Cherry Blossom Season - Nago

The cherry blossoms have been blooming here on Okinawa for about two weeks! Evidently they are the first to bloom in Japan, then slowly move to mainland in late March to early April. The weather has been so wet and rainy, that we haven't made the hour drive north to Nago to see them, but we were running out of time, so this weekend we decided to take an adventure. We were glad we did, because a majority of the trees had already lost their blossoms, but it was still very beautiful. We hiked up the Nago Castle Ruins which was very picturesque with the pagodas and cherry trees lining the million steps up the hill. Once we were at the top, we could see the East China Sea and the city of Nago. After that, we went up the Motobu peninsula and drove up a very windy road to Mt. Yadake, which is also lined with thousands of trees. We FINALLY found a restaurant called Pizza in the Sky, which has alluded us in the past (couldn't find it on another trip up here). It was well worth the effort it takes to get there and will be a family favorite while we are here. The views were fantastic, even with the poor conditions we had, and the pizza was just like home. Only one kind of pizza on the menu, but it was delicious. They had a large collection of Shisha Dogs, and I took a picture of my favorite ones. After about two weeks of solid gray skies and rain, of course Monday is sunny, but we are glad we made the trek, despite the poor weather.