Beppu

 For our last weekend away before the baby comes, we decided to explore a part of Kyushu that we haven't been to. The Beppu and Oita area is about 3 hours east of us and is known for it's hot springs.

 The hot springs are all around the city of Beppu. There is a trek you can do to explore the Beppu no Jigoku or Hells of Beppu, which is what they call the eight best hot spring sites. We decided to just do one and chose Umijigoku, Sea Hell, because it is often voted the most beautiful. It did not disappoint!

Umijigoku is pictured above and named Sea Hell because the water in the spring is a beautiful shade of turquoise. There are a few different spots where you see the hot springs and there was also a lot of other stuff to do on the grounds.

The hot springs didn't smell the greatest. Sorry Leo for all the diaper checks when we first got there!

There were a few lily pad ponds that were really beautiful. At the end of the summer, they have a fun event in a shallow pond where kids can actually stand on the larger lily pads. We saw pictures and it looked pretty cool.

There was a neat trek up through some torii arches to a shrine. 

We stopped for some water along the way.

A lot of onsens, or spas, are in the Beppu area where you can get in the spring or do mud treatments. Umijigoku had a foot bath that was really warm. The boys had fun splashing around in it.

That night, we decided to stay in a traditional Japanese hotel called a ryokan. It was our first time trying out this type of hotel and it was a neat experience. The room was a traditional tatami room with great views of the ocean.

When we left for dinner, we came back to our 'beds' made up on the floor. This is when I started wondering if trying out the ryokan at almost nine months pregnant was a good idea!

There was a public bath on the top floor which is typical of a ryokan. You go upstairs in your robe and there is a shower area in one corner of the public bath. After you get all clean you relax in the large bath area. There is of course a separate area for men and women, but beyond that there isn't much modesty. They also had a family bath area that you rent out by the hour. I went up to check things out but decided the bath was a little too hot for me, but Nathan and Wilson went up and did the whole process together.

In the morning, a traditional Japanese breakfast was included and when we got downstairs we found out that you get served in a private room.

The breakfast was interesting and included all the traditional Japanese favorites. We had rice, hot tea, fish, miso soup and some other vegetables that we can never properly identify. It reminded us a lot of Japanese dinners, which we love, but didn't really want to eat so early in the morning. The presentation was really lovely though.

We spent Sunday driving along the beautiful coast and made it to the easternmost point of Kyushu. For those of you keeping track, we've hit the southern, western and now easternmost points of our island. It was a really neat drive to the point. Can you spot the sea arch in this picture? So cool!

At the point, there was a cool abandoned lighthouse that we had fun exploring.

Wilson was very proud of taking his very first picture at the point.
Your hair looks good Leo!

We had a really fun weekend in the Beppu area. The weather was great and we had a good time exploring the beautiful eastern coast. We'll definitely be back!