June part 1

Kari writes:

The coming of June marked our 1st anniversary!  We took a mini trip to nearby Yonago and stayed at the coolest beach-side hotel/spa in Kaike.  The room had an ocean view and the complimentary yukatas were gorgeous.

 Our search for a nice dinner was quite the adventure!  We decided it would be fun to do yaki-niku but we wanted to walk so we could take advantage of the standard 'all you can eat/drink' specials.  Unfortunately the 2 places we found within walking distance were tiny and packed!  We wandered another 20 minutes or so until we lucked out and came upon a yaki-niku buffet!  This place was ridiculous - they had a cotton candy machine and the staff were all wearing foam cowboy hats that said "Canada Beef".  It was certainly an experience!
Once we got back to the hotel we had to check out the famous hot springs and we weren't disappointed.  The facilities were beautiful and there was even an open air bath that looked out onto the ocean. Amazing!

Hamburger Sushi!

The next day we strolled along the coast, visited a neat thrift store, and ate lunch at Kurazushi which is a combination of conveyor belt sushi and shinkansen sushi.  You are seated at your booth and you can grab any plate that passes you by - but there is also a touch screen at your table and you can order anything you want and it will be delivered to your table by a little "train".  Super fun!  I enjoyed the hamburger sushi!





That night we decided to check out a festival we had heard about and vaguely knew the location of!  We drove up Mt Daisen in the rain and were rewarded for our efforts!  It was so amazing to see a sea of torches coming down the mountain toward us!




We were invited by our neighbors to watch them in a softball tournament.  It was a lovely day and even though we aren't huge baseball/softball fans it's always fun to cheer for your friends!  They took 3rd place and afterwards we all met up at the community center and had a party!

The next weekend was the 3rd annual Daisen Beer Festival.  Getting there by train and bus took a good portion of the morning but it was such a fun experience.  There were at least a dozen Japanese craft breweries there and we got the unlimited drink pass so we tried all sorts of interesting beers.  I found the fruit flavors to be the most intriguing - though banana beer was about as good as it sounds (aka not at all!).  There was live entertainment all day and Mt Daisen was an amazing backdrop for the whole thing!  We even got to take a ski lift up the mountainside and survey the whole festival from above!

Man oh man, June was so jam packed that I think I'll break it into two blog posts.  And of course July has been speeding by at record pace!  We have so much to get done in these next two weeks I might not have time to blog!  But I hope you enjoyed your glimpse into the first half of June!