Category: Fave Activities

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Today was a reminder that a flexible mindset is key to staying positive during travel. For months prior to our departure I had planned the FUCK out of this day trip out of Tokyo, so on the surface this day looks like a failure.

Early in our travel planning I learned about Hakone as a popular option. There were several YouTube videos and online resources for the beautiful area, detailing the variety of experiences and transportation options for the day. japan-guide.com had my favorite video and blog post and helped me craft our plans.

So we set off early on this day for a journey that I was excited about. We’d move about on trains, busses, a cable car, a tram, and even a pirate ship. We’d walk through a forest, walk on a mountainous volcanic area, and sail on a lake. We’d drink local beer, buy local handicrafts, hike a historic pathway, and (fingers crossed) get an epic view of Mt. Fuji.

We had bought our Hakone Freepass and Romance Car upgrade tickets the previous day at Shinjuku Station at the Odakyu counter for an 8:30 am departure. The pass included all of the transportation for the day, covered some of our activity costs, and gave us discounts on other things we planned to see and do. Some blogger (I need to do a better job of recording who my sources are during planning) had suggested not booking the return ticket ahead of time to maintain flexibility. This was such an excellent tip, for a reason I did not anticipate!

The 80-minute train ride was super enjoyable. Large window to enjoy the scenery, ekiben and snacks, laptop time, and knitting time.

At the exit of Hakone-Yumoto Station we came upon this lovely river and were happy to breathe in some fresh nature air!

As a popular domestic and foreign traveler destination, the signage, staffing, and organization at the Hakone-Yumoto Station was excellent. We found our “K” route bus quite easily to head to our first area destination – Hatajuku, known for their wood marquetry handicrafts called Yosegi Zaiku.

I say “area” but Hatajuku was just a lovely little street, and only one of the stores was open (as far as I could tell). Despite the popularity of the Hakone area, we seemed to be the only tourists in this little hamlet. The store we entered was two-thirds workshop and one-third shop; clearly the items in the shop were hyperlocal. The pieces they were selling were plentiful and gorgeous. If we led a normal life on a normal trajectory I could have spent a lot of money in there. Instead I purchased a small keychain in the form of Mt. Fuji, thinking it would be a lovely, meaningful, functional souvenir of the day I saw the great mountain.

From Hatajuku one could join the Old Tokaido Road trail to hike down to the lakefront, and that was the plan. A 3-mile walk on the Edo-period road that joined then-capital Kyoto with then- and now-business center and port of Tokyo. As we headed toward the entry point it started to sprinkle, but it was hot and we live in Seattle so we were not deterred. I was thinking this would be a great preview of possibly a future multi-day hiking trip?

I don’t know how much of this historic road/current trail looks like the point at which we entered, but our section started with large, uneven boulders with a fair amount of moss and an upward slope. Add worsening rain and this was a slippery obstacle course. I sometimes refer to Scott as a mountain goat because of how sure-footed he is, but even he was slipping and sliding. It was like ice. We made it about 50-feet on the mild upward slope of our entry point and I said HELL NAH. This was a fall waiting to happen, possibly with an injury. We could either go back down the 50 feet or continue up maybe another 50 feet to the next exit point. It felt safer to go up.

Our exit from the trail was at a 2-lane, curving mountain road without a shoulder. By this time it was pouring rain. We scampered back down the road to the point in Hatajuku in which we had disembarked the bus earlier. We waited about 10 minutes in the pouring rain for the next bus and took it down to Motohakone on the shore of Lake Ashi.

We got off the bus and scurried through the rain to Bakery & Table. We enjoyed tasty coffees and pastries in a warm, dry environment with a lovely picture-window view of Lake Ashi. It was pissing and gray, but we could still see the famous torii gate from our seat and it was a vibe that I just adore.

During our time in Bakery & Table the rain had subsided but the visibility across the lake and up towards Mt. Fuji remained very poor. We had planned to get on a sightseeing cruise from Motohakone, but noted we hadn’t seen any of the famous (and silly but that’s OK) pirate ships come into the dock while we were at the coffee shop. We could have looked for an alternative transportation option towards Togendai Station for our cable car ride up to Owakudani, but given the visibility issue it just didn’t seem worth it. So we decided to cut our losses. I even used the phrase “sunk cost fallacy” to Scott. #personalfinancenerdalert

Before heading back to towards the train station, we did enjoy a stroll along the shopping street in Motohakone. Scott found himself a little snacky snack at food cart called Dandy Kitchen – kind of a Spanish/Japanese fusion of churro balls in local flavors. Also, he likes the word “dandy”, because he’s an 87-year old man trapped in a 47-year old’s body.

We hopped on a bus back to Hakone-Yumoto Station with guidance from one of staff at the bus depot. At the Station we picked up our return train ticket for a 2:30 pm departure back to Shinjuku Station (yay flexibility!).

When we return to Tokyo in the future, during a season other than summer FOR SURE, we plan to spend a couple of nights in Hakone. Even though we didn’t get to do most of the planned activities for today, we saw enough to know that a short stay would be super enjoyable. We will get back on that Old Tokaido Road trail, we will get on that cheesy pirate ship, we will ride the gondola, and we will get an epic view of Fuji-san.

Back in Tokyo we found our way to Tokyo Aleworks and enjoyed excellent burgers and beers.

Afterwards we made sure our last night in Tokyo included visiting the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station to enjoy the illuminated architecture.

Tomorrow we head to Kyoto. Seven nights in Tokyo and we barely scratched any sort of surface. We will be back, and we will figure out how to stay for a month or more. A most excellent and intriguing first impression.

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Today Scott and I spent a day apart. We had the BIGGEST FIGHT EVER. Just kidding.

Typically we both love, love, love food tours. But when I was trying to find one in Japan I was hitting a lot of roadblocks due to Scott’s, um, limited palate. He won’t touch sushi, or most seafood. There are a lot of foods in Japan he likes, but finding a food tour limited to those options was impossible. I had resigned myself to missing out on a food tour this trip, then Scott discovered an amusement park that he wanted to check out and that’s not a taste that appeals to me. So, boom – a day apart to enjoy our separate interests. Fuck codependency.

Scott left very early in the morning for Fuji-Q. He walked over to Tokyo Station and caught a pre-booked coach bus that provided a direct, 2-hour one-way service to the park (and then back home again). He wanted to maximize the opening hours so his bus left at 7:20 AM, and he didn’t get back to the hotel until really late. The r/t bus fare was about $30, and his park entry fee was $44. He spent around $15 on food/snacks that day. Later we would know that he would be the only one of us to see Mt. Fuji on this entire trip and it was on this day. Also, when have you ever had a full day at a big amusement park for less than $100?

My day also started early (but not that early) for my Tsukiji Market Food Tour with Japan Wonder Travel. The starting point was only a 22-minute walk from our hotel, but as it was once again north of 90 degrees and humid out I elected to take the train. I arrived a bit early so had the pleasure of exploring the Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. It’s a bit unique as it is built in the Indian style rather than the Japanese style.

I met up with the tour at 8:15 which was guided by this lovely woman, Yoshiko. The group was really small – only 4 travelers.

It was a Tuesday morning so the Market wasn’t crowded at all. Yoshiko led us around several of the streets, educated us on the foods and preparation processes, and fed us a lot of yummy snacks. Snacks included fresh muscat grapes (not covered in sugar), octopus fish cake, dried snacks (I don’t remember what they were exactly), tamago, and saki. OK, maybe saki isn’t a snack.

The absolute most tastiest snack was the wagyu skewer with a side of real wasabi (I now know the difference!). I knew I needed to bring Scott back to this place.

Yoshiko then took us nearby to the Namiyoke Shrine. I got a refresher course on shrine etiquette, and I also learned about omikuji, the fortunes you can buy. Yoshiko helped me translate it on the spot – it wasn’t a bad fortune so I took it home with me and later fully translated it into my journal using Google Translate. Kind of like fortune cookies, the omikuji was more advice than foretelling. “No matter what happens on the rainy day or the wind or whatever happens on the pathless road, don’t stop and just keep moving forward.” Sounds good, will do!

The tour ended with a live demonstration of preparing sashimi, with a nice tasting platter at the end to share with our group. Does the chef look like a California model, or what?

I definitely recommend this tour, and of course Yoshiko if you’re lucky enough to be able to make that request. I would also target a weekday to avoid the crowds. Unlike other food tours in other parts of the world, I felt full but not gross at the end of it. Like pleasantly full, I got my money’s worth, but I didn’t feel like I needed to slip into a coma afterwards. Oh, I forgot to mention it was only $83.

After I said goodbye to Yoshiko and our group, I made my way back to Shibuya to buy my favorite souvenir. Amimono Spin was closed on the day we had been in Shibuya, but was worth the extra effort to go back. The shop is only their own dyed yarn so it was small, but the products were so nice and the store was very cute and inviting. I walked away with 5x 50g skeins. Yep, I’m gonna need to buy an extra piece of luggage to get my Japan-inspired consumerism home.

I came home with these specific beauties. Three skeins of dyed DK to make something for a friend having a baby, and another two skeins of undyed to make something for me (gloves, maybe?).

I contemplated doing some eyeglass shopping but I was pretty exhausted. I headed back to the hotel for a lovely nap, to get some laundry done, and to organize the many things I had already purchased on this trip. I think the draw is that there isn’t much of that touristy made-in-China crap around – the shops are all full of lovely, quality items that look and feel great.

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Cross stitching as a hobby is a bit difficult for me to admit. Somehow it feels more geriatric than my knitting. But it’s one of the first crafting hobbies I had as a child, and recently when I needed a knitting break I went in search of a project that interested me. It had been so long that my first instinct was to go to Joann’s to look for kits and patterns, and I was surprised how limited the selections were these days. Then I got a clue and looked on Etsy, where apparently there is a cross stitch pattern for anything you could possibly think of. OK, well that’s not true because I have a dark and inappropriate imagination. But there are some good ones…

Alas I did not succumb to my basest instincts, and instead found a wonderful seller with patterns for every single US National Park. Score.

I purchased the Mt. Rainier pattern from their “Mini” (6″x6″ on 14 count) collection in January, then went to Joann’s (or was it Michael’s?) for the hoop, aida, and floss. I tend to be a pattern follower so I attempted to buy all of the prescribed DMC colors from the pattern, but when they were out of some I made substitutions of similar colors. I didn’t feel good about that, but that was pre-medicated ADHD-brained Stacy so I had to get everything immediately in order to get started on my new dopamine fix now, right now. #impulsecontrol #allornothingthinking

I just finished the project and am happy overall with the process and outcome. I’ve brightened this photo, but left contrast, color saturation, etc. without edits.

The aspects I’m not 100% in love with are the fabric, the thread saturation (that might not be the right word), and all of the color choices. I went ahead and did some YouTube viewing and ordered linen for my next project, which will be a first for me. I’m also going to experiment with 3 strands instead of 2 on the next one to hopefully get more color density (that seems like a better word). And for sure I will not automatically go with the pattern-prescribed DMC choices for the entire project.

I ordered the patterns for Olympic National Park and North Cascades National Park, and as soon as the linen is delivered I’ll be doing some floss shopping.

I could see us a few decades from now, when we return to a home base with walls, framing a whole collection of these as mementos from our many, many years on the road.

Saturday, August 5, 2023

I went to my first fiber festival ever! And it was the first year that this fiber festival was ever held. So I’m like a pioneer.

Flock Fiber Festival was held at Magnuson Park here in Seattle and I’m so glad I went. I didn’t go with any particular projects in mind but still managed to walk away with my bank account hundreds of dollars lighter.

I met knotbadbritt in person – she likes yarn, Ballard, and the Kraken, too. I was too shy introverted to ask for a photo. I got a couple of goodies from the Makers of Color Collective booth that she was operating.

I’ve long admired Hello Lavender’s stitch markers/progress keepers and scored myself a couple of gorgeous sets.

I discovered Sewrella and loved the perfectly coordinated yarns that were available. Not sure what I’ll do with these lovelies, yet.

The Yarn Nouveau booth was wonderfully moody with a color palette that spoke to my soul. I’m anticipating a striped sweater for these beauties.

And I couldn’t leave without stickers. I’m a bit of a sticker whore. Kind of like when I was a kid. But when I was a kid stickers were like ten cents.

Sunday, July 23, 2023

This was Scott’s birthday! We made sure to book an extra night at the end of our cruise in town so he wasn’t spending his birthday traveling home from a vacay – how depressing is that?

We disembarked our cruise in Reykjavik with a plan to take a city bus to our hotel. But I failed to take into account that this was a Sunday and we would have had to wait an hour for the bus by the time we got to the stop. And we are too frugal to spend inflated prices on a taxi. So instead we walked the 2 miles dragging our luggage. But the weather was pleasant and the route was really pretty along the coastline trail.

Since we didn’t have any more Hilton points, I opted to book us in a local hotel called Storm Hotel for our outgoing night. Kind of on the outskirts of what I would call super centrally located, but definitely much closer to the action than the Hilton was. I failed to take any room pictures but this was definitely a great choice (bravo to me). Very clean, modern, quiet. Modest-sized room but this wasn’t a place we were going to hang out for long periods of time. Nice breakfast buffet – it couldn’t possibly compare to the Hilton’s buffet, but it was certainly good. Highly recommended.

We wandered a bit around town including another stop at Te & Kaffi – we loved their food treats!

We took a long walk out to visit the dedicated Omnom shop, which we thought was going to be like a big flagship store with free samples but ultimately we could have gotten the same selection at a lot of tourist shops around town. The chocolate was… ok. Still a lovely souvenir option for folks back home, largely due to the lovely packaging and portability.

We had lunch at Icelandic Street Food. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Soups were super yummy, affordable, and you got free refills! We were very very happy here. Scott’s even smiling at a receipt, and that isn’t normal.

After wandering around town for awhile and refreshing at the hotel, we hit up 3 spots to celebrate my man’s birthday.

First, Bjor Gardurinn which happened to be on the ground floor of the hotel across the street from our own. This is totally our jam. Large list of taps (mostly local, including their own house beer), lovely environment, and we got a brie snack. Again, highly recommended.

We, of course, had to make another stop at Einstok. We were so thrilled that their Reykjavik tap house is as lovely as their beers (more photos in yesterday’s post). Please start distributing in Washington State!

Finally, Bastard Brew & Food. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound very Icelandic. But they also had a great tap list, and check out these beautiful flatbreads!

We ended the night taking advantage of a hotel perk – a free beer. Happy birthday, my love.

Sunday, July 16, 2023

Today’s port was Isafjordur, Iceland. Per Wiki, “Ísafjörður experiences high winds and very few clear days throughout all the year”… well suck it Wiki, because our day was freaking epic and gorgeous.

I honestly kind of squealed when I saw this view from the ship the morning we arrived.

You can’t really see too much out of a tender boat when you’re in one, but I haven’t ever seen a cooler view of a tender boat from the outside before.

We landed on shore a bit before our planned activity, so had time to wander around town. I don’t know if they differentiate the two sections as locals, but the area we landed in is the kind of small peninsula here, then you walk around this sort of inner bay to find more of it. The initial exploration in that peninsula was a ghost town. It felt like all of the locals saw the ship coming, scampered inside, closed their curtains and turned off the lights. Who can blame them, really?

A ghost town, but a lovely, colorful ghost town. With a friendly cat. Sadly, the local yarn shop was closed.

That inner bay was really cool on its own with a miniature statue of Scott! Seriously why does he look like a toy in this photo? I was only maybe 20 feet away from him when I took it.

And what’s cooler than a tiny Scott? How about several (young) Lion’s Mane Jellyfish within easy view, which I learned later are “…the largest jellyfish in the world and in fact in the Guinness book of records as the longest invertebrate in the world…”! We were staring at a bucket-list creature and didn’t even know it.

Finally we were ready for our previously scheduled activity: an ATV tour with a local company! Once again we scored leaving the ship excursion options behind.

We paid around $385 for the both of us. There’s an option to pay less if you share an ATV but we know ourselves and knew it would be worth it for each of us to have our own bike. We were the only ones in our group of maybe 10 people that chose this though; everyone else rode as couples. I think I had ridden as a passenger on an ATV once in my 20s, but have never driven one. Scott said he has never driven one either. But these were super easy – fully automatic and the guide took a few minutes with each of us individually to make sure we understood what we were doing. We rode through the town then up to two different lookout points and then to a waterfall. I found myself wishing that we had a GoPro. It was so fun! Highly recommended. If you’re going to this town book this tour!

Afterwards we found our way over to a local brewery: Dokkan Brugghus. Their website is only in Icelandic, but you can visit this site for some information, including the fact that Dokkan Brugghus “is the Westfjords first and only brewery”. It was a great space with both indoor and outdoor seating. In addition to their taps they had food, but we just grabbed beers before heading back to our floating all-you-can-eat buffet that we had already paid for.

And then we were off…

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Oh, but first, let’s get everything done that I coulda done yesterday. Or a few things I coulda done a couple of weeks ago. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I finished Scott’s gloves. I used this yarn (the top one) that I bought at the Spincycle store in Bellingham back in April. I picked the store, Scott picked the yarn. Lovely first experience with Spincycle (both the store and the yarn).

I kinda followed the pattern for “Gloves with Fingers or Fingerless” by Mary Garing. Except my partner has man hands and required thicker fingers. I didn’t make the cleanest stitch additions, but the yarn hides it well when he’s wearing the gloves. Overall we are both happy with them. They should serve Scott well on our trip. Luckily they were completed literally on the last possible day.

I also finished all of my school paperwork. Hallelujah. Amen. Also wrapped up the housework. Fist bump.

Uneventful transit to the airport. Pretty long security line but doubtfully painful enough to get us to get our TSA pre-check actually sorted.

Per usual very little sleep on the 7.5 hour red eye but was able to get some work done on my vacay project.

Let the joyous vacay commence!

Sunday, July 2, 2023

I moved my body: kayaking and a short walk.

It was a glorious summer day so we took our new-ish kayaks out for their 2nd adventure. We live just a few blocks from a little Salmon Bay “beach” access point so we walked our kayaks-in-backpacks down there for a leisurely adventure. The access point is in a marina so the water was calm and easy for launching. The water was mildly choppy but surprisingly not busy considering the weather. Although considering how July 4th is falling this year, the people that own private boats are probably all off on long weekend trips. Or saving themselves for all-day-on-the-water on Tuesday.

We are still very happy with our purchase – they are quick to inflate and deflate, quick to dry, and we haven’t really had any issues getting them to fit back in their packs (especially once we figured out how important it is to fold the seat backs properly. These are the kayaks we bought a few weeks ago at the REI annual sale. They handle a bit differently than a traditional plastic/fiberglass/whatever kayak – they sit higher on the water, turn on a dime (even when you don’t mean to), and are more susceptible to the wind. But considering they are only 20-something pounds to carry and both fit easily in the back of the Jeep, they are exactly what we need.

Afterwards we did a quick turnaround at home and then walked down to meet neighbors at Cloudburst Brewing for a pint and succeeded at not buying the yummy looking dumplings from the food truck.