Day Trip to Yamagata

After a few buys weeks of teaching and keeping busy with church events I was greatly anticipating Monday, my day off. There is nothing like having a day where you can keep completely to yourself and let your body and mind rest before another busy week of teaching starts. For those of you that know me well, you may know that being by myself all day doing nothing is not something that I enjoy. Being here in Japan, living on my own and not having any other North American’s around, I often find myself in that situation. I feel that I have adapted well to it, and can now appreciate time where I can physically and mentally recover at the same time. But, the real Kris inside of me is completely opposite of being reclusive. I need to get out there, enjoy the scenery and live life and share fun times with others. Last Monday was exactly that!

It was about time for me have a day spent away from my apartment and the church…where I spend all of my time. There are various times throughout the week where I will run to the store or the bank, but I do not really call that getting away. I woke up to a beautiful Monday morning with sun beaming into my one room apartment. Around 10:00am, Junko, Hisashi, Hiromitus, his wife Ayumi and I piled into the car and made our way to the prefecture east of us, Yamagata. The reason we were making this trip was because on November 3rd, our church is doing a little retreat to a Hot Spring out there, so we went to go check out the facilities and makes sure that everything was all squared away.

It was a beautiful drive as we followed the Sakunami Highway, winding through the beautiful green, and mountainous Japanese landscape. We stopped at a small waterfall and enjoyed the sound of the crashing water and the scent of fresh fall air. The trees at the tops of mountains were starting to change color. They were turning from a dark forest green to a fiery red. In a couple more weeks, I look forward to looking around and seeing the beautiful fall colors everywhere.

We got to the hotel, where we were going to be using their hot spring and took a tour of it. I don’t want to say it was an ugly hotel, because at one point…say 15-20 years ago Im sure it was beautiful. The reason why I didn’t think it was stunning is because I don’t thing its been updated since the early 90’s. But, I don’t want to bash the hotel to much because for the most part it was really cool. I look forward to using the Hot Spring and Dining facilities next week! Once our mini tour of the hotel was finished, we began making our way back to Ayashi, but before we got to far we stopped at a Soba Shop. Yamagata is know for its delicious Soba. I was not let down either; my food was delicious.

Before we got back in Ayashi, we took a little detour and stopped by a dam…which I assume gives power to the town that I live in, plus some other ones. Anywho, it was BEAUTIFUL. The pictures that I took do not justify the wonderful panoramic views of the mountains that I saw with my own eyes. It was also a beautiful time of day, the sun was lower in the sky which provided some beautiful light on the water pooled behind the dam

When we got back home I was very satisfied. My day off was everything that I needed. Good conversations, beautiful scenery, fresh air, seeing new things and eating delicious food. Again, I am so thankful for the people that God has put in my life over here, and am again impressed with the beauty of this world God created.

[More photos from this trip in the 'Explorations' album]