Columbus Day & Hakkoda Mountains

October marks the time to launch our Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria again in honor of Columbus. Luckily Columbus' boats did not sink like our boats always do. 

Three girls trying to fall into the drink.

                

We've discovered that we live near beaches famous for sea glass. The girls love matching the sea glass with the pictures. 

Last weekend we drove up a twisty road up to the Hakkoda Mountains to enjoy the autumn leaves. Apparently most of the residents from northern Honshu had the same idea and those twisty roads were very busy; think Grand Central Station.

We took a tram ride to the top of the mountain that holds 101 people. 101 people packed like sardines touching people on all sides. It would probably be the safest place to faint since there is no way that you could fall down. You can see the city of Aomori in the background.

Here are the big girls and Ryan at the top. You can see some old volcanoes in the background. 

At one point Jane got to walk with Helen along the trail which really made her day. The vegetation was the perfect height to keep them from getting distracted and the planks made is super fun to stay on the trail/clip-clop bridge.

Some portions of the hike were very muddy and only allowed for one food on either side of the trail and a certain swaying motion to transfer weight from side to side. Ryan thought it was hysterical and felt compelled to take a picture. 

Shimokita Peninsula

Last week we went on a short camping trip with our friends to the northern part of our island, Shimokita Peninsula. It rained for a good portion of the time, hence we drove all the tiny winding roads to see various tourist traps. 

This is the first campsite that we've stayed at that came with a picnic table - what a luxury. 

We stopped at Osorezan, one of the three holiest sites of Japan.

It was really fun to walk along the trail looking at little hot springs, piles of rocks with pinwheels, and little graven images. 

 Here are six Rokudai-Jizo and three wet Hacketts.

 We drove along the coast to see the mysterious snow monkeys. I think they used to run wild in this area. In fact the signs in this area do warn drivers against crossing monkeys, but it would appear that they had a great round-up and put all the monkeys in this cage. There is something about looking at my little monkeys looking at other little monkeys that warms the heart.

 The following day we drove out to Cape Shiriyazaki, home of the famous wild horses. I can't even begin to explain the let-down. I hoped to see wild horses in the style of "The Man from Snowy River." Instead we found horses in the style of overfed circus ponies. I didn't even have the heart to take their picture, instead I got Helen.

 Here are Ryan and the girls in front of the lighthouse. I sang "I'll be your candle on the water" the whole time we were there.

 My favorite part was searching for small treasures among the boulders. 

Backyard and visit to Inakadate

It is so good to be 9 months old. Alice is all over the place crawling, cruising, standing unaided with her "magic feather." I don't remember our other girls moving so fast or so quickly. Clearly she is trying to catch up.

Our neighbors have two swimming pools that we can borrow whenever we want. That seems to be every time we put our swimsuits on.

 We don't have air conditioning, so when it's hot I get inspired to harness the power of the sun. We made a solar cooker and successfully made mac & cheese - the granola didn't do so well.

 As part of out emergency prepardness plan Ryan got us poles and stakes for our tarp.

Last week we took a day trip to Inakadate, Japan to see the rice field art. I wore my John Deere shirt in honor of this agricultural event. After driving two hours to get there, Ryan and I decided that it reminded us of the Corn Palace. It's really too bad they don't sell geodes in Japan so that we can be sure when we have found a tourist trap.

Here is Ryan's favorite field. I asked him why and he said it was "an action movie in rice, complete with lightening, sword and fire." He even went so far as to say that most males would agree that it was the best one.

 My favorite field is in the background which consists of a bunch of people in a dragon boat.

 This is the close-up of said dragon head.

The girls loved the rice field art. Or maybe they just loved being on a short "vacation" and singing all the way across the width of Japan. 

Here is another picture that I couldn't resist throwing into the mix. Jane is in transition to giving up her naps. Some days she is more successful than others. Luckily her little bunny was able to tell her what happened in the story when she woke up.

Hokkaido Part 3

What is a good camping trip without a little rain? The girls were so excited to wear their raincoats. Don't worry about Alice there was no chance of her suffocating under the poncho.

As you can see, Alice was quick to get herself out from under any protective outerwear that we might try and put on her.

At the trail head we paid 200 yen to walk along this trail which was worth it when they gave us some colorful umbrellas to carry the whole way.

The real reason that trails are so well manicured on both sides is because Alice took care to pull off any leaves trying to to grow where they shouldn't. Ryan likes to call her a little tick with her arms waving in the air.

  Helen was so happy to have a picture with the three girls. Note the bear bell and neckerchiefs.

This is beautiful Lake Shikotsu in the background. I remembered how much Helen loves hiking, it is her favorite part of camping. She happily chit-chatted the whole way up the mountain.

Hokkaido Part 2

Tents have come a long way since I was a kid. instead of the poles running through sleeves, they get clipped on so that even a two year can do it. 

Here is a shot of the island in the middle of Lake Toya. This is Ryan's favorite picture. I took it, but I just don't appreciate wildfowl of any kind. I just assume that they are related to Canada geese and make the same amount of mess.

The girls embraced climbing up fallen trees on this trip. There are a lot of similarities between goats and kids. Behind the girls you can see little infant bamboo. We never saw any large bamboo growth.  I think that it all freezes in the winter and then has to grow as fast as it can up here in the north.

There are no picnic tables at campsites in Japan, so we had to make do with what we had. Note the child in the background that has learned to crawl and put small leaves/rocks/sticks in her mouth. Is there anything better than a tent for containing a child?

We hiked to this lovely waterfall.  Sadly the light wasn't so great for a picture, but note that everyone is looking at the camera.

 Here we are standing in front of a real live smoldering volcano. It had smoke billowing out of it and everything. Thrilling.

 The girls practiced their jumping along the boardwalk.

One of our goals while in Hokkaido was to try the local dish - Genghis Khan. After conferring at our campsite with the host through pantomime and short phrases we were directed to this restaurant. Actually he wrote the name of it down on a piece of paper. As a side note, the Japanese characters he wrote didn't match any of the phrases you see on any of the signs in the picture. We had to show our little piece of paper to people at neighboring locations until we finally "found" it.

Here is Ryan bravely cooking our tasty treat. Perhaps for our next trip we will learn the Japanese characters for "small portion".

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.