GROO.US-JAPAN TOUR 1

Here is a shot of our Mitsubishi Pajero. My nickname for my SUV is "Godzilla". It's good sized, and from Japan...:)

Here is the Lake. During the summer these large tour ferry's cross the lake all day long. In the winter, they are just moored here to ride out the winter storms.

There are alot of boats on the lake, but in the winter they are all covered with tarps, and get covered with snow.!

Here is a shot of the campground that we stayed at in the fall with our friends the Childs. Across the water is where the campground is.

The snow covered branches and trees were absolutely breathtaking to drive under.

On the other side of the lake is a nice resort town. There were alot of swans by the waterside. Here is a shot looking east.

Same location, looking west.

One of the prettiest shrines I've seen in Japan are at Lake Towada. The last time I was there was in the summer of 1995. Here is the entrance to the path there.

I thought this was a really cool shot of a Temple Dog covered with snow.

Here is one of about 8 Torii gates around the shrine complex.

Alot of trees must be holy, because they have these special ropes around the base.

This is the lower shrine area, and is very cool. I can just image having sword fights here....

The bronze lanterns here have cool little dragons and icons. It was very cold and windy when I walked down the path.

There is a holy water fountain, with a really cool bronze dragon there. Sadly, most of my photos of this dragon did not come out well. It was really really really cold and windy when I took these shots.

Here is a shot of the same fountain area.

Here is the main shrine area. It's not one of the bigger shrines, but the carved wood, location and mood is just superb.

Here is a shot of the ront. The white and black banners on it makes me think that some special occasion recently happened.

Here is a shot from the left side.

And from the right side. There were several other smaller shrines on this side.

A really cool shot of a snow covered temple dog in front of the shrine entrance.

Headig back to Misawa...still in the gorge we took some photos of this ice fall.

At the base of the gorge is several large resorts, as well as smaller cabins that you can rent. Even in the winter, most of the resorts are open.

Teresa was thirsty, so we stopped at one of the soda machine clusters that are everywhere in Japan. They sell hot and cold beverages year round. I had a hot Georgia Original Coffee, and she chose a cold lemonade. And so we headed home! It was a fun trip that took about 5 hours total.