The Wildlife Hotel

After lunch, we drove 3 hours into the mountains to Biei in Kamakawa-gun where the temperatures are cooler. There was reshuffling of seats as everyone jockeyed for leg space. We laughed the entire ride, chatting about our aches and pains. One of our guys is Cramp Man, because his muscles seize up from not getting enough electrolytes and not being able to stretch his legs enough on the bike. His Thera-gun eventually came out of its case, and we each took a turn soothing whatever tight spot we had with it. It was so good. I decided Ima get one when I get home!

When we arrived at our ryokan, we were greeted first by a cute little mouse scurrying behind umbrellas in the lobby, then as we encouraged it back out through the front sliding doors, a beautiful red fox made an appearance and hung around waiting for food scraps. In our room, we were welcomed by a beetle and traditional tatami mats. A kaiseki spread of crab, shrimp, scallop, meat in a simmering stew, tofu, egg, a whole variety of pickles, plenty rice, and a mildly-flavored sponge cake roll for dessert welcomed us in the dining room.Read more