Aaron and I flew to Okinawa this past Saturday, for our postponed anniversary trip. We landed amidst quite a storm, after we circled for an extra half hour (during which I could have used a tranquilizer). 
We finally arrived at the Marriott Okinawa Resort & Spa, and were in heaven with this view from our room. We were treated like royalty at the resort, customer service here is amazing!
Our first night in Okinawa, we went to the Howdy BBQ restaurant and enjoyed local Okinawan pork and listened to live music. Most of the songs were in English, so we had a great time.
I was looking forward to this trip very much, as my grandpa had told me that Okinawa was a beautiful place so I wanted to see where he had been. 
Aaron and I were great tourists and explored the Memorial Peace Park and Museum:
Himeyuri Monument,
and downtown Nago on our first day. 
After all this, we enjoyed happy hour in the lounge and then had a delicious Chinese dinner. Yes, I know we're in Japan, but I love Chinese. And, we tried the local drink of awamori, but 1 sip was all I could do. Aaron said it best "I think we flew here on this fuel". 
Then on Monday, I think Grandpa Al intervened so that we could have a beautiful, sunny day on the beach instead of the forecast rain! We spent the morning at Kariyushi beach, with Aaron working on his tan and me napping under the umbrella. Then we headed off for more tourist fun. I was insistent on going to the Nago Pineapple Park, which was a huge tourist trap, but I just wanted to buy some pineapple wine! 
We also visited some interesting subtropical gardens, and apparently we were the first visitors in quite some time!
To wrap up the tourist circuit, we visited Manzamo,a beautiful place made from fossilized coral that looks out over the East China Sea.
For our last night in Okinawa, we ventured out for some local food and tried a local dish made from goya (bitter melon), spam, and eggs. Spam is incredibly popular in Okinawa! Then we went to the spa and enjoyed very hot hot tubs, a cold plunge pool, and the sauna. We wish vacations lasted forever!
