Driving to Beppu

Out of the hotel shortly after 10. Stopped at a convenience store for breakfast and then off to Mount Aso. The scenery was magnificent between the car stop places. Once we got within 25 km of the mountain we found out access was restricted due to deadly gases. We tried to get close but only managed to get within 8 km of the caldera. The mountains looked fuzzy which was due to the tall grasses everywhere. We also went through a McDonald’s drive-thru and there was a guy with a menu in the road. We gave our order to him and he relayed it to the inside. Very strange! Food was pretty good. The mountain roads were very twisty and narrow. At one point we saw some shaped hedges so turned around to go look. Lo and behold…deer to feed corn to! And there were tons of these hedges that had been made into various shapes. Cool find!

Finally we arrived in Beppu and found our ryokan. Turns out it shares a parking lot and we mistakenly parked in someone else’s spot. They shooed us away and we found a good spot. After checking in we hauled our luggage out and Kim straightened the car. Our room was very large – our 4 futons fit easily. But…no Kleenex or kettle! Weird! Undaunted we walked out into the night to see if the yakitori place we remembered was still there. It was! So we had a great meal once I had deciphered enough of the menu. After dinner we tried to go to the beach but they have it walled off for development. We went back to the ryokan with a quick conbini stop and had dessert and planned the next day. On the way back we stopped at a little steaming waterfall. Then we jumped back when it suddenly geysered! That was exciting! After a bath in the relaxing onsen water, it was time for bed. It is always very neat to drive into Beppu and see all of the steam coming up from the ground. Onsen capital of Japan!