Took the classic, three day, Golden “Week” family vacation in a minivan towards central Hokkaido. Through Asahikawa,  then on to a night at Sounkyo hot springs resort, then finally spending another night in Minami Furano – with many stops along the way. It was good to see the change in topography as we entered the Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group.

There was plenty of sites along our meandering three day drive, one of which, the Aoiike (blue pond) near Shirogane put us right in the midst of a MacOS wallpaper.

Of course there was plenty of food. Our first nights meals was a full on kaiseki affair with everything from fresh uni to baked onion bowl gratin. It took us several hours just to get through it all.