Nago Cherry Blossom Festival January 2008

We attended the Cherry Blossom Festival in Nago about a month ago. Rain or shine, we were determined to see the Cherry Blossoms. Unfortunately, it was raining :-( No worries though... We ended up having a wonderful time! Our adventure started out with a climb up 500 steps to see the Nago castle ruins.  And that is exactly what we found!  No castle...just ruins...well, pretty much just the land the castle used to sit on!  I can't believe we made it to the top with Gracie!

After our long hike back down, we stumbled upon the Cherry Blossom Festival parade.  It was quite different than any other parade I have every seen!  The floats are all pulled manually and it definitely had an oriental flare!  Below, you can catch some photos of the festival.  I even posted some movie clips to give you a glimpse of just how different the parades are over here.  Enjoy!

Me about to eat a chocolate covered banana.  yum yum!

Part of the parade.

Gracie under the umbrella (right before she threw herself in the mud!)

Gracie telling daddy she doesn't like the drummers.

Shot of the 500 steps we climbed up and back down!

Geisha dancer in parade

One of the floats in the parade.

Daiko drummers performance

Not sure what to call them, but they are so cute!