BBQ on the beach with a surprise

On Sunday we biked to the beach with our friends Anton and Mami to have a barbeque.  It was warm and sunny in the morning, but by the time we were 3/4 of the way to beach it suddenly wasn't sunny anymore.  There was a park with gazebos near us when it started raining heavily and we took shelter until the rain cloud passed.  We decided that probably most of the rain was going to stay to the south of us by looking at the sky, and we continued on to the beach.

 

The view of the weather from the beach was very picturesque.  The waves were choppy, and we could see individual rain clouds that would pass by to the north, south, or offshore. 

The beach was mostly empty, likely because the first rain cloud that trapped us at the park drove a lot of beachgoers home.  We were surprised when a man on a horse rode by.  He seemed to be having a lot of fun.

We found an abandoned carseat on the beach and we put our tarp over it to sit on.  Kyle and Anton constructed a BBQ pit with abandoned metal trays as a wind break.  We brought our own charcoal,  metal grill surface, and tongs for the food, but everything else we found on the beach.

We cooked some meat on a stick, potatoes, mushrooms, tofu, and corn.

Not long after we got to the beach and started grilling, a really big rain cloud suddenly appeared to the north of us (the picture above is looking to the north-- the gray background is rain).  For the next 30 minutes or more, we got to watch lightning strikes in all directions in that cloud and listen to the roll of thunder claps from the comfort of our completely exposed position on the beach.

For a few minutes, the sun came out. 

The warm sunshine was appreciated, but it didn't last.  Not long after this picture, a big rain cloud appeared from behind the sand dunes and got us.  We had just started to cook chicken, but we abandoned it on the fire.  Mami had brought a small umbrella that Anton and I huddled under on the car seat.  Mami hid under a washcloth that she had brought (it kept part of her surprisingly dry) and Kyle built up the cooking fire to a warm inferno, but he was otherwise completely drenched.  It was A LOT of rain!  

The umbrella that Anton and I were under was good for a few minutes.  But then the rain was so hard, that the cascades coming off the sides completely soaked my legs and my outside arm.  After 5 minutes, Kyle, Anton, and I on the blue tarp on the carseat were sitting in large puddles of water... Mami, standing in the rain under her little washcloth, was actually better off than we were.

After about 10 minutes of downpour, I suddenly realized that we were sitting on a blue tarp!  We picked it up and huddled under it, over Kyle's fire for the rest of the rainstorm.  We still had body parts sticking out of the tarp getting wet, but we were better off.  Kyle's fire was provided some warmth.  Even though our particular rain cloud had a lot of water in it, thankfully it didn't have any lightning.  The sun came out during the rain, giving us a lovely rainbow.

Eventually the rain slowed enough that we decided we wouldn't be any worse off if we left the relative dryness of the tarp and biked home.  We left the uneaten, burnt and wet chicken to the seagulls and headed towards home.

The rain stopped not long after we started biking, thankfully.  We got home, took hot showers, put on warm clothes, and met up again at a ramen house for a hot bowl of noodle soup.

Something Kyle said during the downpour stuck with me.  He said that he couldn't remember a time that he had been so unprepared to deal with a rainstorm.  We didn't expect the rain because it was so beautiful and sunny when we left Sapporo, so we had no raincoats and only Mami's umbrella.  When we were at the beach we were many kilometers from the nearest place we could take shelter.
I think he was right-- I can't remember the last time I got so wet in the rain.

That's all for now,
Bre (and Kyle)

Camping at Lake Toya and hiking with HIOC

Last weekend we went camping with the Hokkaido International Outdoor Club at Lake Toya.  Lake Toya is a beautiful lake in South West Hokkaido.  

Lake Toya is formed by a volcanic caldera, whose last eruption was ~1100,000 years ago.  In the center is a cluster of old lava domes.  You can just barely make out the lake and lava domes in the photo above.

We went for a short hike up a closed trail near Lake Toya.  There is a waterfall at the top of the trail.  However the trail was washed out from recent floods so we didn't get to the waterfall.

Some of the boards were rotten and one broke under my weight.  In all fairness it was forbidden to go up the trail, so I can't blame anyone for the poor conditions.

Here is Rob, one of the club members, being silly at the point where the trail is washed out.

The stream was very beautiful with a series of small falls and pools.  We saw a fish trying to jump from one pool to the next.  I was not able to capture a photo of its attempt.

At the bottom of the trail there is a little picnic area and a waterwheel.  The waterwheel appeared to be totally decorative.

I decided to try to make the waterwheel more exciting by blocking up the water and realeasing a flood all at once.  Bre captured my attempt in video.

There was some silliness involved in setting up camp.

We made a great lasagna in a dutch oven.  Bre took a video of the lasagna assembly process.

After dinner we all played Uno.  The winner got to wash the dishes!

Here is our camp in the morning.  The campsite is on the higher level with two tarps.  We slept in the two cabins to either side of the tarps.  The cabins did a good job at keeping out the rain and mosquitos.  In the morning we learned that they heat up very quickly with a bit of sunshine.  It was a very effective alarm clock.

I went down to the lake in the morning while the water was sill.  This is a better photo of the old lava domes located at the center of the lake.

There is something about a mysterious photo that I love.

Once we got up and moving we drove to Mt. Usu.  The hike started out in lush forests.  It was warm, humid, and beautiful.  I was happy when we got to the higher slopes with less vegetation.  It was cooler up there with a pleasant breeze.

Here is Leon our club leader.  He is happy to do a silly pose if you point a camera at him.

There were tons of dragonflies at the top of the mountain.  I am not sure why there were so many.  They were willing to let us get very close to photograph them.  I think my depth of field was too shallow for this photo.  Only the middle of the dragonfly is in focus.

Here are two more member of the club Aki (left) and Masami (behind the grasses).

Bre made a friend with the other American in the group, Linnea.  We all agreed that she has the most difficult name to remember of anyone on the trip.

Everyone needs a chance to be silly.

Group photo.  The row in the back (standing on the fence) from left to right is Margot, Linnea, Bre, and Aki.  The middle row is Rob, Haidee, Leon, and Masami.  In the front is Kyle.

Thanks to Rob for this photo of me.

The first photo is from near the picnic area where we had lunch.  You can see the fumaroles releasing steam and gasses in the background.

The final photo is from the other side of the mountain.  You can see the gondola on the right side of the photo.  There were many clouds blowing through.  At times you couldn't see the lake at all.

That's all for now,

Kyle (and Bre)

2 small adventures

Kyle and I went on two small adventures a few days ago.  Nothing too exciting, but enjoyable.  On Sunday we went to Nakajima Park and on Monday we went to the top of the JR Tower.

Sunday we had originally planned to spend the day at the Art Park, but the weather did not cooperate.  The morning saw 2.2 inches of rain (56 mm), mostly falling between 11 and 12 am.  We waited on the rain to stop, but by 1pm, decided the Art Park was too far away to get to spend much time there.  So instead, we took the subway to Nakajima Park, the large park just south of downtown.

Kyle took some nice photographs.

The island in the middle of the pond ("Naka" means inside and "Jima" means island, giving the name to Nakajima Park)

This is a wisteria vine.  Kyle really liked the texture.

I carry all the stuff while Kyle takes pictures. 
(In Kyle's defense, usually he carries the bag)

The waterways through Nakajima Park were all flooded from the earlier rain.  It looked pretty neat, all that muddy water flowing through the creek beds.  The lake was flooded too, but not dangerously so.

Because the creeks were so flooded, we were curious about the main river through Sapporo, the Toyohira River.  We walked along this river before going home.  It was also pretty flooded.  Kyle blogged earlier about the Toyohira River here-- the page includes a couple pictures of the river when it was not in flood in June.  The water in June is blue, not brown.

From the center of a bridge, Kyle and I discussed the best way to take a raft if we were white-water rafting down the river.  Kyle's final decision-- go down the middle and let the water push you right or left.

We decided that we probably couldn't raft through some of other man-made obstacles however.  Although, Kyle speculated that it might be possible if the water were 50% higher.

On Monday, we went up the JR Tower to the 38th floor.  We tried to go when we could catch the sunset, but it was pretty cloudy that day, so the sunset was more like a sky-darkening event.

The road in the center of the photo runs on either side of the canal by our house.  We often go running along this canal, and sometimes we take it to go to the beach on our bicycles.

On top of the Century Royal Hotel is a round structure that reminds me of the Space Needle without any legs.  I think there is a restaurant inside, but I'm not certain.

Family photo.

That's all for now,
-Bre (and Kyle)

Sunset walk to the field

On Sunday, Kyle and I went for a walk to the field that was next to our old apartment.  I hadn't been there since the field was covered in snow, so I was curious to see what it was like full of crops.

 

Our walk was just before sunset, so Kyle had fun with the low-angle light. Here is a picture of the street in front of our current apartment.

 

 

The field is planted with a couple types of corn.  The type in this picture is really tall- taller than Kyle.  The picture is looking back towards our old apartment building from the center of the field.

 

You can see the sun setting behind the mountains.

 

Part of the field is a pasture for cows and sheep.  How do you say "Moo" and "Baaa" in Japanese?

 

Kyle made a friend.  The cows were very friendly and very interested in the lush grass just out of their reach that Kyle would pick for them.

 

That's all for now.

-Bre (and Kyle)

Rock gardens

Kyle and I had a quiet weekend in Sapporo this week.  I had a lot of work to do, so we mostly stayed at home, but we took long walks on both Saturday and Sunday.  This is a short post about our walk to look for the giant rock garden that we had come across once while running.

 

Here's a street in our neighborhood.

 

Here's a picture of the giant rock garden.  The rocks were all about 3 ft (1 m) in diameter.  They were all different types of rocks.

 

And finally, here is someone's topiary garden. 

That's all for now.  I'll post Sunday's walk soon.

-Bre (and Kyle)