Road Trip

So some of you may or may not know but our parents came to visit us middle of June and are still here. We love having them with us and it’s been so much fun making memories and spending quality time together. On this trip our dad offered to “puppy sit” the doggos so that we could go to Saitama and visit our friends and walkthrough our old home.

So on June 22nd early in the morning we departed Otaru and headed to Hakodate to catch the Tsugaru Ferry. It’s the ferry line that provides transportation between Hokkaido and Honshu. This particular route was Hakodate to Aomori. The drive from our home was about 3 and a half hours. A STRONG start to a family road trip.

We arrived at the ferry terminal early and were lucky enough to catch an earlier ride. So it helped with our hotel arrival time. The predicament we had was that check in for the hotel ended at 12AM but we wouldn’t be arriving until 3 or 4 based off of GPS predictions. I called of course to talk to the hotel and they said it would be okay BUT you never know. Catching the earlier ferry made it so that we would arrive at 12:30 which put us in a more comfortable range of time.

It was the first time we drove using the expressway, at least on Honshu and I have to say the “pit stops” or “rest stops” along the way are amazing (most, not all). Many of the stops we made had food stands, restaurants, stores, you name it. Some even had a hotel.

Trying to minimize our stops to get there on time we selectively picked which rest stop we thought was going to be the “nicest” and stopped at those. Needless to say by the time we arrived at the hotel we were stuffed full of snacks.

The check in process was funny. The staff was excited to use English but also a tad overwhelming for us as we were tired. We finalized the paperwork, got keys and went upstairs.

Following morning we grabbed our Omiyage for our friends and headed to the little town of Tokigawa-machi. Before visiting our friends we stopped at our old home. Kind of a way to “close that chapter” of life, officially. We walked through the home, looked at the damage, thought about how lucky we were and gathered a few personal things that could be saved (mostly pictures).

Thinking about it, the short time we lived in that home, we were able to make so many happy memories and even more amazing friends. It was a sad yet happy moment as we closed the door for one last time.

We said thank you to our home, took a photo and drove off.

Arriving at our friends home, we were greeted with BIG smiles, huge hugs and a welcoming that would make a royal feel comfortable. We chatted for a while and then told them we had some errands to run. SO we made plans for dinner.

We drove to the nearby mall got glasses for our mom, some treats for the dogs and presents for our dad. And headed back to our friends for lunch. They make the best Indian food I have ever had. And we are so lucky to have caught him on a day where he was cooking. We really enjoyed the lunch, caught up on stories, reminisced a little and of course made more plans.

After lunch my brother wanted to try a new beer brewery in Tokigawa called “TEENAGE BREWING”. They opened a little after we left Tokigawa and were excited to try. So we headed over with our friend to check them out.

We were honestly SURPRISED by how it looked. Something straight out of Brooklyn or SoHo in New York. It almost didn’t fit our little town. We were only supposed to have “one beer” and go back but it ended being almost the entire roster. It was such an amazing time we lost track of time and perhaps judgement.

Heading back to the house we stopped at another place called “Yamaki Coffee” it’s a small cafe that popped as well after left. Here we got some coffee to sober my brother up and for us to enjoy on the walk back. We also got some for our mom and friend. We met another friend from Tokigawa here, she gave us a present as she heard we were in town. It was nice seeing her randomly as well.

Getting back to the farm we decided that it was time to figure out what to eat for dinner…. Yes our one beer took so long it went into dinner!

After speaking to the kids PIZZA was decided. So we ALL hopped in the car and headed to Moroyama to get pizza from Pizza-LA. It was a fun ride with everyone joking, talking, looking at places we haven’t seen before. Getting the pizza and headed to the farm to eat it. It was a GREAT night.

We got back to the hotel around 12 and headed to bed.

The next day we went back to the farm. But this time we stopped to pickup food from Kobutta Bakery. It’s a place I wanted to try while living in Tokigawa but never got the chance. We enjoyed the sandwiches, stories and time together but headed back to the hotel early as we had plans in Tokyo.

That night our mom decided to sleep in and just relax while my brother and I went to Tokyo to visit a friend from Hawaii. We brought her cinnamon toast crunch and some other bad American snacks. We ate dinner in Shibuya with all the weekend crazy! We ate at a Mexican restaurant called de Guzman de Guzman Brothers and it was AWESOME. After overeating we walked around and found a cafe called “Grandma Georges” and spent the rest of the night there eating and drinking.

We caught the second to last train back to the hotel but made a mistake and ended up FAR from where we were supposed to go. The mistake ended up costing us about $200 to get home.

The next day we woke up early and stopped by our friends farm to say one last goodbye (for this trip) and headed to Aomori. We were going to spend the night there and explore a little the next day.

We arrived in Aomori around 7:30PM and headed to dinner around 8. We found a small little Italian place that ended up being amazing. We really had a good dinner and time.

Walked around the city a little to see what it had, got snacks from 7-11 and headed back to the hotel. The next morning we got in the car and headed to Towada Lake. Upon arrival we found an AMAZING sight. Blue skies, crystal clear water and no one to be found. It was a tranquil moment and one that meant a lot to us as it was on our moms “bucketlist”. On a side note our mother has been getting lucky with a lot of the tourist destinations…. Most times they’re empty and we get to enjoy it alone.

After a great recharging moment we headed to the road to catch the ferry. We departed Aomori at about 2:00PM. This time we booked “reclining” chairs and it was nice. Ran around the deck a few times, took photos and we all played a crane game that destroyed us. It was a playful moment in time for us.

Our arrival in Hakodate was about 6:00PM. It was essentially the “END” of our trip. We got back to our home around 9:45 and was greeted by the puppies in THUNDEROUS love. They jumped, cried, spun around, excited to see us.

We talked to our dad about the trip, got some late dinners and sat together around the dinner table talking about everything.

All in all this was an amazing trip and one I am so glad we took.

Thank you to our Mom for always treating us to everything and ensuring we are okay and happy. And thank you to my brother we drove the ENTIRE time, you are the best.

So here to everyone, your families and making amazing memories.

Until the next one!