Disc Golf in Japan

Last night we went back to Canal City to see their Halloween display at night and grab a bite to eat. All of a sudden a fountain show started outside the Hyatt Hotel. I love fountain shows so I was pumped! It was just like the Bellagio fountains (done to music), but on a much smaller scale.

Today we went to Uminonakamichi Seaside Park mainly for some disc golf, but enjoyed many activities while there. The disc golf course was fantastic. They had a “long hole course” and a “short hole course”. We played both. The long course was 18 baskets around 60-100m long. We had to modify a few holes as people were enjoying themselves in the park and had no idea that they were napping or taking photos on a disc golf course. We also had to skip the water hole (#8) as we each only brought 1 disc and buying a new one anywhere in Japan does not seem to be an option. You can rent “flying discs” from the main lawn shop there for $2.10, but they were crappy pieces of flimsy plastic that wouldn’t have gone very far. They are what you would expect to see people tossing around in a park and not using for disc golf. However, right beside one of the holes (instead of playing them) were a group of young guys tossing a disc around and using a leopard. I’m not sure that they knew that their disc was probably better suited for disc golf….or what disc golf was…but they were sure good at throwing it. If I had a frisbee with me it would have been sweet to trade my frisbee for their leopard and then I could have played the water hole.

The front 9 was very crowded with kids playing soccer, baseball or just hanging out and seemed dangerous. The back 9 was slightly further away and much more enjoyable. However, since it is further away and gets less traffic the spiders and spider webs on it were much worse. And they grow big spiders here in Japan!

Here are some pictures of us playing and the course:

Here is one of the wholes on the short course (only 9 holes):

While at the Seaside park we also took in the zoo. We saw kangaroos, guinee pigs, bunnies, flamingos and lots of monkeys and other strange animals that I don’t know what they were:

These animals as well the kangaroos were in a petting zoo (we think, but couldn’t read the signs so we didnt’ risk it). Here is one of the signs. Not sure what it says, but it looks like the animals have a tummy ache:

The Park was quite eerie as it had a ton to do there, but there was very few people around and by 1pm it was practically abandoned. The very few people there were kids on a school trip and they left early. We were quite a hit with the kids. We believe we were part of a dare. 3 girls came up to us, said hello, asked us where we were from and then said “you can do it” and then walked away. We were the freaks and were stared at constantly and should have been one of the zoo exhibits.

I’m not sure why no one was at this park when it had so much to do and the population in this country is so high. There was Marine world, Wonderland (a little amusement park where we took in the ferris wheel), tons of gardens, the zoo, disc golf and mini golf, wild bird pond, a playground, a water park, and much more. And entrance to the park was only $4.00 each!

Here’s Jeff on one of the nice water walkways:

Jeff’s down for a nap again, but was a trouper today being sick. Sounds like he’s walking up so I better run so we can head off to dinner somewhere. With all this carb loading we are doing (noodles served on rice and bread stuffed with potato paste), we should be amazing at Pumpkin Pull!