Mt. Fuji

Day 5 (Thursday) we awoke at 5am and left our room at Camp Fuji at 530 am. We drove up to the 5th Station of Mt. Fuji (after finally reading the map and arguing if we were going the right way) and made it to a parking spot at 615am. It was a beautiful clear morning and we were so excited when we woke up and saw the view from our room. What a great day for a hike we thought.

We decided we were going to climb all the way to the top to the 9th station, 3,776 meters (12,388 feet). Originally, we were going to drive to the 5th station and just walk from the 5th to the 6th station. The day before Don talked to some people staying at the lodge with us and they had some kids a little older than Megan and Kyle and a baby and they drove to the 5th station and made it to the top, so he said we could do it. Ok, armed with tennis shoes, shorts, sweathsirts, raincoats (just in case), water bottles, snacks and walking sticks the kids bought at the 5th station, I ended up buying one on the 6th station, and cameras we were ready to go.

Doesn't she look thrilled?

The view from the 5th station looking up?

Kyle looking down, a cute shot.

Ok, here we go, we're ready.

What a view (still from the 5th station).......breathtaking!

And we're off...

We made it to the 6th station, that wasn't so bad!

Now onto what I thought was the 7th station, wrong it was the 6.5 station and it got a little bit harder. Can I say hiking boots next time!!! We actually saw Japanese people wearing crocs and flip flops... CRAZY!!!

Okay, so I thought I was about 10 minutes away from the 6.5 station (Don says longer) then all of a sudden I look up and here comes Kyle back down the mountain. I saw Don pointing but had no idea what he was pointing about. Apparently, Kyle was done and didn't want to hike anymore. I finally just got myself up to atleast making it to the next station. It was not easy, the terrain was rough, definitely needed the hiking boots and slow down. You need to kind of walk in a back and forth motion not straight up. Plus I was sweating, I was hot. SO, I was bummed and ticked that Kyle was coming down so I spent the next 1 to 1 1/2 hours getting back down with him. It was much harder going down the mountain with Kyle than up. He fell atleast a dozen times, once so hard on his booty and the way he fell on his legs I thought he broke a leg and I was going to have to carry all 63 lbs. of him down. I was cursing Don at this point. Plus, Kyle decided to have a melt down on the way down that he missed his Daddy and wanted to climb back up after we had climbed down for the past 30 minutes. I told him no way and he needed to stop crying and focus or we were both going to tumble down the mountain and neither one of us would be seeing Daddy ever again. A little harsh but the tantrum wouldn't stop and he was screaming at the top of his lungs and carrying on. Of course no one probably understood him anyway but it was a little embarrasing. Finally, he calmed down. As we made it back down to the 5th station it started to sprinkle, so we went to the car and slept for the next 1 1/2 hours while it poured and poured and poured.

Here's pictures of Megan and Don's journey. Unfortunately, do to the downpour they only made it to the 8th station. Megan was freezing and crying that she couldn't go anymore. I guess it is still quite a ways from the 8th to the 9.5 station. There is always next year with better shoes!

Then it poured and this is what they looked like when they got back down.....

Fujikyu Amusement Park

Day 4 (Wednesday) tooks us to Fujikyu (Fuji Q) Amusement Park. It was a total surprise to the kids. They didn't know where we were going until we pulled off the road into the parking lot. They were like wow look at that roller coaster, are we going there? It tooks us a few times to figure out which way to park since all the directions were written in Japanese. We almost ended up in a hotel but turned around and saw the entrance and were soon on our way for a day of rides, food and rain.

Here's my little Tazmanian devil....

Grammy, I got mom on the ferris wheel.

Teacups anyone?

Just swinging around...

Kyle's favorite. Did someone say Thomas?

All aboard...

Now it's time for a nice relaxing boat ride around the lake....NOT!!! Don could not fit in the boat and Kyle couldn't steer the thing. I had done this once already with Kyle so I knew what he was in for. Kyle's feet didn't reach the pedals so I pedaled us around the entire lake once already. I just laughed on the sidelines and snapped pictures.

And after 4 days we finally did it........We saw Mt. Fuji!!!

Hakone

Day 3 (Tuesday) we drove to Hakone and bought a Freepass which entitled us to unlimited access to the Ropeway, Ropecar and Pirate ship access to viewing the Hakone area. We were so hoping to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji today as we did 10 years ago.

We started our day out on the Ropeway. Wow, how they have upgraded it in the 10 years since Don and I went on them last. They are nice and new and not quite so wobbly or maybe it's just the company inside the cars...hmmm?

We made it to Owakudani station and got out for a little walk and quite an adventure filled with lots of smells. Don't know what this sign says but it was cute.

Of course what would a Japanese vacation be without Hello Kitty? Here are a few Hello Kitty snap shots we took along the way...

Seen from above on the ropeway, Owakudani, also called Jigokudani ("the Valley of Hell"), is a stirring sight. "Black jewel eggs," eggs cooked in the area's thermal heat sources, are a Hakone specialty. According to legend, eating one is said to add seven years to your life. Visitors to Owakudani can enjoy the authentic taste of this unusual treat.

At the top here we were 1050 meters high. The smell was awful, it was full of sulfur. What looks like smoke is not, it's the sulfur. Kyle most of the time went around with his shirt over his nose or his fingers plugging his nose but I made him take it down for pictures.

Unfortunately we did not get a view of Mt. Fuji. Here we are going down the ropeway car down the other side towards Gora. Then we got off and rode the Ropecar. Then got off and back on the ropeway to get back down Hakone or so we though. When we got back to the top on Owakudani it was cancelled due to weather and we had to find another way down. Uh, we don't speak Japanese and we already bought these all inclusive tickets do you think it paid to get us down another way? Could we walk down? NO!!! Luckily we met a nice young Japanese couple where the man spoke enough English to help us navigate our way to a city bus where we had to shell out more Yen. Thank goodness for the Suica card (Subway card), it can be used on the city bus and came in handy. We made it down and were able to make the boat tour before it stopped running for the night.

Notice how quick the clouds came in on the ropeway.....

View from the ropecar...

Ok, so we finally made it to the pirate boat which was what Kyle couldn't wait for we were like the last ones to board. Don had us run to the top so he could take a picture of us, we had to hurry so he could snap a picture and he could board which is why my eyes are closed but the funnies part was we were bombarded by a group of atleast 20 YMCA kids from Japan, Korea and other Asian places that kept saying "take picture, take picture". They all wanted to have their picture taken with Kyle and Megan. This went on for like 20 minutes, we missed the whole first part of the boat ride. They were giggling and saying how pretty Megan was and how cute Kyle was. One girl even had a polaroid and gave Megan an instand photo. Then they had Don get in the picture and me then all four of us. Never had we experienced this before. Besides a man from Australia we were the only white people on the boat so we were "famous" for picture taking I guess. It was phone. Don told Kyle to tell them it would cost them a kiss for a picture he said "Nah". He said buddy in about 10 years from now you are gonna kick yourself for saying no. But he did blow kisses to them at the end and they all "oohhed and aahhed". It was fun.

Our admirers.........

This little boys mom threw him in the picture with Megan and said "my son take picture with your daughter?"

Ahoy maties!

Well, where will we go on Day 4 and will we ever see Mt. Fuji? Stay tuned!