Good-bye fall! Hello winter!
Last weekened was a sunny, warm, beautiful 3-day holiday. And yesterday, Monday, it turned ugly. It started raining, the wind picked up, and it got dark and grey. There was thunder and lightning last night and today. And it's COLD!
Luckily, I got in a fall leaf "viewing" day before the official start of winter in Japan (today). Last Friday, some friends and I headed to the Tsugaike National Park in Nagano for a light hike in the mountains. Takae and I tried to do this hike in August, but we got stormed out half way up the mountain between the gondola and the ropeway. We were determined to try it again!
This time around, we were really lucky, Asuka was able to join us and we got a beautiful sunny day! It was a lovely day of walking, and admiring the view-mountain tops, leaves of every color, and the mountain wetlands that make up the national park.And of course, we had a gourmet meal on the mountain. We all brought a little something to share and it was fabulous--onigiri (rice balls), dried fugu (blow fish), pasta salad, tamagoyaki (fried egg roll), vegetables, meatballs, chocolate, oranges, cookies, cakes, hot tea and hot milk tea! After lunch we headed back down the mountain (via the ropeway and gondola) and went to an onsen. We ended up traveling down a road that took us deep into the mountains and further into the beautiful fall colors. The onsen was a very small, very very hot bath coated in inches of rock mineral deposits! It felt fabulous, too bad it wasn't outside with a view of the leaves!
Thanks girls! It was a great day! Let's start planning our next adventure!
Seriously, now I HAVE to get back to work and finish this #%*@ paper!
