Camping Near Ryusendo Caves

After going to Korea on Monday/Tuesday, we turned around and went camping Thursday/Friday/Saturday.

It was the longest week of my life and packing for the trip in million-degree heat may have caused a tiny (ginourmous) amount of marital discord, but we did it and it was pretty darn cool.

At this point you ask, "Does Doug EVER have to work?" and I answer, "Yes.  Whenever I want to sleep-in, (daily) go to the store with no kids, or whenever the toilet over-flows, or a kid has a poop accident, he is at work."

So we drove the 19 (3-4) hours South to Ryusendo and camped at the camp ground right next to the caves with 4 other families from church.  It was a pretty nice facility with grass, a cooking area with running water, clean new bathrooms, and even a coin operated shower.  Oh, and some of the largest bugs I have EVER seen.  Present company excluded.

I was worried about how Gray would sleep because it was so stinkin' hot and our tent didn't come equipped with a ceiling fan.  But he was a champ and did awesome.

(My kids are great sleepers.  Thank you BabyWise.)

The caves were pretty darn spectacular even though the boys were less than impressed.  It was super cold inside and their clothes were wet (because it was super HOT outside and we were playing in the water) so they walked in and immediately wanted to leave.

But we dragged them through the whole route anyway.

Doug kept trying to get Max to look at cool things and get excited and finally Max replied
"NO!  I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING IN THIS CAVE!"  sigh.

From a Japanese website:
"One of Japan's 3 greatest limestone caves, Ryusendo has a number of underground lakes enriched with water of exquisite features. Sceneries of the lakes, keep the massive volume of water ever quietly, are exposed to visitors when they proceed in a long, narrow, and complex underground path in the giant cave.
The first lake to be encountered in the cave is called "Ryugu-fuchi (pond of Dreagon palace)", known for high level of transparency of water as one of the highest in the world with 41.5m. The third lake has a depth of 98m, and its emerald-like shining water is the highlight of the tour. 
Spring volume mounts 17 thousand tons daily in Ryusendo, flowing out into a river. Temperature of this remarkable water is naturally kept at 7～10℃ throughout year. Notably this water is bottled and marketed nationally under brand name "Ryusendo-no-Mizu (Water of Ryusendo)", known also for winning Gold awards in Monde Selection.

It was a great trip despite coming home with 10,000 mosquito bites and a boat load of laundry.

Maybe we'll go camping again someday.  

But not someday soon.

Oh, the awesomeness

How cool does this sound;

"Yeah...I'm going camping this weekend.........in MAINE!"

Pretty cool, eh?

Wanna know what's even cooler?
I'm in Maine. And tomorrow I'm going camping. In Maine!

So, as this is the first time I've ever been this far NorEast, I'm going to share my first impressions:

MAINE IS EVEN BETTER THAN IT LOOKS IN "MURDER, SHE WROTE"!

Which was set in Maine and which I watched religiously every Sunday night with mom Faezer and sister Jenny for much of my childhood! [I've always loved a good mystery, and let's face it...Jessica Fletcher is awesome. I mean, a writer who solves crimes? What a spit fire. Pure GENIUS! (Mock this show and face my wrath.)]

So anyway, I'm pretty sure I've always wanted to visit Maine since then and now I'm here! And it just oozes New Englandishness. There are LOTS of super old towns filled with super old buildings and homes and they all have crazy unpronouncable names like "Junipero Serra". No wait...that was San Francisco. Like "Kennebunkport" and "Wiscasset".

ANYHOO--We've stopped for the night in Portland and tomorrow morning we finish our trek North to Acadia National Park where we will camp.

[For today's complete itineray, see Doug's blog.]

[By-the-way, Doug would like to request that you DON'T rob us while we're gone. But if you do, take some of the clutter on my desk with you. (And the dirty clothes that I'm pretty sure are under the boy's bunk-beds. And you'll find the most money in Max's Ritz Cracker jar on his dresser. It should net you about $8.63)]

I'll have more to report later, but for now I need to get some sleep. We're going camping with a 3-month-old. It may be the last chance I have for awhile!

G'night!