Monday, September 24, 2018

Don's Aomori Visit (Day 7 Part 1) / ドン 青森紀行 (七日目 パート1)

Friday, August 3rd, 2018. My wife has the day off so we will be going for a drive today. Our main goal is to drive through the Oirase Gorge and have lunch at Lake Towada. We have yet to decide on our evening plans. We will be going to Lake Towada by way of the Hakkoda mountain range so I have planned a few short side trips as well.

2018年、8月3日。金曜日。妻も休みなので、今日は車で出かけます。目指すのは奥入瀬渓流と十和田湖。夜の予定はまだ未定。十和田湖行きは八甲田方面で行くため、いろんな寄り道も考えてました。

Our first short side trip is to the Kayano Tea House. 

最初の寄り道は茅野茶屋。


We had a couple of cups of tea here. 

ここでちょっとお茶を飲みました。


It is said that this tea is a "longevity" tea. If you drink one cup, your life will be extended for three years. If you drink two cups, your life will be extended for six years. And if you drink a third cup, you will live until you die! Yes, I always have a little chuckle about that third cup. And my wife suggested eating some shoga miso oden (oden topped with miso and ginger).

茅野茶屋で長生きの茶が有名。この看板を見ると、一杯飲むと3年長生きし、二杯飲むと六年長生きし、三杯飲むとなんと死ぬまで生きするという。おれはいつも三杯目のところを読むと、ちょっと疑問がある。”死ぬまで”って、いつ訪れるのがわからないので、3杯目を飲むと、先の一杯と2杯は無効になっちゃいませんか?それを考えるのは俺だけ?妻が生姜味噌おでんも食べましょうと提案したので、ちょっと一休み。



On our way to the Oirase Gorge and Lake Towada, we would be passing by one of Aomori's popular hot springs - Sukaiyu. However, with the weather being as hot as it was, we decided to skip it and made a short stop at Jigoku Numa.

奥入瀬渓流と十和田湖行きの途中、青森県の有名な温泉、酸ヶ湯。天気が良すぎて、温泉に入る気分にならなかった。また寄り道して、酸ヶ湯の近くにある地獄沼に行った。


Jigoku Numa / 地獄沼






Us travelers in front of Jigoku Numa.

私たち、旅人で地獄沼の前。





We met him at Jigoku Numa as well. I think it's a stink bug. But I'm not going to step on it to find out.

地獄沼の住民にも会った。確かにカメムシだ。緑色のカメムシ。


And yet another side trip. This time to Suiren Pond. Suiren is the Japanese word for water lilies.

そしてまた寄り道。今度は睡蓮沼。




Before we go driving through the Oirase Gorge, we stopped in at the Oirase Stream Gifts & Restaurant shop.

奥入瀬渓流に入る前に奥入瀬の渓流の駅に寄ってみた。



Some animals that live in the gorge and that you might see if you're lucky.

奥入瀬渓流に生息してる動物たち。運が良ければ、見れるかも知りません。


Serow (antelope) / カモシカ


An weasel/ イタチ


Racoon dog / タヌキ


Woodpecker and a flying squirrel / キツツキとモモンガ


A rabbit / ウサギ


The weasel was so cute.

イタチが可愛いから。


Don trying one of my favorite liquid items - drinkable yogurt!

ドンが僕の好きな飲み物を飲んでみた。それが味楽工房の飲むヨーグルト。


Are you wondering what I'm doing. I'm looking into a mirror to take a picture. And if I'm positioned just right, you can see stars in my eyes.

俺はなにをやってるか気になる?鏡を見ながら自撮りすれば、目の中に星型の目印が見えるはず。


You have to look real closely. I supposed I should have edited the photo and enlarged it.

良く見ればハート型になってるけど、やっぱり写真を編集して、目のところだけ特大するべきだったね。


And here we are at one of our main goals - the Oirase Gorge.

そして一つの目的地に到着。ここが奥入瀬渓流。













Walking along the banks of the river. We walked for about ten to fifteen minutes before heading back to the car and driving to our next stop, the Kumoi Waterfall.

奥入瀬の川沿いを歩く。10分から15分を歩いて、また車に戻って、すぎの見所の場所に移動した。それが雲井の滝。


Kumoi Waterfall / 雲井の滝












We then drove to the next big waterfall - Choshi Waterfall.

また車で次の滝に行ってきました、銚子大滝。














And our next main goal - Lake Towada. We decided to have lunch here. Don and I ordered Lake Towada's B-gourmet dish, Towada barayaki (Towada grilled beef shoulder).

そしてもう一つの目的地、十和田湖に到着。ここでランチを食べる。僕とドンは十和田のB級グルメの十和田バラ焼きを注文。




Towada Barayaki / 十和田バラ焼き




Sigtseeing boat / 遊覧船


Statue of Maidens / 乙女の像




Towada Shrine / 十和田神社


Prayer boards / 絵馬


Don in front of the hondo at Towada Shrine.

ドンが十和田神社の本堂の前。






We are all eating Yubari melon soft serve.

みんなで夕張メロンソフトを食べてます。




Don makes a new friend at Lake Towada, Nanso Boya.

ドンが十和田湖で新たな友達を作った、南そボーヤ。


It was time to head back to Aomori. We were planning on watching the Nebuta Festival tomorrow but the weather called for rain so we decided we would watch it this evening although most of the large Nebuta floats wouldn't be part of the parade at night. To be continue...

青森に戻る時間になった。明日ねぶた祭りを見る予定だったが、天気予報を聞いて、明日は雨の為、今夜ねぶたを見ることにした。今夜は大型ねぶたは出ませんが、見る価値はあると思う。旅がつづく。。。

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