Second trip to Shosenkyo

Today Adam, Lance, Joel, and I went to Shosenkyo to see it in the glory of the changing leaves.  It was very cold but beautiful and definitely worth it.  It always takes us so long to get going!  I didn't even leave my house until around 11:30 and then I had to go to Lance's and then Greg's and then Adam's and then Joel's and then we went to the station and just missed the bus (we didn't know what times the bus ran) so we had 30 minutes to kill so Lance, Joel, and Adam went back to adam's (Greg didn't end up coming with us) and I went to the department store near the station and tried on a kimono.  We met up back at the station and then about 2 minutes before the bus was supposed to come Lance realized that he had forgotten his bag (and hence his camera) at Adam's so he ran to get it and the bus came while he was gone.  So we had another 40 minutes to wait and so we went to adam's and they played video games while I read.

Finally at 1:00 pm we got on the bus.  The bus ride was about 40 minutes but the ride is almost as beautiful as the gorge.  We could see the snowy peak of Mount Fuji in the distance framed by all the colourful leaves.

We could see the snowy peak of Mount Fuji in the distance framed by all the colourful leaves.

When we got off the bus (we got off at the art gallery stop and walked back toward Kofu) we spent about an hour going to every shop on the road(there are many) so by about 2:30 we hadn't even seen the gorge yet!  I got a few things to send home as gifts and Adam got several Hello Kitty key chains (which he seems to be collecting now) and then we walked the gorge.  It only took us about 20-30 minutes.  There were so many people that it was hard to stop and get photos.  There were way more people there today than the last time I came which was a bit surprising because it was so cold.  I guess the leaves are a big draw.  I enjoyed the changing leaves but I think I still preferred it in September.  I liked the really bright green better than the autumn colours.  In September everything was full and you couldn't even see through the trees.  Now it was a bit more sparse due to the fallen leaves.

When we got to the end of the trail we went over to check the bus schedule and this taxi driver told us he would charge us the same as the bus (800 yen) to take us so to Kofu station, so we did that instead.  He was a very nice man and kind of a nut too!  He was showing us pictures of this big fish he caught and calling himself the champion.  He also whipped out the reel of a fishing rod and was winding it for us at one point as well.

We got back to Kofu around 4 pm and the boys headed to the ramen shop to warm up while I took the long, cold walk home to heat up some tofu and gobo soup I had made yesterday.  It was a good day though, cold and all.  Besides, as I have said many times in the past month, nothing is as cold as fuji at the 8th station in the middle of the night during the offseason!  I will post some pics soon.  My camera kind of crapped out while we were there but I will get some from Lance and post them soon.