Sharron and I have been trying to figure out a way to get away for a weekend and go to the city of Nikko. We priced all of the hotels and ryokan’s and they just weren’t as cheap or nice as we’d like. Also, after the 23 days of leave I took in January and the 9 I took for China, I don’t really have a lot to use this summer. That only leaves long weekends which are usually harder to get rooms for. We’d been planning to go for the 4th of July weekend, but they’re making us work on Friday. I was going to take leave, but then my boss took leave and left me in charge. So, I’ll have 2 days off, work 1 day, and then have 2 more days off. Weird. Anyway, our friends Rick and Kirsten suggested we take a day trip there as you can see everything interesting in a single day. So, the four of us drove up there on Saturday and spent the day there.
It was supposed to take us 3-4 hours to drive there, but instead, it took about 2:15. Nice! Our first stop was to a group of shrines. 1000 Yen got us into all of them. The first one was really the best and was really cool. The others weren’t as cool, but still interesting. Once you’ve seen one shrine in a day, you’ve kinda seen them all. :-)
We next had a quick lunch before heading up to the lake. It’s in the mountains so it’s really very beautiful. It’s really how you picture Japan looking (VERY un-Tokyo). We drove up into the hills and got some nice views of it from on high. We also looked a lot for the monkeys that are wild around there. Not until our way down did we finally see some. It was great!
We stopped for some cheesecake and ice cream before heading home…but wait! There’s more! We all decided to head into Tokyo and have dinner at the New Sanno hotel. It’s run by the Navy, so they have American restaurants. A breath of fresh air after only having Japanese around the base really. We had a great time and even ran into our friends Kevin and Tiffany. It was cool! Kevin even surprised Kirsten with a birthday mousse. :-)
Pictures may follow…if you’re kind. :-)
Recent Comments