Sounkyou Hyobaku Matsuri

We had a really amazing day last week a few hours from our house.  We started out by taking a huge gondola ride to the peak of a mountain (almost the peak), tried to snowshoe to the top but got freaked out by how steep it was, and then hiked part of the way down.  We had a lot of fun playing in the snow and goofing around.  Next we had found a true double trouble delight.  We found a place that sold a combo platter of a big bowl of ramen and a bowl of curry rice.  We thought that we were going to have to decide between the two but this place had a sweet deal.

Next we went to an onsen and soaked in the natural hot spring baths.  After that we drank a beer while sitting in some kick ass massage chairs and relaxed before we went to see the village made of ice.

The Hyobaku Matsuri (ice village) was amazing and beautiful.  We had a great time going into all of the structures, going down slides, eating festival food, and watching the fireworks.  (I especially enjoyed almost throwing a Japanese guy off the top of a structure after he shoved Christine out of his way and she almost fell)

Enjoy the pics!