Picking up where we left off on part 1: This is a small train station.
After we finished eating our rice balls I decided to take a tour of Nakayamadaira onsen train station. The view of the station from the platform.
The view of the train tracks from the platform. Okay, that's it for the station tour.
Across the street from the station is a liquor store with some vending machines in front. We bought some hot green tea from the vending machine and after drinking it we started our 6 kilometer walk back to Naruko Onsen town.
Many of the sidewalks are covered with snow. That sucks! However, an adventure without difficulties is not really an adventure at all (at least that's what I keep telling myself).
As we passed by the Kokeshi Doll museum/shop I stopped and took some pictures.
Kokeshi dolls are a big thing in this area.
This train track crossing is our official finishing line for the adventure and now we'll go for a little walk around the town.
More Kokeshi doll shops.
The town is busiest at 10:00am when people check out of the hotels, and at 15:00pm when people check into hotels. The rest of the day the streets are kind of empty.
Like many old onsen towns in Japan, some shops and restaurants survive and others go out of business and get torn down.
This little grocery store seems to be doing quite well.
Time to go back to the hotel and have a nice long soak in the hot bath. Our hotel is the tan colored building.
Time for dinner! The dining room is filled with happy customers.
Emi is happy! She got some shrimp.
And, I'm happy! I got some Nikka Date whisky 😍
Nikka's Date whisky is only distributed in the Sendai area and it's a delicious premium blended whisky. I like to drink it on the rocks. This is what one gets when they order a single!
This stuff is a real mood changer. You go from being happy to being real happy!
Next day and we've checked out of the hotel and are heading for the Naruko Onsen train station.
The Naruko Onsen train station.
The front of the station has a nice map on the wall showing the places a person can visit while in the area.
Inside the station. In the upper left side of the picture there are two wood Kokeshi dolls that look like a male and female station master.
This is our train.
Now it's Emi's turn for a picture.
Inside the train people move around looking for a good seat for the trip to Sendai station.
We're halfway to Sendai.
We have arrived at Sendai and it's a lot busier here than at Nauruko Onsen.
We're heading for the Shinkansen (Bullet train) gate.
Last shot of the Adventure! Our train for Tokyo has arrived! Time to go home and start planning our next adventure!
Thanks for stopping by!
Mike
Bonus shots!
