Summer Vacation

I am now traveling by car and trailer around East Hokkaido with my family. On the first night we stayed in the parking lot of an Onsen Hotel. During the day we played tennis and of course took a hot spring at the hotel. The next day we headed out toward Oneto lake and we took another hot spring at a ryokan there.


The smell of sulfur and gasoline and no place to wash was different. I was the only one there and the only time I've ever had such a looooong private bath. The next day Kai and I climbed Mt. Meakkan.


Today is the morning of the fourth day. Last night we stayed in a parking lot in Hamanaka Town. We are going to head into Nemuro and then up to Nijibetsu for the last three nights.

I'm enjoying the time away but I am also looking forward to a fresh start after the break too.

旅パット

Location:浜中町

Kiroro

So yesterday I realize that a fat lump of aging foreigner in Japan is not that cool. The only thing I have a chance of changing about that realization is the "lump part". I ran about 8k last night and masochistically decided to climb 余市山　this morning. I wake up late and although my leg is cramping up I decide to give it a go. Take the ropeway from Kiroro and then a 2 and a half hour climb to enjoy the view; good plan if it were April. Apparently, the ropeway doesn't move in the summer and autumn months. Not to be deterred from antilumpiness, I simply started walking up the Kiroro Ski Area and sweated it out with the bugs abuzzing. I found a crayfish in the trail!!! What the hell could it possibly be doing there???

Buzzingly,

Pat