Hirosaki Lantern Festival

Well, I just figured that since it's practically April, which brings cherry blossoms and a trip to Hirosaki Castle to see what we've been told are the most beautiful blossoms . . . I should finally post about the Hirosaki LANTERN Festival . . . covered in snow . . . Valentine's Day weekend. We had a blast. We left Misawa early afternoon on a Saturday and took our time driving to Hirosaki (we were bound and determined not to pay any tolls . . . ) . . . We stopped to take pictures of snow and boats and mountains . . .

Nothing like a little chu-hi in the middle of the afternoon!

Hirosaki is between 2-3 hours from home, but we chose to spend the night just because . . . we could. Here's our ITTY BITTY hotel room . . .

J was SUPER into taking pictures during this trip . . . I guess because there were so many fun things to take pictures of! Beautiful red bridges and lanterns and food and snow and trees and castles :)

The actual Hirosaki Castle

We ran into our friends P and S while we were walking around and freezing . . . so we sat and enjoyed some fab Japanese "festival food," sake, chu-hi, and cuddle time with their brand new little girl . . .

Pretty much . . . it was beautiful and fun and fabulous . . .

We finished the weekend with a little onsen . . . a little Tony Roma's in Aomori . . . and taking the toll road home :)