December 31, 2011

Today was the PERFECT end to a crazy year!  We traveled to Hakone to spend the day at an Onsen.  It was great to relax and reflect on all that has happened this year.

Before we could go, we had to take care of a little business.  The Japanese don't view tattoos the same way we do in America and tattoos aren't welcome at most onsen's so we had to do some covering of my husband's Ichthus tattoo

Once we arrived, I started in the main spa area while Jason went off  to get a massage

We met back up and spent some time exploring inside for a bit

then headed outside in the SNOW to hit up the water slide and explore the "caves" a bit...it was about 40 degrees outside at this point!

we floated in the salt bath for a while...it was so strange.  It was easier to float than stand in this water.

but it made your skin feel funny so we had to rinse off afterwards

I loved the rose bath! It was scented with some sort of red powder but they also had tons of roses and rose petals floating in the water

back outside, there were also green tea, sake, coffee, charcoal and wine baths.  It was freezing out so we ran to the top and jumped in each one for a few minutes, I snapped one quick photo and ran back inside!

we went with some great friends and it made the day that much more enjoyable!

The best worst most interesting part of the day was getting our feet sucked on by a bunch of fish

{please don't mind our pale, out of shape winter bodies!  whose idea was it to wear a bathing suit in December anyways?!?!?}

Ok, so I spent most the the time holding my feet out of the water or trying to keep the fish off my feet.  It was just a little too weird for me!

We came home so relaxed that we decided not to go out tonight!  The husband is asleep on the couch and I'm blogging & watching chick flicks.  What a perfect ending to 2011!