Shiofune Kannon-Ji

The second excursion in April was to Shiofune Kannon-Ji.  My friend and I left right after dropping Felicity off for school and we got home just after she got out (thankfully Mike offered to walk and pick her up for me).  Shiofune Kannon-Ji is about two hours south of the city, near Mt. Fuji. Most of the red azaleas had already bloomed and we mostly just got to see the purple ones with the white ones just barely opening.  It was such an enjoyable trip.  We decided after visiting the Shiofune Kannon-ji to go find some ruins nearby but the directions took us into this tiny alley into someone's driveway.  We tried to turn around but the driveway was small and we got ourselves wedged completely between a concrete wall and the neighbor's fence.  I tried to direct my friend but she accidentally tapped the fence and being metal, it made a loud sound, bringing the neighbors out to investigate.  We were embarrassed and thoroughly stuck.  The old man, while annoyed, was kind and accepted our apologies and then helped us get unstuck.  By the time we got free and back on the road we decided not to go to the ruins and went to a quiet iris field instead.  The iris' were not in bloom yet (they probably are now) but it was so peaceful with croaking frogs and singing birds.  We just sat on a bench and listened and felt the wind blow on our faces.  There were only a few other people at the iris field and I could have sat there for hours.  After, we picked up some food at McDonald's to eat on the drive home and then back to the city.