Plum and Cherry Blossom Season in Kagawa, Shikoku

An Afternoon Walk

Sometimes I have to remind myself that just outside my front door, in my own neighborhood, there are loads of things to see. Looking forward to warmer weather and many more everyday adventures.

Camellia flowers

Nikko!

If you ever go to Nikko, be sure to wake up as early as possible to get to the tourism sites. We were lucky we just happened to get up at sunrise.

See this picture? If we had gotten there even an hour later it would have a hundred tourists in the background. People come from all over! We heard people from south america, all over japan, and all over the west.

The Futarasan shrine complex is an enormous complex of buildings. Each one is ginormous and ornately decorated. Many of them had gold plating (fake gold plating, of course)

Everything was extra colorful and majestic. It was really fun to walk around!

One of the golden ones

bad lighting but everything behind me is white and gold!

White and gold dragon from the portion where photos werent allowed. Oops ;)

Was Nikko worth the drive out? Absolutely! It had so many interesting shrines and temples and especially the main one we visited everything was so supersized we felt like ants! It's very impressive and a great place to take photos and enjoy the surroundings.

Zao fox village!

I don't know where we first heard about the fox village in Zao, but I want to say it was reddit. Needless to say we go to anywhere we hear is full of animals we can't normally be around. We travel a lot and have never heard of a place where you can interact with foxes in such close proximity

So when you first walk in you're like, what's going on. Honestly nothing inside is much worth the time. They should get rid of the smaller enclosures with the rare fox breeds that "need to be isolated" I guess they are better there than dead....but it's not worth it in my opinion to keep them there for the sake of advertising that they have loads of fox breeds. We did stop and have a look at all the different foxes though. Inside is also where you can hold a fox for 400 yen.

This is where the magic starts happening. Down this path leads to the start of the circuit track around the large free roaming outside area. Fox paradise! Yes it was cold (5 degrees C). Yes I had a coat, and two pairs of nylons so it wasn't too bad to get the photos. I just hate photos of me in five coats. I look like a homeless person and it's not flattering.

Keeping a respectful distance towards my loved ones

This fox was out for treats. He knew someone somewhere had to have them, lol. The feeding area is separate and very strictly observed. Chaos can break out very easily, you don't want to be swarmed by a hoard of hungry foxes!

Oregon Trip (Part 1 of 2)

Okay I am going to stop being a whiner and complainer (for a bit) and talk about my awesome weekend in Oregon.

How do you pronounce Oregon? For me, it will always be or-eh-gen. I was watching a TV show where the main character was like, "You're from Organ???? I'm from ORGAN!!!" I shook my head at that TV show. Because they know nothing. And that girl is not from Oregon otherwise she would never say organ. But feel free to comment if you're from Oregon and set me straight on the matter!

Anyways, Seaside Oregon is a lovely lovely beach town. I have been there many times, and it is always a soothing relaxing place to breathe in the sea air, forget your troubles, and walk on the beach for hours. You can't not be happy there. It's beautiful.

All along the boardwalk, people have bought lamp posts with little plaques for their contribution, where they can say anything they like. Some of them are dedications to family members who built their summer homes for generations to enjoy. Some are romantic. And some are just quotes about why the sea is wonderful. I like them all.

Maybe I'm biased because the weather was simply perfect this last weekend, but it was such a nice nostalgic getaway.

This past month has not been easy for me for a lot of reasons, and just getting in the car and driving away from everything was surprisingly helpful. We left the rain behind, and the weather was significantly warmer and SO sunny. Beautiful crisp blue skies every day.

In the early morning it would be cool and dark, and as the sun came up over the mountains, it would slowly turn the sky pale pink and go into a blue gradient. Just amazing. As the day went on the pink would go away and leave just a rich blue sky that contrasted perfectly with the light sand and the green dune grass. Then in the evening, there were just enough wispy clouds to bounce around the light of the setting sun and transform the sky into an enormous masterpiece. Wet sand mirrored the sunset so it was all around me as I walked down the beach. Superb. And it was not windy! Usually it's so so windy but this weekend, it was perfectly serene. I got amazing weather and didn't get gross windy hair. 10/10.

We walked all over the town, rented bikes, and ate at a local sushi place that was not bad for a resort town, not bad at all.

It's very important to take pictures of the food! If Japan has taught me anything it's that. But you see what I mean. Very nice weather, happy dogs, etc. 

Oh and guess who has the best mom ever? That would be me. Because my mom knows how much I love my puppers, she rented a pet friendly hotel for us. It truly touched my heart. Because I would have been happy to let them sleep in my car (it's cool at night, and it's just 6-7 hours so don't judge) but my mom thought I wouldn't want that, so without asking me or anything, she just went ahead and  booked the room. What a kind gesture. So the dogs got packed up in the car and had a great weekend with us. The pet friendly hotel was a big surprise for me because I've never stayed in one. I think they liked it. 

Fun fact about Beihachi. He gets VERY nervous when suitcases come out. VERY. Maybe it's all the travelling we do and he knows somethings coming and it's likely he wont like it. But yeah he gets very clingy when I pack. Also as I was putting suitcases in the trunk of the car he jumped into the trunk on top of the suitcases. Ridiculous. Poor buddy thought he'd be left behind homeward bound style. Not that day, Beihachi! You're coming with me! What a dog, though. Even non dog people have to have a smidge of admiration for his loyalty. 

Well that's all for part 1. Part 2 with more and better photos will come shortly!

Road trip!

I hate being in the car for so long, but I would give the roadtrip a thumbs up! I needed to take more breaks, I got very grumpy by the end.