Fall, Fall, and more Fall

So now that Brian is back, there is no time for jet lag!  The fall colors are in full swing here in Japan, so we have a lot of things to see before the snow starts coming and never stops!

This past weekend we found an Apple Orchard thanks in no small part to the word-of-mouth directions of our friend Sharon.  Once again, you would never stumble on it on your own, but what a great way to spend a fantastic fall Saturday!

Above is the shack that you enter the orchard through.  We paid Y500 per person so that we could eat as much as we wanted for an hour.  Brian took this challenge seriously!

Apparently the apples were so good that Brian couldn't stop eating long enough for us to take pictures...

To get to the apples we had to climb on a steep incline down through some grape vines filled with delicious grapes (these were also included in the all-you-can eat buffet price).

One kind of apple was so sweet and juicy that it had pockets of super-syrupy deliciousness inside.  The apples of Japan are not the same as those in the US!

After we stuffed ourselves like pigs at the apple orchard we headed just up the road to see this "Dragon Ride" which was a four story contraption that you could pay to have your children climb.  Don't worry, they are given helmets a la what you would see on a Japanese game show.  That would surely be enough in the event of a high wind or earthquake should you or your child fall off.

Then one last stop at a three-tiered pagoda/buddhist monastery.

Like I said, a great way to spend a fall day in Japan!