Blue Forest Chronicles: From the mountain to the sea and the ASUKA II Cruise ship / 山から海まで、そして豪華客船の飛鳥 II

After having soba at Kogintei, my wife wanted to go out for dessert. She wanted to have some ice cream at a small shop called Michinoku. They also serve shakes as well. As it was on the right side of the road heading towards Asamushi and has no parking lot to speak of, we decided to go to Asamushi first and check out the sea.

ランチを食べたあと、妻がアイスを食べたいと言い出して、浅虫方面にある「みちのく」があすすめらしく、そこを目指した。妻がアイス以外にシェイクもあるよと教えてくれました。「みちのく」には駐車場がありませんのでそのまま浅虫まで行って海を見ることにした。

View of Yuno Island / 湯ノ島

Many years ago when my wife and I were still dating and she was still living in Aomori while I was living in Tokyo, I came to visit her and along with her mother and nephew, we stayed at the hotel pictured on the right in the picture. I was a little sad to discover that the hotel has been closed for a few years now.

昔現在の妻と付き合った頃、遠距離だったので、僕が青森に来て、現在の妻と妻の母と妻の甥っ子と４人で上記の写真の右側に写ってるホテルに泊まったことがある。残念ながら現在そのホテルが閉鎖になってしまった。

On our way back into the city, we stopped at [Michinoku]. My wife was going to have an ice cream but then she showed me the menu for shakes. OMG! There were over 100 different flavors of shakes on that menu. Of course they had standard flavors such as vanilla and chocolate. Their most popular being fresh strawberries. But I was looking through the menu and saw mango, cheese, rare cheese, maccha, kuromitsu (molasses), kinako (soybean flour), and kuromitsu kinako mix. As it was my first time here, I decided to try the kuromitsu kinako shake. Oh, they are so delicious. My wife ordered a fresh banana shake. We're definitely coming back here again!

青森市に戻る途中、アイスの店の「みちのく」に止まりました。妻が僕にシェイクのメニューを見せたら僕は超びっくり！なんとシェイクの種類は１００以上もあった。もちろん定番のバニラやチョコもあったが、その他の味も結構変わったものもあった。マンゴ、チーズ、レアチーズ、くろみつ、きなこ、くろみつきなこ等。初めてだったんですがやっぱりくろみつきなこ好きの僕はその味のシェイクも注文しました。妻がアイスを食べるはずだったが、気分が変わり生バナナシェイクをチョイスしました。とっても濃厚で美味しい！またくることは間違いない！

My mother-in-law also told me that today, the cruise ship ASUKA II would be at the Aomori Port. I suggested to my wife that we should go see it. Many years ago my parents had invited us to join them on a cruise from Los Angeles to Mexico but we didn't have the time or the funds to join them. My sister and her husband did so I figured since we didn't get to go on a cruise, at least we check out a cruise ship up close.

豪華客船の飛鳥 IIが青森港に入港してるのを義理の母が教えてくれたので、妻に青森港まで行ってみようとお願いした。何年か前に僕の両親が私たちに一緒にクルーズに行かないかという誘いがあったが、当時私たちは時間もなく、その費用もございませんでした。自分の妹夫妻は両親と一緒に行きまして、とっても楽しい思い出を作ったみたい。彼らはロスからメキシコのクルーズに行った。クルーズに行けなかったが、せっかく青森に入港してる豪華客船があるから見に行くことにした。

The ASUKA II cruise ship.

豪華客船のASKA II。

Are you still having a hard picturing how large this ship is?

まだこの舟の大きさが伝わってない？

Maybe this picture will give you some idea.

この写真で伝わるかな。

I also had a great view of the ASPAM building and the Aomori Bay Bridge in the distance.

こちらからの眺めも良かった。アスパムと青森ベイブリッジが良く見える。

I was walking out on the pier to get a picture of the other side of the ASUKA II along with the ASPAM building (the triangular building you can't miss).

埠頭のほうに歩いて飛鳥 IIとアスパムの写真が良く取れた。