Noboribetsu

 It’s our anniversary day!!! Today we are headed to Noboribetsu.  This is an onsen town at the bottom of Hokkaido.  Not the most southern point but south of Sapporo.  The rest of our trip will hug the coastline in a nice semi circle. Breakfast was at the rest stop (Michi no Eki) and the convenience store (Konbini). Potato and cheese croquettes, egg salad sando, miso soup, hot coffee, iced tea, and hot toasted tea all for $8 for 2 people (some was free at the hotel). 

First stop was at a lavender field.  We were the only people there.  It was prettier than the pictures show. 

So we drove for 2 hours and we were getting off the highway.  7 minutes from a farm I wanted to visit….and our ETC card was not working (it’s the Japanese EZPass).  Sweet Highway man is helping us.  But now we are delayed.  We were patiently waiting but the sweet old man was running. He was so upset to make us delayed.  He charged our etc card and brought napkins for us!!!  I know you’re thinking napkins, who cares?  It’s hard to come by napkins and tissues so for him to give us 2 little ones was unreal. 

We then made it to a town called Shiraoi that is known for their cattle. It was a few minutes from our hotel and the choice was the bear attraction or the cows. I chose cows.  

And with every place comes ice-cream. 

We finally made it to our hotel in Noboribetsu.  This is an onsen town.  According to the internet: It’s known for its natural hot springs. In volcanic crater Jigokudani (Hell Valley), steam rises from the mountains and hot water bubbles up from the Tessen Ike geyser. Stone demon statues decorate the city center.

We had a very chilled day.  Checked in, went for a walk.  

We are staying in a Japanese style room so we had tea and a sweet.  I forgot to take a picture before our beds were made. 

Our dinner was a kaiseki dinner which basically means Small dishes. It was a lot.  Some I liked, some not so much.  

The onsen was the highlight and the reason to be in Noboribetsu.  Obviously no pics because everyone was naked.   But there were ice cold baths. Freaking hot ones and everything in between.  There was 4 outdoor ones and I lost count indoors.  5 kinds of mineral springs.  Somewhere, my heart started racing and I had enough.  But it was great. Also open 24hrs.  Just saying. 

Today's easy day was 11, 319 steps with a low low 4.49 miles.