Memories of Golden Week

I spent several days in Nagano which was very refreshing. It was nice to sleep on a bed and not in the back of my car. As this blog serves more as a reminder of where and generally what I did as opposed to very specific details, I don't have many pictures from Nagano. I just didn't take that many. I did, however, make soba for the first time near a famous shrine. That was fun and it was even better to eat it.







The walk up to the shrine itself is great. I love the tall trees.



The shrine itself was completely underwhelming. The bamboo and soba flavored ice cream I ate after that was great. For some reason those flavors had an earthiness that plucked the green ivy growing around my heart.

I had a nice time with Yoko's family. They treated me very well. I made brownies for them, even though I kind of failed somehow. They were still happy. We had a nice cook out my next to last day there. That was also very good. I made pizzas for everyone and they all were very happy.



The next morning we visited a flower festival.



I spent most of that day contemplating my entire week. I'm not sure if anything changed in me or if I felt more sad to leave Japan. One thing was for sure though. I'm happy just to keep living life no matter where I am and what I do.

 

Now on to the backlog of things and places that have been patiently waiting for a voice.