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Izu Adventure - Aug 7-10th
This trip was so amazing and special to me that just a vlog, just a few Twitter/Instagram posts isn't enough for me. I have to write. I have to capture this. All of it; all of these emotions and memories in every way I can. I am so content and happy with life right now. 幸せ
Me, my love, and 2 other couples who have quickly become my favorite people in the world all went on a camping road trip together to Izu! It started out with 4 of us on a road trip, then the other 2 met up with us the next day.
Sky messaged me with an idea; that we all go on an adventure together! We bounced around different possibilities, (both of us a bit tipsy at home) and then this adventure came to be! The plan did change quite a few times as the other people were all added into our plot.
I’d never been on a camping trip like this, as an adult. I’d been camping once that I could remember with my best friend Katie and her family in high school.
As soon as we got the idea, I was so nervous it wouldn’t happen, but so excited that I wanted to start packing and preparing weeks before. As a kid, there were many failed traveling plans, so I always worry that something will go wrong and I'm scared to be hopeful. We chose camping because it would be the safest way to have an adventure and be safe in the midst of covid. We originally were thinking about one of the islands of Izu, but that wasn’t possible.
This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life! I am so happy I’ve surrounded myself with such great people. Younger me couldn’t have even imagined I would be this happy. I have a family like I’d never had before. My chosen family. I've learned so much about love lately. There are so many more different kinds than you think, and they can morph and change. I’m learning and growing so much. I wonder how much of it has to do with moving to Japan, or of this is just how life is as you grow older?
Day 1!
We started out early in the morning on our road trip. I guess I don’t have many pictures of this part, but more videos, so check out my vlog to see all the extra stuff! We went to pick up Sky, then Ayah. Then we hit the road with a few rest stops along the way! I love road trips and exploring rest stops in Japan. They have foods and souvenirs from the local area, nice clean bathrooms, smoking areas, cafes, sometimes even mini tourist attractions and places to stretch or rest!
We saw lots of wasabi farms throughout the Shizuoka mountains, LOTS of onsen and an onsen town (that we hit up on day 3 coming back!) and we went on the craziest cork-screw turn I'd ever seen!
We got to Hirizo-hama where we were going to go snorkeling, but there was a wait because they were trying to not have too many people there at once, so we were told to come back at 12:30. In the mean time, they recommended a local udon and soba restaurant at the last traffic light....which was their literal directions for us XD It was a bit of an adventure finding it, but it was so delicious when we did! It almost looked like someone's house.
After we finished up with lunch, we headed back onto the road and had to wait in a line of cars for quite a bit, then got the choice to wait longer or park farther away and walk a bit, so we chose to walk! It was only about 6 minutes, and on the way, there were a few snorkel rental shops, and a nice river along the side of the road. We got to a ticket booth and bought our tickets, then headed over to where we boarded the boat (and masks were REQUIRED to board)
The boat ride was SO MUCH FUN. It started out slow, then suddenly it was speeding along the waves, bouncing up and down, until a rocky island was in view. We disembarked and set up on the rocky beach crawling with some kind of sea buggy things, got our snorkeling stuff on and dove right in.
This was my first time snorkeling, I’m not the most confident swimmer, and Sky let me borrow his underwater camera, so it was a bit hard to balance breathing, videoing, and staying above water. Once I got the hang of it though, I felt unstoppable. On top of the world. I didn’t need the floaty, half-deflated watermelon ball anymore! I could swim and I saw blue and yellow fish!!! In the wild, I was amazed!
We went back on land for a quick break and a worker politely warned us and other nearby beach goers that the tide would be coming in, so we should move our stuff, so we set up in a different area, and tried our luck snorkeling on the other (rockier) side.
After we’d had our fill, it hit 4 o'clock when we had to leave the island. We took the boat back and had to let the camp know we were pushing back our check-in time. Next stop was the grocery store! There were conbini’s and stuff near our camp, but we wanted to hit up the nice big super market. We stocked up on meat, veggies, and alcohol!
Then it was time to set up camp. We checked in, put up our tents (mine and my love’s first time to put up a tent) the headed to the camp-owned hotel’s onsen that we got a discount for. They gave us coupons for a few local onsens. The women’s and men’s sides switch depending on the day, and me and Ayah were unlucky that we didn’t have the outside bath this time. It was nice to get a chance to talk to her alone for the first time though.
After a refreshing bath, we were ready for bbq! We headed back to the camp and set up Sky’s fancy fire-making stuff. As Ayah and my love expertly made delicious salmon and yakisoba, me and Sky drank lots of shochu. I attempted to make yaki imo but I was too impatient...
Day 2
I woke up and was surprisingly not hungover BUT I didn't clearly remember all the part of the night before. I tried my best to sleep in, but I heard Ayah talking, then she came over to our tent to try and take a sneaky pic of us....but I was already awake, oops XD My love wasn't though! I finally decided sleep was out of the question and we needed to figure out how to use Sky's fancy fire-making water boiling thingy for coffee.
We had our coffee, breakfast, and Sky took his time to recover. Finally Adam and Momoka joined us! They came by train/bus with some meat and fajita-making materials. Sky recovered a bit, me and my love went to the conbini to stock up on liquids, then we hit the ocean for some frisbee and swimming! Adam conquered frisbee and the ocean. There was nothing he couldn't catch; it's like the ocean wasn't even there! The sun, however, was more powerful than he...We played in the water and the sun, until the sun got the best of us (mostly Adam),
Next up was food! We tried so many places with no luck, as we happened to decide upon the time where restaurants close between lunch and dinner...Actually, most of us were fine, but hungover Sky didn't eat his breakfast, so while he and the guys refueled at a conbini, me and the girls were dropped off at the next onsen. After soaking our sunburns in hot water that felt way hotter, we all gathered back together, headed to the big grocery store, and stocked up on some more food and alcohol! This is where I was unknowingly distracted....
Then it was time for the watermelon smash! This is a typical Japanese summer thing I'd heard of but never had a chance to try, so when I saw watermelon at the grocery store, I couldn't resist suggesting we get one! Basically, you're blindfolded, turn around until you're dizzy, then you get directed to where then melon is, then you try and break it with a stick! It's kind of like a pinata. Of course I missed AND broke my stick XD Sky was the one to finally break the melon after everyone except boyfriend got a chance to try.
After melon smashing, it was time to get the bbq and food ready! Adam brought lots of good stuff to make fajitas and Mexican stuff. Boyfriend and Ayah were the head chefs throughout this adventure, and MAN were they good
And then it happened!! I'd always secretly wanted to be surprised for my birthday. I'm a leo, we love being the center of attention, but we don't want to have to ASK for it. I did mention this to Adam the last day we had work together before summer break; that I'd wanted to have some kind of thing for my birthday, but I didn't want to have to be the one to make it happen, so on my actual birthday, I didn't actually do anything special. This surprise plan was already in the works between Ayah, boyfriend, and Sky at that time.
After eating our fill, we only had a short amount of time left before we weren't allowed to use fireworks and sparklers that night! We had to quickly clean up, so some dishes were handed to me and Momoko, and we were sent off to do the washing while everyone else tidied up camp. Me and Momoko had a nice chat, quickly washed up, and even though we both had to pee, we headed back because we had a time limit! and then....I was captured and blindfolded by Ayah! Then the singing began, my sight was restored, and out came the cake and candles! (that Adam accidentally brought to attention earlier while unpacking groceries, "What's this cake? Who got a cake?" I still had no idea XD) I was so happy. It couldn't have been more perfect. This is without a doubt the BEST BIRTHDAY of my life. It was everything I could have wished for and the fact that I have friends so amazing to know exactly what would make me happy is more than I could have ever hoped for and needed in life.
They all chipped in and got me the most amazing gift, a Chanel lipstick!! Boyfriend talked to Ayah on the phone one night supposedly about planning the trip and bookings and whatnot, and I was going to bed and too lazy to try to listen to their Japanese conversation while apparently they were plotting this! Ayah and Sky were the ones who went to get my present, I found out later. Ayah suggested flowers at first (we both love flowers and talked about this) but Sky said that the flowers would wilt and then so would Gretchen XD Then, Ayah told me that when they went to pick out the lipstick, Sky chose the reddish color because I always wear pinks and the red is sexy XD And Chanel lipstick I believe was Ayah's idea. What did I do to deserve such great people in my life <3
And then the fireworks! We had only a few minutes, so we rushed to the beach and had just enough time to use them all up.
After the fireworks, we headed back, and played a game of shiritori that Adam lost multiple times (he couldn't stop using words that ended in 'N' which ends the game because Japanese words don't start with just the 'n' sound) XD
Day 3
The next morning, I woke up early as I have been lately, and I caught Adam and Momoko heading back to Tokyo because Adam had gotten a pretty bad sunburn and didn't sleep well. Later, the rest of the crew got up, we decided a rough plan of action for the day and the return home. We cleaned, packed up, checked out, and hit the road! Our first stop was Shuzenji which is a famous onsen town. We stopped at restaurant called Amagoya to eat a type of fish called amago; not to be confused with the more well-known fish called anago! It was very similar to salmon, even the pinkish color, but it's a river fish.
Next up was onsen to clean off all the dirt and sand! We decided our last onsen should be a nice one, so we decided on one in the onsen town of Shuzenji. There was a beautiful garden and lots of fun beauty products you could use and then buy in their gift shop. After that, we wandered around the area, and it was so beautiful! It was very Japanese. It was everything Kyoto has to offer but better and less touristy. I have been to Kyoto about 3 times and been disappointed every time.. It's always overrun with rude tourists and I feel it's been altered to be aimed at tourism. The magic and discovery has been lost (or it's hidden somewhere I haven't yet gotten the chance to explore?) But Shuzenji had a bamboo forest and beautiful shrines, and so many nice cafes everywhere!
After wandering around beautiful Shuzenji, we headed to Joren no Taki; a famous waterfall in Izu! And they had wasabi EVERYTHING. We tried wasabi ice cream (surprisingly ok), ginger ale (pretty good), and beer (NOPE). The falls were gorgeous. After walking many stairs down, it got so much cooler, and it felt almost church-like how peaceful it was.
After the falls, we hit the road again Takeru had a great suggestion of taking the scenic Izu Skyline home! It's a road that passes through Izu up high in the mountains, and we got LUCKY. It was a holiday in Japan; Mountain day, and there are famous spots to view Mt. Fuji along the Skyline. Mt. Fuji was expecting us and was SHOWING OFF. Me and Sky were way too excited to photograph and video as you can see...
Fuji went into hiding shortly after, but there was still beauty around
After driving through the clouds, we had a quick rest-stop dinner before heading to all of our homes!
Something interesting that Sky noted is that we all had a role or job in this. Takeru: driver and cook and planning. Ayah: booking, cook, and plannng. Me: mood, some ideas, memory keeper. Sky: idea guy, gadgets, and gear. Adam and Momoko: music, food, and energy. And everyone has a fun unique personality that added to our adventure.
I love all of you. This was a dream come true, and I can't wait until out next adventure!
