Sometimes, in spite of the
stress & turmoil of life, you have to just take a few hours, turn off your
phone & escape from reality. The reality for me these past six months is
that my dad’s health problems have taken priority in my life.
But today I finally managed
to take my sweetie to the Miyazaki Bath House in Walnut Grove, California. This was my birthday gift to him which had been postponed then put on hold for
the past month.
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| The Miyazaki Bath House has been lovingly restored by a couple named Montserrat & Eugene. I read an article in our local newspaper about their endeavor & thought, hmmm, this might be something Lou would be interested in. |
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| The bath house is in a small wooden building located in the heart of "Kawashimo", the old Japantown in Walnut Grove in the Sacramento Delta. |
According to their website, the
Miyazaki is the only historical & traditional Japanese Osento still operating in the United States. It provides private hot & cool
soaking tubs & a steam room along with tea service. The owners provide kimonos,
essential oils, salt scrubs & ginger tea among other amenities &
touches that make it a unique experience.
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| Me in my kimono getting ready to do some traditional Japanese bathing. I love this photo! Lou gets full photo credit on all of these pictures since I didn't even bring my camera today. |
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| The front part of the bath house is an art gallery which is also part of the private relaxing experience. |
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| Lou in his kimono sitting on the tatami mat bed in the gallery. |
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| The brown closets to the left are part of the original doors & framework of the building. |
Walnut Grove is small
historic town on the Sacramento River about
45 miles from our home. The town had both a Japanese district & a Chinese
district which we thought was kind of strange since the town only consists of a
few blocks in both directions. It's amazing how many interesting little places are so close to home!
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| Some of the old buildings in Walnut Grove which fell into disrepair post World War II but are being revitalized. |
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| One of the many drawbridges crossing the Sacramento River & Sacramento Delta with its 1200 miles of waterways. |
Our lunch at Alma's River Cafe (where we were the only two non-locals) followed by a two hour "soak & steam" ended all too soon. But at least we had a short escape from the crazy reality of life before heading back home to all the medical drama. Sigh . . . .
