May 26, 2017
Over the next few days we drove around the northern island of Hokkaido in search of shibazakura. The shibazakura may have been past full bloom in the Mt. Fuji area, but in Hokkaido they were at their peak! And the flower parks were absolutely incredible fields of pink and purple flowers. And of course, they had flower flavored soft serve.
Late May is also tulip season in Hokkaido. The Japanese sure love to do their flower parks over the top. This is easily the most tulips we had ever seen in our lives!
Trying to make the most of our time in Hokkaido, we were anxious to go to see the "unkai" or morning fog from above. Lucky for us we found a location outside of Kitami, where we were staying, and made the trek in the early morning to see the sunrise. Side note: the hotel that we stayed in in Kitami had FREE ramen at 9 PM and it was pretty legit. Pretty cool to have a late evening ramen session.