started out with Miso toast brunch with my new roomie:
her folks drove us plus other june birthday-ers sops and alain to Nasu. We visited a sweets factory:
and got to have a bunch of samples:
we visited the "Flower Castle" where we saw some of the craziest begonias i've ever seen:
cheese!
the gents knew a lot about plants while us ladies just kinda nodded:
urban family picture:
i love this picture. i call it The Stand Off:
we got a rockin room at a posh little hotel. it was great but the a/c didn't work so i was absolutely roasting at night:
the boys get ready to go to the onsen:
the dinner was AMAZING. mr. and mrs. kawaguchi are friends with the chef which definitely helps:
soooooooo good!
sops was laid out from too much wine:
though we ate heaps the night before, we were fully ready for the breakfast buffet that awaited us in the morning:
i like to try a bit of everything:
took the ropeway up mt. nasu, an active volcano:
did a mini hike:
the kids hiked a bit more. i could have done the whole mountain but time didn't permit that. maybe next time:
my ears hadn't popped after the hike up the mountain so i really couldn't hear for a few hours but we stopped near this temple that had a bunch of stone statues (jizo) at Killing Stone in front of Nasu Yumoto hot springs:
this place is thought of as "evil" because everything dies here (i reckon it's the sulfur and fumes) and because of an old legend about "the fox with nine tails." it came from China and changed itself to look like a beautiful woman. she married the local lord and terrorized the people and did all sorts of bad shit. in the end, they tied her to this rock (hence the rope) where she was detained indefinitely -- or something like that.
this was NOT a lobster restaurant:
the boys get a natural high from the local garlic:
yum, local croquettes:
local wood carving shop:
more tasting at the cheese garden:
it was a fun weekend but man, i was pooped afterwards!
thanks for a great birthday trip!
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