Nakijin Castle Ruins + Cherry Blossoms

A couple of weekends ago, I decided that we should go to a cherry blossom festival in northern Okinawa.  We have heard all these rave reviews (mostly from women) about how beautiful the blossoms are and that they are not to be missed while here.  We've heard from other people, mostly husbands of the ladies mentioned above that the traffic is a nightmare.   So, in typical Brandon fashion, he decides that if we are going to go, we should get up really early and get there before the crowds.   That turned out easier than normal, because the night before we went to see the Cherry Blossoms, Brandon and Reagan camped out in the backyard.  Neither of them slept well due to the concrete ground in our backyard.  Reagan wanted to put the tent inside the trampoline, and after sleeping in the yard, I think Brandon wished he would have gone with Reagan's suggestion.  So, we were up and out the door EARLY!

We chose to go to the Nakijin Castle ruins mostly because they were having a festival on this particular weekend.  Ironically, because of our early start, we were ready to leave as the festival was being set up :).  

Checking out some of the Castle area. 

This photo shows Brandon and his incredible sense of humor as he points out one of the few cherry blossoms that were actually blooming...

Reagan at the Castle entrance

The nice security guard offered to take our photo.

Reagan with a few blossoms.  

Even Brock looks like he was humoring me on this outing!

View from the top of the ruins.

Reagan and I with the East China Sea in the background.

I think they were both so excited because it was time to leave.  This trip morphed into a Castle ruins visit and less of a Cherry Blossom trip the longer we were here.  

You can't tell in the photo, but the lady ahead of Reagan was walking around on stiletto heels.   Not the easiest shoes for rocks.

On the way out, we passed a group of sightseers with a tour guide.  The majority of the group was old, really old.    I can't imagine using a cane and climbing all these steps, but it didn't bother them.

See, there were blossoms....you just have to look really close!