December 28 2009: All righty....out of the house we go! Shane had the evening off, so we decided to drive up to the Tonami Clan House to see the lights. Ok, so I meant to go on the 20th when there was a festival in relation to turning on the lights. But other commitments had been made. We went tonight...had to wait for it to get dark. Which really isn't all that late here, around 4:30pm (no midnight sun here) (and in case you care, the sun is rising around 6:15am - at least we are starting to get longer!) Still, we didn't get there til around 5:30 as we like to dilly dally in getting ready. Got there just in time, as when we left, the inbound gate was closed.We got there....hoped out of the car with the wind gusting in our faces. Took a few pictures, and called it good! Time to go back to Misawa. But at least I got a few pictures here.
Above: the center island.
scraggly trees in the field.
Electric horses! Now where are the cowboys? get it???? Electric Horseman....get it???? (am I dating myself here? really it's a movie....go look it up)In any case, those are the horse statues, not real live horses. Andi wanted to sit on one. Didn't think that would be a good idea. Really can't afford to pay for new lights.
But this display at the clan house is for just 2 hours a night. A little bit of festiveness (I'm sure it's a word) but with a budget in mind.
Like I said....5 minutes there, then on to Misawa. Outside main gate is American Park. I do believe I took pictures a couple of weeks ago of a bunch of plastic bottles, rigged into some sort of display. Well, this is what they look like lit up:
Above: this tunnel is also all plastic bottles lined up end to end. The clear lights actually do a quick rotation to make it seem like you are walking in a spiral of sorts.
Ok, the reindeer aren't bottles, they are the wire things. But once again bottles. I didn't realize last year when we arrived that it was plastic. Of course keep in mind I had a serious case of jet lag going on, and never looked at them up close. So from the car they looked like it had to be some sort of ice blocks lit up. And keep in mind there was also a LOT of snow when we arrived here. Plus, did I mention the jet lag?
Those are the Christmas lights. I'm not sure if there are others around. Perhaps. But right now it is too cold and icy to go look. No snow. It did rain today, so the roads are a bit slick. Should be an interesting walk in the morning....stay tuned.
