We just got back from our 3 day trip to Izu! Izu is one of the most popular resort locations in Japan, located south-west of Tokyo. It took about 3 hours to get there by car (but only 2 and a half hours to get home...papa has a lead foot when returning from a vacation...). We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Shiki
nokura located just outside of Shimoda. Shimoda is where Commodore Perry and his Black Ships first invaded...oops, I mean "came to" Japan to "negotiate" the opening of Japan and its ports to the US conquerors...oops, I mean US ships. In 1854, the Shogunate and the US signed a "peace treaty", which effectively ended Japan's 250 years of self-imposed isolation.
We got to Izu on Thursday afternoon and went to a place called Kawazu Bagatelle Park before checking into the hotel. It looks nicer in the photos than it actually was, and at 1,000 yen per person just for the entrance charge, it was 
a true rip-off. There were a whole bunch of roses (which I would rather eat than look at...), and not a whole lot else...unless you count the 50 or so gardeners...there were about 5 gardeners to each visitor to the place...no wonder it was 1,000 yen to get in. Next time I want to see roses, I'll go to the local flower shop...
After the rose park, we went to check into the Hotel Shikinokura. We got a room with a really great view of the ocean! The hotel has an Italian restaurant, a roof top dog run, a nice deck and another dog run in the forest! The staff there were extremely
friendly and and the hotel was really clean. I definitely want to go back there again. We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights. The first night, every time I heard a noise, I would bark and make a lot of noise to protect mama and papa from strangers. I woke them up every 1 hour to make sure that they were safe. By the second night, I didn't start barking until 5am to let mama and papa relax for some extra time before waking them up. Papa was so happy at my ability as a guard dog. He kept saying, "thank you, Roots!!! Now shut the f%#$ up and go to sleep!!!"...whatever the heck that means...
The first day we got to the hotel, the staff told mama and papa that there was an onsen (hot spring) for dogs. Mama and papa took me there but I wasn't too impressed...until I saw all the toys! Papa found a ball and threw it into the onsen and, not knowing any better, I jumped after it. Was I ever surprised!!! It was my first time swimming. I jumped after the ball thinking that I was going to land on a
hard surface, but instead I sank into the water and had to swim for the first time in my life :-( Papa said my eyes were as big as grapefruits when I found that I was in water instead of on the ground. Mama told papa to help me but papa was too busy laughing to help me so I immediately dog-paddled for the side of the pool and jumped out as fast as I could. Not a fun moment. Luckily, papa put a life jacket on me for my next foray into the water and I was able to almost enjoy swimming...almost...
On Friday, we went to the beach. The weather was perfect. About 26 degrees and sunny. The waves were breaking nicely and papa wished he knew how to surf (and that he actually had a surf board so he
could try...). There were a bunch of surfers and we were wondering what they did for a living other than surf and spend time at the beach. Don't they work??? Then again, mama, papa and me were at the beach on a Friday morning so I guess we should give them the benefit of the doubt. The water was cool and felt so
refreshing. It was my second time in the ocean and now I think that I'd love to live near the beach! The sound of waves breaking is one of the sweetest sounds in the world. The air was so clean and fresh, especially after the smog that we call air in Tokyo.
We went to a place called Dogs Garden Biwanoki after the beach. I met a new friend named Potato. She was fun to play with but she kept taking my frisbee from me. She was quite good at evading me and I wasn't able to get my frisbee back until her papa got it for me. Papa says I am a loser because I was defeated by a poodle...man, I hate poodles...Here are a few more highlights of my first time to Izu:
You ever get the feeling that someone's watching you?
My special vacation dinner on Friday! Beef, potatoes, zucchini and pumpkin!!!
The Spanish run with the bulls...I run with the poodles...poodles are more dangerous (and yappy!). We went to Izu Dogland on the way home. Check out this cool dawg!!!
OK, OK, who let the horse into the dog playground??? He was actually a Great Dane...and he only weighs about 13 times what I weigh... I thought I was risking my life playing with him but he was actually very nice to me. By the way, what does "pint sized" mean?
Home at last!!! Nothing like returning from an adventure and sleeping with a watermelon as a pillow!!!Oyasumi Nasai!!!
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