Miyazaki Ocean Dome

This weekend I got invited along for a weekend trip to Miyazaki and visit its World Famous Ocean Dome. My friends and their co-workers packed up and left on Friday and had a nice 5 hour road trip over to the other side of Kyushu. The first day was beautiful as we were closer to the equator and closer to the beach. We got to the dome as soon as it opened and were one of the first few people in. As soon as I stepped in I was in awe. It was almost the size of an indoor football stadium with a massive 'beach' right in the middle of it. On the two sides were slides and miscellaneous pools to play in. It was easy to spend the whole day there. The time flew by playing in the pools with everybody including the kids of Chris's secretary who came along for Japanese-English translations. During mandatory breaks they cleared out the main pool and entertained everybody with surfing and water fountain demonstrations. The last half hour of the day were open for those of us who wanted to boogy board. They turned they waves on and gave us the oppurtunity to ride them in the short distance to the coast. We were beat by the time we left.

That night a few of us went out to the real beach and just sat under the stars and listened to the waves. The beach closer to Sasebo isn't near as big or clean. We welcomed the oppurtunity to go and sit out on a good beach.

The next day we packed up and headed back up towards Sasebo. Kiko (our translator) wanted to stop at the Aso Milk Farm. It was intended for the kids but we all ended having a good time. The area is basically a farmers market with a bunch of stuff to keep you occupied in your stay. Under the looming of Mt. Aso (the inactive volcano I climbed last year) is where this place was. We spent a couple hours doing the obstacle course and walking around looking at all the crafts and food. After that we all agreed it was time to head home.
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The thrill seekers: Ham, Michelle, Chris, and Me
















The Miyazaki Ocean Dome
















A view from our Hotel
















Me doing my best trying not to fall over on the boogy board:

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