Tsukuba Mountain

      Tsukuba Mountain is a short trip to the north of us here, and we were told to take a hike, so we decided that was exactly what we would do.  We got up at 4:00 AM (2:00 PM for you in New York) and met the cousins from Moria.  They drove us to Tsukuba and we were lucky to get parking even though it was still quite early.  The weather was perfect and the maples were in full color, check out the photo.

      The hike was great, as I am in fair shape now that I am running.  I did discover that the muscles for running are not exactly used the same for hiking and my calves took a few days to stop reminding me.
      I found the hike somewhat melancholy since the last time we hiked Tsukuba was with Ryoko's cousin, Yumi-chan, who was killed by a truck last Summer as she was crossing the street.  I kept remembering how Yuta held Yumi-chan's hand on that last hike.  He was having a difficult climb and she was so kind as she helped him.  I remembered how I took Yumi-chan ice fishing years ago and how she looked like the wind would just pick her up and carry her off that day.  She had the slight frame so common here in Japan.  The next picture is one that we took that day.  I kept an eye out for the tree in this photo and when we came to it I suggested a photo with

the new group.  Ryoko took the picture, as she had the first time.  I did not think at all about where to stand and ended up in close to the same position.  Yumi-chan's sister, Kyo-chan is standing quite near to where Yumi-chan stood.  I feel that Yumi-chan was there in our spirits and I know that she would have approved of how we enjoyed the beauty of the mountain.  We miss you. . .

     We did not take the train down the mountain this time because the weather was much nicer. The number of hikers increased as we went down until it was almost harder to go down then up.  This trend continued until we made it to the bottom and took some pictures there.  We loitered

around at the bottom for some time and then made our way to the car. The scene around the parking lot was chaotic and Lee-san lost his temper with another driver.  I have not seen him angry before and that speaks volumes.  The line of traffic that we drove by snaked all the way down the foothills into the valley below.  I estimate that the line was at least 2 miles of cars.  I am glad that we got there early. . .