Exploring town

Now that I have a bike, I thought I'd explore the town a little on my day off.

First, I went over to see the ski slope behind my house.

Looks like it'll be fun when it snows.

Then I continued on east to Pumpkin Kingdom, a little shop by the side of the main road. Its pumpkin ice cream was in the brochure I got before coming here. I knew I had to get some before summer ends, but it was a little far to walk. I wasn't even sure if they'd be open on the holiday, but they were!

Yummy pumpkin ice cream.

The view from the side of the road is great. It's times like these that I'm glad I live out in the countryside.

Then I went to find the library. It wasn't open, but even if it wasn't a holiday, it seems they're closed every Monday. I guess I'll come back on the weekend, but I don't know if I'll be able to read many of the books there.

After that, I just kept on going. I wasn't really sure where I was going, but I eventually found a path up from the road lined with trees. I parked my bicycle and went for a hike.

I found this old tower and decided to climb it for the view.

 Look at this broken, overgrown walkway. When I see something like this, I just can't help but think there must be a secret item up at the top.

 It looks pretty daunting from directly below.

 The view was pretty good, though.

I kept going up the path and found  Children's Country, a small amusement park I've seen advertised on posters in city buildings.

I kept going past there up to the lookout point. I got pretty good views of the whole town.

There was also a monument for a time capsule.

 It was buried on November 3rd, 1980. It will be opened 50 years later, on November 3rd, 2030.

Continuing down the other side, I found this sign with its two cute mascots. Presumably they're names are derived from katakuri, or trout lily, though kuri is also Japanese for chestnut.

Turns out I was climbing Mount Mikasa this whole time.

After making my way back down the mountain, I was pretty tired, but it was a lot of fun just going around randomly and getting lost. 

I biked past the grocery store on my way home for veggies and made spaghetti for dinner.