This holiday weekend we decided to head up to Lake Towada for their annual snow festival. We knew that it would be very cold so we all wore multiple layers (and it was well worth it). The amount of snow was crazy but what I didn't realize is how unbelievably beautiful it was. Unfortunately my pictures don't begin to show the beauty but I hope you can enjoy anyway....
This was the road up the mountain. It was maintained really well, better than most roads in the town. There were parts of the road where there were 4ft high snow walls. It was really cool to drive through.
We made a pit stop to Oirase Gorge to take a look at the waterfalls half frozen. Once again it was breathtaking. I wanted to stay and just enjoy the snow falling and the quiet of the trees. And surprisingly it wasn't very cold.
Half flowing / half frozen - too cool!
What a ham :) Loved wearing Daddy's goggles.
I loved this shot of the clouds coming over the mountains. Once again it looks cold but really was very nice out. We stayed in this area for about 5 hours. I look forward to returning next year.
The main stage where a band plays at night.
The carvings are crazy.
The kids enjoyed sledding down the hill. The best part for them was crashing into a snow bank. KIDS?!
As we walked through the village the kids spotted Totoro. They were so excited to see this because he is one of their favorite Japanese characters (thanks to Uncle Kent).
Here AJ and I were bad Americans. This shrine was blocked off for some reason. "What barriers?" we said and went up to take a look. Shhhh, just our little secret (and anyone reading my post).
This is Lake Towada. Those trees to the right is a little island. A really beautiful place to be.
We arrived at the festival around 1pm but it didn't open until 5pm. Once it got closer to opening time we got to see workers cleaning off their displays from that days snow (which was a lot). Alyssa really enjoyed watching them work.
My loves :)
