This entry is mirrored.

Amidst all the chaos that is currently taking place both on, and off, the grid we decided that we needed to escape for a weekend. We needed to get away from it all and just unplug for a bit. To do so we opted to do one of our most beloved summer activities: camping.

We headed out for a weekend at Lake Saiko, one of the 5 lakes in the Fuji Five Lakes area. Since our first time going to Lake Saiko last year we have fallen in love with this one campsite. It is clean, refreshing, beautiful and relatively quiet.

To top it off there is an onsen within walking distance; it is a mere 5 minute walk from the campsite to the excruciatingly hot water that you thrust your naked body in to! Although it is the only place to relax while cleaning yourself in the area it is well worth the price, as well as dealing with the amount of traffic that this particular hot springs sees.

My goal was to leave the house on Saturday morning and be on the road by 8am sharp. For a change we happened to make that mark! The roads were fairly traffic free with the exception of a 6km stretch on the Tomei Expressway, between Yokohama-Machida and Atsugi. We got lucky and arrived at the campground at 11am, which is a testament to how fast I was driving as well as the lack of cars on the road.

We quickly set up our tent and eating area. It took roughly 45 minutes to get everything out of the car and completely stood up. This was pretty fast for us; it usually takes longer but since we have all this experience under our belts we must be getting really good at it now!

By the time we were done everyone was famished. We were going to eat some Nissin Cup Noodle ramen but because the heat was blistering we decided to make some good, old fashioned, sandwiches instead. Bread and beer, courtesy of Asahi, was just what the doctor ordered.

When we were done eating Anthony decided that he wanted to go for a swim. He changed in to his bathing suit, grabbed some accessories and ran down to the lake. As soon as he reached the lake he immediately plunged in to the cool and refreshing water. From our campsite we were able to see the lake, which is one of the reasons we like this place.

I followed Anthony down to the water just to see what the temperature was as well as to do a little fatherly supervision. Took the trusty Canon 20D with me and snapped a few pictures in the midst of educating myself on this technological marvel.

Watching Anthony got me jealous so I walked back up to the tent, where I found Junko. I jumped inside and we both started to change in to our bathing suits so that we could go for a soothing swim in Saiko.

As we were changing clothes, the wind started to kick up but we barely noticed it, which was unfortunate for us. About 2 minutes after I was fully changed and ready to go, while Junko was still preparing herself, a huge gust of wind shot through the campground. From the tent we could hear a sound that was reminiscent of glass breaking.

We both peered through the tent door and looked at the eating area. This is where, it would seem, that the sound came from. Luck, would have it, that we were right.

Laying in the dirt, on the ground, was what was left of our only gas lantern. Apparently the wind was so strong that it blew over our lantern stand, and the lantern along with it, and it came crashing down in to the dirt, rock and grass of the campsite. One of the mantles also was crushed though this was not an immediate issue as they are easily replaceable.

This was a pretty big blow as it was our only “high-powered” lantern that provides for decent lighting at night. The other problem is that we bought this on-base, as it was an American product, whereas we were out in the middle of the Japanese “countryside,” with no access to American shopping. In all of our travels we have rarely found the same camping products on-base as are sold off-base. This presented a huge problem.

I got Anthony from the lake so that he could change and we could head out to look for replacement glass or, worse, an entirely new lantern. We queried the nice guy who runs Lake Saiko Lakeside Campsite if he knew of a place to get what we needed. Indeed, he did!

He gave us directions that we immediately followed. Our destination was Kawaguchiko, the lake with the best view of Mt. Fuji. He had us head to a store called Kuroganeya, which is basically a home-center-like store.

When we arrived we immediately headed for the camping goods area. It happened to be located right in the middle of the store, straight back from the entrance, so that it was very easy to find. They had no replacement glass though they did have a gas-powered lantern made by Coleman, as opposed to the Propane-powered one we were accustomed to.

Junko decided to query one of the locals to see if they knew of any other places in the area that might sell similar goods. Lucky for us, this one couple had an idea. They told us to head to J-Mart, which is near the train station. We hopped back in the car and headed out towards the store.

When we arrived we were somewhat surprised. The store is huge and has an even larger parking lot. It is situated directly next to Fujikyu Highland, a popular amusement park. J-Mart appeared to have been built within the last 6 months; it was clean, large and a very nice place overall, considering the area. In the big city we live in there is only one place comparable in size though not many have the same stock.

To get to the point: J-Mart did not have what we were looking for either. Though, Junko was very interested in the store and made a point of telling me that she wanted to come back to the store and look around at some point.

We headed back to Kuroganeya and bought the sole gas-powered lantern that they had. Needless to say, it worked quite nicely even though it does not produce as much light as our Propane-powered lantern.

I promise that there is a moral to this story. Really, I do. Bear with me.

Day two comes and we were hoping to be able to get in to the water since we missed our chance the previous day, no thanks to the stupidity of having to shop for a new lantern. Luck, would have it, that we were able to get wet! Though, this time it was from the rain rather than the refreshing wetness of Lake Saiko. To top it off, it was slightly cool and windy; enough so that it was not really what one would consider swimming weather.

Since we always hit this one stone shop in Kawaguchiko we thought it would be a good way to spend some time while waiting for the day to warm up and the clouds and rain to dissipate. Anthony partook in his favorite pastime and dug for precious stones. Afterwards we walked through the shop and then headed across the street to the batting cages. The rain started coming down fairly hard, though in spurts, so we sought refuge in the shops along the street.

We started to get hungry and went to grab a bit to eat while watching the clouds scream down upon us. No matter what we said or did, the rain would not stop nor would the temperature rise.

Junko, remembering the day previous, thought that we could spend some time at good ole J-Mart in order to escape the rain. Here we were, evading the city-life up in the mountains yet we were doing exactly what we would have been down if we were at home.

We looked at the dogs in J-Mart, as they have a decent sized pet area. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards we started strolling around the store. Eventually, we ran across the furniture section.

This one area within the furniture section interested us the most as it was filled with a large supply of country-styled goods.

Something caught Junko’s eyes. She damn near passed out due to love at first sight. A bed, chest, night-table and dresser smacked her right in the face and said, “look, you want me!”

“I want you too,” she said in return, with that glossed over look one has in their eyes when they realize that they are in love with the image they are staring at.

Let me explain, however brief, why this was a big deal. For the past six years we have been sleeping on futon’s rather than a “real” bed. We have never really found the “set” we were looking for so we opted to wait until we found the right one.

Now would be the “right one.”

One bed, two night-tables, one chest, one dresser and a lot of money later, there we were, walking around J-Mart, giddy like two kids in a candy store. The rest of the camping trip was a blast even though we never did get to go swimming.

But we bought a bed set!

What is the moral, you ask?

Strange things happen to us, for stranger reasons.

Maybe all that has happened on deviantART is part of something larger that is planned. Then again, maybe not, but at least it sounds good!

We never would have thought that because of all the drama in our lives that we would go camping to forget it all, just to have our lantern break on the first day so that we could go shopping for a new one, only to find a neat store that we thought would be fun to see again, which would lead to us heading back to that very store the next day, in order to escape the rain, just so we could buy the bedroom set that we have been waiting to buy for the past six years.

Whew!

So there you have it.

… and that was our weekend. Enjoy the uncut, sorta-processed photos that were taken with the “new” Canon 20D.