Why couldn't you take a 5 month old camping? Part 2

If you missed the first half of our adventure, check it out here: Why couldn't you take a 5 month old camping? Part 1

Part 1 left off after I had just checked the weather and it was not looking good...at all. We had decided to scrap our camping plans and reluctantly head home.

I was disappointed and pouting, but not ready to give up, I decided to look up the weather elsewhere and see if there were any other campgrounds between us and home. I found the crappy weather seemed to be isolated to the coast AND found a campground in the mountains less than an hour away. Camping was back on!

We ended up at Ajigasawa Camping Park on the north/northwest side of Mt Iwaki. Keenan and Ninoosh managed to secure a campsite, grill (no open fires allowed) and firewood from the office. Luckily the office had a phone translation service otherwise we would have been calling a Japanese friend to help us communicate. We picked a site away from any other people and got to work setting stuff up. Everything worked out perfectly, we even got our tents up before dark (barely). It sprinkled slightly while we sat around the fire, but not enough to cause any problems.
GPS coordinates: 40.704299, 140.270234 (gray marker on map)
http://ajicamp.web.fc2.com/

First priority...

Why couldn't you take a 5 month old camping? Part 1

"Why couldn't you take a 5 month old camping?" -Me after a couple beers at the Tanabata festival

And so, one week later, after a little more convincing we were off. Me, Keenan, Eric, Ninoosh and Bean all jam packed into our car ready to explore a multitude of things on northern Japan's west coast AND camp one night. It was going to be AWESOME. But wait, Bean is only 5 months old, how was this going to be awesome?

I was confident.

Keenan didn't know what to think, but didn't care as long as there was a reward of a campfire, hot dogs and a few beers at the end of it all.

I can't read minds so I'm not exactly sure what Eric and Ninoosh were thinking, probably afraid that this baby-less couple couldn't possibly understand what babies need or have the patience to deal with stopping for feedings and diaper changings and worst of all the constant car crying that's been an ongoing thing with Bean. Probably thinking this was the beginning and the end of our newly formed friendship.

What they didn't understand yet, was other than the camping part, this baby-less lady has had plenty of baby practice. None of those baby-things would deter me. Not sooo long ago my nieces and nephews trained and conditioned me to all things baby, including long road trips...

Yes, this was going to be a great weekend!

Our roles were clear from the start...Me- trip planner/navigator; Keenan- driver; Eric- baby wearer; Ninoosh- everything else baby; Bean- baby.

I had a long list of places I wanted to see, I made somewhat of a mental itinerary and told the driver where to go, we ended up doing a few extras and scraping some things along the way but by the end we had done the following things: saw squid curtains, wandered around Senjojiki Beach, looked upon the Japan Canyon, hiked to some insanely blue ponds, explored an island, canceled our plans to camp, re-initiated our plans to camp, camped, joined the bike portion of a triathlon with our CRV, visited Hirosaki Castle, sat in our car while parked on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant while waiting for an open table, ate "best burgers around" at Pepe's, stopped to see rice art, and finally, managed to keep Bean clean, fed and happy pretty much the whole time.
Read on for the details!

*Map at end of Part 2 post*

After getting ourselves to the west coast, the first goal was to find the squid curtains in Ajigasawa. Fresh caught squid get hung up to dry. After drying they are grilled before eating. They smelled...ummm...well...as yummy dried squid should smell...I suppose...if that's your thing?

GPS coordinates: 40.772605, 140.176220 (yellow marker on map)

Senjojiki Beach was next. Keenan and I had discovered this "beach" about a month ago. It's actually a huge rock plateau with rocks that look like the waves of the ocean...or at least that's my interpretation. I guess the plateau was actually formed by an earthquake in 1792. Legend has it that the lord of the area once had 1,000 tatami mats laid out on the rocks for a party. We had fun wandering around, Keenan and Bean got their toes wet...only one of them was happy about it...
GPS coordinates: 40.768193, 140.053814 (green marker on map)

Misawa Tanabata 2014

Misawa Tanabata Festival is celebrated every July. The main streets are decorated with colorful paper streamers and all the usual festival food and games are available to enjoy. We ventured out with our new friends, Eric and Ninoosh (and their baby...referred to as Bean). They will be frequent fliers on this blog so get used to seeing their faces!

So what does this festival celebrate? Here's the answer:

Tanabata is a Japanese tradition wherein people write their wishes on tanzaku papers (colorful, small strips of papers) and hang them on bamboo branches. People also decorate bamboo branches with various kinds of paper decorations and place them outside their houses.
It's said that tanabata's origin dates back to more than 2,000 years ago with an old Chinese tale. Once there was a weaver princess named Orihime and a cow herder prince named Hikoboshi living in space. After they got together, they were playing all the time and forgot about their jobs. The king was angry at them and separated them on opposite sides of the Amanogawa River (Milky Way). The king allowed them to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Tanabata literally means the night of the seventh, and it's also known as the star festival. It's believed that Orihime and Hikoboshi can't see each other if the day is rainy, so people pray for good weather and also make wishes for themselves. Depending on regions, it's celebrated on July 7 or August 7 (which is around the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar) in Japan. Many cities and towns hold Tanabata festivals and set colorful displays along the main streets.

Here's a look at our Tanabata evening...

My new favorite beer...too bad it's seasonal!
"Brew of limited summer 2014
for your time of refreshing"

Lots of people wear kimono for festivals. These two
were adorable!

Hiking the Hakkoda Mountains

Usually, Saturday is our "adventure" day, this weekend our Saturday was pretty calm with just the fireworks festival in the evening. So, today I was able to coax Keenan into a hiking excursion. The weather forecast was looking good, but of course it was foggy and threatening rain in Misawa. We decided to test our luck. As we drove, it rained. As we came around the north side of the mountains it suddenly stopped and the sky was clear with bright fluffy clouds, perfect! We took the gondola up the mountain to give ourselves an easier start, then took off on the trail. Learning right away that the weather at the bottom of the Hakkoda Ropeway does not always coincide with the weather at the top. We experienced clear skies, fog, drizzle, raindrops and then clear skies again. When there wasn't moisture coming from the sky it was dripping off of the leaves we brushed against and walked under on the more covered parts of the trail. 

We didn't get an early start today and knew we probably wouldn't get up to the crater of Mt. Otake (Ohdake) so we just hiked a small loop and went back down on the ropeway. 

See bottom of the post for more details about location/getting there/cost.

Below is a shot of the map I found with hiking trails. The entire map can be found here:

http://www.heronet.ne.jp/~rfstark/IS2004-Hakkoda%20Hike%20Map-GEN.pdf

Beautiful weather at the bottom of the ropeway!

View of Aomori City and Mutsu Bay.

"Mt. Akakuradake, Mt. Idodake and Mt. Odake still have clearly defined crater. Hakkoda is a group of volcanic mountains created from a series of geologic activities. The Northern Hakkoda Volcanic Range was created about a half million years ago and is the newest in the area."

Lake Towada Fireworks Festival 2014

We've been in Japan long enough that some of the things we're doing are no longer "first time" happenings. This was our second time going to the Lake Towada Fireworks Festival and once again there was a chance of rain and I had to do a little convincing to get Keenan to go. Glad we went, there was no rain! Take your blanket and enjoy the festival food and drinks! My favorites are the ones that they drop into the water so they explode on the surface...stunning! Here's the link to my post about last year's festival: First festival, food and random adventuring.

The drive to the lake takes about an hour and a half depending on traffic. It's about 60 km (37 mi) from Misawa.

GPS coordinates to festival site: 40.426574, 140.892787

Pork belly...thickest slice of bacon
I've ever seen!

Crepes.

Ferry boats that will get you up close to the fireworks!

We're Going to Alaska! Or Not?

Once upon a time we had grand plans to visit our friends stationed in Alaska. "It's easy to get on a Space Available flight to Alaska" we heard over and over. So Keenan blocked off a couple weeks of tentative vacation time so we could be flexible on our dates. Lucky for us right around that time there was a Space-A* flight heading from Misawa to Alaska, with 50-something seats tentatively available. Perfect! We packed our bags, let our friends know we'd be our way in a couple days, reserved a rental car, made hotel reservations for a night or 2, etc. Well, it didn't quite all work out. When we went to roll call for the flight, they announced that instead of 50-something available seats there would be ZERO! Ahhh! So disappointing!

So our options were to forget the idea or search for another route. Yokota AB in Tokyo also has Space A flights to Alaska sometimes and they had one on their upcoming flight list that was happening in 2 days. Also with 50-something seats available. We decided to get on the train the next morning and head to Tokyo. I called them and they said there shouldn't be any changes to that flight. Obviously, still not a guarantee.

Off to Tokyo we went, Alaska rental car and hotel reservations revised. We went down to spend a day in the city and a night at Yokota AB before the morning flight roll call.

Storing our luggage at the train station.
So convenient!

Are We Still on Earth?? Lava, Mud & Steam

Today we ventured to some places in Iwate and Akita Prefectures unlike any we've visited before. From hardened lava devoid of vegetation to bubbling mud and steam vents, there were several times we wondered if maybe we were on a different planet!

See map at the end of the post for route and location details.

I obviously couldn't capture the sulfur smell of these places (too bad, right?), but here's a video compilation of bubbling mud, boiling water and steam vents from two of the places we stopped.

First stop was Yakehashiri Lava Flow on the northeast slope of Mt. Iwate. A 1732 volcanic explosion formed the lava flow which stretches out over 3 kilometers and is 5-10 meters deep. There's a hiking trail so it's not too difficult to explore. I believe the entire hike takes 1-2 hours. We turned back before finishing because the skies were threatening rain...glad we did! It started raining right as we got back near the parking lot. Luckily the rain was short lived!
Yakehashiri was about 140 km from Misawa and took about 2 hours to drive there. Tolls cost about ¥3,200 one way.
GPS coordinates: 39.875210, 141.047291

Tsugaru Kokeshi Museum

About a week and a half ago, before our Kyoto/Hiroshima trip, we had made a quick stop at the Tsugaru Kokeshi Museum in Kuroishi. We didn't go through the museum part, just checked out the gift shop area. Some wooden daruma dolls caught Keenan's eye, but at the time we didn't buy one. When I say "doll" it's not really a "doll," just a cool painted head. Well, he couldn't stop thinking about them and we looked for something similar while on our trip. Never saw anything like them again. This is the first time he's had remorse over not buying something...I've done it multiple times so I knew we should get one. Today I went back to retrieve a daruma doll. As you can see by the picture below, they are pretty awesome.

I took the mountain route and stopped off at a couple places. Azaleas were blooming at Suriennuma Pond. So pretty! Also stopped at Jigokunuma Swamp which is a terrible smelling place...lots of sulfur in the water!

Suriennuma Pond.

Jigokunuma Swamp.

The sign at the swamp, it says it was formed by a volcanic
eruption of Mt. Hakkoda. Every minute 2,700 liters of
hot water comes out of the bottom of the swamp.

Tsugaru Kokeshi Museum! The museum has a few signs in English, but a lot of it is only in Japanese. There are over 5,000 kokeshi dolls on display and many daruma as well. The 11 styles of Kokeshi are displayed with a short description of each type. You can paint your own kokeshi as well, but reservation is required so call ahead! **I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing you would need someone that speaks Japanese to make the reservation**
It's open everyday 9:00-17:00 (16:00 December-March). Admission is ¥320.
http://tsugarukokeshi.com/index.html
GPS coordinates: 40.606559, 140.676458 (see map and additional details at bottom of post)

Foot onsen outside the museum.