That’s right, not an actual national park, just a formally-named quasi-national park. The name tickled me all day long.

We didn’t get out of the house until Noon after doing some laundry and just generally lounging around. We walked 20 minutes to the train station. I love the way ivy grows on everything here, and then changes colors with the trees. Even though this is a small and sleepy little town, everything looks very alive.

We got tickets for the local train to Onuma. It was an adorable single car train that felt like it was from the 60s.

30 minutes later we saw the beautiful view out the window and then arrived at the park.

There was a stall renting bikes at the station and we decided on a whim to get some. Millie rode on the back of Nick’s. This was our first time riding an e-bike and wow, what a game changer. Felt like cheating.

We began our 15km ride around the lake. It was beyond beautiful, just perfect fall views and weather the whole way (though Millie got pretty freezing on the back). The best part was how fresh everything smelled. We got whiffs of pine, wet leaves, and occasional distant fireplaces. I spent most of the ride contemplating if we should someday move to a place with seasons.

Here are some of the photos I took from my bike.

We stopped a couple of times. First to walk down to the water to see it up close, and then again to wrap up a freezing Millie with extra jackets.

We got circled the lake and returned to where we started. We had some hot cocoa and then caught the train back to Hakodate. It was a perfect afternoon.

At 5:30 on the dot, we walked a block over to a sushi restaurant to be there when it opened. I had read many good reviews and most said that reservations were required, which we did not have. We were lucky and got the last 3 stools at the tiny bar.

I assume the two people working there are husband and wife, and I got the sense they’ve been doing it for many years. We sat down and they handed us the list of what they serve.

We ordered three of these, hoping Millie would at least try some. The chef gave us an “okay if you say so” face and served us the first two pieces of tuna. He cut them into small pieces for Millie. She tried one and immediately didn’t like it. He watched her and changed course. He then made her a “kids plate” of tamago eggs and cute little rice balls. She scarfed it down and ate 3 more servings.

Meanwhile Nick and I enjoyed our 10 pieces of extremely fresh, perfectly prepared nigiri. Scallop and uni were our favorites.

We left teetering on the edge of still hungry, but decided against going somewhere else for a second dinner. We walked the one block back to our Airbnb and started packing up for a big day tomorrow: meeting my parents in Tokyo! The last thing Millie said when we tucked her in was “I’m so excited for tomorrow!”