Mount Takao

So right now Mom, Dad, and me are all not terribly thrilled with my brilliant notions of entertainment. My idea of getting a taste of nature in Japan by visiting Mt. Takao in Tokyo was not so wonderful. Saturday the three of us ventured forth and rode the trains for a little over an hour to get to this place, but everyone in Tokyo and Yokohama I think had this idea too because the trains were so full we could only manage to find a seat for Mom since her knee bothers her these days. So after standing that whole time, we got to the mountain and figured out where we could get on the trail that was paved and as I had read was supposed to be easy enough for children to do. Hiking in Japan is a far cry from what I've experienced in Ohio and Washington. The entire way up, we were surrounded by a mob of people of all sorts, old, young, in high heels, and all decked out in hiking gear. After the first switchback, Dad turns to me and says, "I didn't realize we were going to be hiking, I'm not prepared for this!" and proceeds to be quite unhappy with the entire situation as we huffed and puffed up the mountainside switchbacks (I'm not sure what he thought we were going to do at a mountain, especially since mom told him to dress for hiking). At the halfway point, we almost turned back because of Mom's knee but since we had made it past the switchbacks, we kept going until we reached the temple near the top and got the view of Tokyo. We should have been able to see Mt. Fuji but it was too hazy to see that far. The views were beautiful though and the trees were starting to change. I just wish we could have escaped the people! My hips got to hurting on the hike down (the hike was about 100 minutes each way) and we had to stand most of the way on the trains back. Today we are crippled, especially mom and me with her arthritis and my tendonitis. Yippee. But I still got up and marched the 16 blocks out and back to take back Harry Potter 5 and Zodiac (not a great film) but I didn't want to give up HP. It was my first excursion out on my own. It was quite nice but mom and I are hobbling about the apartment like little old women. Dad made the mistake saying Mom looked like Grandma, I half expect to see him sleeping on the couch tonight, hehehe, just kidding.