HIKE

Preambles
Cycling around to Electro, fun though it is, just doesn't quite cut the mustard measured up alongside the full experience, the natural habitat, a few hundred like-mindeds and a trunk full of booze down and dealt with.

Hoping for a belting night out
I fell into the old trap on Friday night. That Friday feeling tickling me all over. 'We're bound to find some fun, some spontaneous night-life is going to sock us in the guts and drag us off into the unknown.' Oh no, dear reader. This is Yamagata.
Sushi started things off, which was perfectly ruined as we each conspired to pick the nastiest thing from the menu for the other to eat (except, of course, sea urchin, a clear sea mile out of bounds). We drank a bit more and went to a couple other regular places.


The next day and the great outdoors
Putting the hangover aside to be reckoned with at a later point, Max Dave and I trotted off up a mountain along a ridge over the hills and down them through rough and thorny terrain and eventually landed out by the next train stop along from Omoshiroyama, Yamadera. We each had our own personal escort of bugs orbiting roughly eye-level. I went to sleep seeing dots zipping across my vision. There were spectacular views. Musings. Discussions. Light-heartedness only the Famous Five could match. And then we got the train home.

Wrapping up thoughts that flaked off
And so, another weekend in Yamagata:
another outdoor sport begun/conquered with minimal necessary equipment (it turns out a box of koala biscuits and some breadsticks doesn't go far on a 7 hour hike)
another wet fart of a night
another reminder where the strengths of this place lie.