Kakegawa Hike

Of course the heat and humidity continue.  So we have not done to much the past two weekends.  Julia has a rash that is worse when she sweats so that makes it hard for us to do outdoor activity since you are dripping sweat after two minutes outside.  So this weekend we went hiking near the Kakegawa stadium.  It was a short drive and there are trails all over the mountain, lots of grass for laying around and a flower garden.  We parked in the Fukori parking lot and there was a path right there.

 The path starts out like this with lots of roots.  Watch you step!

 View of the outdoor stadium from above.  There was a track meet going on.

 The stair path down.  But at least it was a little cooler in the woods.

 Some fruit trees.  Any idea what?  Maybe figs?

 Checking out the view with Daddy.

We then walked around the stadium and found another path on the other side.  Back up the mountain we go.

 Going to find a drink.  We love having vending machines everywhere!

 Taking the paved road back to the top.

 Ahh - more stairs.  My calves are killing me today.

 View from the top.  Our house is somewhere over there.

 This baby is done.

 Pond completely filled with lily pads.

 Wait those aren't girls but boys dressed as girls.  Must be some kind of initiation.

After the hike Julia's shirt was soaked.  Fun day but I think we will come back when the weather is cooler.  They keep saying only a few more weeks.  I heard that before.  But once it is - it will be great.

Summer Flowers in Japan

Now I know that we have wonderful flowers in the U.S. and probably the same ones as here but I guess I never really had the time to look.  Sad but true.  Here are some flowers and things we see on our walks everyday.  Such beautiful flowers make your day better.  Of course our house has none, so we are probably known as the lame house on the street.  LOL.

Julia decided to bring her Lovey.

 Check this spider.  He made a web over the trees and was wrapping its poor prey.  Sad but cool.

 These trees line the path we walk on.  They might be a kind of cherry blossom.

 This was a brilliant red flower.  Very cool.

 This is the happiest budda I have ever seen.  It is at the temple not to far from our house.

 And for some reason it has money in its mouth and around the base.  I think it is a budda who helps with money.

 Big preying mantas.

 These lizards are all over the place.  Really one about an inch long with blue and purple colors.  I know they are there but they seem to startle me every time.  I have seen one without a tail two days in a row.  So now I have named him stumpy.

 These are my favorite.  Such a bright pink.  I hope I can get some of these at home.

It sure is beautiful here.

Our First Japanese Meal

The hotel had three restaurants:  Japanese, Chinese and Western.  The first night we decided to have Japanese.  Julia was not to cooperative but feel asleep half way through.

First course:  Sushi, a sweet red tea, and something green in the little box but good.

 The meat and veggies that we get to cook.

 Second course:  Japanese salad.  Sushi and veggies with a light sauce. The green thing is tofu, not bad.

 Third course:  Soup. You drink from cup and it had a good onion flavor. Julia liked this and ate much of Jeff's.

 Fourth course:  Cold veggies you are suppose to dip in miso.

 Pickled veggies, not so good.

 More tofu.  I didn't care for this one.

 The menu, in case anyone can read Japanese.  We cooked the meat and veggies and had a garlic and sesame dipping sauces.  Plus rice and miso soup.

Dessert:  Miracle pudding.  A little flavor that is hard to describe.  Very good.

Add beer and good service and we had a great meal.  The next night we had the Western meal.  Local Hida beef that was so tender you didn't need a knife to cut it.  I would love to eat like this all the time.

Takayama Weekend

Takayama is a little less than 4 hours away and in the mountains.  We thought it would be a nice cooler weather get-a-way. No such luck on the cooler weather but a very cool place.  We drove through lots of tunnels as we drove up into the mountains.  Our hotel was older but very nice and a great view of the city and mountains.  Breakfast and dinner was included in the price of the hotel.  Once we got there we walked around the "old town" which is filled with shops, temples, restaurants and sake tasting.  Since we didn't want to drink and drive we decided to wait on the sake tasting until after dinner so we could walk down from the hotel.  Of course everything was closed by then and it was only 7:00pm.  Very strange how places closed so early in a tourist town.  What do they expect you to do?

This is a structure we saw on the way.  I think it was the travel machine from the movie "Contact"

 Sake tasting... but only before 5:00.  So we bought our own bottle.

 Wandering the streets of old town.

 Cool arch at the end of an old bridge.

 Julia is going to see the temple.  Shortly after she found a puddle that of course she had to sit in.  I guess she was hot.  Glad I carry extra clothes

 Another temple

 This was a dough ball with meat and onion inside.  A little sweet but a good snack.  They came in various colors but we went with the basic one.

 Scary looking dude outside one of the temples.

 Jeff in his Japanese jammies.  I guess you are suppose to wear to dinner which we didn't know until we went to dinner and saw most people wearing them.

 Julia in hers.  A little to big but she thought she was cool.

 At night before the storm.  View from our room.

 Cool structure.

 The next day we drove up further in the mountains and tool the rope line up close to the top.  Julia and I hiked around on the top level and Jeff made his way to the summit.  About a hour there thunder, lightening and then downpour.  About 45 minutes later Jeff enters the lodge soaked.  He is still drying out his boots.  Julia and were nice and dry in the lodge.  It was much cooler at the top and the lodge lost some power during the storm so we ate ramen and hung out.

 The double decker that takes you close to the top.

 Julia made a new friend.  This woman loved Julia and asked to hold her. She held her up on the ride up and part of the time in the lodge.

 Jeff and Julia enjoying the ride down.

 Before driving home we went to the Folk Village set up like an old school Japanese village.  Very cool but so hot so we went through fast and went back for ice cream.  Julia in her hiking outfit.

Yes that is right. A monkey crossing sign.  We did not see any live monkeys. 

 Our goods:  A traditional Takayama doll, sake, rice and soup bowls, sake cups, and cookies.

Another fun trip.