Day 25 Mount Haruna

Friday Sept. 25th 2009

We finally had a chance to see Mt. Haruna today. We were so excited. We live so close to the mountains, so to finally be able to explore them was awesome. Obata-san drove us up the mountain to where Dwight and Josephine were staying. Obata-san grew up around here, so he is excellent driving through the narrow mountain roads. We were glad to be listening to the radio in English. After a few songs we noticed a theme. This station was playing only “The Carpenters” songs. We asked Obata-san why, but he didn't know. Anyway we thought it was interesting choice of music as we drove up the mountain. On our drive Obata-san decided to stop in the middle of the road to pick up some small chestnuts for me. He is so silly like that.

The Lake Haruna.

Paul found a soccer field. Just his size!

Hiking trails!

We met up with the Albrights then walked around the lake admiring the beautiful scenery. We saw a couple of funny boats shaped like swans. Then we saw a huge swan boat. Awesome! Then Obata-san showed us a short trail through the wild flowers and grass. Dwight and Josephine love flowers and stop a lot to admire them. It was beautiful. Paul and I look forward to coming back by ourselves to walk around and hike up the mountain. We hope to be able to come here for some quiet time with God.

On our way back down the mountain, we thought we saw a small bear. We were so excited. I was especially excited to tell my friend Ginny that we saw a bear.

But it ended up being a very furry dog. Oh well, maybe next time.

It was getting close to lunch time so Obata-san decided to stop at this little restaurant. We waited for Obata-san to talk to the owner. Pretty soon he came back with 4 fishing poles. He told us we needed to catch 5 fish!

I guess we are catching our lunch. It was a lot of fun.

Paul was the first to catch one.

Josephine caught a huge fish that broke her line and went back into the pond, but she caught another one soon afterwards. Then Dwight caught one. We’ve got 3 so far. Then Paul caught another one. I really wanted to catch one too. I didn’t want to fail. I mean trying to catch a starving fish in a tiny pool of water, how hard can it be. I tried really hard, using all my secret fishing techniques. Finally I caught one.

The last one we needed for lunch. Whew. Mission Comprete!

We sat down and waited while they cooked our lunch. It was an interesting meal. I’ve never eaten a fish right off the bone with the head still attached. I looked over everyone was digging in. Ok here goes nothing.

It was quite good. Then Obata-san told us we could eat the whole fish if we wanted to. After the meal. Obata-san’s plate is on the left, Paul’s plate is on the right. Hummm … something is missing on Obata-san’s plate!

 

Here is my finished plate. Pretty good. Tasted like Fried Catfish just like Grandma & Grandpa used to make.

 

Paul got to drive home. On our way we stopped to pay our rent for our house for the first time.

We passed this interesting store. I asked Obata-san what it was, because we had passed it several times. So we stopped and went inside. WOW. It was “Nitori,” it’s like Japan’s Bed Bath & Beyond. Yay! I loved it. I walked around for quite a while. The boys were so nice to let me wonder around. We even found a few things we needed!