runoff makes its own hot steaming mini river down the beach into the ocean.

It's fun to jump over...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/10, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Jumping The Hot River

But it's more fun to sit in....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sitting In The Hot River

But it's really fun to lie, roll, and wallow in it...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 60 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Now We're Talkin'!

The ocean water is still a bit chilly, so being able to play in the warmth of the stream every so often makes for a long day of content-and-sandy fun.

Eventually, even little boys get tired, and it's time to relax in the hot bath...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 120 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pooped

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 32 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rotenburo
( 露天風呂 — “Open-Air Bath” )

The bath is not very photogenic, not that anyone enjoying its warmth really minds. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to use any kind of soap or shampoo (even while standing outside it). It'd be heaven if you could.

A couple of minutes later, Anthony is back playing...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

And quickly back to the bath...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 36 mm — ¹/350 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rinsing Shoes

But little boys can't stay clean for too long or they wither away, so he quickly was back at it....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 105 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
This is the Life

Soon after, I tried to give him a cold-water shower (the only showers they have at the campsite), which he did not appreciate. (It was later that I found the “porta-potty hot showers” mentioned on the Day 1 post.)

We then drove into town and found a supermarket, then stopped by a restaurant for dinner. I made sure that we returned home (the campsite being “home” for the duration of the trip) well in time for the sunset, although it turned out that something much better waited for Anthony: new friends.

Continued here...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 22 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Up with the Sun

Picking up my “Camping with Anthony” story (about my camping trip with Anthony to Kotobikihama beach, in northern Kyoto Prefecture, Japan) from after the end of Day 1....

On the second day, the sun rose at 5:07am, and, unfortunately, that means that we did too.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 24 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/3.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from the Camp

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Someone Else Up Early Too
( the early bird catches the, er, fish )

We decided to talk a walk along a path to a big hill we could see along the coast, stopping by a big beach in between that the path dipped down to.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 112 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/5.3, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
View Back to the Camp
( the tent visible in the center was in the same campground, just below ours )

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/2500 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ocean At 6:05 AM

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/45 sec, f/5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Continuing Up The Hill

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 35 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/4.2, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wilderness Rest Stop Full of Trash
( To Japan's great shame, this is extremely common here )

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 20 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Checking Out A Bug

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pretty Poky Things

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 105 mm — ¹/50 sec, f/5.3, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cup Full'o Pollen

As I mentioned yesterday, the amount of yellow pollen dust that the pine trees produced was staggering. Maybe some clever bees enlisted a spider's help to collect it. We saw these yellow webs all over.

While on the way back, we were passed by this man with a bucket of some kind of edible seaweed.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 70 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Returning With The Morning Harvest

We followed him for a while thinking we were returning to camp, until I noticed on my GPS that we were going the wrong way and corrected ourselves. I realize now by looking at the geoencoded location that we were on a path that curled away from camp toward a small village.

I always have my GPS unit with me when I have the camera, because I use it to later geoencode the photos (that is, to associate with a photo the latitude, longitude, and altitude at which it was taken, as well as a speed and bearing, if moving), so it was fortuitous in this case to keep me from getting lost.

Unfortunately, it failed me for most of this trip, because of the six days of the camping trip, it inexplicably saved no tracklog for days 3, 4, and 5, so I lost the ability to accurately geoencode all those photos. This is really disappointing, but worse, since Garmin has no idea why it might have happened, I have no faith that it won't randomly happen again. (It's happened to me before, but this was the first time that I could absolutely rule out user error, since I didn't really interact with the unit during the whole trip, other than to turn it on and off as I used the camera.)

Garmin responded quickly when I wrote them about it, and they're checking into it, but not having heard of this issue before, I don't hold much hope that they'll come up with a fix. 🙁

Continued here...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/350 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wisteria at the Sandai Shrine
Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

The day I got back from camping, Fumie happened to hear from a taxi driver about a small out-of-the-way shrine not too far away that had a nice bloom of wisteria (or fuji – 藤 – in Japanese), so yesterday afternoon we made the 45 minute drive to Sandai Temple in Kusatsu to check it out.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

I guess wisteria is normally a climbing plant, but here they have them dangling from horizontal trellises. They were mostly purple/lavender, but there were some light pink ones as well.

There were a lot of big bumblebees among the flowers (two can be seen in the photo above), and one had to sometimes dodge them as they barreled along.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/45 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from Below

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/180 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wall of Wisteria

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Selective Focus

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 80 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 200 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 18 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shrine Entrance

The shrine is quite small and located in the middle of nowhere, grouped with a few houses but otherwise surrounded on all sides by field after field after field. (See any of the “map & image data” links under each picture for a satellite view of the area.)

It's free to enter, but they suggest a donation of 200 yen (two bucks) per person. I tried to give them more, but they refused. They've even arranged for free parking at a school or somesuch next door.

The parking lot had a slide and some swings, and other play activities that Anthony was much more interested in than the flowers.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 70 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Considerably Precarious

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR @ 150 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mommy-Style is Easier

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Good Samaritan
Satsuki-san

It seems that my cellphone somehow dropped out of my pocket while scootering home today. Lucky for me, a kind stranger found it and called the “HOME” entry in the address book: she told me that she'd found my phone before I even realized I'd lost it.

It's not fun to lose a phone. The last time that I lost my phone (which was also the first time I lost my phone) it was a huge hassle to have to get a new one, new plan, re-enter data, etc. Yuck. (It turns out, though, that the phone was just hiding in a pocket of our luggage; I returned from camping the other day to see that Fumie had found it.)

I'm very glad that I didn't have to go through that again for a second time in as many weeks. Thank you Satsuki-san!

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/8000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Bringing Home the Bacon

I've been so overwhelmed with built-up stuff to do since returning from camping with Anthony that I've only just started really looking in detail through the photos I took, and came across this interesting shot. At the end of the second day, Anthony was out on some rocks just off the beach and playing with some new friends, and I was with them and enjoying the sunset and conversation with their mom.

I then noticed this bird flying by and something seemed very odd about it, so I quickly snapped the lopsided picture you see above. (I seem to have a mental block on keeping the camera level, so usually have to correct a slight tilt in Lightroom, but I've left this one as is.)

I couldn't tell exactly what was odd, but my first impression was that it was two birds making babies in flight, but a tight crop from the next frame made it clear that the bird was just a working stiff bring dinner home....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Extreme Crop From the Next Frame

Continued here...