Mt Fuji with ITT tours

Sometime in July (i cant remember the exact date) we went on an ITT tour to Mt. Fuji, Summer Tour. I would recommend this tour because you REALLY get your $'s (or Y's) worth. I think it was about 280~300$ for our family of 4 to go. But, you really pack in the sites. Honestly, there is no way you could see/do everything on this trip for under 250$~300$... including parking/tolls and so on, alone. We had a blast... and i cant wait to do it again, during another season. Maybe Winter. IMO, a must do tour, before PCS'ing from this area.
We left IKEGO @ 3 am and returned @ 10 ish, it was a long day!
As you can see, in the morning we got GREAT Views of Mt. Fuji! :) Lucky Us.
But, as you will see the clouds rolled in around lunch, and never went away again. Typical Fuji Weather for the Summer.
Below--->Picture from the bus, on our way to the mountain.

Look @ the light post. Do you see the little Fuji? Cute!

We arrived @ the 5th station of Fujisan and the views were amazing! We were above the clouds, but there we're clouds above us too. There are 10 stations of Fuji.
The 5th station is the highest you can go (by bus/car)... the rest u have to hike.
(Which Ethan did for the 2nd time last week. It's HARD to say the least!)

The Sky looked amazing that day.



After leaving the 5th station, we went to the Mt. Fuji welcome center.
We watched a movie and learned about Mt Fuji, in English.
And the hands of stuff was fun for the kids!



We also drove by one of the 5 lakes of Fuji. Just Beautiful!!!

Then we went to one of shrines that surround Fuji. I forget the name right now, but its one of the oldest/most popular. I will re post the name when i remember.
The bridge below has a stream flowing under, that flows UP HILL!
It's said to be very mysterious, and Rare!


They say Hug a Tree for the Energy... hugg away!

After visiting the shrine, we went to the Included Lunch.

Now, the price of the lunch was included in the ticket, so that part was nice.

But we had No selection.

We all ate the same thing, even children.

I would prefer to have a choice in my meal.

But the pace we went to was nice, and if it had been a Nice No Cloud Afternoon... we would have had THE BEST View of Mt. Fuji hands down.

But, it was clouded and overcast ... so no view at all.



After we ate, we headed to the 8 ponds of Fuji.

These ponds are filled with melted snow run off from Fuji. They say it takes 20 YEARS for this water to reach the ponds, because of the massive "filters" underground.

Once it reaches the pond, it's SO Pure and Clean... and Clear... and COLD.

haha.

they have many areas where u can feel/touch/drink and so on w/ the water from the ponds.

This area of the tour was my favorite, but we spent the Least Time @ this pace. :-(







SUPER COLD WATER!!!

After the 8 ponds we headed towards the Mt Fuji Peace Park.

See the overcast Fujisan?

The peace park was also SO NICE.

But honestly, after a long day of walking/on&off the bus and so on... i was tired!

The peace park is a lot of walking and uphill/down hill.

BUT, TOTALLY Worth it!



The weather is rolling in!

We were pretty much IN the clouds!


.


This picture was taken on the drive home. What a perfect Rainbow!

Olivia spotted it... and the whole bus was like oooo aaaaaa!

And, here's our Little Origami Mt. Fuji's. haha

We made them on the trip.