A lovely weekend outdoors

This was the view from the cabin where Liz, Mayla, Jemma and I stayed Friday night through Sunday morning.

The scenery was fantastic and the weather was wonderful. The month of August in northern Japan feels more like June in Indiana -- it's warm, but not hot. The campsite we went to was about two hours northwest of Kuji, located on Lake Towada.

Our cabin (and Jemma's car). Sorry about the overexposure!

When we got to our cabin on Friday night, it was so dark that we couldn't tell how close we were to the lake. So on Saturday morning, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that not only did we have a spectacular view of the water and mountains from our cabin, but it was also a beautiful day to enjoy it. (The weather forecast has predicted rain. It did sprinkle a little bit in the afternoon.)

I walked down to the lake with Jemma and just admired God's beautiful creation. Liz joined us, then Mayla, and it was a group consensus to go for a morning swim. The water was warmer than I thought it would be, and the swim was so invigorating! We had a breakfast picnic by the lake with the foods we bought the night before.

The swim was followed by a hike along the lake, which is when Liz took these pictures:


And the pleasant hike along the flat area by the lake led into climbing in the woods! I'm smiling in the picture below, but at this point I didn't really feel like smiling. I'm not used to so much uphill/downhill walking, and my legs felt it afterward.


Looking back at what we just climbed.

After the hike, Jemma, Liz and I went for a refreshing swim in the lake. (which I had been daydreaming about nearly the whole time hiking uphill!) We spent the late afternoon and evening in a nearby, touristy town. The four of us went inside the shops, ate dinner at a nice restaurant and then went to a natural hot springs bath! Lovely. When we got back the cabin, we went outside and played with sparklers like kids. So much fun!

Isn't Liz such an artistic photographer? I think this picture is so cool!

Sunday morning was spent taking a walk along a gorge, where there were several little waterfalls. Again, the scenery was beautiful, and I was inwardly praising God for His magnificent work. On the drive back to Kuji, we stopped at a mall and ate at an Italian buffet for lunch -- a nice ending to a great weekend trip.

I thought this man was doing a great job of capturing what we were seeing in nature.

One of the small waterfalls we saw while hiking along the gorge.