Caro Foresta Sugadaira

This weekend we hired a car with snow tires and drove up to the mountains in Nagano to another Caro Foresta hotel. There was a lot of snow on the ground when we arrived and more fell over night.

Jazz and Dixie had fun exploring our room as well as joining us in the dining room for dinner and breakfast.

It was still snowing as we left and drove down the mountain. Its great to find such dog friendly places that are so clean and have great food as well.

Front Yard Trailer House

We went on our first little getaway with the new car on the weekend. On the way to our accomodation about 120km out of Tokyo we stopped in at a place called Mother Farm complete with many farm animals and dog runs. Some of the trees around still had their autumn leaves.

There were quite a few dog runs for various purposes such as agility, sports dog and general socialising runs for small and large dogs.

For lunch we stopped by the BBQ terrace for mongolian style BBQ with Jazz and Dixie.

The sun is setting quite early these days. Took this pic of the water front from the car.

When we arrived we were very pleased to find the place just as it was shown on the internet. A cute little trailer house with its own "front yard" which Jazz and Dixie just loved. They chased each other round and round as it became dark.

Inside the trailer house it was quite spacious and had everything we needed. Jazz and Dixie were quick to check everything out.

For dinner we had BBQ prawns, sausages, steak, yakitori and vegies on the deck outside the trailer house. I made the fire and Shin had the job of cooking!

Check out was 10am but unfortunately it rained all night and was pouring rain when we awoke. We had planned to let Jazz and Dixie have a final play together in the dog run but instead had to bundle them into the car and head home. We all had a great time yesterday.

A Yummy Dinner

For my Birthday Shin took me to a very nice restaurant in Omotesando called Ukaitei. After 9 courses (one dessert course missing! cause I ate it before I remembered to take a pic!) wine and coffee we were pleasantly full. From start to finish we ate:

Sole Sashimi
Foie gras
Cold Cream of Potato Soup
Lobster Tail with Truffle Sauce
Lobster ‘Miso’ with Chives
Fillet Steak
Hot Ginger Ochazuke (rice soup)

Mango Pudding (not pictured!)
Chocolate Mousse.

The food was delicious and I had a great Birthday - thanks Shin.

Mini Getaway to Caro Foresta Karuizawa

For Golden Week and Dixie's Birthday we decided to take a minibreak and spend the night in Caro Foresta Karuizawa. Last year we stayed in the Yamanakako hotel and it was great so we decided we would try the Karuizawa one which was just opened in March! We took the girls to a dog run/farm first but this was cut short by the rain so we decided to head to the hotel. The traffic was horrific and it took more than 1.5hrs to get to the hotel just 22kms away!

We checked in and let the girls check out the room and the dog run before a very yummy 5 course dinner. The next morning we ate a Japanese breakfast and let the girls have one more run in the dog run before heading off at 10am. On the way back to Tokyo we stopped in Takasaki and just by chance found that they were holding a month long flower festival in the parks and gardens there which was really beautiful. The weather was much better than yesterday with lovely sunshine. We had a great little get away!

Caro Foresta Yamanakako

This weekend Shin, Jazz, Dixie and I all went to stay at a lovely lodge in Yamanakako called Caro Foresta. It was built this year in July and is a completely dog friendly establishment. It was designed so that people with dogs could enjoy top quality accomodation and food. We stayed in the Japanese Taisho Romantic Room which was decorated in the style of the Taisho Period which is a period in the history of Japan dating from July 1912 to December 1926, coinciding with the reign of Emperor Taisho. The room included living/dining room and bathroom downstairs and bedroom upstairs. The bathroom opened out onto a small garden and the living room onto a deck and another garden that the dogs were allowed to run free in.

We were served dinner in our room at the dining table, course by course over an hour and a half. The food was Japanese and consisted of many small delicious dishes. The service of the chef and waitresses was amazing - they were very friendly to Jazz and Dixie as well.

In the mornings we had a rather large breakfast consisting of soup, salad, breads, cooked meal and fruit. We really splashed out on this little getaway with the girls but it was well worth it.