Saturday at Rokko San Pasture

On Saturday (after mountain-biking), we spent the rest of this gorgeous day (clear, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky), with a co-worker friend of Mike's and his family up on Mount Rokko at Rokko san Pasture, a huge rolling green expanse of mountain-top land that is basically an open-air farm. With greens, white picket fences, and tons of roaming sheep the place looks like what one would imagine Ireland or Scotland to look like, but is just a short distance from downtown Kobe. (One interesting side-note - on this sunny hot day (it was in the 80s) we were the only -- I do mean only -- people there in shorts. When Mike asked his friend about this strange fact, he told us that (i) it was too early for shorts (i.e., a seasonal-calendar based fashion fauxpaux on the order of wearing white before Memorial Day!?); and (ii) many Japanese people are very concerned about sun exposure.)

Ilena and the kids had been here before, but it was Mike's first time. We picniced (using our large green o-hanami plastic tarp!), and...well...froliced about. It was definitely a nice spot to spend the day.