I got a girl in a castle and one in a pagoda. You know, I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda. - Beastie Boys, Posse In Effect

Hakone, part two. For a quick rundown on our first trip to Hakone, see the previous blog entry. 

This time when we headed out, we went one of the ropeway lifts. It is like a big ski lift that takes you to the top of this hill in Hakone overlooking the lake and giving you a nice view of Mt. Fuji. 

 

Mt Fuji if you look to the right of Cameron

Nice golf course

Top of the lift. Reminds me of a Halo map

We also went to the Odawara Castle. (http://www.kanagawa-kankou.or.jp/english/area/odawara.html).

It was such a beautiful day to see Hakone. Bright, blue, clear skies.

I love how the kids all wear matching hats so you can keep track of them on field trips. :D So cute.

There are several more places to see in Hakone. Many options to stay overnight, too, if I can get 2 days off in a row without having to go to work! Favorite day trip from Yokosuka.

Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky, a dream come true, I'll live there til I die. - Don McLean, Castles In The Air

One of our favorite day trips is going to Hakone. We've been twice now and both times we had an great time. We drive out there and it is not a difficult drive. Once you get up in the hills in Hakone, the roads  are so twisty that it is Cameron's favorite place in Japan to drive.

The first time out there we went to the Detached Palace and Old Checkpoint. The Detached Palace used to be a vacation home for the Imperial family.

Hakone is near Mt. Fuji, so you can see beautiful views depending on where you are. The park surrounding the Detached Palace has trails and walkways all through the woods overlooking the lake. It was really beautiful.

There were a large amount of Japanese schoolchildren on a field trip there that day, and they all enjoyed saying "HELLO!" to us. :D

After the Detached Palace, we walked through the trails and back over to the Hakone Checkpoint. (See link for more information) This section is set up as close as they could restore it to resemble the way it looked back during 1600-1800.

The Lake was fun to look out over because several strange looking boats were out floating around. We would like to go back and go out on some later on. 

Enjoy the pictures from our first trip to Hakone!

Driving there, along the beach

Looking down at the checkpoint area

Walter enjoyed the trip as well

Why are you dressed like it's Halloween? - Ministry, Every Day Is Halloween

Koutarou and Hiro's first time to carve a pumpkin

Gotta scoop it all out!

AAHHHHHH

Yum!

Handing over the poker to Hiro

Focused

Oh, my husband. :)

Koutarou cutting away

Rich and Charles

Rebecca, Hiro and Rachna

Final product!

They are such good friends. :D So proud of their masterpiece!

It had been a while since we had a group of people over for a night, so we set up a day that worked for a lot of us and made it a "Halloween Party". We never got around to buying or making costumes, but we still had a slight theme going on.

Hiro and Koutarou had great hats and capes. I was so excited to see them embracing the holiday. I bought a pumpkin for them to carve and we went to town. It looked so good when they were done with it. Sadly, it is a puddle of mush, mold and liquid on our front step right now. I should really throw that away before things start hatching in it.

I really enjoy having a home that we can invite people over to. It gives me a chance to bake and cook some.

We had to cut the party out by 10pm or so, since we're all under an all military Japan curfew. Two reservists stationed in Fort Worth were in Okinawa for a couple days and committed a horrible crime and now all the military in Japan are on a curfew from 2300-0500. All active duty in Japan have to be in their homes during those hours. It really doesn't change much for us, since we go home pretty early anyway, but it's just annoying to have to think about.

I came up with some good costume ideas for next year, so I can't wait for this year to fly by so we can try them out!

Hope everyone else had a great Halloween!