This weekend we rented a car and drove down to Nagano to enjoy some time away from the bustling city of Ebina. The weather looked iffy at first but ended up being quite nice. It was a great time!
Saturday morning, we got up early and Tamie went to pick up the car while I got the kids ready to go. We were packed and gone by just after 9 in the morning! It’s sometimes difficult to get Layla out the door that early for daycare!
Our Ride! 1000cc’s of Pure Japanese Power!
The drive down was uneventful, but on the way we stopped at a place called Kurumayamasantou, which is a ski resort in the Winter but open for hikers in the Summer. We took two chairlifts up to the top, where we had a look around and then a quick bite to eat on top.
Made it!
After a busy day exploring the mountain, we headed off to check in at the hotel. We got our room, dropped our bags and went out to explore around the hotel grounds.
The hotel sits right next to a small lake so we headed down to the waterfront to take a look around. It was here I introduced Layla to the joy of throwing rocks into water. She really got into the whole thing, collecting rocks and trying to toss them as far as she could.
How big was the fish again?
We took a bit of a stroll around the lake but had to cut it short because our dinner was waiting for us. We had a 17:30 reservation at the restaurant in the hotel, followed by a 19:00 reservation on a night-time tour to see fireflies. Luckily, we just made it for both.
The dinner was a multi-course French deal which turned out to be a pretty decent meal. Layla had a giant kid’s meal which she ate most of in her attempts to earn her dessert.
The firefly tour was a 45 minute bus ride up to an area where fireflies were prominent. Unfortunately there was a festival on that same weekend, so not only were there a lot of fireflies but also a lot of people! Luckily, Layla was so excited to see the fireflies that we barely noticed the crowds.
The bus ride back to the hotel was a muted affair as everyone was tired. That is, until I reached down to check my phone and noticed it was gone! It must had fallen out of my pocket at some point in the evening! D’oH! Tamie tried calling it but there was no answer… later on, the phone called back but when Tamie picked up there was no one speaking on the other end. When I talked into the phone, it hung up. Too weird.
When we stopped at the hotel, Layla said she had a stomach ache so I carried her into the hotel. As we waited for the elevator, all I heard was “Braaapp!” as my shirt got soaked in regurgitated giant kid’s meal.
Once we were back in the room, we got Layla cleaned up, called Docomo to suspend my phone service, and then Tamie and Layla went to bath. I used Tamie’s phone to change all my passwords because the phone I lost wasn’t just a smart phone, it’s a really smart phone that remembered my passwords.
With nothing else we could do about the phone and worried about Layla, we turned in a bit early for the night.
Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early — earlier than we’d ever woken up, I think. We headed down for breakfast, dropping the messy clothes from the previous night in the laundry room on the way. The buffet breakfast was quite a large spread, but also quite popular. We had to line up just to get in!
Once the breakfast was done, we checked out of the hotel and headed out for another day of hiking fun. Tamie drove us to another of her favourite spots where we followed a path up a mountain, past a few horses and lots of cows.
Before we got started, I strapped Julia to my chest and shortly there after she peed on me! Nice way to start the day… a quick trip back to the car and a change of clothes later (luckily we’d washed the puke shirt or I’d have had a tough decision to make 
) and we were off for a nice day of hiking.
We walked up a mountain trail for what must have been a couple of hours, we reached a shop at the top of the mountain and celebrated with some muffins and ice cream. Well worth the trip, I assure you.
Got to the top!
The way back was a lot brisker of a pace (going downhill will do that). We stopped at the small shop beside the parking lot to feed Julia and Layla before driving off to another, smaller area for more hiking.
The sun was setting when we stopped for Soba on our way back to the highway. The drive back to Ebina was quiet as four tired travelers made their way home… quiet, save for the 5 month old baby screaming for the first hour…
All in all, despite the few bumps along the way, the trip was a fantastic time and a good pre-cursor to what will hopefully be a fun-filled Summer.
Pictures in the galleries below:
Day 1
Day 2
Pics from the long weekend
Pics from Hiking
Pics from Sunday