Joe and I went on a little day trip through Information, Tours, & Travel (ITT) on base. I don't use their services nearly enough, but they are wonderfully helpful, bilingual employees. We've looked to ITT to find dog-friendly ryokans - Japanese B&Bs and to make restaurant reservations.
For our trip to northern Yamaguchi prefecture, we went on an organized trip. I normally would rather travel alone to allow for more spontaneity and fewer crying babies, but being able to just hop on a bus and doze off takes away an extra headache and is much cheaper. Win-win!
Our first stop were the prehistoric caves. These reminded me of the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky! I wonder if my sister and cousins (Mike and Jimmy) remember that trip? Great memories. Anyway, here is a quick glimpse of what we were able to capture:
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| Entering the unknown underground world.... |
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| Obviously Japan gives you informational sideboards with kawaii cavemen. |
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| Stalagmites, Stalagtites. |
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| "Goddess of Mercy" |
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| Scary! |
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| The cave's claim to fame: the largest limestone deposit ever discovered. Woop-de-doo! |
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| I thought the middle one looked like garlic cloves packaged together. |
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| These caves were once underwater and were coral reefs. The lines you see are from jelly fish climbing up and down and eroding the limestone. |
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| "The Thousand Rice Fields": Do you like how we tried to include the signs so we could remember the names? |
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| Shaped like Mt. Fuji |
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| Cavewoman Heather |
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| Just some underground rapids, NBD. |
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| We made it out alive! It was really cool to see this cathedral-esque opening after being in a cave all day. |
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| We made a quick stop to take in the limestone fields on top of the caves. This is a "quasi-national park". |
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| More of the quasi-national park. |
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| The end of Akiyoshido Caves and Quasi-National Park. |
After this stop, we got to see the animals! Check out my post about Safari Land coming up soon.
