Japan Diaries 4: Day 328
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Day 328: September 25, 2022
Sunday - 9.24-25 Family Road Trip D2
Good morning! We awoke to a gloomy, chilly morning after a rainy night. Still, the weather report indicated a very minimal likelihood of rain today, giving us the confidence to continue traveling. As a matter of fact, Lake Shumaranai looked magnificent early in the morning.
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| Good morning from Shumaranaikohan Camping Ground in Horokanai |
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| Lake Shumaranai |
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| Beautiful sunrise as seen from Lake Shumaranai |
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| Enjoying the view |
Since we weren't in a rush, we enjoyed breakfast at Shumaranaikohan Camping Ground in the town of Horokanai (幌加内町) before packing up our tent and equipment. Before leaving, we took a hot shower at the Lake Shumaranai Campsite Shower and Coin Laundry Building. It only costs 100 yen for a 5-minute shower.
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| Team Nicerio visits the Lake Shumaranai Observation Deck |
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| The view from Lake Shumaranai Observation Deck |
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| Off to our next destination |
After freshening up, we drove to the nearby Lake Shumaranai Observation Deck. It has an Instagram-worthy view of the lake. Of course, we took the opportunity to take family pictures there.
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| We had fun feeding the sheep |
Near Sheep and Cloud Hill is the Sheep of the World Museum. True to its name, the museum houses different breeds of sheep that are from different countries. We learned a lot about sheep during this visit.
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| Roadside Station Sheep Town Samurai Shibetsu |
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| The post box and the vending machine are sheep-themed |
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| Shibetsu City Pokemon manhole cover |
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| Shibetsu City colored manhole cover 1 |
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| Shibetsu City colored manhole cover 2 |
That's not the last of the "sheep destinations" in Shibetsu City. Our next stop is the Shibetsu Roadside Station or Roadside Station Sheep Town Samurai Shibetsu. Although there were no live sheep here, many products were sheep-themed. The roadside station also houses the Shibetsu City Pokefuta or Shibetsu City Pokemon Manhole Cover. Before leaving, my daughter and I got the roadside station stamp for our collection and the Hokkaido Roadside Station Stamp Rally.
Our last stop in Shibetsu City is Shibetsu Shrine. My daughter and I paid our respects and offered some prayers before leaving.
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| Next stop: Kembuchi (剣淵町) |
We then traveled to our next destination which is the town of Kembuchi (剣淵町). The town branded itself as Picture Book Town and they currently own thousands of picturebooks that can be seen in the Kembuchi Town Picture Book Museum.
Our first stop is the Kembuchi Shrine. Like always, we paid our respects and offered some prayers for the safety of our trip.
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| Kembuchi Town Picture Book Museum |
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| There were thousands of picture books in the museum. How I wish I could produce one and display it in the museum too. |
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| We enjoyed reading many of the picture books in the museum |
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| Kembuchi colored manhole cover 1 |
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| Kembuchi colored manhole cover 2 |
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| Kembuchi Pokemon manhole cover |
From there we checked out the picture books at Kembuchi Town Picture Book Museum. The museum not only houses thousands of picture books, but it also houses the colored manhole of the town including the Kembuchi Pokefuta.
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| Next destination: Viva Alpaca Farm |
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| Welcome to Viva Alpaca Farm |
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| It's our first time to interact and feed alpacas |
Earlier we enjoyed interacting with the sheep, this time, we headed out to the outskirts of town to visit the Viva Alpaca Farm. As the name suggests, it's a place to see and interact with alpacas. We all had fun feeding and taking photos of these adorable creatures.
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| Roadside Station Ehon-no-Sato Kembuchi |
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| Inside Roadside Station Ehon-no-Sato Kembuchi |
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| Meet Puchi-na (ぷっちーな), Kembuchi's mascot |
Before leaving the town, we made a quick stop at Roadside Station Ehon-no-Sato Kembuchi to get the roadside station stamp for the stamp rally.
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| Wassamu Shrine's torii gate |
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| Wassamu Shrine |
For the last town on our itinerary, we drove to the town of Wassamu (和寒町). The first destination to visit in town is the Wassamu Shrine. However, before paying respects and offering prayers, we bought our favorite iced coffee at 711 Wassamu.
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| Driving to the outskirts of Wassamu going to our next destination |
From the shrine, we then headed to Mikasayama Natural Park which is our last destination before our drive back home.
Mikasayama Natural Park Children's World was a perfect destination to end our trip. The place was a mini-theme park on top of a hill. We, as a family, enjoyed the go-cart ride and as a matter of fact, tried it 3 times. Ella even got to experience driving the go-cart all by herself.
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| Driving back home to Rumoi City |
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| Dinner at Sukiya Rumoi |
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From Wassamu, it took us an hour and 45 minutes to drive back home. We didn't immediately head home though, we decided to eat dinner at Sukiya Rumoi first so that we wouldn't worry about cooking dinner when we got home.
Overall, today was another memorable road trip for Team Nicerio. We visited 2 cities and 4 towns for the first time. I'm looking forward to where we'll be heading next weekend.
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Enjoy your next adventure! I'm excited to read more about where you would go next.
ReplyDeleteThank you! See you in my other articles.
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