To the Castle! (And the beach)

Another day of mischief and mayhem with the spouse and the short one. Today, we went to Katsuren Castle and Hamahiga Island.

Now, we've been to Katsuren a few times, as my loyal blog minions well know. But today, we discovered some new things. Specifically, a steep, narrow, unmarked, crumbling path:
Naturally, I ascended the trail in question. Here is Katsuren Castle, as viewed from the steep, crumbling trail (the little antlike creatures in the middle ground would be Eddie and Loki, who chickened out at first, but eventually caved in to peer pressure and followed me):
One thing we've learned time and again about Okinawa is that if someone has taken the time to install ropes to aid in the ascent or descent of a trail, there's something worthwhile at the end of said trail. Behold: Ropes.
And at the top of the trail, a shrine, with Eddie to show scale:
Also, some kind of plant:
And a cool view of the castle:
Once we'd descended the trail once again, miraculously avoiding a lengthy plummet into a weed-encrusted abyss, we were going to head for the castle, but ADD struck in the form of another badly-marked, super steep trail:
This one lacked ropes to aid our descent, and for good reason: There wasn't a hell of a lot to see. Well, besides this tree, which - if you have a dirty, dirty mind - has some incredibly filthy undertones...
Oh, and we saw some, like, houses and stuff...
We went back up the trail, then finally headed into the castle. There, we encountered...stairs. Lots and lots and lots of fucking stairs...
I will spare you dozens of photos of the castle because, well, I have posted pictures of this castle a bazillion times in the past. Instead, we'll cut right to those that were unique to this visit.

"Now go away, or we shall taunt you a second time!"
Here is a top view of the section of the castle wall that collapsed during the earthquake. It should be noted that I took this picture while standing on the same wall. Now, do I have to send for my Darwin Award, or will it be delivered to me personally?
Also, this sign was posted to keep people from venturing too close to the crumbled section.
Stop! In the name of...gravity, I guess. Just a sign telling us not to wander out to the corner of the wall that had collapsed. Pfft. Common sense. As if we would ever go traipsing across unstable terrain with reckless abandon. Wait...

Anyway. Moving right along, here's another sign to warn of the perils of the crumbled wall:
Apparently it wasn't satisfied with collapsing, now the wall has begun throwing rocks at people in yellow helmets.

Also, you must be at least this tall to storm this castle:
Meanwhile, Hover Loki has requested permission to land:
So, after making complete asses of ourselves at Katsuren, it was off to Hamahiga Island, where Loki discovered just how nice the water really is:
Then we bought green beans, strange sweet potato cake thingies, and Loki's first set of Shi Shi dogs before returning home to cool off for a bit.

In other news, today (in the States) is my mom's birthday, so here is a picture of Gil Grissom. Happy Birthday, Mom!