July 31 - Another day told in pictures

(blogger keeps crashing so I will have to do this one tomorrow :/ sorry!) AARGH! I tried to post this on the correct date but noooooo. 00h01! GRR! Still...

Insect count: WAY, WAY more than yesterday! And I saw one of those giant pincher face beetles! It was 3"-4" long! 0.o

Top 5 blessings: 1) I only screamed at the insects and didn't cry. 2) I got to talk to my bff today! (I should say "one of," but ya. :D) 3) The onsens are doing so much for my cramps. They also make my skin feel incredible. (Tonight the place was packed, lol - tons of fun!) 4) I have some clean laundry! I forgot to mention that we did some laundry last night at the hotel. 5) We rented a car. It made us a LOT more mobile and we got to see some really cool stuff that was a long ways away. :)

The morning started with us jumping on a bus to go rent a car

Here is Tara driving in Japan. I may have needed to say, "Wrong side," more than a couple times. However, to be fair it was usually on an empty road so it was easy for her to slip back into US mode. I'm surprised that I noticed so quickly. But I'm glad someone did! On our way to Shikotsuko (Shikotsu Lake)!

Our first views of Shikotsuko

panorama of Shikotsuko

Left side view of Shikotsuko

Center view of Shikotsuko and Tara (Abbey is behind the tree) - Driving up there was a bit nervewracking for me because I didn't know where we were. Luckily when we rented the car, the lady kindly programmed our destination. However, after we got to the lake, we wanted to see the Moss Slot Canyon and we had no IDEA even what the name was in Japanese. My phone was dying but I looked up the place on the internet and found the name: Koke no Doumon.

Right side view of Shikotsuko

Us and the lake

YAY! Visitor center! Luckily we were able to park there for free (almost unheard of in Japan). Then since I had looked up the name, we were able to ask the guy how to get there. He showed us a map on the wall and Tara took pictures of it.

A salamander in the visitor center

Froggie!

This is a great shot! The snake was "looking" right at me! I wanted to hold him. No go.

I took a picture of an overhead view of Shikotsuko

Here is a model they had of the lake

Here is the information board in front of Koke no Doumon - we walked in a few km to get to this sign. The path was MOSTLY bug free. There were more dead giant beetles than ones who were alive. Nonetheless, I was still freaked out. The little guy behind the counter at the ranger station was really adorable. He chatted with Abbey and Tara while I charged my phone a little in the bathroom so I could take pictures. He had all kinds of scary monsters (giant insects) on the counter in little boxes. Tara and Abbey thought they were really cool and got pictures of them.

A wooden ramp that led up to the viewing platform for the canyon. It had a giant bug on it and Tara kindly scooted it away so I could go up in safety.

Koke no Doumon

I was SO sweaty! LOL Look at me and my shiny face!

The sun was out! I'm all washed out - but here is me and Koke no Doumon

A better view of the canyon

The girls checking it out

All three of us in front of the canyon

We were surprised by the signs. In all the pictures, it showed people hiking through so we were confused about why it was closed.

But maybe some of us are illiterate. :/

T

Abbey and a tree stump

Abbey taking pictures

Closer more canyon

It was beautiful in person but I was suspicious bugs would start swarming out at us.

I headed back alone since the bugs were scaring me. The girls took their time coming back. (They took tons of photos)

This sign was on the way into the forest. It was cracking me up. It was basically telling you how NOT to get eaten by a bear. (Don't be a honey head kid.) When I got down to the cabin the guy freaked out. "Sannin!?" (Three people!?) "Hai, hai, osoi!" (Yes, yes, slow.) Then I said, "No, iie, mushi (flies/insects) to kumo (spiders) ga KOWAI! (scary)" He laughed at me and nodded that he understood. I was chicken at first about asking to use his electricity since the girls wanted to call the car rental place and extend their rental and my battery was almost dead. I finally got the nerve up and he was very kind and said yes. I plugged it in and waited for the girls to show up. Tara showed up first and he got out three little candies for us. (He also gave us post cards). He was very sweet. :) Then Abbey showed up (she had been taking pictures). He sent us on our way but I asked Tara to call while having the phone plugged in since the battery was SO low. ~ I also asked her to keep the call short since I have to pay for all outbound calls. Oh also on the way out there was a HUGE pincher face beetle bug! Some four inches long. The girls went back to get photos and the guy came out and poked the beetle so it would rear up for them to take good photos. I'm so glad I stayed in the car for this part. 0.o In any case, she called the place and wasn't really able to communicate with the lady. :/ Oh well.

We had passed this sign on the way in, so we stopped on the way out to get pictures. We also stopped at a camp site so we could touch the water. Tara breezed right through the gate and since they were both wearing sandals they waded out into the water. I dipped my hands and then waited for them. In the meantime, a ranger found us. We told him we just wanted to touch the water and he nodded and made sure we left. Then they closed the gate on the way in. Doh. We were supposed to stop and hadn't. :/ Oops.

Me and the sign (there was one of those HUGE hornets so I was like, "Hurry!")

After this picture I ran back to the car. Then they asked me to take a photo of them. So back out I went - into the scary wild!

Here is our hotel's sign (and name). ~The ride back to the city was full of getting lost and frustrations. Three girls on their period makes for short tempers. In any case, we got the car returned in time, whew! Unfortunately my phone was dead so I couldn't get a picture of the neon hypodermic needle on the bus route to the hotel. So freaky and funny.

Our hotel's entrance

Their Kana sign

Their hot spring fountain out front (most hotels have these).

The castle boat at night - you can go out for a firework cruise

The light looked so pretty reflected on the surface of the lake

Swan boat and the castle boat

Fireworks IN the lake - SOOO cool! I put a video on fb of the finale.

One boat set them off from its deck and then another went around afterwards and dropped fireworks into the lake.

Another in water firework

The sign for the lake

No stealing the crayfish!! The penalty (as the sign says) is a fine or IMPRISONMENT! We wanted to touch the water so we went down the dock where we had sat and the girls again put their feet in. I dipped my hands in. Both lakes are pretty warm. Toyako (I'm not sure if it's a long sound or not) never freezes during the winter even though it's so far north because of the volcanic activity.

I realized I'd forgotten to get pictures of our bathroom - TADA!

The other side of the bathroom. After the 19 minute firework show we went to the onsen. It was PACKED. I finished quicker than the other girls and told them I was leaving. I then realized and told them, "I totally forgot my towel!" "Oh no! We did too!" So I just went out and put on my yukata. There was this foot pressure point thing about which this Chinese woman and her daughter were talking. They saw me looking at it curiously and they invited me to step on it. I quickly said, "Ow!" "Where!? Where!?" They told me the pressure point that hurts tells you where there are ailments. I pointed to a group of three. "One of these." Two of them were hard for them. They didn't know the English. But the other they said was *points to the lower back.* "Oh! I have my period." "Period?" "You know: bleeding, pain.." I TOTALLY freaked them out. Their eyes got wide and they quickly shuffled off. :/ Oops. I could have told them (sorry overshare coming) that all my symptoms are here but the bleeding so I didn't bleed in the onsen. Maybe it was the fact that I talked about. They also could have been pointing to my kidneys and errybody knows I have problems with my kidneys. LOL In any case, after that I went upstairs to finish my blog posting from yesterday. It seems I am perpetually a day behind thus far! Sorry everyone... I'm trying to catch up! We just get "home" so late!

We got into bed after midnight. I was SO exhausted. They girls watched an anime show that was... to my ears loud and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep. But my body is finally crying uncle and I fell asleep fairly soon. I didn't get much sleep though. When the alarm went off this morning (August 1), I wanted to cry. I'm so exhausted I've been fighting migraines for days. Plus cramps. I hope that my period passes without the bleeding since I've been having awful cramps all week! Oh and one more funny story from yesterday! I have been underhydrated because I drink all the water I have with me and we don't stop for food or water (I learned my lesson from THAT!) so when we were in the onsen I was feeling really lightheaded and had a hard time walking when I got out. Well, I walked sideways into the wall. I told them I needed to hydrate myself. That's one of the reasons I didn't sit so long in the onsen on the 31st! In any case, XOXO, A