Nikko National Park

One of the reasons I have not had much time to update the blog is due to a business trip for my project. We have had many members from Marysville Auto Plant here working on the 2013 Accord. Last weekend, I played tour guide. We rented a van and borrowed another and 12 of us went to Nikko for the day. For business trip members, it is hard to get around sometimes. The trains and buses are convenient, but you still end up doing a lot of walking. With Elin and I driving them, they got to see a lot more of Nikko. We left at 9:30 and returned around 7:30 at night so it was a long day.




The Parker family at the top of the stairs of the main shrine. They are in the process of building a building around the shrine. It is starting to deteriorate so they are trying to cover it to preserve it.







When we went to Nikko in April, we did not make it to all of the areas. I have been to Nikko a few times and I don't ever remember getting to this area of the shrines/temples.







View of the 5 story pagoda from the back side.













I caught Elin in front of the Torii.









I am not positive what these are, but there are a lot of them through the park.











This is on the way up to the top shrine area. I think it might have been a bell tower, but I am not sure.








There are little creeks and water sources all over Nikko. It is a mountainous area.











One of the guardians of the temples/shrines.












View of the lower shrines from what I was calling the bell tower area.






I don't think we made it to this one, but I snapped a picture of it.

Another guardian.

Picture of a shrine. Sorry, I don't understand the significance of the separate shrines. It would be nice to have someone who understood everything so we could get an explanation. Maybe next time.

Denny next to a large tree.

Some of the business trippers.

We went up the windy road to the top of the mountain. I think I have a similar picture from our April trip.

View from the lookout.

Last time we were at Nikko, we stopped at a little store on the mountain. They have yakitori (meat on a stick) as well as other things. One of the things we tried was smoked eggs. They look funny, but they are really good. I wanted to bring my Bradley smoker to Japan, but the movers somehow packed one part of it so the rest of it was worthless alone so we packed it away. I want to try this when I get back home. I think the white things are mochi which is smashed rice. It has a gummy consistency and is often used for sweets. The texture is a little weird so none of us eat it much.

Savannah's favorite - pork yakitori. She had a whole one and then grabbed Denny's leftovers from me before I could get a bite.

This is the tunnel to get down to Kegon waterfall. Denny walked down with Rich. You have to take an elevator to get down to the tunnel.

Picture of the rock wall near the waterfall. I thought it looked cool so I wanted to share it. It almost looks like the picture is upside down.

Picture of the waterfall.

Savannah and I in front of the falls.

After the waterfall, we had just enough time to get up to lake Chuzenji before it got dark. As you can see, we just missed the sunset but it was still pretty. There was a

Savannah at Lake Chuzenji.

I pulled the car up to the curb and it had just enough room to clear it. This was the rental so I got lucky...

I hate this... I do it all the time. I have the camera turned to get a video and I can't figure out how to turn it. Sorry, you have to figure out how to look at it.

And again...