Tama Hills

About an hour from Camp Zama is a recreation area called Tama Hills that is run by the AF.  We've heard great things about the area and finally made time this weekend to go see it for ourselves.  We had a great 2 days taking advantage of all they have to offer.

From what I read on plaques and was told by random people through out the weekend, the land was used by the Japanese Army during WWI to store munitions.  Due to the thick foliage and construction design, the bunkers were not discovered until after the war ended.  The US Army took control of the site and used the buildings to store bombs during the Korean War.  Years after the wars ended, a golf course was built on a large chuck of the land and since then, the remaining land has been used by US forces {at some point, the USAF took over responsibility for the land from the USArmy} for religious retreats and Boy Scout functions.  In the 80's it was turned into the recreation area that can be found there today.  They offer a large variety of activities ranging from archery to horseback riding and putt putt to paint ball.  There is also a large selection of sleeping accommodations available including sites for tent camping, cabins and a hotel.  I don't know why it took us so long to get out there but I'm certain we'll be going again before we leave Japan.

We had a blast hiking through the woods.  We never knew what we'd find at the end of a trail.

of course there were bugs, mostly spiders! {I am grateful for my telephoto lens!}

my husband has an fairly extreme reaction to mosquitoes but luckily he only reacts for a very short period of time.

We also took to the archery field and played some putt-pitt

Doing what he must in order to make the shot!

The best part about Tama Hills is that they allow pets!  Mr. Puppers was allowed to come along for the weekend and I'm quite sure he enjoyed the open land more than Jason and I did!

breathing in the fresh air

the hike we went on might have worn him out a tad which resulted in a solid 3 hours in this position

One night we met up with some other families from Zama at another camp site.  They had brought along glow bracelets for their kids and we turned them into dog collar earrings which made it much easier to keep track of Buster in the dark!

I absolutely loved waking up to this face each morning

We definitely made some rookie mistakes on this trip, like not bringing ANY source of fire with us, which made it mighty memorable.  After a trip to the little store they have in the hotel {which is uber expensive but totally worth it} we got a fire going though, it was a beauty.

We ate like kings all weekend.  I never in a million years would have thought to make shrimp scampi while camping but Jason suggested it and I made it happen.

We're already planning our next trip out to Tama Hills!