I've Been to the Mountain - and Kofu City too!

Yes, I've been to the Mountain, Mt. Fuji that is, and now I know the meaning of life. But, who cares about the meaning of life, I'd rather talk about the weekend. We decided to go to Yamanashi prefecture for the weekend and buy some grapes. We left early in the morning and traveled via the Mt. Fuji 5 lakes area on the way there.

First stop was Lake Kawaguchi. Even though the weather wasn't the best it was still beautiful.

Grey skies can be off set by the newly blooming cosmos.

In fact if it wasn't for the cosmos flowers I'd have had a difficult time finding a way to make these shots interesting.

I don't know what this flower is but it didn't stop me from taking a picture of it.

Somebody was out for some early morning fishing.

There is one sure way to spoil a picture.

After visiting a hot spring for a couple hours for some rest and relaxation we checked into our hotel and then went for a walk around Kofu city. We've been to Kofu before and it's a wonderful city, however this time we stumbled into the part of the town that is in a state of decline.

Christians to the rescue! I was a bit surprised to see this little church.

Emi is ready! To bad she's about 5 hours to early.

More businesses that are out of business

This entertainment street is quite depressing. I'm sure it's seen better days.

Day two and we're back on the road visiting more of the lakes around Mt. Fuji. This is Lake Shoji, the smallest of the 5 lakes.

And, there's more cosmos in bloom here too!

There was quite a bit of activity around Lake Shoji.

One last shot before we moved on.

Next up is Lake Motosu. By now the clouds were starting to move in around Mt. Fuji so we didn't linger very long.

As our final sightseeing destination of the day we visited Shiraito waterfall. This is a beautiful waterfall but it has always been and continues to be a challenge for me to photograph. I just can't seem to capture the sense of wonderment I feel when I'm looking at it. I guess that's a good excuse for us to visit again in the future.

Back on the road and it's time to start the long drive home.

One last shot of the day. This is one of our favorite restaurants. The food is reasonably priced, tastes great and the service is top notch. Whenever we're in this part of Japan we always eat here even if it means having to eat lunch late in the day; which was the case today.

All pictures taken with a Sigma SD1 Merrill camera and  Sigma lenses:  30mm and 10~20mm zoom.

Thanks for stopping by!
Mike