Mount Hakkoda-san

Two weekends ago we drove about an hour and a half to Hakkoda-san, a famous mountain in the Aomori prefecture. Our main objective was to view the fall foliage, and we weren't disappointed. We ended up taking a gondola ride to the top of Mount Hakkoda for the scenic view. It held about 75 people...and let me tell you, the Japanese aren't shy about making their way very quickly to the windows. Turns out we were taller than everyone in the gondola, so we had a good view out the windows. The Japanese definitely displayed their love of electronics/photography on the way up...I think we saw about 30 different cameras with telescopic lenses that could probably see the surface of Mars.

After we escaped the madhouse known as the gondola, we scoped out a ski resort next door that we hope to be hitting...after a little practice and with a guide (see the following article: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0602/sports/ski-japan.html).
After that, we did some hiking and came across this waterfall. Other than this little excursion, we haven't done much the last couple of weeks. We're kind of twiddling our thumbs waiting for the snow to come. In the following weeks we'll put more posts on "cultural differences." 'Til then.