The day after Christmas, we headed out to Miyajima Island. That is the cool, touristy island with all the tame deer. The signs may claim the deer are still wild animals, but I don't really believe that! I'm pretty sure they have become fairly domesticated in the last 50 years. We had a good time moseying around the island and checking things out for a couple hours. Then I left with Marian and Callie, while Dan stayed the night with the other 3, at a Japanese Hostel.
Joshua on the ferry over.
A sneaky pic of my sweet girl.
Delighted to find some deer to pet!
Did I mention that the deer try to get food from everything?!! This one decided to eat the straps, since it couldn't find anything else. And Joshua accidentally dropped an unopened granola bar. By the time we chased down the deer, it had devoured the entire thing, whole, wrapper and all. Oops.
I know, the signs say to not feed the deer. We might have been a little disobedient.
Could she be any cuter?!!
It cracked me up that the deer burried it's nose in her pocket looking for a snack.
Deer following my dear.
Someone begging me for food.
Callie on the sea wall, with the iconic torii in the background.
Marian, getting some deer love.
Where there is water, they must go! I think they all managed to keep their feet dry.
Love this picture! Rylee was pouting on the side.
And this photo has so much awesomeness in it. We have Callie, feeding a deer, Delaney calling for her picture to be taken as she poses, and Marian trying to get in the way.
Me and the 5 storied pagoda. We did climb up to it, but you can't really get a good photo from up close.
Photobombing!
Delaney wanted a shot of her and the pagoda.
Who knew it would be so hard to get group shots of the kids with an authentically Japanese background?!
I love this boy! Hee hee hee. I have to be tricksy to get pictures with him NOT making horrid faces.
This white building was the hostel. It sure was different!
This is it! One of the rooms they used. There are no beds, and no separate sleeping area. They had to pull futons out of a cupboard and make their beds on the floor with the bedding. Oh, and the unheated bathroom was down the unheated hallway!
The separate wash facility. In Japan, you do not wash in the tub. You scrub down prior to soaking in the tub. Hence, the stools to sit on and wash, and then the super-awesome tub to relax in.
We got them checked in and dropped off stuff, and then meandered back to the ferry.
My funny girls. I do not know why they wanted to huddle under the bridge!
We found this delightful set of stairs and went to see where they took us. The little deer faithfully followed Callie, who was secretly feeding her crackers.
