For our trip to Hokkaido, we booked a package deal through a travel agency. This was an adventure since we were the only two non-Japanese on the 45 person tour. On the long drives between the sights all weekend, we learned a lot of interesting information from our tour guides, but it was exhausting to hear them continually talking while trying to process what we heard. I think I've figured out why toddlers sleep so much.
The first winter
festival we attended in Hokkaido was the Sounkyo Frozen Waterfall Festival. (aka Hyobaku Ice Festival) Sounkyo is a small city in a formerly volcanic mountainous area in central Hokkaido famous for its river gorge, waterfalls, and hot springs (
onsens). It is within the boundaries of Daisetsuzan National Park and is absolutely beautiful. Being somewhat difficult to get to, it still feels like "real" wilderness.
The festival itself was a freezing winter fantasy land with giant ice castles, ice pillars, dozens of corporate sponsored igloos, ice sculptures, and of course, frozen waterfalls lit up with colored lights. The festival was located along the Ishikari River, which was not frozen and provided many scenic views.
One highlight was the tube sledding course that was carved into the flatlands along the side of the river. We rented an inner tube and I went sledding down the hills several times. It was so much fun! Since it was snowing while we were there, the sledding was even better... but maybe a little bit colder too.
This weekend we went to the Lyman Orchards Winterfest. When I read the advertisement, I was so excited by the claims of ice sculptures, illuminations, an igloo village and sledding. It sounded a lot like the amazing Frozen Waterfall festival at Sounkyo in Hokkaido. So, we all dressed warmly and headed out for some wintry fun. For X-man, this fun included eating Puffs sneakily in his car seat.
As you can see in the photos, the two events weren't quite the same after all. For one thing, it was a fairly warm day for February and a lot of the snow had melted which really impacted the winter ambience. But, the medieval ice sculptures were neat. Xavier liked the knight slaying the dragon and the castle sculptures. He smiled a lot at the artist who was building a drawbridge out of ice. I liked the wizard best. As for Chris, I think he liked the delicious free samples in the Apple Barrel shop most of all. :) 
