So, for those of you keeping score, yes it has been a month since our last family outing. Winters in Tokyo are cold and wet and not so much fun for exploring in. However, Spring makes up for it with days like the day we went out to the plum orchard.
Although everyone talks about the cherry blossoms, the plum blossoms are actually the first harbingers of Spring. About an hour outside of Tokyo is a plum orchard that has over 25,000 plum trees, and as you can see in the picture we caught them at full bloom. It was the first warm, non-rainy day in two weeks so we were very lucky.
It was very cool, they had setup walking trails that criss crossed the three hills the plum trees covered, and there were benches setup under the trees so you could sit awhile and just enjoy the view. There is another mountain nearby that is supposed to be a great climb but we had gotten a late start to the day and decided to save that for another time.
I couldn't believe all the colors of the blossoms. I didn't get any pictures of them but some of the trees actually had mixed color blossoms, white and pink swirled on the same petal, like rose bushes get when they cross pollinate. I loved that right as we were leaving the sun peeked out of the clouds and I was able to get a few pictures of individual blooms streaked with sunlight. I didn't realize plum blossoms actually smell but they do, a soft floral scent kinda like cherry blossoms.
All in all it was a nice relaxing day and a wonderful opportunity to get out of Tokyo for abit. I can't wait to go back and hike the big mountain.
