Ya’ll. Magic.

We have a few favorite Mountains here on Kyushu we visit—- Aso, Unzen and her sisters, Kokozu, Kurikami.… But then this Summer, on a rainy day, we drove out to Yufuin. I fell in love.

This Town has been on my radar since last Fall, but the 3 hr drive had me wanting to wait for Dear Husband to take the trip, then life started getting in the way, then Covid, and well, yeah. So once we had the Go-Ahead to get back out and travel locally, we packed up the kids and food and tunes and hit the Road!

There is a small street within the town that is a cute visit, lined with restaurants and unique shops… Window displays of hand made/folk art, themed cafes, local honey, and mochi pounding- We started out our visit walking around the area and peeking into some shops… We turned a corner to enter the little Fairy Cottage Village I saw online and was looking forward to taking the kids to, only we were sad to find that yet again, animals like Owls and Rabbits were caged up for entertainment, in what we thought would be a super charming area… The disappointment left me feeling uneasy as we booked it back to the car, ready to get out into Nature.

Arriving at the Mountain, well that was an AWE moment. The way the clouds had rolled over the peeks, lush greens everywhere, hikers making their decent, full of accomplished smiles… The size that honestly caught me off guard. It was so different then the photos I had seen online… Just Majesty, the whole 360 turn. We knew immediately that we couldnt hike this with the kids, well not on this day anyhow, so we settled for exploring the hills at the base, saw grass up to our knees- shorts were a bad idea! But the rain held off, thank you Mama Nature!!!

Andrew decided to climb up the closest hill, which was very visually deceiving—- Hand over foot and quite high, but upon reaching the top, spotted about 30 DEER on the other side! I dont know if his presence spooked them, but they began to take off … We watched from afar as the families, Does as well, ran and leapt through the valley, straight across from where we stood… It was amazing, and the first Deer sightings we have had here in Japan… Unfortunately I dont have a zoom lens on my camera, but i enjoyed holding Story on my hip, and her squeals when she caught sight of a few!

We have every intention and hope to come back here this Autumn before we leave Japan… Its a gem I wish I almost knew about sooner. If you ever come to Kyushu, be sure to visit… till next time -xoxo