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.