Okuma with Grammie, part 2

So it's taken me a few days to get the second half of our trip to Okuma on the blog, but here goes...

On Tuesday, the weather turned nice - some sun and less wind - so the first order of the days was to rent some "buggies".  The last time Grammie joined us at Okuma we rented bikes and the kids did not forget that so it had to be done again.  We rented one "speed racer" bike for the boys to take turns on while the other 4 of us were to ride on a four-seater.  I didn't realize until after we rented the bikes that the four-seater was for two people peddling, and two people riding in front.  Cannon was trying to be gallant and offer to peddle for Grammie so she could ride, but boy did Grammie look funny stuck in the front of the bike with Emmy!  Everyone in the parking lot was laughing at her!  Of course, it was me and Cannon who weren't laughing after about five minutes of peddling Her Highness with Princess Emmy next to her!  Well, it was fun and we had a good laugh.

After our bike excursion, we tried to find another hike but ended up going on a long twisty mountain road that led to no where.  We did find what we thought was a hike, but after about 10 minutes of going strait down hill, we decided it might not be such a good idea to continue.  Mom and I were thinking of the uphill return - and I must admit I was a little scared of a stray habu snake crossing our path.  Habu snakes are very poisonous and very common on Okinawa and with this being the first warm day in a while my head was full of visions of them sunning themselves on the path or falling out of the trees (known to happen!)

Instead of our hike, we found a wonderful nature center that focused on the indigenous wildlife in this area of Okinawa.  There is a species of bird, the Okinawan Rail (or the "famous bird" as Emmy called it), which was just discovered in 1984 and is on the endangered species list.  We had been hoping for a sighting of one of these birds during our stay, but only found a model at the nature center.

Not sure why this Okinawan Rail is lifting a dumb bell, but had to take a picture!

The Okinawan Rail

The day ended by one last short hike to a part of Okuma which is truly beautiful, especially at sunset.  Grammie just loves cliffs and crashing waves and I think I could have left her here all night!