Picking Strawberries

On Sunday we went to strawberry lover's paradise in Kunozan in Shizuoka prefecture. This is a 5 mile long area along the Suruga Bay coastline that is full of strawberry farms. Now, I have a confession to make: I'm not that crazy about strawberries. They are usually too tart for my taste and I have to add cream or sugar. Not this time! We stopped at one of the farms and they took us to the rows of greenhouses to pick the strawberries. These were the best ever and were unbelievably sweet. I can't fully convey how truly delicious they were but I will tell you that I ate 27 of them. Vanessa ate 30 and Maddie ate 32. They grew along these rock walls and hung down just begging to be picked and eaten. There was one lady in our group that ate 72! These farms are amazing and sit along the hillsides along the coastline. We spent about an hour at the farms and wanted to eat more strawberries but were just too full.

Next we headed over to a nearby hot springs spa. This one was interesting because it was built on model the Edo period in Japan. Upon arrival we were given yukatas (cotton kimonos) to wear. You could walk around in them in the little Edo style village. We hit the baths first and then had a nice lunch. After lunch we went to a nice museum.

Lunch at a ramen noodle restaurant.

We made friends with the ramen chef. He was really nice and kept giving Vanessa free green tea. I had to pay for my Kirin beer.

Maddie loves ramen!

(Maddie took some shots. I liked the composition of this one.)

Time to head back home. What a yummy and fun day.

Shiga Kogen Again

On MLK weekend this year we, once again, joined the Kanto ski club for the annual trip to Shiga Kogen in Nagano. We had so much fun last year we decided to make this trip a family tradition. We got on the bus and departed Camp Zama at 2am. As the bus pulled out, we got a report that in the past 48 hours they had received over a meter (about 3 feet) of snow and it was still snowing! This was on top of a three meter base so we knew we were in for some good skiing. We arrived at the hotel about 8am and checked in. After a nice breakfast we hit the slopes right outside the hotel. Maddie picked it up right away and we had a good day. It snowed all day but it was a soft snow and no winds. It was a great day skiing with lots of powder. I don't think we took any pictures that day. The next day we decided to visit the snow monkeys (Japanese Macaque) in the area. We had to take a couple of local buses and then walk about 2 km but it was well worth it. It is a beautiful area in the mountains with a hot spring pool for the monkeys. The monkeys come down out of the mountain tops and spend the day in the hot water. You can walk right up to them and they don't seem to mind. It was really amazing to be there and hang out with them. The walk to and from the park was really nice too. The last day of the trip was clear and sunny and we hit the slopes early. We were the first ones down the slope we chose near the hotel. It was another great day and Madeleine really improved her skiing. We ventured over to another mountain and had great fun. Vanessa kept skiing backwards down the slope so she could watch Madeleine! In the afternoon we headed in, packed up, checked out and got back on the bus at 3pm for the ride home. We are already looking forward to it next year!


This is the view out of our room. This was the first morning when we checked in.

After about a half kilometer walk from the bus stop we arrived at the entrance to the trail that leads you to the park.

This is the start of the walk back out of the park.

There was a nice little shrine along the way.

Morning of the last day. We had the mountain to ourselves!

We took a break and Maddie played in the snow. She dug an ice cave and could crawl in it. She had so much fun!

Vanessa and Madeleine taking the conveyer belt up the hill to go back to the other slope. Very convenient! What a great trip.

New Year's

We celebrated New Year's Eve by visiting our favorite onsen with our good friends. Then we met up on New Year's Day to eat and drink and ring in the new year with a walk to visit a local shrine, as is the Japanese tradition. I bought a ceramic bell in the shape of a tiger - we have a collection of the Chinese horoscope animals for each New Year we've been in Japan. Here are the girlfriends at the shrine: Sake barrels and origami cranes:

On our walk along the Sagamihara river:

The next day we rode bikes to Sagamihara Park where Maddie and Troy practiced badminton: