Golden Week In Southern Hokkaido and Northern Honshu

We are really behind in updating the blog.  Here are over a hundred pictures of what we did during Golden Week, the big holiday season in Japan.  We took a road trip to the southern potion of Hokkaido and went to Hakodate, the 2nd biggest city in Hokkaido.  We didn't stay in Hakodate but we took a ferry from there to the main island (Honshu) where we went to Hirosaki Castle and looked at the cherry blossoms.  Then we went on to Lake Tazawa and stayed in a bungalow and had a BBQ.  If you go to the supermarket after 8:00pm they mark all of the meat and fish down 50%.  We bought this huge platter of BBQ meat for about $12!!! It was a great deal and we were stuffed afterwords.  It was also Chrissy's birthday dinner and she loved it.

Next we went to Osorezan which is at the very Northern part of the island and is believed by Japanese to be the Hell.  They believe that when you cross the river and enter this area you leave the world of the living and are literally in Hell.  The area is filled with volcanic activity and hot springs and horrible smells coming from the ground but it was really cool, colorful, and beautiful.    We camped near here for a few nights and then took the ferry back to Hakodate where we spent some time with my supervisor and his wife before we headed back to our home in Rumoi.  We put a few thousand miles on the car and had a blast!!!