Monkeys!

The trip Drew planned over his break was to Yudanaka and it went much better than our Mt. Fuji trip (of course).  Yudanaka is famous for having hot springs that are used by the monkeys living in the mountains.  If there is a cool monkey around, I want to see it!

Even the train ride to and from Yudanaka was fun.  The conductor sat in a second floor section so that the front of the train was open for passengers.  It kind of felt like a roller coaster.

Our view out the front

Next, the hotel was awesome!  It was a traditional Japanese set up and had all sorts of great warming features.  The best one, and I hope to one day own this thing, was a kotatsu.  It is a table that has heavy blankets built around it and an electric heater underneath it.  Wow!  It really doesn't get much better than this in my opinion.

We also had a nice breakfast eating area and a toilet with a mind of its own.  When you opened the bathroom door, the lights would come on and the toilet lid would lift.  There was a waist level button that Drew could push to lift up and put down the seat (now there were no excuses).  Of course it had a heated seat, but it also automatically flushed.  At one point I even walked in on it cleaning itself, bubbles and all.  Not gonna lie, it was a little awkward...

The first day we walked around the town, enjoying the foot baths and snowy weather.

Pretty views

Eggs boiled in the hot spring water

Hot foot baths were all over town

That afternoon we took a dip in our hotel's onsen.  Boy it was hot!!!  There was a cold water spigot that we could turn on to feed into the bath.  We left that on the whole time and were even dumping the hot water out of the bath and down the drain.  It was still hotter than any hot tub out there.  After you get out of one of these things you tend to feel dizzy and will stay warm for hours.

Even just a toe was too much at first

The next morning we headed to the monkeys.  I was surprised at how many monkeys were there and how close we were able to get to them.  A lot of them looked like they were about to fall asleep.  It must have been comfy.  I was a little jealous standing out in the cold watching them.

Monkey families

This guy was the Alpha for sure.  So serious!

Taking a break

I almost forgot!  We finally saw Mt. Fuji while we were on the train ride to Yudanaka.  That's right, Drew's trip to see the monkeys was so much better than my trip to Mt. Fuji that we even saw Mt. Fuji on our way.  I guess a curse is a curse.