Everything's coming up arugula...
May. 21st, 2009 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkoldFortunately, Erin reminded me I have a video feature on my camera. Unfortunately I forgot to recharge my battery. Even more unfortunately, I accidentally changed the quality on the images I was taking pictures so since I use a script to resize a bunch of them are too small.
I so regret not filming the day before and my visit to Jesus' grave and the blizzard,And my visit to Sakata later on but we all make mistakes and at least there are pictures of demon spawn babies so we can all share the experience.
Erin and I got up early so that we could try the other onsen in our ryokan. These were the "original" ones and the indoor one was separated by quite a long walk from the outdoor one. One also had to first wash in the indoor one before using the outdoor one... The indoor one was nice but small, but other than being too hot, the outdoor one was great! Plus since Erin an I were the only two using it, I was bad and got my camera >D
Notice the privacy fence around the garden
So pretty and relaxing!
We then had a huge breakfast I sadly did not take a picture of, and then checked out to start our Hirosaki adventures. We decided to be smart and asked the owners of the ryokan's advice on going to Hirosaki and to Towadako so we would not have more snow fun. The wife thought we could do a lookout but should then head to the expressway while the husband disagreed and thought we could take the free and more scenic route along the lake. We decided we would wait to see what the weather was like.
Our ryokan!
The main road through town and the coffee shop across the street
And we're off!
Erin encouraged me to take pictures from the car so everyone could enjoy the inaka
That's my canon rice on the left lol
Welcome to Towada-Hachimantai National Park, yes we have snow!
We were really glad we hadn't come here the day before as you can see the new snow by the side of the road.
I don't have pictures of it, but there was a good 4-6 inches of snow being shoveled out of the parking lot where we left Rolo.
OMG sunshine!
We were somewhere on the other side of those snowy mountains the day before
Where we would soon be driving...
There is some sort of onsen at the lake's shore I think but I'm glad we didn't stay there lol
SO COLD!
Map of the area
Since the weather seemed fine, we decided to take the scenic route along the lake to Hirosaki.
Erin's favorite type of warning sign
Yeah! Hair pin turns!
Lake level
The road we had just transversed
There were actually super prettyand super dumb little green birds that would fly out from the mossy areas as we went past playing some sort of daring game to see who could get hit by Rolo
Civilization? Erin says we almost stayed at one of the 2 fancy hotels here, there is actually a Prince hotel.
We missed the actual turn off for the actual lookout, so I asked Erin to pull over so I could get some closer pictures of the lake. It was actually bluer in real life.
The water was really really cold
Erin being antsy that we should leave, I think she was concerned we would either 1) get in trouble or b) the weather would change, and the tiny shrine across from where we pulled over.
Back on the road!
Yeah, for Japanese roads! We had to go back up to go over the mountains surrounding the lake. The lake is a caldera for a volcano, since this is Japan.
Only 42 Kilometers to Hirosaki!
Thanks to hubby I find farming techniques fascinating.
large dam
Notice the fence is apple decorated. Aomori-ken is famous for its apples.
I think we're getting closer to Hirosaki lol Hirosaki is another destination known for its sakura, which also just happened to bloom during Golden Week. It is very popular with Japanese tourists and when we were there we saw a parking lot a good 3-4 Kilometers from town to be used when the ones inside the town are full!
One thing that had NOT been mentioned was Iwaki-san, the huge volcano towering behind Hirosaki.
I loved these fences
despite the threatening sky we did not thankfully get precipitation
We ended up parking in a Depato's parking lot. If you spent 1000 yen you got free parking for 2 hours and I was on the hunt for gloves. Sadly no real gloves were available but I did get a pair of sun protection gloves which were better than nothing
Hirosaki!
admire my ugly gloves!
BTW anyone wondering why I keep wearing that sweatshirt... I was COLD!
Me and Erin taken by the little old ladies form Shizuoka who thought we were just amazing, particularly Erin because we are foreign
The line to go into the Castle
Right after this, my battery on my camera died. It really sucked, but was probably for the best as otherwise we would have left Hirosaki even later than we did. The drive back to Morioka via expressway took under 2 hours.
The last of my battery power taking a picture of Rolo
Rolo!
Things at this point went even more down hill. I was SUPPOSED to be staying at the Fujisan Ryokan, which according to its website had a shuttle form ShinHanamaki/Hanamaki station. I tried to find their phone # so we could call them, but unlike every other Reservation I had, their # was not on their printout ~.~ So I tried to get help from the JR Info office so we would call them. We finally got the # only to discover that it was too late for the shuttle (I was arriving at Shin Hanamaki at 20:15 I believe) AND I WOULD NEED TO PAY 7000 YEN FOR A CAB!!!!! 7000 YEN!!!! Between the fact I still had to buy my ticket to get to ShinHanamaki because I had a weird Flex Pass (3000 yen) and the shuttle situation made me anxious about how would I get back to the station the next morning so I could get to Morioka (Tuesday morning I was going to Akita and then changing for a train to Sakata) ..I decided to just stay at the Metropolitan Hotel right next to Morioka Station. It was 6900 yen a night and so cheaper than the 7000 yen I would have paid for the cab. I got the Ladies' floor and a free breakfast with my room. I was still sad though. I'd stayed at the Metropolitan back in 1999 and it had been OK but nothing spectacular. Well, since 1999 they had completely upgraded and my room now had a lovely comfy bed and internet ♥ I gave Erin a hug good bye promising to contact her on Thurs/Fri when I was back in Tokyo and I went to my unexpected hotel. I did not see another obvious foreigner from when Erin left me Mon night until late morning on Thurs.
And for those who want to see a video of part of our roadtrip.. enjoy!
I so regret not filming the day before and my visit to Jesus' grave and the blizzard,
Erin and I got up early so that we could try the other onsen in our ryokan. These were the "original" ones and the indoor one was separated by quite a long walk from the outdoor one. One also had to first wash in the indoor one before using the outdoor one... The indoor one was nice but small, but other than being too hot, the outdoor one was great! Plus since Erin an I were the only two using it, I was bad and got my camera >D
Notice the privacy fence around the garden
So pretty and relaxing!
We then had a huge breakfast I sadly did not take a picture of, and then checked out to start our Hirosaki adventures. We decided to be smart and asked the owners of the ryokan's advice on going to Hirosaki and to Towadako so we would not have more snow fun. The wife thought we could do a lookout but should then head to the expressway while the husband disagreed and thought we could take the free and more scenic route along the lake. We decided we would wait to see what the weather was like.
Our ryokan!
The main road through town and the coffee shop across the street
And we're off!
Erin encouraged me to take pictures from the car so everyone could enjoy the inaka
That's my canon rice on the left lol
Welcome to Towada-Hachimantai National Park, yes we have snow!
We were really glad we hadn't come here the day before as you can see the new snow by the side of the road.
I don't have pictures of it, but there was a good 4-6 inches of snow being shoveled out of the parking lot where we left Rolo.
OMG sunshine!
We were somewhere on the other side of those snowy mountains the day before
Where we would soon be driving...
There is some sort of onsen at the lake's shore I think but I'm glad we didn't stay there lol
SO COLD!
Map of the area
Since the weather seemed fine, we decided to take the scenic route along the lake to Hirosaki.
Erin's favorite type of warning sign
Yeah! Hair pin turns!
Lake level
The road we had just transversed
There were actually super pretty
Civilization? Erin says we almost stayed at one of the 2 fancy hotels here, there is actually a Prince hotel.
We missed the actual turn off for the actual lookout, so I asked Erin to pull over so I could get some closer pictures of the lake. It was actually bluer in real life.
The water was really really cold
Erin being antsy that we should leave, I think she was concerned we would either 1) get in trouble or b) the weather would change, and the tiny shrine across from where we pulled over.
Back on the road!
Yeah, for Japanese roads! We had to go back up to go over the mountains surrounding the lake. The lake is a caldera for a volcano, since this is Japan.
Only 42 Kilometers to Hirosaki!
Thanks to hubby I find farming techniques fascinating.
large dam
Notice the fence is apple decorated. Aomori-ken is famous for its apples.
I think we're getting closer to Hirosaki lol Hirosaki is another destination known for its sakura, which also just happened to bloom during Golden Week. It is very popular with Japanese tourists and when we were there we saw a parking lot a good 3-4 Kilometers from town to be used when the ones inside the town are full!
One thing that had NOT been mentioned was Iwaki-san, the huge volcano towering behind Hirosaki.
I loved these fences
despite the threatening sky we did not thankfully get precipitation
We ended up parking in a Depato's parking lot. If you spent 1000 yen you got free parking for 2 hours and I was on the hunt for gloves. Sadly no real gloves were available but I did get a pair of sun protection gloves which were better than nothing
Hirosaki!
admire my ugly gloves!
BTW anyone wondering why I keep wearing that sweatshirt... I was COLD!
Me and Erin taken by the little old ladies form Shizuoka who thought we were just amazing, particularly Erin because we are foreign
The line to go into the Castle
Right after this, my battery on my camera died. It really sucked, but was probably for the best as otherwise we would have left Hirosaki even later than we did. The drive back to Morioka via expressway took under 2 hours.
The last of my battery power taking a picture of Rolo
Rolo!
Things at this point went even more down hill. I was SUPPOSED to be staying at the Fujisan Ryokan, which according to its website had a shuttle form ShinHanamaki/Hanamaki station. I tried to find their phone # so we could call them, but unlike every other Reservation I had, their # was not on their printout ~.~ So I tried to get help from the JR Info office so we would call them. We finally got the # only to discover that it was too late for the shuttle (I was arriving at Shin Hanamaki at 20:15 I believe) AND I WOULD NEED TO PAY 7000 YEN FOR A CAB!!!!! 7000 YEN!!!! Between the fact I still had to buy my ticket to get to ShinHanamaki because I had a weird Flex Pass (3000 yen) and the shuttle situation made me anxious about how would I get back to the station the next morning so I could get to Morioka (Tuesday morning I was going to Akita and then changing for a train to Sakata) ..I decided to just stay at the Metropolitan Hotel right next to Morioka Station. It was 6900 yen a night and so cheaper than the 7000 yen I would have paid for the cab. I got the Ladies' floor and a free breakfast with my room. I was still sad though. I'd stayed at the Metropolitan back in 1999 and it had been OK but nothing spectacular. Well, since 1999 they had completely upgraded and my room now had a lovely comfy bed and internet ♥ I gave Erin a hug good bye promising to contact her on Thurs/Fri when I was back in Tokyo and I went to my unexpected hotel. I did not see another obvious foreigner from when Erin left me Mon night until late morning on Thurs.
And for those who want to see a video of part of our roadtrip.. enjoy!
