Searching for Fall and feeling like Gilligan!

This past Sunday, David and I were hanging about the house and it was one of those days you ask yourself, "Do you, or don't you leave the house today?"  The morning had been blah and the afternoon was feeling the same... drizzly, windy, not quite freezing, but not too cold. We had planned on biking about town, but I just wasn't feeling it.  I was really missing the Fall season and all the festivities and smells that come with it - Apples, cider, visiting the pumpkin patch with Lisa's boys, and most of the the Leaves. I just love the Fall palette, it's my favorite!

David, then, suggested we take a drive to the mountains.  According to his co-worker it wasn't too far away, and an easy four hr drive. Two there, two back.  Perfect! I was ready and dressed in 45 minutes, really, I was...no Indian Time here!!  We had also thought of springing Oliver from the Kennel for the day but it was closed.  Well we followed the suggested path, ooh-ing and ah-h-ing, and just enjoying ourselves and were well on our way when it ended...hmmmm...that wasn't supposed to happen! So we decided to throw caution to the wind and go left!  This was the first view of Fall that we saw...I was a Happy Girl!!This is in Ome. We stopped the car and walked the bridge to take this spectacular view. My mother used the word breathtaking. I would say it's gloriously breathtaking!!

 After this first stop we were excited to drive further winding round and round, higher and higher, through more tunnels than I could ever have imagined and in awe of the view each turn. We finally, ended up at a dam, and since the sign was in Kanji, I do not have a name for you! Here are a few photos of our view where we achieved our cardiac exercise for the day with a daring mountain walk and jumping.  Jumping  has now become a family tradition to help our cousin, Alex's cause to prove that Jumping Pictures Will Save the World! And if you haven't thrown all caution to wind and jump in public, no matter your age, skill, and audience I would suggest you do. I promise you the rest of your day will be a happy one!!  

 









Did I mention that we I did NOT bring a map? Daring aren't we?  Well not knowing just exactly WHERE we were, we thought we would attempt to read a billboard map of the surrounding area. Off we went, round and round, higher, and higher. It was also getting cooler and cooler!
By this time I'm saying to him, I'm not sure we're going in the right direction? David is saying, "No, it'll be okay, lets just see where this goes". Now for those of you who know me, I have a great sense of direction and I also like to be in "CONTROL".  I was definitely not in control.  I started to pray and ask the Lord to just let me enjoy this ride and for once I was not driving..I was going to learn how to not be in control.  The ride was just beautiful, albeit, nerve wrecking - I was watching the sun quickly setting. We say tiny shrines, walking clubs of seniors that would put the 40 something club to shame, but that's for another time.  We even stumbled upon small baboons, I wish that I had not put my camera away because there they were sitting on the guardrail face-to-face with me.  It was amazing! 

I had finally settled back, nerves relaxed, all was OK...everything was OK. David and I were still oohing and ah-h-ing, all of a sudden, something in the horizon caught my eye. "Is that..? I think...I think that's Mt Fuji?!" I thought it couldn't be we were going the OTHER way. As the view broke again between the mountains...I yelled, "that IS Mt. Fuji!!! We are going the WRONG way!" By then there wasn't much we could do but finish the path we started. We were almost through the mountain pass and crossed our fingers that whatever town we ended up, someone could speak a teeny weeny bit of English.  Did I mention that we didn't bring a map? Just checking.  I have to laugh now looking back; we found out that we were three hours out of our way and the nice elderly gentleman was wonderful in helping us find our way home.  He couldn't speak English but I remembered what my newcomer's orientation speaker had said.   Just say Yokota the way the Japanese do and they'll help you.  We as Americans tend to say it in two syllables instead of three.  Once I said that, the look of surprise on his face, well...it was priceless! A blend of Jerry Lewis and Mickey Rooney flashed through my head as he said, " YO-KO-TA?!! Hai, TOKYO? Hai, oh-h-h-h, far, far away!!  So we outwardly laughed, inwardly groaned, and made our way back home. Our four hour day trip, turned into an Eight hour tour I couldn't help but think of Gilligan's Isle and their three hour tour. I'm so glad we had gas!