Rain in Wakayama

Saturday, June 21
Our Michi no Eki stamp collection adventures brings us back to Wakayama Prefecture, where today we drive along a famous historical road (a World Heritage Site) that clings tightly to the mountain face as it winds along a tumbling emerald river. Pretty!

This bento includes old-style rice.

At 熊野本宮, the mystical three-legged black crow is revered. I bought a crow charm.

柚子ソフト。ゲットした！The area is known for its charcoal, hence the black stick (a cookie) protruding from my citrusy cone.

Chris was grouchy even though he had a melon-flavored soft cream.

That's an ume mascot in the middle. Wakayama is famous for its plums. (Grandma, I hope you enjoy the honey-soaked local ume I mailed home!)

Uguisu (bush warblers) love ume blossoms. (The bright green birds are a common sight at the start of spring. I may have a picture of one somewhere on this blog.) This cartoon version stood at the entrance to a small ume museum at one of the Michi no Eki. With much bobbing of his mechanical head and tail, he invited us to learn about plums.

A display of giant (fake) umeboshi. I would LOVE to eat one this size! That would require a big onigiri to go with.

The ume trees were hanging with fruit. The blue tarps at the base of the trees catch the fruit that fall. They could be spotted throughout the landscape, even on steep mountainsides that surely required a great effort to maintain.

In the evening, we retired to a small hotel in Tanabe City, where apparently there is not much to do.

We ate a quick dinner at a nearby "shopping complex."

Sunday, June 22

In the morning, we woke to breakfast in the hotel restaurant . . . and rain.

In Japan, June means tsuyu, the rainy season, which means that any day (even one that starts out sunny) could be a day of torrential, soak-your-socks-through weather. Unfortunately, Sunday's rain threw our driving plans for a loop, as the Wakayama Michi no Ekis we aimed to visit were all along narrow, mountainous roads peppered with "Beware of Falling Rocks" signs along the way. After much deliberation, we decided we ought to submit to Mother Nature and spend the day somewhere safer.

Like the AWESOME Rinku AEON Shopping Mall! YAAAAY!
クリスはがっかりした.

The day wasn't a complete waste: we saw the latest Indiana Jones movie and I got my popcorn fix. Unfortunately, we'd have to return to Wakayama on another weekend for those darn stamps . . .