A stroll through lavenders

After we went to the flower park to see the wisteria, I found that there's a lavender park that offers entrance fees at half price if you can produce a ticket from the flower park. Kewl. So we made plans to keep an eye out for the lavender and make plans to visit. We decided staying a night is better than making a day trip.

July rolls by and the early-blooming lavender was already in bloom. Whoa. We frantically looked for a place to stay. There was an onsen (hot springs) inn that looked nice but was fully booked. I got a good deal from Agoda so we stayed at a hotel that looks like a church. Apparently, it was originally built to hold weddings and there's a chapel in the courtyard. The original hotel got bought out and rebranded. Anyhoo, I got us rooms for cheap. We needed separate rooms because of our a/c preferences. She likes it really cold. Me, not so much. Their taste in interior design can be questionable. There was a lip-shaped couch in the hallway on the floor to our rooms.

The weather report predicted thunderstorms. The weather for the next day looked better. When we left for the park, we decided to play it by ear since it wasn't raining yet, but we knew that mountain weather can turn quickly. On the way, we stopped by a couple of markets called roadside stations that sell local produce and wares. The first one we went to had a bakery that sold good bread and had a face soap my friend likes. The other roadside stations we planned to stop by were close to the park. It wasn't raining yet and even the sun was peaking out from the clouds, so we decided to go ahead and visit the lavender park.

Along the way, we came by lots of apple, plum, and cherry orchards with trees heavy with apples. There were lots of blueberry fields, too. We didn't know that the area grew so much fruit. We thought the area was only famous for the hot springs. It's blueberry heaven for those who like blueberries. I prefer cherries, but they're out of season.

Just before we got to the park, we came across a little falls where the air was cool and refreshing. There's no parking but there's a wide spot along the road. The temps were cooler up in the mountain. There were no bars for reception, either, which made it difficult to call up the ticket from the flower park. Fortunately, the lavender park had wifi so I finally connect so we got the discount. The discount even applied to the lift to the top of the park. In the winter, the park operates as a ski resort in the winter. The lavender field was planted on the slopes. We were glad that we opted for the lift up. The walk back down wasn't all that scenic.

We got some lavender ice cream when we got to the top and meandered along the lavender. The park smelled nice, for sure. There were also small sunflowers and cockscomb planted at the park. It was nice strolling along the pretty flowers. There was this group hogging good spots for some photo shoot. There have been articles about park visitors spending too much time at certain spots to capture the perfect shot for insta and parks taking countermeasures. It can get annoying.

The rain started to come down, and come down hard. Fortunately, the park had umbrellas to loan out. We grabbed those umbrellas since they were bigger than the one we brought. It was fun walking down the slope in the rain . . . not. The only flowers I saw were hydrangeas, tho they were lovely. It stopped raining by the time we got back to the shop. There were a bunch of sunflowers and lavender planted at the bottom of the hill, too.

The way these parks are set up, you have to pass through the souvenir shop before you can leave. She found a cute towel and I got some lavender tea. Besides, since we got a hefty discount, we might as well drop some money at the shops. Mist started rising but not so much that it made driving down the winding roads precarious.

We stopped by the other roadside stations on the way back to the hotel. The last one had an onsen bath, so we decided to stop by the next day before we headed back home. We got to the hotel, checked in, rested up a bit before going out to scrounge for dinner. We found a gem of an izakaya, a Japanese tapas-style eatery. We ordered karaage-style fried chicken, fries, eggplant with ginger, and Caesar salad. We ordered spare ribs, but the kitchen was out, so they comped us chilled sliced tomatoes. It was a bit disappointing to see cheap ham on the Caesar salad instead of chicken, but otherwise, the food was really good. I had some nice chocolate ice cream for dessert. We got back to the hotel happily full and mildly tipsy.

We took it easy in the morning and checked out at 9:30am. Going to the lavender park the day before was a good call, since it was raining, and the rain didn't let up. We went to the roadside station with the onsen. This onsen had a nice outdoor bath. It was lovely, although it was the first time I soaked in an outdoor bath in the rain. Lunch followed the nice soak. We were ready to head back for home after lunch. It was smooth sailing for the most parts, with a couple of snags.

Although we got rained on, it was a good trip. Good scenery, good food, and good company.

 July 26