Today I drove south to Karumai to check out a tulip festival. It was a tiny festival and only had "events" on a couple of the days. There were a few food stalls open today and I was one of maybe 15 people there. It was nice that it wasn't crowded at all! Even though it was small and really just "flower viewing" it was more impressive than I anticipated! The festival is from May 3-18th this year and is a yearly event. The tulip park has around 40 varieties and 150,000 tulips! They even have a windmill to make it similar to the Netherlands!
For map, driving details and cost see bottom of post.
Their choice of music was a little unusual I thought...and maybe a little eerie? Not sure why I felt that way, the pitch of the song? The surroundings? Remote location?
 |
| View from within the windmill. |
 |
Had to wear these fancy shoes while in the windmill!
Very stylish! |
 |
| My favorite variety |
 |
| Bridge over Yukiyagawa Dam. |
 |
| Yukiyagawa Dam. |
 |
| The fence along the highway. |
 |
| Specialty fruit of Karumai. |
 |
Sarunashi ice cream...it was mid-morning,
but I wasn't going to pass up my potentially
one and only opportunity to try it!!
Delicious! |
 |
Passed by this on the way home...beer, sake,
shochu and whiskey...all in a vending machine. |
The festival takes place at Karumai Park near the Yukiyagawa Dam (also called Yukitanigawa Dam in some sources), it's about 70km (45 miles) from Misawa. I didn't take the toll roads and it took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get there. I took a longer route home, mostly just to take a different scenic road. Cost to get into the tulip garden was ¥300 (~$3). I took the route with highway 11 on the way there, highway 340 on the way home (took longer going that way).
No comments:
Post a Comment