Above is a pic from the soaking tub itself looking back on the the house/inn and beyond that the trail that comes down out of the forest. It's a magical place, really, and for a split second there I entertained the idea of offing the kind, gentle old woman who ran the place and announcing myself the new proprieter! HA! Who is king of the hill now, girlfrin'?! No, but really I was wondering how one obtains the priveledge of running such an establishment. Was it first come first served? Publicly owned somehow? Inherited? Does she own the land? Curious...

Thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog and have submitted a comment or have dropped me an e-mail. I really appreciate it. It feels great to know there are people out there keeping tabs on my and my experiences here in Japan.

I just discovered that I can insert multiple pictures per post so I’ve decided to start including a lot more pictures and smaller chunks of writing. I just figure that will be more appealing to the visitor and as they say: a picture speaks 1,000 words! Here is another pic from that fabulous “rotemburo” onsen that I found last weekend. Man that was a great weekend of solo exploring and discoveries… I can’t get it out of my mind! So here’s some pics to see what I’ve been thinking about. Enjoy amigos!

This is a pic of the onsen as you finish walking the steep, yet stunning, one mile trail. You see the structure on your left... it's is both a residence and an inn of sorts where one can stay for a good price. It has fantastic food, hiking trails up and around the clean crisp river, and an incredible, piping hot onsen to boot. I was only able to submerge in the waters for maybe 5 min at a time after which i had to sit up on the side, or risk a massive heart attack by dunking in the cool river. This river is cold, but not nearly as cold as the crisp waters of my other favorite swimming hole, Punchbowl Falls.