Yesterday was a very slow day. I decided not to go anywhere and just stay at home and keep it simple and restful. The sad thing is even on days i can sleep in, i can't. I automatically get up around 7 o'clock on the weekends. I got up at 7:05 this morning. I did however get out and go for a drive up to the middle school and there was a hot air balloon giving people a minute or two lift into the air about 50 or 60 feet. i do not know exactly why it was there, but they had it tied down to the ground with to cars and a tree. The kids seemed to enjoy it. I got pics, but that will be the next post. Today, i went up to Sapporo. I was planning on going to the Maruyama Zoo, but since it is a holiday it was packed. I just continued up the mountain drive, and i actually felt like i drove up the mountain. The incline was very steep on the road and it totally reminded me of the hills in Yokohama. I did stop by this lavender farm, though there was no more lavender since it's out of season. I got some really good pictures of Sapporo from the mountains. I think that the 45 degree or more incline was worth it. After that, i drove over to Susukino to get a look at some of the things there. I went to the top of Norbessa and rode the Ferris wheel there. It was okay, at least it was only 600 yen and not 1200 yen like the one at Wing Bay was. After that i went to Tanukikoji and looked around a little. One store already had a Christmas tree in the middle of the street there with a Merry Christmas sign; talk about early. I guess the Japanese don't care about Halloween as much as they do Christmas. The kids always say i am going to ask Santa for this for Christmas. I wonder how shocked they would be if i told them he wasn't real. They probably wouldn't mind as long as they got presents. After that i decided to leave the city. Traffic was horrible in and out. Luckily i was going the other direction. I guess a lot of people wanted to leave the city for Sports day. Traffic on the way home was backed up about 20 km out of the city to a slow halt to get back into Sapporo. I was really glad i was going the other way. The problem is that the road is only one lane, and people really love to just go really slow sometimes, especially the older people. How do i know who the old people are? Well, in Japan, the seniors have a sticker on their cars so others know that they are seniors. I guess that means that sometime around 65 years of age, they have to go in and have a license check. Outside of Sapporo, i stopped in Ishiyama at a Sushi and Yakiniku buffet. It was reasonably priced and they gave you 90 minutes to eat. Frankly, Japanese buffets scare and disappoint me. I am still a little scared of buffets because of food safety, especially since the last time in Japan i got horribly sick from one; not a pleasant trip back to the states. Then, i went home and in Rusutsu i stopped for some ice cream. It's nice to note that the ice cream there at least tasted like milk. It did not have a very strong vanilla flavor to it. Now, don't get me wrong, vanilla is a very important flavoring. I know from experience that without vanilla, chocolate chip cookies are not very good. However, ice cream that tastes like frozen cream is very good. The Japanese seem to love to put sugar or sweetness in their meat dishes. It is okay from time to time. But when i have some sweet sour cream and onion potato chips, i am disappointed. I guess if you sweeten all of your food, then the need for a whole lot of outside sugar isn't needed. Though many Japanese dishes will have salty and sweet. Soy sauce is salty and a lot of dishes are sweetened with natural means like apple or honey. Plenty of pics to follow.