Hokkaido Trip Part 1

Last week we took the 9 hour ferry from Hachinohe to Tomakomai, Hokkaido - the northernmost island in Japan. We had heard that Hokkaido is like the Alaska of Japan, complete with bears. Ryan enhanced the map below so that you will be able to find all the places we visited.

 Our first order of business was the zoo north of Furano. After we got off the ferry at 1:30 in the morning, Ryan just drove us straight up to the farthest point we wanted to see. Then we slept in the zoo parking lot for 4 hours until it opened. We saw our first pink pelicans which were a hit for our pink loving girls.

I was so excited to see these Steller's sea eagles, and not just for their name. Ryan and I watched a nature video to get ourselves ready for the trip and these eagles look like cartoons, I had to confirm they were real.

Next stop, Furano which is famous for it's flowers in the summer. In fact, you can see this very field on the website I linked up. Just as a side note, this may not be the best destination for individuals with allergies (like myself).

Here we are at Flowerland and the excitement of hay bails won out as most thrilling over the 100s of flowers.

In retrospect, there may have been signs to the effect of "don't enter the fields," but in Japanese it may have been the names of the flowers.

On our way out of town we asked Helen if she would rather go to the cheesemaking factory or the grape juice factory. She chose the later, and she was glad she did once she laid eyes on these "bucking broncos."

Here is where we camped the first night. To set the record straight, Alice doesn't not weight 30 pounds, she is merely wearing 5 layers of cloths to stay warm.