Hakoyea or Hakone?

We tried to get up a little early to get through everything we had planned today. It mostly worked, and we got up and ate breakfast in the hotel room. The boys had fancy ramen in cups and I had an even fancier self-heating wagyu bento box. Amazing the technology they'll put into something so normal.

We grabbed a bus to the Hakone shrine, which has been there since 700 CE.

We took pictures in front of the torii gate, and headed to lake Ashi where we grabbed a ride aboard a pirate ship.

The pirate ship was a blend of luxurious modern and classic style. It was more a pirate ship that looked like a pirate ship then actually had any of the wooden decking or rigging etc.

We followed the rest of the tourists to the gondola cars and slowly ascended the mountain, gliding above the trees. The gondolas were quick, but had a long way to go. It was neat to be able to see out of all sides and the bottom of the gondola over a densely wooded forest. The trees are different from home, and feel like a mix between jungle and forest.

The higher we got into the mountains, the less forested it was, and eventually we broke through to see sulfur vents spewing steam out of the mountainside.

We took a quick detour at Owakudani where we ate magical black eggs, touched with the power of brimstone. Supposedly we'll live additional 7 years now.

After gaining the power of the eggs, we took the gondola farther up the mountain to Sōunzan where we caught a funicular train to Gora.

Gora was fun and we got gluten free donut ice cream sandwiches as well as rice bowls and coffee.

Finally, we grabbed a bus to Yunessun, a large indoor/outdoor water park in the mountains. We're used to Western style water parks that feature slides and crazy wave pools, etc. there was some of that, but a lot of it was focused on the onsen-style experience of having a tub to soak in.

They had a variety of novelty pools where they poured coffee, tea, wine, sake, and other things into each of the tubs, giving them a color and an aroma different than just the chlorinated style of The US.

They also had a pair of water slides and an endless river, which the kids informed me was their favorite.

After taking a dip in every pool, riding every slide, and taking a lot of laps around the endless pool, we headed back to the locker room, dried off and got dressed, and made our way to the bus stop home.

We took a couple hours to decompress from the heat of the day. Some of us napped, others read, some of us went to bed early. Despite the fact that we spent all day swimming, Malcolm and Henry wanted to go to the onsen again so we soaked for about 20 minutes and then made shave ice. The onsen that we're staying at has a large library of both Japanese and English manga, and the kids took an hour before bed reading and relaxing in the lounge.

Tomorrow is the trip down the mountain to Kyoto, the bullet train, and maybe some evening sights in a lantern-lit city.