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!!  :)

Cake House Shiroi Mori

 Have a break time in Shiroimori.  You'll be happy and take a easy mind.  :)  Yes, I was happy and my mind was easy!  ;)

 Berto making a funny face

 Berto's basil chicken pasta and salad.  (He would not eat the zucchini)

 My chicken curry pita sandwich. Delicious! With delicious onion broth.  We traded side dishes.
 Banana milk tea.  I now see what the hype was about!

 Chocolate cake with ice cream, chocolate sauce and fresh fruit.  Lovely!

 Some complicated coffee machines

Cake buffet option with a one hour time limit.  They even give you one of those sand hour glasses.  They charge more for men!  Ha!


We had a fabulous rainy Sunday at the Cake House and antique shopping.  Well, I probably had a better time shopping then Gilbert did.  :) The Cake House is just down the street from our house but I had never been.  Gilbert went for lunch once about a year ago.  I heard the food was great and was more interested in that than the desserts.  (We had tried to go another time but they weren't serving food.)  The ambiance was great.  There were people relaxing with tea or coffee and on their laptops.  We sat in the back room, there were groups of people sitting on the couches.  All with french music playing, that was great.  We ended up relaxing there for an hour and a half, just talking and enjoying our food.

My chicken curry pita sandwich was really good.  I also tried Gilbert's pasta, delish!  I definitely could replicate and plan to this week!  The food was a set and included the side dish, coffee or tea and dessert for 1,200 Yen.  Which is about $15.50.  We got the banana milk tea (I've heard raves about it) which was an extra 200 Yen.  We were so happy with all of it, we will definitely go back.

 I brought this pretty lady home.  I love her kimono and all her details.  Down to the decorations in her hair!

 Her out of the display box

 She looks just as good from behind!

 Berto FINALLY hung this up!  I have to do something to camouflage those ugly brackets. :(

Got this the other day, Hello Kitty wearing a kimono.  :)

I was very happy with my Japanese lady!  We went to several antique/thrift stores.  One had about 5 of these dolls.  Different colored kimonos and price ranges.  My lady was the equivalent to $35, and that included the display box.  I thought it was a steal!  Since bringing her home I just keep going into the hallway to look at her!  She's just so pretty!

The Asian Bazaar is this weekend!!  I found some great stuff last year, including our beautiful bar.  Can't wait!!  We'll also be going to a beer brewery with a large group.  A going away party for some friends.

Takko Beef & Garlic Festival

 Half cow rotisserie.  The best beef!  It is so soft and tender.  And their famous garlic sauce on the side to add.  Mmmmmm

 LUNCH!  It was around 11 am.  We only grilled up some of our meat and veggies.  We were gonna be there for 4 hours, didn't want to get too full.

 Tons of grills set up outside and inside the "dome"

 My drink #1.  This was so good!

 My drink #2 Tasted like tea

 Garlic Queen and Princesses

 They were so cute!

 That building was set up with many more grills and restrooms.  We had to take cover in there for a little while when it started raining.

 At one point this guy was trying to walk through a door, his head wouldn't fit.  It was hilarious, the crowd loved it!

 Wolf!

 Garlic King or Takko Ouji

 I don't know these people.

 All gone

 Garlic people

 Traditional dancers

 Country Line Dancing

 The Cupid Shuffle

 Ski Lodge, you can see some of the ski hills and lift in background.

 There were stands selling food and souvenirs

 Thought this rest stop building was interesting

 800 Yen for all these fresh veggies and garlic.  :)

These garlic sauces are SO good!!!

We were really looking forward to the garlic festival this year since it was so delicious last year.  It was 2 hours away, we took the shuttle bus there.  So, we were able to bring a small cooler with a 6 pack of beer for Berto.  We also brought camping chairs since there really aren't very many seats.  This year the weather was much cooler.  I'd say we were at 70% weather.  Because it did sprinkle off and on and got rather chilly.  We had a GREAT time grilling up our food, people watching and enjoying the entertainment.