Tadake Falls

The weather has been gorgeous the past few days. The forecast for this past weekend called for clear sky's and temps in the mid to high 70's. We decided to make the drive up north to go to Tadake Falls. 

Some call this a river trek and it's easy to see why. The river is the trail. We dressed for it, got the kids excited, and loaded up them and the dog. 

The start of the trail was just a random place in the river. There was a small area to pull off the road and park. We knew we found the place when we saw all the other American plates! The trail was pretty easy at first.

Our dog was in heaven! He isn't big on deep water, but he managed just fine. The little one decided to get all dramatic on us though. She didn't want to get wet (notice her holding her shorts up in the picture?) She fussed over everything. We would help her over the hard parts, but we refused to carry her just because she was being cranky. Little Man had a blast. He stayed in the water most of the time, even if it meant taking the hard way. 

The farther we got, there were a small few obstacles, some bigger rocks, but nothing difficult. Some nice soul, had tired ropes in certain places where the rocks were slanted or steep. There was one ledge, maybe six feet high, that you had to climb. There were ropes though and we talked the kids through their intro to rock climbing. They both did great! We made it to the waterfall in a half hour or so. We ran into a few other groups of people, but just in passing. Otherwise, it was all nature.

We played for a while, then headed back once it started to get a little dark through the trees. There was another trail that went to the top of the falls, but it looked to rough for the kids. The little one perked up on the way back. We made it back a lot faster because she was all smiles. The kids managed to both get soaked, but that's understandable. I was wet up to mid-thigh, but that was only from a couple spots in the river. It was a fun family outing and good exercise too!

Azalea Festival and Meoto Falls

I drug the kids to another festival this weekend. 

The Tsutsuji Matsuri or Azalea Festival is held every March in Higashi Village.

It is in a northern party of the island I had never been to.

We drove, and drove, and drove some more.

I knew we hadn't past it, because festivals are always obvious, even if nothing is in English.

We finally came upon a small store selling flowers. 

There were banners out front that are always displayed at festivals.

After checking the map out near the front, I thought maybe this was it.

We paid and started walking.

We found flowers. Lots of them, but it wasn't the festival.

We checked it all out anyways and continued on our way.

Once we found the festival, it was obvious.

It was the cheapest festival we've been too.

It was 300 yen to get in, the kids were free. 

The normal food stands were there, as was the bouncy houses (which were also super cheap, 100 yen for 10 minutes).

Mostly though, it was flowers. Hillsides full of flowers.

It was really pretty. 

The kids weren't overly impressed, but I bought them food and they had a go in the bouncy house.

I try to do my research when we do day trips like this.

I looked up what else there was to see nearby and found 2 waterfalls. 

Meoto Falls or Tachigawa Falls is called the married couple's waterfalls by the locals.

Based on the directions we had, it was easy to find.

They are both behind a cafe and a small woodworking shop.

When we walked up (our 3 blond heads gave us away),

the Japanese man in the wood shop gestured for us to follow him and handed us over to a guy who spoke English. He showed us where we needed to go.

There is a separate path to get to each waterfall.

The guy was so nice, that we stayed afterwards to have a snack at the cafe. 

He translated everything for us and gave the kids stuff to play with while we waited for our food.