Snowboarding at Appi Kogen

I didn't have to work this weekend so I was able to get out and do something!  Since everyone I work with is married with kids, or works for me, there aren't really a lot of people to do things with me.  So I decided to go solo and jump on a base sponsored trip to Appi Kogen.  Appi is probably the most well known, and largest, ski resort near Misawa.   It has a couple dozen trails, huge hotels, onsens, and almost anything else you could want.  I'm actually getting pretty good at snowboarding for this only being my second time.  Definitely going to buy my own gear this spring/summer!

The tall building on the left is one of the hotels, and the building on the right is where the cafeteria and shopping is.

The main method of getting up the mountain is riding an 8 person gondola up to the top.  It was nice since they are totally enclosed and it was practically white out conditions at the top of the mountain.

This snowman was probably 15 feet tall!

The classic myspace shot of me riding the gondola.  I rode up a few times solo when it wasn't busy, but also got to ride up with some locals and even met some other American snowboarders.  They were hopping the fence to come down the area under the gondola.  Way to represent guys!

Heading to the top.

Not me in this picture.  I should have asked someone to snap a photo of me, but I didn't want to bother anyone.  Asking someone to take a photo is one of the Japanese phrases I have learned though!

This is the cafeteria.  It has about 5-6 different places to eat and has everything from burgers and pizza to ramen and curry.

I opted for spicy hamburger curry with some fried cheesy potato things.  This lunch was almost 1900 yen which is almost $24.  The drink alone was 380 yen, or about $5!  

For the bus ride home I grabbed some chips to snack on.  Even eating familiar things like chips in foreign countries can be an adventure because they have odd flavors like ketchup, seaweed, and squid.  I have no idea what flavor these were, but they were pretty good!

The ubiquitous can of coffee.  There are vending machines all over the place that spit out hot cans of coffee.  This is the first one I have had since I've been here because I have seriously cut down on my caffeine and alcohol intake.  Since I have been in Japan (4 weeks on Monday) I have completely quit using caffeine supplements (no more Air Power!), haven't had a single energy drink, and have only had 6 beers.  I won't even mention my Texas numbers for comparison, but just know this is a massive improvement!

I'm going to be pretty busy with work this next week and will be working all next weekend.  I will try to post something interesting though, since my goal is to try to make one post a week.  I'm glad people are actually reading and enjoying this blog and I am averaging about 50 unique viewers per posting which is more than I had expected to get.  Feel free to leave comments at the bottom of my posts too.  I have it set so that it should not require a google account.  Give me some feedback!