We went on our first camping trip in Japan last weekend. We left Saturday morning, and made it to Hamada at lunch time. The cross country (3 hours) drive was beautiful, but the roads were winding and we ended up with a full load of soiled laundry about an hour and a half into our drive. We did not know that one of our boys would be horribly carsick. We've never had this issue before! Of course, we've never driven for so long on such winding roads when the boys have had their kindles on. HA! He would have been fine if he would have left his kindle off, like we told him, but he snuck back onto it, and a few minutes later, was struggling to aim into a giant ziploc baggie I'd given him. (Thank goodness for some promptings to grab a gallon ziploc back of wipes and an old towel hanging on a kitchen chair as I was running out the door! All of those came in handy!) The rest of the drive was uneventful, thank goodness!
It was rainy and storming when we got there. We stopped for lunch at 7 Eleven. In pretty much every county except the US, 7 Eleven is visited by everyone! They actually have really yummy food to go and tons of tasty treats. And they are super clean! After lunch, we decided to visit the aquarium down the street from our campsite. It was great! They had a really fun little Beluga Whale show that we got to see. The whales blow bubbles under the water and do several cute tricks. We were so happy that we had this option during the crappy weather. It was supposed to rain the whole weekend, but we were hopeful that it would clear up!
After the aquarium, we checked in to our campsite and got everything set up. We were so excited to get out and explore more of Japan, and do some camping! We left the tent at home this time, and stayed in a cabin. It was small and simple, but it had electricity, windows, and blocked out sound pretty well. It felt like glamping, and like we were spoiling ourselves a little (even though it was only about $35 a night). 😆 They don't have fire rings here, and you're not allowed to have an open fire. We knew this, and did not bring a grill or fire pit with us, so we brought games and the laptop for movies. After dinner inside our cabin, we ate rice crispy treats and played games in the cabin. It was perfect since it was still raining.
The next day, we were up walking on the beach at sunrise. It was beautiful! And yes, we could see the sun for a bit! The weather was looking better. We collected a few shells and the boys found several bamboo sticks (boys and sticks - insert eye roll). I was honestly considering taking some of the sticks home because they would make perfect walking sticks! And somewhere, someone is paying a good chunk of money for a walking stick just like the many we found on the beach.
There were several military families camping near us, and this resulted in a gaggle of children hanging out with our kids because we had a sweet sand pit next to our cabin. They had a blast digging and building, and playing tag and hide and seek. On our way home, the boys said they were going to miss their new friends. I reminded them that we all live on the same base, and they'll likely end up seeing them at some point. It's a small base. Ha!
After breakfast and playing with friends for a bit, we headed to a giant park called Aquas Land. This place was amaaaaaaazing! It had seemingly endless mazes of wooden paths and bridges. There were two fun roller slides, and a couple other steel slides with a nearly vertical slant. So scary, and so fun! The hammock swings and zip lines were also a huge hit. We packed a lunch and spent several hours at this park. The boys didn't want to leave, but we knew they were all super tired and needed a break.
We took a drive through the cute little town, and shortly after the boys passed out in the car, we remembered that we wanted to visit the tide pools nearby.
After driving on super narrow roads in the mountains to try to get to the tidepools, we had to turn back when the road to get there was closed. And by turn back, I mean drive backwards because the road was too narrow to turn around. We found an alternate route that would get us close enough to walk to the tidepools.
The boys were groggy, and it was breezy and brisk out, so it took some coaxing and encouragement to get them moving. Once they saw all the shells, seaglass, and crabs, they were all in. The tidepools were fun - with mostly hermit crabs, anemones, and urchins - but the scenery was stunning and collecting seaglass turned out to be the highlight of the outing. I had to sort through it all when we got home and pull out the pieces that looked lethal. 😂 The boys didn't quite understand that the point was to find the pieces of glass that look more like smooth rocks and less like pieces of newly broken beer bottles.
We headed back to camp as sunset was approaching. We enjoyed another night of our most favorite white chicken chili that we all freaking love. I wouldn't normally share a recipe, but this one is THAT good! https://www.thechunkychef.com/slow-cooker-creamy-white-chicken-chili/ Make it! You won't be sorry! We watched Sword in the Stone before crashing for the night.
Our last morning there, we had to pack up right after breakfast so we could play on the beach for a little bit and then check out of the campsite by 10. It as a beautiful morning, and we could tell it was going to be a warm day. We were all wishing we had more time so we could spend the day on the beach.
After checking out, we went back to the aquarium for one more visit. The kids got in for free, and it was only $15 for each adult. The whale show was even better this day, and the crowds were non existant because it was a Monday, so we were definitely happy to be back. That's one of the nice things about being on vacation for an American holiday in a different country, there are no crowds! Aquas Land is right next to the aquarium, so of course we had to play there a bit more before hitting the road.
We ended with lunch at 7 Eleven and dessert at this cute little gelato shop. Toby wasn't a fan of the chocolate flavor he got, but loved the pumpkin flavor I picked (tasted like straight up sqaush 😂). The trade was good.
Blake still had the next day off of work, so we waited for Milo to get home from school and then visited a new beach not far from our house. This is Yuu beach. It is beautiful! We were almost the only ones there. We swam and played in the sand for a couple hours. It was so fun! Milo and I had goggles on and were looking for fish most of the time. We saw fish and lots of baby sting rays! I love that he is finally getting good at holding his breath under water without swallowing any when he comes up for air. 👏
It has now been one whole week since we went camping, but It feels like we are still recovering! Ha!. Worth it.
videos from our trip.
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