Fushimi Inari Taisha

I was so excited our first full day in Kyoto to go to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It's also nicknamed, thousand torii gates, it should be thousands of torii gates. We started the day taking the bus back to Kyoto station and then taking the train only 2 stops to the shrine. Sounds like a hassel, but once you get the hang of it, it's fairly easy to get around Kyoto.

This is the entrance to the shrine, I love the brightly orange colored gates and buildings.

And here's the entrance to the thousands of torii gates, all the way up to the top of the mountain.

It's a bit crowded at the bottom, that's where most people stay, not everyone hikes through all the torii gates to the top. We weren't planning on it at first, but just started walking. It's quite the experience to wander through all the lovely torii gates.

The back of the gates are inscribed with the donor's name and date. So some of the gates are new and have been recently donated and some are older.

Instead of hiking right up to the top through the torii gates, we took a detour, and hiked up the back of the mountain and then came down through the gates.

We saw lots of bamboo! It's hard to say how amazing the bamboo forest are and it's hard to capture how cool they are in picture, they are just cool!

There were a couple of shrines along the way with what looked like graveyards, but not sure exactly what it was.

As we were walking along we saw a man working on chipping away at a wooden person, he was very nice and let us take a picture. He spoke good English and we had a nice conversation. This is one of my favorite things about travel, all the nice people you meet. It really restores your faith in humanity.

More bamboo!

After a bit of steep hiking we made it to the top of the mountain as it's called. We didn't stay too long before walking back down. It's nice at the top but the real treat is walking through all the torii gates.

A great view of Kyoto.

Kyoto

We got back last Saturday from our trip to Kyoto/Osaka, and man did I take A LOT of pictures! It was a wonderful getaway that gave us a taste of old Japan. I decided when I booked this trip back in March (mostly outta necessity), to rent a house for part of this trip. It was going to be expensive, but so were all of the hotels I was looking at, the few that weren't already booked up, that is. I'm not sure why travel in Japan is so expensive, but it is! Anyway, we were excited to stay in a traditional Japanese machiya. These are the wooden two story structures, no inside doors, sliding screens, futons on the floor, the whole bit, the whole experience. We traveled by bullet train and arrived in Kyoto about 2 pm.

This is the Kyoto Station, bullet train, local trains, subway, buses, all can be accessed from here. It's cool, and always busy.
I was amazed at how quickly we were able to find the house we were staying at. Once we found our bus and our bus stop, the house was a five minute walk away.

One of the reasons I booked the house I did was because so many of the reviews talked about it being in the perfect location, and it was! It was literally across the way from the Yasaka Pagoda. This 5 story pagoda is said to be at least 1000 years old!

and tucked down this little alley, was this great house. We nicknamed it the 'doll house', it really was tiny, but very warm.

The entryway; there is a little stone area when you first come in to take off your shoes before you step up to wood floors.

Upstairs. After we dropped our stuff we set out to check out the neighborhood, and quickly realized we were staying right off the famous Ninen-Zaka Path. This is a pedestrian only street lined with shops and restaurants. This takes you back to old Japan, and it was lovely. This was the highlight of the trip for me, staying on this lovely street, and walking up and down.

Hello Kitty restaurant.

Endless shops!

After we got some dinner we walked up to Kiyomizu-dera temple. It's one of the big ones in Kyoto, it's stunning, set on a hillside, and this time of year after dark, it's lit up.

I really need to learn how to use my camera better, my night shots are disappointing.

The whole hillside was lit up.

This is the wooden structure that supports the temple. It was really neat to be here after dark but we knew we wanted to come back to see everything in the daylight.

A tad blurry.

Much more to come.

Halloween!

I think this may be the last year my oldest is dressing up for Halloween, sad! If this is the last year she went out with a bang! She was the Queen of Hearts and she did such an awesome job on her costume!! All by herself!

She looked awesome! And so did Rayce and Avie Jo!

My cute clan.

And here's this year's pumpkins.

We had a fun and crazy Halloween night! The base has trick or treating hours from 6 to 8, which is really nice. We don't have to worry about people ringing our doorbell at 10! Danielle went to be with her friends and we stayed around our house to trick or treat. Boris went out with us, but was too naughty so I had to bring him back to bark at the door! I always LOVE Halloween, but I'm not ready for winter yet. I get a pit in my stomach thinking about shoveling snow and the cold!! Not ready yet, maybe it will be a warm winter?

Motorcycles

Dan got me to go to the motocross track in Towada the other day. I went knowing I could read and take pictures the whole time, two of my favorites! The weather was gorgeous and there were fall leaves everywhere.

There are two tracks here, one is more like a trail and then there's the big boys track. Rayce mostly stayed on the trail.

Dad on the big boys track!

Rayce on the big boys track!

I had to take Rayces' bike for a little spin...not on the big boys track!