{"id":1421,"date":"2010-01-12T22:51:57","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T13:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-01-12\/1421"},"modified":"2010-01-12T22:51:57","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T13:51:57","slug":"first-taste-of-snow-on-our-new-years-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-01-12\/1421","title":{"rendered":"First Taste of Snow on Our New Year’s Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSnow Bunny<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

So, after a fairly relaxing four-hour drive (three hours plus stops) in\nbeautiful weather, we arrived at the lavishly-named Omaki Onsen Spa\nGarden “Waen”<\/i> (\u304a\u307e\u304d\u6e29\n\u6cc9\u30b9\u30d1\u30ac\u30fc\u30c7\u30f3\u548c\u5712<\/span><\/a>). I actually<\/span> never bothered to parse that full name\nuntil now... here's what it means: “Omaki<\/b>” is the name of the area\nwith a few<\/span> natural hot springs (onsen<\/b><\/i><\/a>). “Spa\nGarden<\/b>” is their description to try to sell you on it being a nice<\/span>\nplace. All those<\/span> are adjectives to the real name, “Waen<\/b>”, whose\ncharacters in this case mean “Peaceful Garden”.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, the attraction for us was that it was in an area likely to have\nsnow for Anthony to play in (it did), and offered a “lodge” type accommodation....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 450 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLodge Duplex<\/span>\nwe had the half on the right\n<\/div>\n\n

There's another lodge duplex to the right, and restaurant\/hotel\/spa\nbuildings to the left, so the setting is not rustic or anything, but the\nview is nice. The previous<\/span> two shots were taken from about the same\nlocation, facing opposite directions. The lodge<\/span> faces the small Omaki Dam,\nhalf a mile<\/span> away....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 60 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nView of Omaki Dam<\/i>, and Beyond<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Of course, Anthony doesn't care about the view or the lodge... just\nplay, so he dove right in... literally...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFirst Forage into the Snow<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 29 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/3.2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFalling, Mid-Fruumph<\/i><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/3.2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The snow was maybe eight inches deep, but was heavy and icy. He was thrilled<\/span> because he didn't know any better, but it was snow that had been\nsitting out in slightly-above-freezing days for some while, so it was quick\nto become slushy.<\/p>\n\n

At one point he wanted me to throw snowballs at him... he was quite some\ndistance away, so I lobbed<\/span> one gently in a high<\/span> arc, and he deftly stepped\nout of the way while screaming in excitement, thrilled with the close call.\n(He really enjoys it when things get a little<\/span> out of his control... such as\nthe “Equal Parts Fun and Terror” mentioned in my post about sledding on a warm<\/span> summer\nday<\/a> a couple<\/span> of years ago).<\/p>\n\n

So, I lob another<\/span> at him, but instead of stepping aside, this time he\nputs out his hand to block the snowball. Clearly this child has had little\nexperience in the snow, because blocking a snowball<\/span> with your hand is a\nlittle<\/span> like cleaning up spilled baking flour with a hair<\/span> dryer. But even in<\/span>\nthis he failed, and the snowball proceeded on an undisturbed path directly\ninto his face.<\/p>\n\n

Now, I'll remind you at this point of two things: the snow was wet and\nheavy (and thus so was the snowball), and he was screaming in glee....\nright up to the moment when the snowball impacted his face in<\/i> his\nmouth (hey, I'm a good<\/span> aim), cutting the scream off mid glee.<\/p>\n\n

This silence lasted the few moments it took him to process what had\nhappened, until he understood that his mouth was completely filled with\nsnow and ice, and in a scene<\/span> that somehow reminds me of something in\nGhostbusters 2<\/span><\/i>, he started to slowly disgorge the snow and replace\nit with a decidedly<\/span> non-gleeful kind of scream.<\/p>\n\n

And so ended our snow play....<\/p>\n\n

... for about two minutes, then right back at it, except I started<\/span>\naiming for his knees.<\/p>\n\n

Attentive readers will be feeling a sense<\/span> of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu<\/i>. Several\nyears ago the same thing\nhappened to Fumie<\/a>. Like I said,<\/span> I have good<\/span> aim.<\/p>\n\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, after a fairly relaxing four-hour drive (three hours plus stops) in beautiful weather, we arrived at the lavishly-named Omaki Onsen Spa Garden \"Waen\" (\u304a\u307e\u304d\u6e29 \u6cc9\u30b9\u30d1\u30ac\u30fc\u30c7\u30f3\u548c\u5712). I actually never bothered to parse that full name until now... here's what it means: \"Omaki<\/b>\" is the name of the area with a few natural hot springs (onsen<\/b>). \"Spa Garden<\/b>\" is their description to try to sell you on it being a nice place. All those are adjectives to the real name, \"Waen<\/b>\", whose characters in this case mean \"Peaceful Garden\".<\/p>

Anyway, the attraction for us was that it was in an area [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}