We had a very full day planned for Day 4. The plan was to get up and get breakfast early, and then hit the road. We had several stops planned along the way for the lids, and really the only thing we were bound by was the check in at the resort which I thought said no late check ins.
I had my alarm set for 5:45 am and when I took a peek outside, I was a bit confused at how bright it was. I wasn't sure if one of the clocks were wrong, or if I was just a bit dazed, but it was completely bright out. Sure enough the sun does rise pretty early in August in Japan.
It wasn't even 6am yet
We made our way downstairs to breakfast where it was already very crowded. The Hilton is a common hotel for tour busses and groups, and I noticed that when we saw all the busses when we pulled in last night. The breakfast spread was great, having a large variety of eastern and western dishes again. Shortly after being seated we were also brought another hand-written welcome card made out to us, as well as a small stack of pancakes topped with some local flavoring.
After breakfast we checked out and were ready to hit the road. For this stay, it cost me just over $100 USD - however since I paid with my Hilton Aspire Card, there is an annual $250 credit that can be used at resorts - which the Hilton Niseko Village is considered - so it was all credited after the stay, meaning this didn't cost anything.
The plan today looked like this:
From the hotel, driving to:
Roadside Rest Area "akaigawa"
Downtown Otaru
Roadside Restation The Nordic Winds Tobetsu
Road Station Utashinai Tyrol
Hinode Park
Shirahige WaterFall
Roadside Rest Area Higashikawa
Pippu JR Station
Kembuchi Town Picture Book Museum
And then arriving at our resort for the night, Choyo-Resort in the onsen town of Sounkyo.
It's not that it's far, it's that there is slow speed limits
As I got back into the car I wondered if I had forgotten all about driving in Japan that I had just learned but thankfully, no, it felt really good driving.
The first portion of our drive had us going NE through the resort town of Kutchan before arriving at our first stop, a rest are in Akaigawa.
We stopped at a lawson convience store in the southern area of Niseko called Hirafu, which seemed like it would be an awesome place in the winter. We also tried looking for aloe both here and a 7-11 but were unable to find some.
Back on the road, we drove through a really nice mix of flat farmlands, overshadowed by Mt Yotei in the background. It was hard not to stare at the mountain given it's apparent size, standing at almost 1900 meters or 6,227 feet against farmlands.
45 minutes later we arrived at our first stop, the Akaigawa rest area. This rest area was a little on the smaller side, and more on the size of state welcome centers here in the US, as opposed to the toll road rest areas in the US / ONRoutes in Canada.
We found our first manhole cover of the day outside a themed vending machine as well. We also checked inside really quick and got a stamp for our book before getting back in the car to head to Otaru.
This was about a half hour drive NE through winding roads. Right before getting to the crest of the overlook of the city, we stopped at a nearby observation deck that provided some really nice views.
The particular manhole cover we were trying to get to was probably the hardest one. It was very centrally located, and required us to try and find parking. It wasn't too different than driving in an unfamiliar big (ger) city, but it was a little bit stressful. Some of the back roads here were a little tighter too, but overall not an issue. It took us a little bit before we finally found a lot where we could park, and head over to the manhole cover that my wife was most looking forward to on this trip (outside of the eevee lids):
Alolan Vulpix
There was also a pharmacy right here that had aloe, which was needed from our Guam hiking adventure. We wanted to stop and check out the otaru music box factory, but we were already a good half hour behind schedule as needed, and wanted to get back on the road.
Our next stop an hour later was the roadside station "The Nordic Winds Tobestu", located just northeast out of Sapporo. This was a rest area more similar to one of the toll road rest areas that I've seen in the US and Ontario. We got another lid, stamp, and also grabbed some snacks - spicy chicken from 7-11 for me, and a pork bun for Emily. Parking was very adequate, and I'd certainly recommend it if you ever needed to stop by here.
View from the outside, with the lid.
Inside the rest area - very comfortable!
We continued northeast for another hour to another rest area, "Road Station Utashinai Tyrol". This was a bit more rural rest stop, but another lid and another stamp. An older gentlemen saw us taking pictures of Robin and Cheddar Bear, and asked to take a picture to share with his family, so it was kind of cool to see someone else happy at seeing them.
Hope this put a smile one some strangers faces!
Our next stop was not another rest area, but a public park. Hinode Park is in Northeastern Kami-Furano. This particular lid was covered under a bus-stop like shelter, which was nice to see. There was also some information about the cover listed here as well.
If it's not obvious, these are just decorative
From here we took a short break hunting the lids to checkout the Shirahige Waterfall. I opted for the slightly longer, but more scenic route, and this did not disappoint. There is a very large parking lot just a short walk away, and we got some pretty spectacular pictures. These ones (and all pics in this report0 below are not altered in anyway, and were just taken with my iPhone 11.
Seriously, no filters. It's super scenic.
A view down from the waterfalls.
By this point we were about an hour behind schedule - the resort we were staying at had cutoff times for check-in I believe, as well as a set time for their dinner buffet. So we decided we would get our next pokemon lid at the Roadside Rest Area Higashikawa, then head straight to the resort.
We were originally planning to stay in Asahikawa, but after doing some research I decided we might as well get some type of cultural onsen experience instead of just staying at another business hotel. I narrowed it down to the Sounkaku Mountain Resort and Sounkyo Onsen Choyo Resort Hotel, before deciding on the latter. I booked it on agoda - which I've never done before - as they were able to handle english reservations, and offered a pretty steep discount from the other sites, including direct. The cost for the room, breakfast, and dinner came out to about $180 after taxes and fees.
The drive was around 2 hours from the waterfall, and we pulled into a fairly quiet resort town. Check in was a little bit slow, but there were no issues. We were given Yukata's to wear, but weren't sure if we had to wear them, or not.
Our room was up on the fifth floor, and once again when we got into the room it reeked of smoke, even though it was a nonsmoking room.
Cozy, I guess. Lots of bugs though, so we had to keep the window closed.
We took a peek at the dinner lounge and saw a mix of normal clothes and the yukata's, so we went in our regular clothes. The website makes the buffet seem like one I would see in Vegas, but it disappointed us both.
There was a wide range of international themed options based on the region it was from - France, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan. The food quality however was just alright. I'm not saying it was bad, just that it wasn't…good. There was also beer available, however I was going to be driving a little bit later so passed on that. There was grilled "Steak" available as well that I tried, but it was not too good.
No American Section, unfortunate for this picky eater.
I do like fish though!
This was probably my favorite.
Out of everything I had, the pot roast was actually my favorite. My wife isn't as picky of an eater as me so tried a bit more food, and also concurred that it was around a 4/10 in terms of rating. But it was nice to have something other than the fried chicken I had today, and would have tomorrow on our small road trip.
We finished up around 7pm and decided to back track for two more manhole covers in the towns of Kembuchi and Pippu. Back at the hotel around 10pm, we called it a night.
We really enjoyed the driving on this part of the trip. Other than some congestion in Otaru, I was really starting to get comfortable driving here. The plan for day 2 was another full day of driving, but a more direct path as we continued making a loop of Hokkaido.