Autumn Foliage 2019 Oirase Gorge / 紅葉 ２０１９年 奥入瀬渓流

I know it's currently winter as I spent about three hour snow-shoveling today. However, I didn't get a chance to finish writing about our drives to check out the autumn foliage. After having lunch at Ortolana, we continued to the Ishigedo Rest Area along the Oirase Gorge. From there, we planned on walking to the Kumoi Waterfall and back. 

今はもう冬になりましたが、今日も三時間も雪かきしましたよ！でも、紅葉の話はまだ終わってなかった。石釜ピザ屋の「オルトラーナ」でランチを食べ終わったら、奥入瀬渓流にある石ヶ戸休憩所を目指した。そこから雲井の滝まで歩いて、戻る予定。

As we're in a nature preserve area, we have to watch out for bears.

自然の中なので熊に注意するべきです。

Quite a few bear sightings this year.

今年熊の目撃が多かったみたいですね。

The rest area is named after this stone-type dwelling.

これが休憩所の名前の由来。これこそが石ヶ戸。

It looks like we were a little early in going to the Oirase Gorge to see the autumn colors. Most of the trees are still green!

奥入瀬渓流の紅葉を見るのがちょっと早すぎたみたい。周りの木がまだ完全に緑だ！

Still, I never get bored walking around this area.

紅葉じゃなくても奥入瀬渓流は楽しめる。

We were about half-way to the Kumoi Waterfall when my wife said she needed to use the restroom. As there are no facilities near the waterfall, we decided to walk back to the Ishigedo Rest Area. 

雲井の滝に着く前に妻がお手洗いに行くたくなり、雲井の滝の周りに公衆トイレはないので、石ヶ戸に戻ることにした。とりあえず、今回は雲井の滝を諦めた。

My wife spotted a bear...no wait....that's me!

妻が熊を目撃した。。。ではなく。。。俺だ！

Blueberry flavored water, only available in the Tohoku area.

東北限定のブルーベリー味のいろはす。

Of course I had to try it.

もちろん飲んでみるしかない。

Heading back home. We stopped at a ramen shop for dinner. 

帰り道。夕飯はラーメン屋で食べた。

My wife ordered the chashu-men.

妻はチャーシュー麺を食べた。

I ordered the tonkotsu ramen.

Stone Oven Pizza [Ortolana] / 石釜ピザ「オルトラーナ」

Whenever we go to the Oirase Gorge, we always pass by this one restaurant that's always crowded. I've been wanting to check the place out for some time and this year we finally decided to have lunch there. The place is a pizzeria that uses a stone oven. It's called Ortolano. What makes this pizza place special is that they use a variety of high quality fresh ingredients. One of their specialties is the nagaimo (Japanese yam) pizza. They also make fruit pizzas as well. From late April to early November, they also provide a buffet style lunch. We decided to partake in the buffet. However, as always, it was very crowded and we had about a forty minute wait. We decided to take a little walk along the gorge before going back to the pizza place.

奥入瀬渓流行くたんびに気になるレストランをいつも通り過ぎる。店はいつも込んでてやっぱり美味しいんだろうなと思い込んでた。今年はやっとその店でランチを食べることに決めた。店は石釜ピザの専門店。店の名前は「オルトラーナ」。本格石釜で焼き上げたピザはカリッとクリスピーな食感（パンフレットにもそう書かれてますが、まさにその通り）。個人的で一番食べて見たかったピザは長芋のピザ。この店もフルーツピザも提供してます。そして４月末から１１月上旬まではプッフェスタイルでお料理が楽しめる。ちょうど１０月だったので、私たちもビュッフェをチョイス。行った時も混んでて、席まで案内されるのは約４０分後。その間にちょっと渓流のほうでお散歩。

The restaurant is a very cute building and is located near the beginning of the Oirase Gorge trail. 

建物はとっても可愛い。場所は渓流の駅（道の駅みたいなところ）の向かいにある。

Walking along the gorge to kill some time.

時間つぶしのため、渓流沿いで散歩しました。

You never know what kind of interesting things you will encounter. 

散歩しながらどうゆうものに出会うのかも面白い。

We walked back to the restaurant and waited to be called to our table. I took this time to check out the stone oven.

ちょっとした散歩して、すぐに店に戻りました。席に案内されるのを待つだけ。この時間を利用して、石釜を覗いてみた。

This is where they bake their pizzas.

ここでピザを焼くんだ。

The building looks more like a lodge than a pizza joint. 

ビルはピザ屋よりロッジみたい。

I love the bird-shaped spout on this faucet.

鳥の形の蛇口が可愛い。

Our name was finally called and I think we were quite lucky as we were directed to the second floor.

名前がやっと呼ばれて、席に案内された。超ラッキーなことに私たちの席は２階にあった。

In fact, for a long while, we had the entire second floor to ourselves.

結構の時間で２階の貸切状態でした。

And now for the food. My first trip, I had to try at least three or four different types of pizza. I also made a fresh salad plate and tried the soup as well.

そして肝心な料理。最初はスープとサラダ。ピザは４種類くらい選んだかな。

Also had the pasta.

パスタも食べてみた。

More fresh vegetables and meat.

新鮮な野菜と肉。

More pizza. Toda's dessert pizza was topped with apples.

またピザ。今日のデザートピザはりんごのトッピングでした。

Yes, you could say we had a little too much to eat but it was all delicious and worth it. The price for the buffet was ￥1900 per person. A little on the expensive side but we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

はい、今日はちょっと食べ過ぎましたが、全ての料理はとっても美味しかった。ビュッフェの値段は一人￥１９００、ちょっと高額ですが、味と雰囲気、量と考えれば納得。価値のあるビュッフェです。

After lunch, we planned to drive to the Ishigedo Rest Area and walk from there to the Kumoi Waterfall and back. And so our adventure continues...

ランチを食べ終わったら、石ヶ戸まで行って、そこで車を駐車して、雲井の滝まで歩く予定。冒険がまだまだ続く。。。

Autumn Foliage 2019 near Mount Hakkoda and Suiren Pond / 秋紅葉 ２０１９年 八甲田山周辺と睡蓮沼

One of the things I love about living in Aomori City is to really be able to see the difference in the changing of the seasons. One of the best seasons is Autumn when the leaves change colors. There are so many different places to see the autumn foliage which makes almost every weekend in the fall an adventure. This year, we were heading to the Oirase Gorge and would be driving through the Hakkoda Mountain range.

青森に引っ越して、凄い気に入ったことは季節の変わり目がはっきりわかる。多分一番好きな季節は秋。秋と言えば紅葉。青森県で紅葉を見る場所は豊富ですね。僕と妻の週末になると、いろんなところの紅葉を見に行ったりしました。今年最初の紅葉場所に行こうと思ったのは奥入瀬渓流。八甲田山の道を通って行くことに決定。

Passing through the Kayano Plateau.

茅野高原を通ってます。

As we passed by the popular hot spring called Sukayu which was very crowded with other people also enjoying the autumn colors, we stopped a little further ahead where it was less crowded.

八甲田山の近くにある有名な温泉施設酢ヶ湯が結構込んでた。やっぱり日本人は紅葉が好きですね。酢ヶ湯の駐車場は満車だったので、もうちょっと先の駐車場に止まって、ちょっと周りを探索。

This is the entrance to one of the many walking trails around the mountain.

ここは一つの登山口になってます。

I only walked up a little ways. Perhaps we will explore this are more next summer.

ちょっとそこまで歩いてみた。来年の春か夏にもっと探索しようと思ってます。

The Hakkoda mountain range is a volcanic area. This is one of the volcanic fumarole sites. 

八甲田山は火現象跡地にもなってます。この場所は火山ガス噴気孔跡地です。

In this area, there are thirty-three stone statues of the Kannon Buddha to wish for the safety of all creatures in the area.

八甲田山の生き物の安全を願うために、三十三体の観音像が祀られてます。

We took a short walk to Jigokunuma which translates into English as "Hell Pond". 

地獄沼まで歩いた。

Jigokunuma (Hell Pond) / 地獄沼

Yes, I've started to take a lot of selfies when going to different places.

はい、自分もいろんな場所で自撮りをやってます。

A partial "Don" pose.

中途半端の”ドン”ポーズ。ドンは俺の友達。彼の写真を撮るたんびに両手を広げたポースをする。

My artsy picture.

ちょっと幻想的な写真を狙った。

Walking back to the parking lot.

駐車場に戻るところでした。

We spotted a trail near a botanical garden that is managed by a university.

戻る途中にある大学が管理してる植物園のところを覗いてみた。

A bit of moss.

焦げだ。

Back on the road as we continue to head towards the Oirase Gorge.

車に戻って奥入瀬渓流を目指す。

But wait, another side trip. This time to the Suiren Pond (yes, the sign says Suirennuma Pond, but numa is the word for "pond" so suirennuma pond would translate to "suiren pond pond"). Also, suiren is the Japanese word for "water-lily". This is the "Water-Lily Pond".

また寄り道をしました。奥入瀬渓流に行く途中に睡蓮沼に行ってみました。

The water lilies around this pond are in bloom from May to June.

八甲田山で睡蓮が咲く時期は５月から６月までです。

Hitting the road again as we continue our journey to the Oirase Gorge...

道路に戻ってまた奥入瀬渓流を目指す。。。