Kawazu Nanadaru Hike near Shimoda

About 45 minutes from Shimoda is the Kawazu Nanadaru (7 Waterfalls) hike.  It's a gorgeous hike that takes you up along a river with 7 natural waterfalls cascading down the mountain.  It's hard to put into words how beautiful it is.  Even Andrew, who lived in Hawaii for years, and has hiked all over, said that this was probably the best waterfall hike he's ever been on!  It's really incredible.  And, it's not a strenuous hike at all.  The paths are well constructed and Will did just fine walking the whole way; Clara would have been fine walking on her own also, but we want to make faster time so she got put in the hiking backpack :)

Each of the 7 waterfalls was marked with one of the 7 Lucky Gods, and this guy caught my attention in particular.  I think he might be Bishamonten, the god of warriors.  

And here's Benny, just trying to get a little taste of some cleansing water.  I don't think he was successful, but he tried!

We made it to 6 of the 7 falls except for the first one, Odaru, which is closed to the public.  Some of the falls were bigger than others, but all were spectacular, and almost hypnotic to watch.  I was especially in awe of the turquoise water that seemed to pool at the bottom of each waterfall.  I was seriously tempted to jump in several times!

This hike is definitely a new favorite of all the activities that we've done since being in Japan!  I just can't get over how gorgeous it is here!  There is beauty all around!  And I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to explore and experience some of it!

Sand Sledding and Cave Exploring in Shimoda

After lots of beach time in Shimoda we headed down to Toji Beach and Ryugu Park to check out the secret cave and try out sand sledding!  The cave in Ryugu Park was so cool--having been formed from a volcanic burst, it formed an enclosed, beautiful, little private beach with turquoise water.  It was serene and peaceful down in the cave, and then hiking up above and around the cave was just as beautiful, or even more so since we were able to see more views of the rocky, jagged coastline in addition to the cave!

After spending a while exploring the cave and admiring the views from Ryugu Park, we walked over to the Toji Sand Skiing Beach.  We hadn't planned on going there, so we didn't bring any of the little plastic sleds (they sell them at the ¥100 store) with us.  Usually the shops around the area rent them out, but because we were there during rainy/off season, none of the stores were open.  Luckily though, we had our boogie board with us and it worked just great!

The hill is really, really steep!  So, going down it on a slick boogie board can really get you flying!  It was so much fun!  Bennett LOVED it.  Andrew took him down the hill several times, and every time they got to the bottom of the hill, Bennett would start crying and refuse to get off the board because he wanted to do it again!  It was hilarious.

I've got a bunch of videos that I'll try and upload later, but we all had a blast sledding down the huge sand hill!

And again, the views were beautiful!  Shimoda is full of gorgeous spots!

While we were in Shimoda, we also ate at a couple of delicious restaurants!  The first was a conveyer belt sushi place, called Sakanadonya, with really great quality fish!  It was some of the best sushi we've had since we've been in Japan.  I was glad that we were able to eat there with Andrew, because he is a Townsend after all, which means that he loves sushi too! 

And Bennett loved the tuna roll!  He could hardly wait for Peter to give him more bites!

Another delicious, and very authentic restaurant we went to in Shimoda was Ue No Yama.  We ate fresh sashimi, katsudon, soba, ramen, and tempura, and it was all delicious!  I only have a couple of pictures; one pic of my awesome sashimi and this shot of a little sea slug that was in our miso soup!  There were a bunch of these little guys in there, and they weren't too bad, surprisingly enough.  Although, I hit my limit quickly and couldn't eat more than just a couple!  

Oishi!

Beach Days in Shimoda

With Andrew in town, we decided to go down to Shimoda for a few days to do a little relaxing by the beach and, mostly for Andrew, some surfing.  Shimoda is so beautiful!  The coastline is breathtaking with its large cliffs and clear blue water.  We stayed at the Shimoda Tokyu Hotel, which was fantastic, but the real selling point is its amazing view!  This is what we had to wake up to every morning:

And the view of the grounds and pool:

So so beautiful.  I really think that being in such a beautiful place, and so near the ocean is truly good for the soul.  Plus, the hotel itself was great; good sized rooms and nice onsens (of which I am slowly getting more accustomed!).

We spent the majority of our time in Shimoda at the beach surfing (or trying to anyway!) and playing in the sand.  The beaches we spent most of our time at were Sotoura Beach and Shirahama Beach.  Both beaches were beautiful and great for kids with lots of good sand and the water stayed shallow for quite a ways out.  Sotoura Beach hardly had any waves at all, which made it even better for the kids to play in the water.  Then, the last morning we were there, Peter and Andrew also surfed at Iritahama Beach.

Here's a picture of Peter surfing.  He really loves it, and I'm sure one day, when we live closer to the beach he'll be surfing all the time.  Until then, we'll just have to make regular trips down to Shimoda to practice!

And here's some proof that I actually got up :)  I caught quite a few waves, but always with a nice push from Andrew to get the speed to catch them!  He's the best surf teacher ever!  Hopefully one day I'll be able to do it on my own though :)

The kids had a blast playing in the sand.  They spent most of their time digging a giant hole and filling it with water.  Or at least the big kids did.  Benny just want to throw sand back in and splash in the water.  

In addition to just hanging out at the beach, we also went to the sand ski hill at Toji Beach, to see the secret cave at Ryugu Park, and we stopped to hike Kawazu Nanadaru (7 waterfall hike).  So stay posted for a few more posts with lots more pictures!