Evidently, this blog is suffering some neglect. My weeks have been a bit upside down as I try to find a routine for myself. Domestic goddess isn’t quite cutting it. I have always had a job so this ‘being at home’ thing is a bit of a hard transition. I’ve been so focused on updating my resume and scouring job boards for any type of remote work that I ignored the blog.
Anyways, enough complaints. I’m in Japan!!!!!
Last week, we went to Oirase Gorge in Towada, Aomori Prefecture of Japan. Since the day we arrived, we have been told to go there. Open any local magazine, and that destination pops up. I’m not one to follow hyped up places, but it being only an hour or so away, I was willing to take a Sunday drive there to check it out and check it off the list so I can finally answer , “Yes, as a matter of fact I have been there!” to all the questions.
It was sunny when we left Misawa and drove towards Towada, but as we got closer, we could see that our destination looked more like the skies in a Noah and the Ark movie. Grey, dark, looming clouds blanketed our destination. The weather here astounds me! I feel like we area in a tropical place. Sunny one minute, windy and cloudy the next. Anyways, we were already half way there, so we continued on. “Puppy-face” was with us as he is on all our outings these days, and he needed a run to wear himself out, so rain or not, we were hiking today.
Once we got to the “gorge” area , we realized we had no idea where exactly we were going. I had seen photos of the place of course and the biggest attraction wasn’t exactly a noticeable “gorge” or visible valley like area, but more like a huge area you descended into as you drove down from a higher elevation. As we drove down the windy wooded road with the rain obscuring what would have been a beautiful view even through the car windows, we wondered where exactly these waterfalls we had seen on TV were. I mean the stream was to our right, and a couple of empty cars lined the sides of the road, so presumably the people went somewhere. But we had no idea where to go! The road would keep going until Lake Towada which isn’t where we wanted to end up. I guess a little more research would have been ideal.
The rain made it challenging to find anyone to ask for help or just park and walk and eventually get to something interesting. But as it poured down heavily, the few people who were there were scampering back to their cars away from the rain drops. This wasn’t really the time to stop and ask them for directions in a language they don’t understand. (Note to self: sign up for a Japanese class). We decided to stop at the visitors center area (makes sense, tight?) and voila! A map! Ha! Why do we always have to complicate matters. From there, we walked down the wooded stairs to the stream and took some pics before it started to pour down on us again.
It was hard to take many photos as it was really pouring heavily, but the few I took as it stopped intermittently were beautiful. Oirase Gorge is NOT overrated, and I cannot wait to go back on a rain-free day. The way there was beautiful too with all the rice fields that glow yellow in the sunlight. There are a couple of hotels in the area, Lake Towada, hot springs and restaurants.
Enjoy the photos!
And Kichiro, our puppy loved it too!
afrogirlinjapan 