Yamanashi, Houtou Lunch, and a Winery with Wassabi

Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 | 0 comments

  On the 29th of last month, we took the (very, very) long route to Yokohama, driving up around Mt. Fuji for lunch, into Yamanashi and then finally back down towards Kanagawa and Yokohama. Wasabi had to suffer through a 7-hour car ride, but it was either that or drive all the way back to pick her up before heading to Yokohama for the rest of the weekend, which would've added at least another 2 hours to our trip.
And we suffered a bit, too, seeing as Wasa refuses to stay in her cage for car trips. (She cries the ENTIRE time if she's forced to stay in it). Once out, however, she tends to bounce around from window to window until we get on the highway, at which point she'll stop howling/biting/going beserk and settle down on my lap. The problem with this trip was, besides the duration, we really weren't on the highway much for the first 5 hours. And Wasa HATES stops and starts!

             Mobile wrestling ad we spotted on the road




                      Dashboard surfing



                       'Mommy?? '






    Near Mt. Fuji, there are lots of restaurants famous for 'houtou', which is basically a steaming-hot iron pot full of thick noodles and veggies, with the option of adding meat such as pork, duck, or bear. Yes, you read right. Bear. Needless to say, Andrew's was vegetarian, I got the vegetarian too, but with extra mushrooms, and nobody got bear!

            Delicious Houtou Lunch!



   The sign in back of us says 'Something something Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji) Wine Cellar'. Maybe one day I'll be able to read all of the Kanji!



  The wine shop was our last stop before going on to Yokohama. They were rather stingy with their tastings, but perhaps that was a good thing, seeing as we encountered a traffic jam on the way back. Even so, there was quite a bit of discussion about whether or not one of us would need to take advantage of Wasabi's travel litter box! Luckily for those of us with small bladders, a convenience store appeared just in time to save the day!!
       

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