Tsunan Greenpia

August 18 2008
Tsunan Camping Trip

Our latest attempt at camping was more relaxing- no bears and (ok don't laugh at us if you are serious campers) it was actually located at a resort. There was, at the simplest level, auto camping, little more upgrade= a cabin, and finally, on the luxury end, a hotel. The property was huge so the different style of accommodations were far enough apart. I prepped lots of food and it turned out really yummy. We arrived early enough and since the land was snake free the boys could play contently without us as we set-up camp. We packed better this time- I did take too much food so have to remember that next time. In the evening we walked to an Onsen and then came back to our site to do fireworks (those little hand sparklers). Next day I woke up VERY early and out of the four people camping in our area I was the first up making breakfast. They must have thought I was a crazy foreign woman- always cooking. Masa and I were up late the night before cooking and eating porkchops until goodness knows what time- not wanting to waste the meat I brought along *lol*. At the crack of dawn I had my pot of chai boiling. The boys had so much fun wandering and dicovering. The clean, relatively threat-free site was such a peace of mind. Until they get a bit older, or until we have more experience or if we have extra adults along it may be a good idea to avoid getting too rustic (but not a resort everytime).

After a huge breakfast we packed up slowly and went swimming before heading back to Niigata City. As I write this Tomo is busy playing with toys setting up a tent (validating that he had a good time).


As far as Tsunan Greenpia goes- I recommend it, it is affordable, fun, safe with tons of options- tennis, onsen, pool, hiking, gameroom (we tried video car racing. Reo and I won- strange considering Masa and Tomo had no major accidents and I actually drove our car off a cliff), playground, restaurants in the hotel and more that I am sure I have forgotten to list. The campsite had toilets, washing stations near the sites, buckets provided for doing fireworks, discount tickets to the onsen and even gave us some free veggies!