Weekend 46: September 17-18, 2022
Day 320: September 17, 2022
Saturday - 9.17-19 Family Road Trip D1
September 19 (Monday) is Keiro no Hi or Respect of the Aged Day. It is a public holiday here in Japan. It only means that today is the start of this month's first long weekend. Yup, you read that right. It's the first as September 23 (Friday) is Autumnal Equinox Day which is also a holiday here in Japan.
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| Driving from Rumoi to our first town for the day - Takasu |
Here's what we did on the first day of our 9.17-19 Family Road Trip.
We left Rumoi City at around 6AM (the earliest we have done so far) to go to the town of Takasu (鷹栖町).
These are the places that we visited in Takasu:
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| We bought some snacks at Seicomart Shunkodai |
We next traveled to the northern part of Asahikawa City (旭川市) and visited the Takasu Shrine, which I mistook as the major shrine of Takasu. We drove back to Takasu (鷹栖町) to visit the following places:
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| Green Park |
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| Breakfast at Green Park |
We next proceeded to the northeastern edge of Asahikawa to see the Asahikawa Tambo Art (Art on Rice Fields). Unfortunately, we were 5 days late as the observation deck was already closed. Nevertheless, we were still able to photograph the rice field art from the ground level.
From there, our next stop is the town of Pippu (比布町). These are the places that we've visited in Pippu:
Our next stop is the town of Toma (当麻町). These are the places that we visited in Toma:
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| Next destination - Aibetsu |
We then visited the town of Aibetsu (愛別町). These are the places that we visited in Aibetsu:
From Aibetsu, we drove to the town of Kamikawa (上川町). These are the places that we visited in Kamikawa:
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| Bought snacks at 711 Kamikawa |
Before leaving the town, we first bought groceries and snacks at De Marche and 711 Kamikawa. Our last stop for the day is the town of Engaru (遠軽町). To reach it, we used the Kamikawa-Sounkyo Interchange. It cut our trip by almost 20 minutes if we used Route 333.
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| Passed through the 3.27-kilometer Kamikoshi Tunnel along E39 going to our next destination |
This allowed us to visit Roadside Station "Maruseppu" before it closed. Hence, I still got the physical and digital roadside station stamps for my Hokkaido Roadside Station Stamp Rally.
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| Dinner time! |
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| Time to freshen up before calling it a day |
From there, we drove to Maruseppuikoinomori Camping Ground to set up camp for the day. After paying the camping fees, we set up camp by the river. We had our yakiniku night before walking to the nearby Maruseppu Onsen Yamabiko to clean and relax our bodies after being on the road the whole day.
That wraps up the first day of our 9.17-19 Family Road Trip. See you tomorrow.
Day 321: September 18, 2022
Sunday - 9.17-19 Family Roadtrip D2
It's day 2 of our 3-day 9.17-19 Family Road Trip. We woke up early and packed up our camp quickly as we still had a lot of kilometers to cover to reach our next campsite.
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| Su Ha 43 703 |
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| Hokkaido Heritage Forest Railway steam locomotive Amemiya 21 |
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| Ikoinomori Station |
We left Maruseppuikoinomori Camping Ground in Maruseppu in the town of Engaru (遠軽町) at around 8AM. before leaving Maruseppu, we first visited Maruseppu Shrine to pay respects and offer some prayers. From there, we drove to the central part of Engaru. These are the places that we've visited in Engaru:
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| We enjoyed exploring the vast park and checking out the cosmos flowers in full bloom |
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| Snow Plow Ki282 |
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| Steam locomotive D51 No.859 |
We next traveled to the town of Yubetsu (湧別町). Unfortunately, it began to rain shortly after we arrived. As a result, we had to skip most of the destinations on our itinerary. Regardless, we were able to visit the following locations in Yubetsu:
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| 711 Yubetsu |
We continued on to the town of Saroma (佐呂間町). We visited the following places in Saroma:
From there, we headed to the last place in our itinerary which is Abashiri City (網走市). Since we stayed a bit longer in Engaru and also because of the rain, we were only able to visit one destination in Abashiri which was the Abashiri Prison Museum.
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| We had dinner at Sukiya Abashiri |
For dinner, we drove back to the city proper to look for a place to eat. We ended up at Sukiya Abashiri. We stayed there for a bit to wait for the rain to subside as well but it just kept on going. We became a bit desperate to the point of inquiring about rooms in the nearby hotels. Thankfully, they were all fully booked.
We had no other choice but to drive to Abashiri Lakeside Hotel Hot Spring which is an amenity of Hotel Abashirikoso. We stayed in the hot spring until closing time (10PM) hoping that the rain would finally subside.
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| We camped at Yobitoura Camping Ground |
The rain didn't stop though but it turned into a drizzle giving us the confidence to camp. With that, we went with our original plan to camp at Yobitoura Camping Ground albeit very late at night.
Overall, even though it rained hard at around 2AM onwards, we slept like babies thanks to the makeshift waterproofing that we had like the shower curtain and aluminum foil camping mat.
Well, that's it for today. See you on the third and last day of our adventure.
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Japan Diaries 4: Weekend 47
You should visit Kamiyubetsu in April for the Tulips festival.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the recommendation. I will include Kamiyubetsu in my plans next time.
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