Lake Towada 十和田湖 Snow Festival

On Monday we ventured out to Lake Towada (Towadako) for the Snow Festival.  It takes an hour and a half to drive there from Misawa at about 50-60 km per hour (30-35mph).  Most of the drive was in the mountains, and it was fascinating to notice the snow getting deeper and deeper on the side of the road as we got higher and higher in elevation.  Eventually we arrived in Yasumiya (the town with the festival).  With several feet of snow pack, it was no surprise that this place has its own snow festival.  Oh, this map shows the relative distance from our house at Misawa AB (green arrow) to Yasumiya (red arrow).  

Incredible!!  Such perfect detail, even in the facial features.  Absolutely beautiful!  As for the snow sculpture behind her, that's pretty cool too.

This seemed to be a popular spot for photo-takers.  I'm inspired to make something like this in my backyard sometime. 

This is the snow sculpture currently in my backyard.  It's actually a very crude-looking, yet semi-functional, igloo (with lots of tiny windows and a skylight).

One unicorn and two cheesy grins.

Japanese igloo number one.  That's Katya inside against the back wall.  Alex is somewhere in there too.  They were chasing each other around inside, and neither of them would hold still long enough to get a shot.

Japanese igloo number 2.  This was my favorite.  There were a couple other igloos besides.  I can't explain it, but there's just something fun about walking inside a mound of snow.

Sled hill built entirely from snow.  I was here in the summer, and this was just a plain grassy field.  Katya surprised us all when she borrowed a friend's snowboard and made it to the bottom without falling off.  I think it's time to take her to the big slopes.

I liked this little church/shrine.  You couldn't actually go inside anywhere here, although attached to back was an igloo with a full sake (rice wine) bar.

Entering (and exiting) the snow festival.  Sign says Lake Towada Snow Festival (I think).

Gotta leave you with the sign.  These were posted all over the grounds, and you can bet we all whatched our footing.