And according to Jesse's GPS tracker, we got up to 200 mph- super duper fast!!!
She stands by as we slurp up our bite of noodles, then as we lift our empty bowl of noodles, she promptly pours in another bite. Slightly awkward having dinner with an extra person standing by, encouraging us to eat and eat and eat. The record for the restaurant is over 500 bowls.
Check out the stack of the couple behind us, it's hard to tell but there are stacks upon stacks of bowls all lined up. They stack them 15 high, designated a typical portion of Soba. So each stack is a typical portion. The couple behind us had at least 10 full stacks plus some!
And we often wonder when we seek out Non Japanese food during our travels if the staff judges us silly Americans for not being able to go on vacation without familiar foods. Maybe less so right now that the borders are still shut. But Utsunomiya has very little in terms of American Style breakfasts, so when Google suggested a place called Brunch (letters that I can read!) of course it was on our list. Run by a lovely Canadian who was on his second stint of living in Morioka. The food was exactly what our taste buds wanted!
And this is when the rain comes back and Carri officially gets fired as a radar reader. Our umbrellas and raincoats? All cleverly stashed back at our hotel. Not our wisest move. A quick dash to 7/11 and we're better equipped for city wandering.
The famous rock splitting cherry tree! Amazing how such a big beautiful tree grows from the tiny crack! We wondered how long it's been growing? What it would have looked like when it first started? Why they decided to let it continue growing in a sub optimal area?
It's interesting to see the range of how cities respond to the Coronavirus and the precautions taken. What we've noticed is that folks in smaller towns are less likely to wear masks. But even in small towns, the restaurants and tourist attractions take this seriously. Sometimes our temperatures are taken, hand sanitizer use is always required and we wear masks out of respect. We don't want to pass along any germs we may be carrying!