All good things must come to an end

Well, like all good things, this day too had to come to an end. But what a day it was! To be honest, even a week ago, I wasn’t sure we’d actually get to ski. The weather channel and Accuweather had both shown a 50% chance of rain today, so the fact that we had partly cloudy, 50 degree weather with good snow around most of the mountain, and small crowds - no wait at the lifts - made this a great ski day!

Now, the fun part is always getting my wife to own up to how she’s really doing and what’s going on in that little noggin of hers. This day wasn’t much different! I could tell she was struggling a little as she told me at lunch that the balls of her feet were “burning”. Now that didn’t make much sense to me, but every time we stopped, I could tell she was not comfortable and worse, her skiing was getting more and more tentative. That and heavy snow is a recipe for disaster.

I finally convinced her that I was already satisfied with the day - I had SKIED in Japan after all, I would have been happy with only one or two runs! So she finally owned up that she was done, her foot was really really bothering her and and she needed to go down - so down we went. Of course, since she hurt so much skiing, there was no way I was going to let her then walk all the way back to the hotel and rental shop. And wouldn’t you know it, at the base of the mountain - which was not at the gondola where our bus was going to pick us up - was a food truck and a couple of chairs and yes, they served my favorite after skiing apertif! Beer, glorious beer!

So I got her settled, got my stuff together and started to trot off down the roadway to get my stuff turned in and grab her shoes so I could go back and get her outfitted properly to walk back down. Now, thinking ahead, I purchased TWO beers as a test. If she drank both, I might be able to gain some ground for the Fiji Honeymoon (IYKYK), but if she didn’t drink both, I had something waiting on me to encourage my return, besides my wife of course!

It didn’t take long and I got her shoes and returned to my shining princess who had lovingly saved my beer for me. So, the only thing better than skiing is having a beer slope side after a day of skiing!

Back down at our hotel and starting to feel some sensations we hadn’t felt in a while, and no, I’m not talking about the love of two human being after living together for 26 years, I’m talking about the use of muscles that had been sleeping like Rip Van Winkle and suddenly were thrust into action like runners at the battle of Gallipoli. As such, there was only one choice, we were headed to the onsite Onsen.

Onsen’s are Japanese hot springs or spas. There are literally thousands around the island since it sits on the Ring of Fire. Thankfully, our hotel had their on Onsen for us to partake in and they kindly included traditional garb to wear to the Onsen. Now, one thing to know abut these Onsen’s, bathing suits are extremely frowned upon and there is specific etiquette you are asked to follow. Deep breath Marty, deep breath.

Needless to say, I survived the experience even though I showered off in the rinse basin for when you got out of the sauna vs the sit down shower area I was supposed to bath in, but you can’t win at everything. I also went to jump in the hot tub first - which was a cold plunge, so I went from hanging out footloose and fancy free to playing hide and seek really really quickly! (Mom, don’t read that part - probably should have put that warning at the top of the paragraph. I probably should just stop writing thing that pop into my head, like this sentence I’m typing right now… ).

Anyway, 50 minutes going from spa to sauna to cold plunge helped re-energize me pretty quickly. Once changed in the room, we headed out for quick bite to eat at a local place offering Large and Huge beers - I settled for the Large Dad! We also headed by the local food trucks that had set up shop in the town square (looked like they had been there all season). We picked up a cinnamon and apple crepe - yummy!!! And then crawled into bed before 8:30 pm!Read more