Today, we hired a car, and having left Sapporo in a snowstorm, took a
drive around the Hokkaido coastline. The Weather gave us everything:
snow, hail, rain, mist, and also some "sunny intervals". Jeff was
particularly impressed by the 'stack' in the photo above.




A fairly typical shot from our coastal drive, until you spot the ski slopes,
enjoying their first snowfall of the winter, descending from the clouds
almost to the sea! Have you seen that before?!




Our destination, Lake Toya, reached after a 6 hour drive. We will see
these islands in the lake again tomorrow (beautifully volcanic, don't
you think?), but for now we are heading for a wallow in some of the dozen
or so pools of the local hot spring...

... of which we can't show any photos (we draw enough attention as it is,
without taking photos in the "strictly-no-clothes-permitted-whatsoever"
hot baths! For the record, however, bathing outdoors in the natural hot
spring, under a nearly full moon, with the lake and islands above as a
backdrop - memorable!