Sunday - Sunny and warm, then cloudy
I woke up a couple of times this morning but basically didn’t stay up until 11 am. F was up for a bit but came back to bed. We got going around 11:30 I think.
Today, we went to a soba shop near F’s onsen for lunch. The food was really good! I had a special soba and vegetable tempura which was quite delish. F had eel and the special soba too. We did order tofu, but it didn’t arrive. When F checked the bill, he noticed that the one we got belonged to another table, one that had just left. Oh dear. He let the staff know and I think they were a bit upset. Their bill was a bit higher than ours I think. We paid for our food and then left. We drove to Mt. Haguro and this time went up the mountain to try to find the restaurant there.
There was so much snow on Mt. Haguro. There was last year too, but I had thought it might be less on Haguro this year since it was less around here. Nope! F was going to give up, but I suggested going through the temple since we found a map that showed a walkway there. We got halfway and then had to turn back as the place was closed off. We asked a temple worker and she took us through and pointed us in the right direction. We ended up going halfway down the mountain, but inside! I was dreading the steps going back up. We talked to a worker in the restaurant, got some info for my group next month and then made our way back to the top of the hill.
We had a drink from a vending machine and sat and watched a bit of a DVD about the Dewa Sanzan before making our way back to the car and then driving back down the mountain.
I had talked to F about my plans to meet up with a friend next month and go and see the 16 Buddhist statues along the coast. He decided that he’d like to see them today! We drove off towards them, but it took quite a while. I needed a pitstop but there wasn’t anywhere to go. Finally, I saw a drugstore and we had to turn around to go there as F had sailed by it. Business taken care of, we purchased a few things and then headed out again.
We arrived at the parking area and walked over to see some of the statues. They are quite fascinating really. The rock has really weathered in places so it can be hard to see the statues at all, but we saw quite a few of them today.
I was worried about it getting dark soon, so we got back to the car and drove back towards Tsuruoka. F had asked about dinner. I first suggested getting something for us and K at the mall on the way, but then we stopped for tea at a lovely little cafe that is going to close next week. Boo! We’ve only been able to go twice, but both times it was very nice. It’s a place that serves a lot of herbal teas and really seems to know what they do. We had Assam tea today and that was nice.
F decided that we might as well have dinner since we assumed that K would either make herself something or go to bed. I had suggested bibinba at the mall, but on the way into Sakata, F suggested curry at a Japanese restaurant. With the help of Google Maps, I navigated us to Alba. It’s a crazy little restaurant. It has pages of curry varieties, baked, or not, with different sauces and toppings. F had a pork cutlet one and I had chicken and eggplant. Ours were baked and came with a salad. Yum!
Halfway through our meal, a crafting friend bumped into me and introduced me to her girlfriend. It was nice to meet her. I showed off my scarf a bit too.
F and I drove back to Tsuruoka after our meal and went to the grocery store for some food. We got K a bento in case she hadn’t eaten, and I got some food for tomorrow’s dinner and my lunch. I’m planning to cook tomorrow night. It’ll just be chicken in the toaster oven again, but should be nice.
K was still up and hadn't eaten too much, so was glad for the bento. F heated it for her and she ate while F and I put the groceries away.
F and I had a fairly quiet night upstairs. I did the garbage up for taking out tomorrow and then took a shower. F had one as well.
That’s really about it. It was a fabulous day and we both enjoyed it. I have realized how out of shape I am these days. It is a sad thing. I keep reading how 3 or 4 years ago I was working out. Now there’s nowhere for me to do that. If I tried walking in place in this room, I’d likely fall through the floor. Sigh.
Come back later if you like and see how we commemorated March 11, or if we did. It’s a sad day for us Tohoku people. Until tomorrow….
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