Day 3: Snowmobile and Banana Boat?

We learned it was 23 degrees outside in Asahikawa that Tuesday morning, February 10th. 

Art had done some laundry in the hotel bathroom sink the day before. Wow! The bathroom could not have been made any smaller. Thankfully, our socks and such were dry. 

We'd also bought more handwarmers.

We were still the last ones down to breakfast. We weren't late, just last 😳.... Hawaii travelers tend to get everywhere early.

On the way down to breakfast with Kay and Dareld, we met Australians who were there for skiing. Apparently, Hokkaido is great for skiing. Hmmm.... lots of hills, lots of snow, lots of cold. I guess so.

The skies were blue and although the streets were snow covered, at least our driver could see the surroundings clearly.

We passed Furano which is famous for its lavender fields.  

We actually came to Furano in June, 2014 with another tour company. My brother and mom had come with us. 

We still laugh about how we came to this famous lavender field, but when we got there... the guide said, "I hope you knew that July is lavender season, not June." 😯 Uuuummm...nooo ... Ah well, we got to try lavender ice cream.

OK, so we were now back in Furano, but it was for a snowmobile ride. When we were in Hawaii, Art had signed us up for a snowmobile ride. I said OK not knowing exactly what that was going to be like.

And I also agreed to a banana boat ride. Hmmm... I figured it would be an actual comfortable boat on the snow. 

So here we were gathered around the fellow teaching us all how to operate the snowmobile. Uuuummm.... You mean we were going to do our own snowmobile? 

Here's Dareld and Kay on their snowmobile.

And see how I'm smiling?

That was before Art started the machine and drove over all the ruts and hills in the snow. The chair in the back was digging through my 6 layers of clothing and causing my back to ache. There wasn't much padding in the seat back.

Who me? Grumble? Naah...

Art had a great time.

And here's the banana boat. We did this with tour buddies Dana and Rebecca. 😂 OK... Also not what I expected.

But what the heck... It was a new experience.

Our lunch with Kay and Dareld was at a restaurant serving local pork chops. 

It was rather good and we enjoyed it. 

We then headed back to Asahikawa for their winter festival.

There were more snow sculptures. I think I heard that some of the sculptures were made by students. I must have misheard them because I know what my snowmen looked like when we lived in Illinois.

We had to try this snow maze. 

Yes, I took a few wrong turns, but we made it out OK.

There were two ice slides. One was for little kids and the other for whoever wanted to have the experience. 

Nope. Not with my vertigo problem.

But yes, Dareld and Kay absolutely loved it.

When Art came down that hill and I saw him turning around and around on the inner tube I was grateful I chose to watch and take photos because this would have been catastrophic for my dizzy brain.

Returning to our hotel, we were happy to see that there was an Aeon Mall 2 blocks away. We had been given "Payday envelopes" to pay for our own dinners. We chose McDonalds to have an Ebi (Shimp) Filet burger and chicken nuggets. I also had a melon drink. I'd really gotten to like their carbonated melon drinks in many of buffets we were eating at.

We spent quite a lot of time at Daiso (100 Yen store) and several other shops.

When we got back to our hotel, we had to pack our "Tohoku blue bags" for two nights while our big suitcases were to meet us 3 days later.

OK, you understand it takes me a lot of time to think what to pack and repack for those blue bags. We were also pretty darn tired. Remember...we were the oldest people on this tour.

Kay and Dareld on the other hand are much younger and have a lot more energy although Art would probably have gone with them. They shared these photos with us from the Asahikawa Winter Festival which was pretty much right next to our hotel. Looks like the snow had been cleared off the ice sculptures and they were darn amazing. Art was determined the next morning to go and take some photos himself.

Day 2: Visiting the Sapporo TV Tower and Otokoyama Sake Park

Hmmm... I think we were the last ones to show up for breakfast... again...

However, we were able to join Dana, Rebecca, Jon, Lynn, Kay and Dareld for breakfast. Although Dana, Rebecca, Jon and Lynn were friends who had joined the tour together, Kay and Dareld had come in from California on their own. They are from Hawaii but had relocated to California like we did to Chicago decades ago although we moved back to Hawaii almost 20 years ago. 

We discovered we had a lot in common with Kay and Dareld besides Kay and me sharing our names. Kay also reminded me so much of our daughter, Tiffany and Dareld was like our son-in-law, Ed. Kay also dealt with helping people like Tiffany does now.

Our first stop was the Sapporo TV Tower. By the way, it was 22 degrees outside and the streets were lined with tall mountains of snow which were continuously having to be hauled away in trucks.

It was rather astonishing seeing how far we had walked the night before.

Here's our Hawaii escort, Micah with our Japan Tohoku escort, Kuni.

They are both flashing the Hawaiian "shaka" sign which signifies friendship and aloha.

Going from the Sapporo TV Tower to our next stop was tricky. 

We were in the second row behind the driver and I wondered if he could see a lot better than me. 

This was rather spooky. But strangely, I wasn't worried like I would be if we were driving in Chicago.

Our bus tour guide, Miyuki passed out these snacks along with tea and coffee to everybody. 

It was a long ride and by the time we got to our rest stop, it was around 2:30. We had a hamburger lunch with Kay and Dareld. We knew they were going to be the most wonderful travel companions for this trip. I suspect, Micah or Kuni arranged to often have us at the same table.

We arrived at the Otokoyama Sake Park. The kanji character for otoko means man and yama means mountain. It must be someone's name.

There was a sake tasting area, but we opted to try the:

"soft serve ice cream made with Otokoyama's special pure rice fermented syrup (very sweet). No sugar. No alcohol. No caffeine." 

My regular bloggers know that I've lost much of my sense of taste, but Art agreed it wasn't all that... uuuummmm... great...

Maybe we should have tried the sake. 😁 Art says it might have warmed us more than the soft serve. 😂

We then had to drive through even more terrible snowy conditions to get to our Hotel Route Inn in Asahikawa which is Hokkaido's 2nd largest city.

Our dinner was at Restaurant Minori  which was actually very good. It was even more wonderful sitting with Kay and Dareld. They have also traveled the world, and we had fun discussing our adventures.

It was another interesting day and we looked forward to Day 3.

Day 1: Into the Deep Freeze

OK... Our Hokkaido Winter Adventure was about to begin. It was Sunday, February 8th.

Oh gosh... We got up at 5:30 dead tired and went down to breakfast at around 6:30. Everyone from our tour were already there. And they all looked cheerful and energetic. 

But I was also noticing suddenly that all the tour members were in groups. They had come in family or friend couple groups. I was confident that it wouldn't matter since Hawaii people are always welcoming and friendly to everybody.

The hotel buffet was very impressive and we enjoyed looking out at the courtyard where an ice sculpture was displayed saying "Welcome to 2026 HOKKAIDO."

Micah was our Hawaii (Tohoku) escort in April of last year when we came for the Wisteria Viewing tour. It felt comforting to see him again. 

As we talked to a few other tour members we also got the startling impression that we were the oldest couple there. I don't think that's happened before. I think. Maybe I didn't notice. When did that happen? 

Our first stop of the day was the shoe store across from the hotel. Art's winter shoes were coming apart in Hawaii so he figured before we came that he'd have to buy something once we got to Hokkaido. And yes, sure enough, he did find something perfect for him and very reasonably priced as well. 

This sign hanging at the front of the bus shows the path that would be taken during the tour.

Our next stop was Lake Shikotsu which was beautiful. We took a group photo there which I can't show because I don't have everybody's permission to post their photo online.

It was breathtakingly beautiful, and breathtakingly freezing COLD!!!

Just a short distance away was the Hyoto Ice Festival with its huge ice/snow structures.

We walked along the snow pillars and climbed up one of them for a bird's eye view of the area.

Some of the structures had carved rooms. This was like a church.

We had a salmon lunch at a restaurant in Chitose and enjoyed talking to another couple named Garry and Faye. It was fun learning that Garry grew up close to where we now live. I hope we get to see them on another tour.

 

It was an hour's drive to Sapporo which is the capital of Hokkaido. 

We met Kuni, our Japan tour escort who gave us all hand warmers and snacks on the bus ride.

And Micah also had snacks for us. Hmmm... I wondered if I might gain some weight which I actually need or would the cold rob me of whatever energy I stored.

We checked in at our new hotel, Sapporo Tokyu Rei Hotel and then met in the lobby at 4:00 PM.

It was a short walking distance to see the Susukino Ice Festival.

A lot of the intricate carvings were blanketed in snow so we couldn't see details very well. 

And yes, we were getting blanketed in snow too.

We grabbed a quick curry dinner at a food court. It was called Rojura Curry Samurai. Problem was Art ordered a small size for me and a larger size for himself. Oops! That Large and Small size referred to the amount of rice.

6:30 PM Our tour group met in the lobby and we took the underground subway to the 76th Sapporo Snow Festival at Odori Park.

Art said it was easy to find me because almost nobody had a white coat or a floppy maroon hat with the fat yarn ball at the top which my daughter had given me. 

It was cold! I needed all six layers of clothing that I was wearing.

The immense size of the snow sculptures was astonishing. I wondered how the snow was being held together to keep its shape.

I looked it up and got this from AI:

• Extreme Compaction: Snow is piled onto scaffolding and then heavily compacted, transforming it into dense, solid blocks. This reduces air gaps and creates a solid, ice-like foundation.
• "Cosmetic Snow" (Neriyuki): A "sherbet-like" mixture of fresh powdery snow and water, known as neriyuki or "cosmetic snow," is applied to the surface of the sculptures. This acts like mortar or icing, filling in gaps, reinforcing the structural integrity, and providing a smooth finish before final carving.

These snow structures absolutely blew me away.

There was also a light show against the sculptures that added to the magic of the night.

And here's something from Star Wars. I believe this is Mandalorian, the bounty hunter.

We were given this map just in case we got lost and didn't meet up with everybody.

Did Art and I manage to walk all these blocks to see the whole thing? I think so although we missed the White House that someone said they'd seen.

And so ended the first day of our tour. We were enjoying meeting a lot of wonderful tour buddies, but were ready to go to sleep. 

Hawaii to Hokkaido

I'd heard from several friends and relatives how amazed they were with snow and ice sculptures they'd seen in Hokkaido, Japan and Harbin, China. So what the heck! We decided we could give it a try. We've lived in Chicago for 35 years before moving back to Hawaii in 2008. We've experienced cold weather. Buuut... that was 18 years ago! My blood has thinned out.

When I told our daughter, Tiffany about this plan, she gave me a pair of spare snow boots that our granddaughter had barely used. She also loaned me 2 sets of thermal undergarments. And yes, I still had three winter coats, a rather homely yarn hat, scarves and gloves. She also sent us hand warmers. I'd never even heard of hand warmers before.

And then Linda from Kansas had commented that these were wonderful to survive the freezing cold.

Wellll... now I was getting worried. How cold is it going to be? Art warned that I was only used to going from car to house in winter. I told him I've shoveled snow. He reminded me that was decades ago.

UH oh... 

OK...

So I packed a lot of clothes for layering... then the boots.... two different kinds of winter coats... omiyage (gifts for relatives in Sendai and Tokyo) and suddenly we had our luggage and extra totes stuffed to the gills. I won't even go into Art's big boots, etc.

Anyway...

Would you believe we did not get into the right line at the airport check in? After waiting forever in line, they told us we should have gone into the precheck line. 🙄

They asked if I had a computer so I took out my iPad and put it in the bin.

Would you believe my Kindle and journal got flagged and we had another long wait?

We met up with our tour group and found Micah (Tohoku Travel escort) who we'd traveled with last year.

The flight was fine. We were on Japan Airlines. Granted we didn't love being at the bulkhead because you couldn't have your backpack accessible since it had to be stored overheard. But oh well... the seats had been assigned to us by the travel agency. We'll just have to be careful about stating our wishes next time.

We flew from Honolulu to Haneda, Japan and arrived at 4:04 PM but 9:04 PM in Hawaii. Haneda is the other large airport in Tokyo which is on the main island of Honshu. 

OK... We couldn't resist having our photo taken next to Godzilla at Haneda. 

Since we had a bit of a wait there, we also took the opportunity to mail our two boxes to my aunt and cousin in Tokyo and Sendai. That was super helpful and reasonable! They both received the boxes the following morning which is amazing!

From Haneda we had to catch a short flight to Chitose in Hokkaido which is the northernmost island of Japan.

We noted the Japan time when we arrived in Chitose and boarded our tour bus which took us to our hotel. It was called Ana Crowne Plaza Hotel Chitose.

We knew from our schedule that we now needed to pack these two small "blue bags" for a one night stay because we would only be at the next hotel for one night. Our big suitcases would meet us on the following night.

By the time we packed our bags and organized ourselves and our brains, it was 12:30 AM (Japan time).

Arrrghhh...

I took a melatonin and hoped I would get some sleep and not be on Hawaii time.

And this was our first day.

My 18th Blogaversary!

I started my blog on a leap year on February 29th, 2008. 

I almost forgot to write a post about it. When I checked my blog posts, I saw that I forgot to note last year that it was my 17th year. That just shows my forgetfulness as the years go by.

I'm not ready to post anything about our trip to Hokkaido last month. I'm still thawing out from the freezing cold and trying to organize photos, etc. 

I should be back to my blog in a couple of weeks. 🤞

Crisis After Crisis Before a Trip

OK... This is the 3rd and last time I'll break my blog hiatus... 😳... mainly because I'm probably on the flight as you read this.

We've often had a crisis pop up just before we go on a trip. There was that time we were leaving on a trip to Japan and mom hurt her knee two days before. We had to get a wheelchair for her and she had a wonderful time. 

Then there was that trip a few years ago when Art and I were leaving on another trip. My brother was on his way to our house to take us to the airport. Mom fell on the sidewalk while sweeping leaves. Art and I were getting ready and neighbors brought her in with a bloody head. Dennis took her to the emergency room while our friend, Dave took us to the airport. Dennis kept us informed on what was happening as we waited at the airport. Thankfully, everything was OK and we were able to get on the flight.

So here we were preparing for this Hokkaido trip and I got that subconjunctival hemorrhage in my left eye last Friday. Happily, our optometrist squeezed me in to make sure everything would be OK to travel.

And THEN!  Arrrghhh! We had a crisis with that new Maytag impeller washer we bought from Costco! Arrghhh! We've never had an impeller washer before.

Would you believe mom's blouse got stuck under the impeller? No, the washer was not even full. The clothes were not stuffed in there. However, the blouse somehow was lodged. Art looked online and discovered that it had happened to other people who owned impeller washers and found instructions on what to do.

OK... That's fine and dandy.

Art was able to remove that center cap.

But then there was that bolt under it holding the impeller down.

I forgot to take a photo of that bolt so I had to get this online.

Well.... poor Art had the darndest time finding a socket wrench to put down into that long tube to try to unscrew that bolt.

And when he finally got the right tool, that bolt would NOT budge. 

Arrghhh...

So with all else failed... Art just figured the blouse would have to be sacrificed and he pulled it out slowly from between the impeller and drum, grateful that there wasn't a button holding it in.

Incredibly, the blouse did not tear.

But what if this happens again? This is so irritating. 

We didn't have time now to worry about getting a Costco repair person out here so we decided to wait until we returned from our trip.

OK... what else could go wrong?

POSTSCRIPT:  After I wrote this post I decided to call Costco Technical Support anyway. A repair person will be coming to loosen the bolt the day after we return from our trip. 😊

Breaking My Hiatus a 2nd Time

Sigh...

I know I said I was taking a Blog Hiatus, but I just had to record this.

We were out walking with friends last Friday and Art told me later that he noticed redness on the inside of my eye.

After coming home and having lunch he mentioned again that I needed to look at my left eye.

I looked in the mirror and saw some redness, BUT when I pulled down my lower lid, I was shocked to see what looked like a lot of blood.

I called my optometrist's office and they insisted I come in. I told them it's probably harmless and I could email them a photo, but no... they wanted me to come in. Dr. Tanaka did a whole bunch of tests and said it was a hemorrhage. He asked if I'd coughed a lot, carried something heavy, was irritated by the volcanic vog covering the islands, etc. No, I hadn't.

When I texted my daughter a photo of my eye, she texted back a photo of her eye from a while ago. Apparently she gets them too.

When I checked my blog, I saw that I'd written about this in 2020! 

https://travelerswife.blogspot.com/2020/03/bloody-eye.html

I couldn't remember when this had happened before when Dr. Tanaka asked me. I should have checked my blog. It's a subconjunctival hemorrhage.

And this is why I'm recording this now. It's really a record for me. I'll have to tell him when I go in for my next appointment.

And my red eye? Dr. Tanaka says it will probably take a couple of weeks to go away. I'll just tell everybody on our Hokkaido tour that they don't have to worry. It's not catching. 😊

POSTSCRIPT: Art was telling his sister yesterday about my eye and she knew all about this condition. She said she gets them too! I didn't realize it was so common. Have you ever had this? Is this a female thing because Art, my brother and brother-in-law have never had this.

Being a Fan of Josh Groban

OK, I know I already announced last week that I would be on a blog hiatus because I'm leaving soon for Hokkaido.  However, I just had to mention this.

A lot of my friends know I've always loved Josh Groban's voice ever since I heard his music for the first time. That's got to be more than 20 years ago.

I wrote this blog post in 2012. This is a clip from it:

"Well... for some strange, incomprehensible reason my kids are not enamored of Josh.  Why is that?

Keola and his Sarah lived in Washington, D.C. many years ago, and Sarah worked for a bookstore.  She was offered free tickets to a Josh Groban concert.

Keola called to tell me they would go juuuust because they knew how much I liked him.  Keola said he'd tell me all about it.  When the call came, Keola said they lasted only until the half time intermission and that the audience was filled with middle aged women.

Puhleeeeze.....

A few days later he sent me a couple of pencils advertising the Josh Groban's concert. (I got this photo off of the Internet.)

My son was having fun with me.

A while later, my son-in-law, Ed received tickets for a Bears football game from his company. The Bears were playing against San Francisco.  My daughter, Tiffany said this was a BIG deal.  We were down front in the center of Soldier field  in Chicago." 

So yup. 

I texted this photo to Keola who loves sports along with Art and the rest of the family. And yes, he knows I'm not a big sports fan and that I was teasing him. And no, I didn't leave at half time.

So... here's the reason I'm having to write this post. 

Would you believe that the day after I leave for Hokkaido, Josh Groban is performing in Hawaii for the first time to kick off his World Tour in a one-night-only show right here in Honolulu?

Hmmm... I wonder where those pencils are. Hmmmm...

OK, I'm back on my hiatus.