Girls' Weekend 2.0 - Days 1 & 3

Jason has one more big weekend push to get his proposal out the door, so Fiona and I are entertaining ourselves with another girls' weekend. This weekend is a three day holiday weekend in Japan, so we couldn't find ourselves a hotel room on short notice. Instead, we planned some day trips from Sapporo. Our first destination - Ranshima beach. Where else do you go when it's 90+ degrees and you don't have air conditioning?

We were so sad to miss an entire season at Duxbury beach this year that I was determined to find us a beach in Japan. After a lot of research, I found a couple places about one hour by train from us, but none of them came particularly well recommended and I had a hard time finding much information about any of them. I talked to a couple of locals we know and came to the conclusion that going to the beach in general just isn't as popular here as it is at home. Nonetheless, we weren't deterred. I chose the beach closest to a train stop (less than a 10 minute walk), and we set out with minimal expectations.

When we got off the train at Ranshima station, we were happy to find a combini around the corner where we picked up what has become one of our go-to lunches in Japan: a tuna onigiri and a banana for me; ham, cheese, a pork onigiri, and a banana for Fiona. From there it was another two and a half blocks and we were at the beach!

When we arrived, I was blown away by how beautiful the scenery was. Unlike the miles and miles of sand and dunes we're used to at Duxbury, Ranshima beach was flanked on either side by amazing mountains and cliffs.

The water was perfectly clean and clear and felt oh so refreshing !

And the sand was soft and free of rocks, seaweed, and trash. What more could you possible ask for in a beach?

Fiona was so excited to go buy our ice cream all by herself. Here she is delivering mine to me; talk about a full service weekend!

I could get used to this kind of dinner with a view.

Clearly we had a great time. So much so, in fact, that we decided Girls' Weekend 2.0 should include a second beach day. I was a little worried about it being overcrowded on a hot Saturday beginning a three day weekend, but it wasn't too bad. Definitely more people than our weekday visit, but nothing like I've experienced on busy east coast beach weekends. I'm so glad we went back too because the light was amazing yesterday. I was so bummed I didn't have my real camera with me!!

Pardon the gluttonous number of selfies - I couldn't stop myself...

Needless to say, I think we've found our go-to spot for hot days to come. Until next time Ranshima...

PS: A food note. These are a popular snack here - they are little corn...not exactly chips, but similar. Often they come mixed with nuts. They are good. I've picked them up half a dozen times to take with us for a snack while we're out and about. Anyway, little did I know when I grabbed this particular package that these were special. Some of them (maybe one in six or so) are filled with a surprise - a big ol' mouthful of wasabi! NOT my idea of a fun surprise. I need to figure out ASAP ow to avoid this in the future...