traveling like the locals

This past weekend, we went up to the Hakkoda mountains with our friends Brent & Allyson, which is about a 2 hour drive.  The first stop was to check on lift tickets and see how late the lifts were open.  I know the guys really wanted to try to go up right away, but they were closing in 20 minutes due to weather conditions.  Hakkoda is a difficult mountain so Ally and I were going to sit out this one.

These were taken from the car while we waited....obviously this part of the county had been getting lots of snow for most of the winter.

Since they were going to wait until the next morning, we went to check into our hotel.  We stayed at Sukayu, a traditional Japanese hotel.

Upon entering the lobby, you give them your shoes and they give you these fun slippers that you wear everywhere.  You never wear your slippers in your room and even change into different slippers when you go to the bathroom.
You get your shoes back whenever you want to leave. :)

{the lobby}

{lobby decor}

A woman leads us to our rooms where we dropped off luggage and get settled.  They have green tea and treats filled with sweet bean. :)

{just reading the welcome book}

These robes they provide are worn by everyone, everywhere.

{we look the part}

{perfect}

Before dinner, we headed to the onsen.  At this hotel, they had two different hot spring baths.  This first one was just a soaking bath, no need to shower beforehand, and was co-ed.  It was so hot and steamy in there you couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of you.  And the water was so "natural" it reeked of sulfur and was extremely murky.

{hot spring entrance}

I took a picture of the poster showing the inside of the hot spring.  This was just one side; the women enter on what would be the far corner of this poster. 

After the hot spring we headed to the second onsen they offer which has separate baths for men and women.  This is where you completely scrub down before getting in the hot bath.  It's so relaxing!

Next up...dinner!!!  And we were hungry.  They serve dinner in a private room on the floor.  Your tray is  loaded with lots of Japanese food: sashimi salmon and scallops, hot pot with chicken & veggies, cooked fish, miso soup, salad and tons of other stuff that we had no idea what it was.  

It was still early, so we played one game of Cranium (girls win of course) and then went down to the bar to do some karaoke!  The Japanese LOVE karaoke!!  We were hoping there would be Japanese nationals there and we could just watch, but no luck....we were the only 4!  It took us a second to find the English songs, but once we did there was no stopping us! 

All of us were terrible.   But the owner loved us. ;)

We closed down the bar and decided to go to bed.  While we were at dinner, the hotel staff came to make up our room.  They move the table that was in the middle and put down futons with giant down comforters.  

{comfy futons}

The next morning after breakfast, the boys hit the mountain and Allyson and I hung out, went to the onsen again and wandered more around the hotel visiting the small shop and having soba for lunch.  

{out back}

Here are some pics from Jeff from the mountain.  The visibility wasn't that great at the top, but the snow monsters sure are cool!!  

{rescue crew.  good that he's here or no?}

The lifts close a little earlier than normal because of conditions so we left around 3pm to head back to Misawa.  We did hit some snow, but got back safely!

{oh hey there}

Until next time!