Takayama Inari Shrine

On Saturday we traveled to a Shinto Shrine in Tsugaru City.  It has the "Thousand Torii's" like in Kyoto.  But not really a thousand.  There was 201 lined up, we counted.  The Shrine pays homage to the Inari god, thought to preside over the harvest and wealth.  It was a great drive there, we left really early.  I'm not exactly a morning person but got a great nights sleep!  :)  On the way there, there was a stretch of road that Berto was FLYING down.  It didn't feel like he was going 110, but sure enough, he was!  GASP!  But we were getting passed by many other cars.  We must have been on Japan's version of the Autobahn, at least that's what it felt like.  After that, I kept a close eye on my Mario Andretti driving husband!!  

The grounds were pretty big and had quite a few different shrine areas.  I'm sure there was meaning behind each one.  We brought a huge pocket full of "Yennies" the Japanese penny to offer at some of the shrines and alters.  Berto kept asking me to keep it down.  I guess I was being too loud?  And I may have said a swear word or two.  There were 2 different areas with a ton of steps!  And they were wet from the rain and I was scared I was going to fall.  We were the only ones there, I guess he just didn't want to disturb the statues and shrines.

The trees in the area were beautiful Fall colors and it was so pretty.  And lucky for us the rain stopped while we were there.  I especially love the red bridges I've come across.  This one might have been my favorite.  

This is to give an idea of where we were on the map.  It was about a 3 hour drive.

Huge Torii

Another huge one!

Beer, sake and bananas offering

I loved this bridge!

Tons of statues, Berto leaving some Yennies.

Couldn't believe this Superstore!  It truly WAS great!  I was overwhelmed.  We're not used to big stores here.  And this one was as big as a Super Walmart.     

Hope the Japanese Spitz is NOT an ingredient in this people food!

Spot near the water in Aomori by the Bay Bridge

Aomori Bay Bridge

Parking near Tony Roma's.  It's one of those car stackers, revolves the cars around for optimal space.

We're planning on going to Mount Osore, (Mount Fear) to The Gateway to Hell next weekend!  =)

Berto's Big ASS German beer

 Got this at the shoppette on base.  It was only about $10.  For the extra large beer and huge mug, it was a bargain.  Ginger ale was just for size comparison.

Look at that happy face!  But, that beer is probably too much for one person to handle.  I'll suck it up and drink some even though I don't like beer.  The trials and tribulations a wife has to endure!   ;)

Hakkoda Ropeway

 Berto loves to go on roadtrips.  (Me, not so much).  He mentioned he'd love to have his Spyder Eclipse here in Japan.  Hope it will be okay when we pick it up in VA.

 This is the building to get Ropeway tickets for Hakkoda Mt.

 Waiting for the gondola to ride up mountain.

 HA!  Pink pants.  This is gondola.  Thankfully, it wasn't full!  Can fit 101 people.

 Opposite gondola going down.  They all waved!  Japanese people are so nice!

 Beautiful Fall Foliage!

 Blurry pic of gondola

 Onsen near mountain.  They didn't have ramen available.  :( We left.

 Went to conveyor belt sushi instead.  Delicious!

 Shrimp!  =)

 They charge you by the plates you eat.  Only about 108 Yen for most plates.

 This was near Lake Towada.  But an area we hadn't been to before.  GORGEOUS!!

 Beautiful...we loved it!

 I'm near the edge!  My foot was pretty close.  Gorgeous colors.  Great day!

 Makes me miss Minnesota!!!

(Pictures are out of order)
Full gondola going down, as we were going up.  WAY to full for my taste!  They look like sardines.

 Getting very hazy on the way up!!  Length of route: 2,459 m

 This was a swamp!  Smelled funky!

 This guy was hilarious!  Chasing his daughter around the swamp.  I only assume he's acting like a swamp monster.

 Pretty bridge

 Tori

 Shrine I stopped at.  It was SO dark.

 This New Year's I have to make it out to a shrine...Can't hurt!

 Conveyor sushi.  YUM!

We sat at the opposite side in a booth.  LOVE Kappa Sushi!



We took advantage of Berto's Monday off from work.  Took the drive over to Hakkoda Mts to see the beautiful Fall leaves.  It's on the way to Lake Towada.  (Do you remember Ana?)  Gorgeous area, they classify it as a National Treasure to Japan.   But the area to go to Hakkoda is going in a direction we hadn't been to before.  It is still twisting roads in the mountains.  Awesome.  But makes me nervous.  Good thing there's plastic floor mats on the passenger side!  I always press down on a brake that isn't there.  The whole wrong side of the road has never felt right to me.  I worry that Berto will "forget".

Once we got to the site to catch the gondola, it was around 2:30.  We kept stopping at various areas because it was so pretty!!  We ended up passing on a gondola that was ready.  Which was a good thing.  We got the next one, and the first in line to pick our spot.  Going up the gondola was great, although I didn't really realize how far up we would actually be!  Slight internal freak-out.  Breathe, Kristina!!!  :)

On the way up, we passed over the most beautifully colored trees!  It was a sea of orange, red, yellow and green.  So pretty!  We kept traveling farther and farther up.  It was about 2 miles up the ropeway to the mountain.    Once we were nearing the top it started getting really foggy.  Then, by the time the gondola was parking itself on the top of mountain, there was almost no visibility.  It started to get really windy and cold.

Once we stepped off, there was a rest area building.  It had a restaurant and hallway of pictures.  There was also a nature trail outside to follow.  But, since it was soo foggy, that was out of the question.  We were soon ready to go back down the mountain.  We were first in line (again) for the gondola.  But this time, the entire ride was foggy.  It was completely white.  We couldn't see a thing!  At least we had a good trip up.  I felt bad for the people who made the trip after us!  No visibility each way!

We ended at conveyor belt sushi.  Gilberto and I love to go there.  You can pick and chose what you like easily.  We are always very happy once we leave.

What a great MONDAY!!  :)