All good things....

....must come to an end :(
After adventuring the island North, South, East, and West, as well as a gazillion places in between, it was time for Rachel to make her way back home, but not without a stop at one more picture spot!!

Nakamura House

Nakagusuku Castle can be seen in the distance over the roof tops of Nakamura House.

Rodney thought it would be a real headache to live in an old Japanese home!

But, it sure would be airy!! Just slide open the walls in whichever direction the breeze is blowing.

Cool architecture!

One of the original Shi-sas

And, guess what----Rodney found another "picture spot"!!

The end-of-visit green tea and black sugar jello :)

Nakagusuku Castle

It was so kind of the Ticket Booth
 to have loaner "sun-brellas"!!

The stairs down to the well.

Views from on the wall

This is one of my FAVES from Rachel's whole trip!!

Rodney took a picture of me after I took theirs.
(Holding that parasol against the strong winds coming up off the ocean, I thought I was going to do a "Mary Poppins" off the wall a few times!!)

"Haunted Hotel" is behind the castle site.

"Haunted Hotel"

Looking up at the back wall

Rodney looks like one of those people in that bleach commercial---he's glowing white!!

Kin "Photo Shoot"

After our visit to Gold Hall we decided to explore the beach area at "Kin Blue". We found a fishing boat marina and this cool seawall. The water and cloudy sky made a cool backdrop for some photos....

Fishing nets lying out to dry

Beach at Kin Blue

Gold Hall

Walking into Gold Hall, we got a glimpse of some of the woodwork we'd see later. We bought our ticket and began our self-guided tour.

The view down to the path we'd follow.

It's built on this cliff which houses a vast display of bonsai trees and other vegetation. (We really want to go back---the brown wind-burnt vegetation was a result of Typhoon Songda.)

Rodney was amazed by this bonsai tree!

And in bonsai tree heaven with these!

I thought this one was especially fabulous!

Here's some of that woodwork

Even in the bathroom!

After walking the grounds admiring bonsai trees, orchids, and garden shi-sas, the tour ended us back where we started---a cool place to sit and relax!!

We relaxed and admired the impressive woodwork while sipping some ice water.

We chose tasty taco rice from their small lunch menu!!

A couple more pics for the road....

And speaking of road....

...here's the view of the road from the backseat!!
No, the picture is not "flipped," Rodney is driving on the right side of the car down a typically narrow little local road :)