Hokkaido conference is a wrap

We returned at 11pm on Thursday night from the conference in Hokkaido. It was a tiring journey after a tiring week. Thankfully the flight was quiet (benefit of travelling with older kids) and I felt refreshed and able to manage the two hour journey on the trains home (it took five of them, to travel 30km!).

The hotel we stayed in continues to be a curiosity (it's our third visit there). It features:

• a waterpark in the basement (including a small wave pool, a current pool, several mild water slides, a pool full of watermelon-beach balls, etc.
• two floors with hot springs.
• a ginormous buffet that we ate at twice a day (it has enormous floor to ceiling windows)
• an eclectic interior design and "artefacts"
• lots of full-length mirrors

I've included some photos for your interest. (Here's more of the decor, photos I took last time.)

One of the many full-length mirrors. There were at least a dozen on every floor around
the elevator enclave. Then there were a bunch of enormous ones in the dining room too,
as well as random ones like this, in the hallways.

Enormous dining room with enormous windows to match. This place was crowded every
mealtime. Though it was huge, there were lines to negotiate to get to the buffets.

The teenagers, some of them anyway. There were about ten families with teenagers (many more
with younger children). Though a smallish group, several nationalities, and at least three
languages, they seemed to have a wonderful time together. Yes, it was still a bit chilly
outside (that's snow), but delightful inside!

On the way back to the airport on the bus, I was on the right side for taking a photo of this large lake.
It's a cauldron lake and has three volcanos around the edges.

After two sleep-ins in the last two days, I'm beginning to feel a little less weary. I think I'm going to have to keep a close eye on my energy in these next three months, I'm running a bit close to the edge. I drank a lot more coffee than I usually drink, just to make it through conference, even coffee for dinner on the last night, but still fell asleep at 11! Almost unheard of for me.

I do enjoy these gatherings, but now I'm home and realised I would have loved more time to talk more in depth to more people. Though it means more travel, I'm looking forward to going up to Hokkaido again next month for a week-long training event. It's at those events that you get the time to talk more in-depth to people.

I sat next to David on the way to the airport and we talked about maybe going camping in Hokkaido again . . . probably after all the boys have left home. It's a beautiful place, though with an extreme winter, it's not an easy place to live.