The Oirase Gorge in Spring / 春の奥入瀬渓流

Stepping back to the past again as we continue our drive through the Hakkoda Mountains to our main destination, the Oirase Gorge. As this is my first spring as an Aomori resident, I am interested in exploring my new home as much as possible.

またちょっとしたタイムスリップして、ドライブの続きの話です。青森県民になり、やっぱり自分がこれから生活する地域をもっと詳しく知りたい。初の春でドライブのメインの目的地に近づきました。奥入瀬渓流を目指す。

We left the Suiren Pond and continued our drive to the Oirase Gorge. 

睡蓮沼を去って奥入瀬渓流のドライブ再開開始。

We stopped at the Oirase Stream Gifts and Restaurant where I indulged myself in an apple flavored ice cream. 

渓流の駅おいらせに寄って、自分はりんごアイスを食べた。

Our first stop along the Gorge was at the Samidare Stream, samidare roughly translating to "three disorderly" streams. 

渓流で最初に止まった場所は三乱の流れ。

As we were walking along the stream, we came upon this person painting the view of the stream. He kindly allowed me to take his picture. 

渓流沿いを歩きながら、趣味で渓流の絵を描いてる人と遭遇。彼の許可を得て、写真を撮りました。

We parked our car at the Ishigedo Rest Area and walked along the Oirase stream for a spell. This sign is an explanation of the picture above. A gedo is a word for a small hut. Ishi means stone so the ishigedo is a "stone hut". 

                             

One should not mess around with mother nature!

This is one of the more popular waterfalls you will find along the Oirase Stream. It is called Kumoi-no-Taki or Kumoi Falls. It's 20 meters long (65 feet) and has three tiers from it's precipice. 

ここは雲井の滝。この滝の高さは２０ｍで岸壁から三段になって落下する。

Getting as close as I can to the waterfalls. 

滝に出来るほどに近付く。

I had to get a two-shot with my wife with the falls in the background. 

滝をバックにして、妻とのツーショット。

Me standing in front of the Kumoi Falls. 

雲井の滝の前に立つ俺。

Somewhere along the stream. 

川沿いのどっかだ。

This is the Kudanno Falls which translates to the "Nine Tiers" falls. 

九段の滝です。

This is our turning back point. We walked for about thirty minutes from the Ishigedo rest area to the Choshi Falls. 

石ヶ戸から30分歩いて目的の調子大滝に到着。

I love playing find the hidden animals. All of these critters are indigenous to the Oirase Gorge area. 

 動物を探そう！展示されてる動物は全て奥入瀬で生存されてる動物たちです。

I suppose it would have been much kinder of me if I made notes as to what kind of animals these were. Now, it was time to head back to Aomori City from Oirase but we did make another short stop on our way back.

あっ、動物の名前をメモればよかったな。さて、奥入瀬から青森に帰る時間になった。でもやっぱりまた止まって、渓流のほうを探索しました。

The sun will be setting soon.

あとちょっとで日が暮れちゃう。

A matter of timing as I got a picture of the sunset while a jet was flying across the sky. 

良いタイミングで夕焼けとともに飛んでるジェットの写真が撮れた。

Sunset and Helicopter / 夕焼けとヘリ

Sunset, Helicopter, and Jet Cloud / 夕焼け、ヘリと飛行機雲

And that concludes are day's adventure. 

そして今日の冒険の幕が閉じた。

Suiren Pond / 睡蓮沼

Going back to our drive from 2017 when we went to Tashirotai in the Hakkoda Mountains and check out the Jogakura Bridge. We were continuing on to the Oirase Gorge but made another impromptu stop. I saw a sign for the Suiren Pond. Suiren is Japanese for a water lily so of course I had to check it out.

また２０１７年５月のドライブのネタに戻ります。日帰りで八甲田山経由で奥入瀬渓流行く途中に田代平と城ヶ倉大橋を探索して、またある場所に止まった。今度は睡蓮沼。

The mountain on the right is called Takada Ohdake. 

右側にある山は高田大岳

The mountains from left to right are Mount Iohdake, Mount Ohdake, and Mount Kodake.

左から右の山々は硫黄岳、小岳、と大岳です。

Another view of Takada Ohdake.

別の場所から眺める高田大岳。

In the foreground is the Suiren Pond. 

目の前にあるのは睡蓮沼。

This is the water lily the pond is named after.

沼の由来の花、睡蓮です。

And now to continue our journey to the Oirase Gorge...

さて奥入瀬渓流を目指します。。。

Sunday drive to Cape Shiriya and Cape Oma (Part 2) / 尻屋崎と大間崎へのサンデイドライブ （パート２）

We left Cape Shiriya and headed towards Cape Oma, Japan's northernmost point of Honshu island, and had lunch there. Oma is well known for its maguro which can demand a hefty price. There are many restaurants where you can eat Oma maguro but my wife doesn't like maguro and my mother-in-law is not fond of raw fish. I've eaten it before so we all decided to have ramen for lunch at a restaurant called [Shiosai]. We ordered the tokusei shiosai ramen which is a seafood ramen topped with crab, shrimp, octopus, squid, clam, scallop and seaweed of course.

尻屋崎を去って大間崎に行きました。大間崎は本州の最北端の場所。大間で有名なのはやっぱり大間マグロ。結構高いです。いろん飲食店で大間マグロが食べられるけど、自分の妻はマグロ嫌いだし、義理の母は生ものが苦手。自分はマグロ好きですが食べたこともあるし、今日、「潮さい」というレストランでランチを食べた。メニューに特性潮さいラーメンがあり、写真もあって、まるで海鮮ラーメンです。

Restaurant [Shiosai] / お食事処 「潮さい」

Special Shiosai Ramen / 特性潮さいラーメン

Shimokita Peninsula National Park "Cape Oma" 

That's Hokkaido in the distance. 

奥にあるのは北海道。

The Cape Oma Lighthouse on Benten Island. This lighthouse is not open to the public. 

弁天島にある大間崎灯台。この灯台は一般公開はしておりません。

Fishing for Oma maguro monument.

まぐろ一本釣りの町 おおま。

We could see Hakodateyama from Cape Oma. To the right of the mountain is Hakodate.

大間崎から函館山が見えた。右でちょっと奥の方が函館市街地。

On the very right is Mount E (pronounced with a short e). 

一番右側にある山は恵山（えさん）。

My mother-in-law and her sister. 

義理の母と義理の母の姉。

Ern, the Tuna rider!

まぐろ乗りのアーニーじゃ！

When in Cape Oma, nothing like riding a tuna!

大間崎に行くとやっぱりまぐろに乗らないっと！

It looks like some alien life form. 

なんだかエイリアンみたいな生物だ。

Another view of the lighthouse. 

大間崎灯台。

This is as close as I'm going to get to Hokkaido today.

北海道に近づくのはここまでだ。

We found a lot of rocks like this. Very strange. 

こういう石をいっぱい発見した。凄い不思議。

Gotta get a selfie in there somewhere.

どっかで自撮りを撮らないっと。

These souvenir shops were closed.

こちらのお土産さんは閉まってた。

A couple of other shops were open though. 

他のお土産店は営業してました。

We must have spent about an hour at Cape Oma. It was time to make our return trip to Aomori City. 

大間崎で一時間くらい滞在して、そろそろ青森市に戻る時間が来た。

But we had to take our picture here. This is the monument that tells you that you're at the northernmost point of Honshu island. 

でもやっぱりここにも写真を撮らないっと。書いてあるのは”本州最北端の地。

The Aomori Prefecture pose. 

青森県ポーズ。

Leaving Cape Oma.

帰り道。

Driving along the coast. 

海岸沿いでドライブ。

We stopped at the Yokohama Town Roadside Station for an ice-cream break. 

横浜町の道の駅に寄ってアイスを食べた。

I had the rapeblossom flavor while my wife settled for vanilla. 

横浜町の言えば菜の花なので、僕は菜の花アイスを食べて、妻は普通にバニラを。

My wife and I also love to snack on these deep-fried scallops.

僕と妻はこの揚げほとても大好き。

The rest of the trip was uneventful as we dropped off my mother-in-law's sister, then just headed home. And so ended our day's adventure. 

あとは義理の母の姉の家まで送って、普通に帰りました。そして今日の冒険の幕が閉じた。