Saturday, December 6, 2008

Mitake Valley

At the end of October (yes, I'm that far behind!) my Wednesday class took a field trip to the Tama River in Mitake Valley. It was beautiful Fall day, we had lunch and hiked along the river.
I knew we were "going to a park" for lunch, but I mistakenly assumed we'd be picnicing at the big park right behind the school. Nope. The place we went in the valley was an hour away, because I thought we'd just be walking behind the school, I only had on a pair of mules, so, so, so NOT appropriate for hiking. I also only brought my purse, again, not appropriate for a TWO HOUR hike along a rocky riverbank. But, it was a great day and we had a really good time.
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We had lunch at a cute little restaurant with a beautiful view of the river. It was called Imotoya, Little Sister, a bit further down stream on the opposite bank was the Ani (Big Brother) restaurant.
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Several swinging bridges crossed back and forth across the river, giving us great views down through the valley.
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Looking back at the bridge.
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The old guy painting this beautiful picture was 94 years old!
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An old temple, the smaller hut at the bottom of the hill is the bell you ring to let the gods know you have arrived.

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Yuasa-san and Shigeko-san goofing around with the bell. I think we may have been a tad-bit disrepectful, I was surprised that they acted so goofy. They were standing up inside the bell and trying to gong each other, making silly noises, laughing and shouting. Not entirely out-of -character for any of them, but I was surprised that they weren't a bit more reverent at a temple.

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1 comment:

Robin Vistnes said...

I abosulutly lovee the pic the old guy painted of the river! And what a great photo you took of the pic and the scene!!!