In March we took a little weekend trip with our good friends, the Krampes. Erinn the mega-traveler did pretty much all of the research and we basically just hopped onto their boat.
We started with a little trip to Nara before meeting them in Koya-san. If you haven't heard about the deer in this town in Japan, you're in for a bit of a shock. They are extremely friendly, bordering on aggressive (okay sometimes flat out aggressive) and demand treats or sometimes actually bow to get a treat. It's really something.
We made it to Koya-san in time for a walk around town and little tour of the temple before an amazing authentic Japanese buddhist dinner. This town is full of beautiful old buddhism temples, most of which you can arrange to stay overnight with dinner, onsen (Japanese bath), breakfast, tea, and buddhist morning prayer included. And a gorgeous garden view.
This was one of my favorite Japanese experiences and I made up my mind to return later with my cousins in May, which was the girls trip of a lifetime for me.
The next morning we traveled to Wakayama where we toured a temple let the kids play outside for a while.
I'm pretty sure Erinn has a much better blog post about all the amazing things to find in Wakayama and Koya-San--I'm just here to post some pretty pictures for ya!
I'll always look back fondly on this trip with the Krampes, where we made great memories and where the kids bonded as they usually do.
It goes without saying but I miss the Krampes like a hole in me. They really were family to us and we can't wait to see them again some day... hopefully soon.
