昨日は家族でドライブしてきました。今回の目的地は湯の丸高原でした。本来なら、６月に湯の丸の有名のつつじを見に来るべきでした。でも、今の時期にも牛が高原でうろうろしているので我が子供たちが自然の高原の中で牛とのふれあいが出来て、喜びました。私たち親が行く途中のアトリエ・ド・フロマージュのソフトクリームと帰りの途中の鹿沢温泉の秘湯「紅葉館」のお風呂の方が好きでした。
夕の丸高原は戸倉上山田温泉・亀清旅館から車で１時間です。
Yesterday the wife and kids and I piled in the car for one of our favorite pastimes: a Drive. This time the destination was Yunomaru Highlands. The best time of the year to go is June, when the azaleas are in bloom. But even this season, you can enjoy seeing cows wander around freely in the highlands. Our kids had fun walking amongst the cows. My wife and I, on the other hand, enjoyed stopping on the way at Atelier de Fromage and their delictable soft ice cream, and on the way back at Kazawa Onsen's 'Koyokan' for their 'secret' bath.
Yunomara Kogen is 1 hour by car from Kamesei.

亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

アトリエ・ド・フロマージュのHPはこちらClick here for Atelier de Fromage website

湯の丸高原の詳しくはこちらInfo on Yunomaru Highlands here

鹿沢温泉の紅葉館のHPはこちらClick here for Koyokan's website

栗の小道、あちらこちらの味のある格好いい蔵、栗菓子工場からの香り、ここはこっと小布施でしょう！今日はインバウンドサミットの関係の会議で小布施に行ってきました。同じ長野でも、ちょっと違う、お洒落った雰囲気です。北斎館や沢山の楽しいお土産やさんに美味しいお菓子店、その上に何十年前から頑張ってきた町興しの影響で町の見た目がやはりすごいですね。
小布施は戸倉上山田温泉から車で約１時間です。電車のローカル線でもいけます。
The walnut wood block path, classic earthen walled storehouses, the scent of walnut sweets wafting from inside the factories -- this must be Obuse. I came here today for an Inbound Summit meeting. Obuse is its own little world within Nagano Prefecture, with the Hokusai Museum, the classy shops, the walnut sweets makers, and on top of it all, the hard work of the town improvement people over the last 20+ years. It all adds up to make Obuse a unique place to visit.
Approx. 1 hour by car from Kamesei, or accessible via a leisurely ride on the local rails.

亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

小布施堂のHPはこちらClick here for Obusedo website

大町の中学生がアルペンルートの観光を勉強していて、欧米人観光客はどうやって増やせるかという話題で私を呼んで頂きました。欧米人はどうして日本に来るかから始まって、どういうおもてなしを求めているかのお話しました。そして、私たち家族が１ヶ月前にアルペンルートを観光したばかりなのでその印象もお伝えしました。私の外から来た自然な見方と学生の自然な見方で何か良い結果が出れば良いと思います。
(後、どうして戸倉上山田中学校その感じで戸倉上山田温泉とのふれあいがしないのかという疑問を思ってきました。うちの妻のお姉さんが小学校のころ｢上山田温泉の由来｣の劇をやったというし、そうやって町の子供達が温泉とのなじみつくりが大事だ！）
せっかく大町に行ったので塩の道の博物館も見学しました。その立派な歴史が感動的に伝われた。お勧め！
Omachi City's middle school students are studying how to increase tourism for the Kurobe Dam Alpen Route. They invited me to talk about travel culture of Westerners. I also gave my opinions on the Alpen Route from when our family went last month. I hope my fresh opinions can combine with the fresh opinions of the students so they can come up with some new ideas.
I was also left with the question why our local Togura Kamiyamada Middle School doesn't engage itself more with Togura Kamiyamada Onsen. My wife's oldest sister said when she was a school girl, she did a theatrical play about the legend of Kamiyamada Onsen's origin -- it's important for the town's children to form a connection with onsen like that.
Anyways, at Omachi, I went to their 'Shio-no-Michi (Salt Road) Museum'. It really brought to life the impressive history of the lives of people who carried salt from the ocean to the mountains of Nagano.

博物館のHPはこちらClick here for Museum website

娘の美咲ちゃんと戸倉上山田温泉の４つの公園を散歩しながら回ってきました。それぞれの公園はそれぞれの特徴があって、楽しかった。住吉公園はClub houseや滝、キノコ公園はキノコの形のトイレにロッククライミングや恐竜、南部公園は長い滑り台、そして亀清の裏の中央公園はジャングルジム。歩いて行ける距離でこれだけな公園があって、嬉しいね。
I took our daughter Misaki for a walking tour of four parks here in Togura Kamiyamada Onsen. Each one is unique. Sumiyoshi Park has cool club houses and a waterfall. 'Mushroom' Park has mushroom-shaped toilets, rock climbing and dinosaurs. Nanbe (South) Park has a long hill slide. And Chuo (Central) Park right behind Kamesei has a fun jungle gym. It's great we have so many parks within walking distance!

戸倉上山田温泉の周辺の田んぼの稲は段々と伸びてきた。収穫が近付いているかな？さわやか信州はこの青々の色で更に気持ち良いです。
The rice in the paddies around Togura Kamiyamada Onsen is growing and growing. Harvest time must be just around the corner. Nagano is normally alive with nature, but with the rice paddies as lush as they are, Nagano seems even more so now.

お盆のピークが終わって、家族とドライブしてきました。本当は奥志賀へ行こうとしたが、志賀高原の上が雲の中でした。従って、途中でプランを変更して、白根山を通って草津温泉に出ました。私にとっては１５ねんぶりでした。子供達を連れて、テルメテルメのプールでたっぷり遊びました。その後、草津の湯畑の辺でぶらぶら。うらやましい事で草津はやはり楽しめる事が沢山あります。この戸倉上山田温泉も頑張らなきゃ。
草津温泉は亀清旅館から車で約1時間半。
With the O-Bon rush over, our family went for a drive today. We tried to go to Oku-Shiga but as we reached the highlands, we found ourselves in the clouds. So we switched plans, and drove by the Shirane cauldron on the way to Kusatsu Onsen. We took the kids to Therme Therme Land and played in the pool. Then we went to Kusatsu's famous 'Yu-Batake', a chain of small pools used to cool off the hot mineral water for use in the baths in the town's ryokans. We were jealous of all the attractions Kusatsu has. Our town, Togura Kamiyamada, has to try harder!
Kusatsu Onsen is a 1.5 hour drive from Kamesei.

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

地元のシアトルから友人が遊びに来てくれました。信州のどこを案内するか考えたら、戸隠を選びました。短い間でお盆の混みこみなんですが、最初は皆でまずそばを美味しく頂いて、そして奥社の杉木並びまで軽いハイキング(行く度に、そのすごい木の姿を見て、自然の力を感じて、感動します）、最後はにんぽうセンターで忍者遊び。帰る直前に雲が開いて、戸隠山はその感動的な顔を出してくれました。本当にマジックな、魅力な日帰り旅でした。
We had some friends visit us from back home. Of all the great places to see in Nagano, we decided to take them to Togakushi. It was a short day trip, and was at the peak of the the Obon travel season. However, we started off the trip by eating delicious soba (Togakushi is famous for its soba's great taste, thanks to the clean air and crisp water). Then we did the short hike to the Sugiki Narabi -- the ancient cedar trees lining the path -- on the way to Okusha Shrine. Those trees never fail to impress my with their majesty -- you can really feel the power of nature in them. We finished the trip at the Ninpo Center and had some ninja fun.

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

戸隠の山口屋おそば屋さんのＨＰはこちらClick here for Yamaguchi-ya Soba restaurant website

今日はまた夏らしい暑い日です。亀清の浦にある中央公演に娘を連れて行きました。ブランコで遊んだけど滑り台が熱すぎた。遊び終わったら、水を飲んだ。これが一番楽しかったかもしれない。信州のお水が冷たくて美味しい！

Today is another hot summer day. I took our daughter to the park behind Kamesei. We played on the swings but the slide was too hot. Then we stopped for a drink at the park's drinking fountain. That was probably the funnest part.

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

信州と言えば、そば。しかし、実を言うと、信州のそばが他より美味しいかどうか、それより信州の自然の環境の中で食べるのは美味しいではないかと思います。今日は遠くから来た友人のご家族を連れて、この蕎麦屋さんに行って来ました。どっかな田舎の農家に見えるでしょう。実は、戸倉駅前の「萱」と言うレストランです。この渋い雰囲気の中で食べる信州そばが最高！
Nagano is famous for its soba (buckwheat noodles). However, to be honest, I'm not sure if Nagano's soba is better than anywhere else. What I can say is eating soba in Nagano's natural setting makes the noodles taste better. Today we had some friends come from afar, and we took them to this soba restaurant. It looks like the inside of some ancient farm house somewhere in the boonies, right? Actually, it's 'Kaya', a soba restaurant inside an old sake brewery in front of Togura Station. And eating noodles in this classic setting was fantastic!

信州は、秋のりんごで有名ですが、夏も美味しい果実が沢山あります。川中島の桃が出始まったし、ぶどうも始まっています。ぶどう狩りをしたい方がいらっしゃれば、知り合いの畑で出来るので喜んで紹介いたします。
Nagano is famous for its apples in the fall, but its summer fruits are delicious, too. The Kawanakajima peach season is just starting, as is the grape season. For anyone who wants to try doing grape U-Pick, a good friend of ours has lots of grape vines. We'd be happy to introduce him.

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website