Wow, it has been a while. Chris and I ventured up to Nagano on February 23rd for a weekend long snowboarding trip. We got to the slopes by about 1:30 and were able to get some good time in on the mountain. I had plenty of time to fall and bruise myself up so it was a good day. The best part about Friday was the five crazy guys on the mountain (dubbed the Fearsome Five by Chris). We think they literally had strapped on snowboards for the first time that day. Every time Chris and I saw them they were falling down, taking out an innocent skier or sprawled out somewhere. Well, one of the five managed to knock over Nicole and while another finished her off with a snowboard to the spine. Did we mention that they were all wearing matching jackets and pants? Needless to say, we tried to avoid the Fearsome Five clowns for the remainder of the weekend. After hitting the slopes, we grabbed some drinks at a nearby pub and gawked at every one's food around us. We had reservations at the resort restaurant but vowed to return to the pub the following evening. We were in bed by 9:30 and we were very happy about that.
Saturday was a good day. Our friends Nicola and Steve arrived at the hotel late on Friday and we met them for an early breakfast. We hit the slopes again for most of the day. The snow was really icy at the top of the mountain so Nicole stayed on the beginner slopes where the sun was shining. We had a really good day on the mountain and that evening we all hit the hotel's onsen (outdoor hot spring) to satisfy our aching muscles. The onsen was a really nice experience. We sat outside in a hot spring surrounded by snow. It was definitely one of the better Japan moments we've had. Check out Chris in his Yukata (robe). We had to wear this and a pair of slippers to the onsen.
After the onsen, we hit the little pub for some din din. We ordered some drinks, pizza, burgers and waffle fries and it was good.
Sunday was horrible. I woke up with a sore throat and Chris got virtually no sleep and had hurt his foot from a fall the previous day. We decided not to go to the mountain and instead we walked into the Olympic village to see some of the sites. I'm actually glad that we felt like crap because we never would have taken the time to sight see. We went to the ski jump area and took the lift up to the top. We found a great little noodle shop and had some home made soba for lunch.
We walked back to the hotel and made our way back to Tokyo earlier than planned. By the time we got home I had a cough and a fever and stayed glued to the couch until Thursday.
We walked back to the hotel and made our way back to Tokyo earlier than planned. By the time we got home I had a cough and a fever and stayed glued to the couch until Thursday.
