Trip to Hakone

Winter is still putting along here in Japan. Temps stay in the 30-50's and we get an occasional day of light snow flurries. We are approaching our one year mark in Japan, our "Japanniversary" and we are still liking it for the most part. I was in San Diego last week for a school so it is nice to be back home with the crew. I am still on track to deploy for 1.5 months in March and then again for 2 months from April to June. It looks like ill be missing the Cherry blossom season this year. 

We had a low-key weekend this week so we decided to head up to Hakone. Shannon, the Girls, and Poppy and BB have been there before, but this was my first time. We had a beautiful but cold day and was able to see Mt Fuji up close and personal. 

A Christmas box from Poppy and BB was hung up in the mail but we all loved opening the gifts! 

The girls trying on their wings!

Matching Ariel jammies.

Here we are in Hakone. There is a nice lake at the top of the mountain where you can hop in a "pirate" ship and ride to the other side. It was a little chilly, but we made the best of it.

LC loved playing in the residual piles of snow.

Mt Fuji and an orange Torii gate in the background.

Pretty sure she is holding up a peace sign under her mitten.

There are gondolas on the other side of the lake that we took to the top of the mountain. 

There were sulfur mines at the top that made it smell delightful. That is steam coming out of the mountain in the distance. 

A few gondolas and in the very far back ground is the Tokyo area. 

Of course there was a Hello Kitty at the top. 

The black egg Hello Kitty and Mt Fuji.

Mount Fuji-san

Going back down on the gondolas. 

Cat nap on the drive home.

I mentioned the black eggs.... One of the features of Hakone are the black eggs. For some reason they

bury eggs down in the hot sulfur mines where they are cooked and eventually sold. The sulfur makes them very smelly and turns them black.. but they are still delicious. I was expecting the egg the be slightly black once we opened them but they looked and tasted just like a normal hard boiled egg. 

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!