Military show-and-tell planes and equipment? Check! Games, festival food, performances, kiddie rides? Check! Fireworks in the evening? Check! The local Marine base's Flight Line Festival had it all, folks!
Brandon and I headed down Rt 58 to Futemna for their festival Saturday night. Rest assured, we waited til evening to brave the heat and humidity. It was still humid, but it was bearable by dinner time. (We're both r-e-a-l-l-y looking forward to fall, winter, and spring again, just in case I haven't mentioned that lately.) We had a lot of fun wandering around the festival, which serves as a big military PR event here with the locals, checking out some of the planes, a kiddie train, and well, as far as automobiles, there were several military jeep-type vehicles scattered about. While we walked through the rows of tents, the sounds of the kiddie rides mixed with vendors hawking their games and food brought back fond memories of walking through the Crawford County Fair.
Although we came about THIS close to getting pulled pork sandwiches (I missed my favorite sandwich at Townville Old Home Days this year!), we decided we'd only have the opportunity for fresh Japanese festival food for a limited time. We enjoyed our yakisoba (fried noodles and veggies) and Brandon tried (and liked!) his first okonomiyaki (fried veggie pancake - his had pork on it, too.) I was surprised to find out that okonomiyaki is called hirayachi here; another reminder that Okinawa is indeed a separate island from Japan, at least in thought and culture. (There's a pic in the Gallery.) Brandon had his usual Sanpin Tea (an Okinawan jasmine green tea) and I had my Aquarius, a sports drink.
After dinner, we did one more walk through of the festival, and stopped for a bit to watch a Hip Hop dance team perform on the main stage. I especially enjoyed their dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." "Look, Matty, it's Thriller!" :) Between the electric violin last weekend and the hip hop dancers this weekend, we're definitely getting our fill of musical diversity this summer! Lots of fun!
---Arielle
