Mount Fuji Travel | Maikaino Farm

We decided to head down to Mount Fuji for New Years, because we knew coming off a two week quarantine we would A) be safe to do so and B) need to get the heck out of the house! I thought I would share our plans in case anyone else is looking for some feedback on what to do around there. We have been several other times, so we did not do some of the other big-hit places because we already had! This trip was about seeing things that we didn’t want to drive and down and back in one day just to do. They were mostly places we wanted to take Emme but didn’t know how to do with her nap schedule unless we stayed in the area (yes, we are those people now whose lives are dictated by naps #noshame).

Our Itinerary

We left late on the 1st, because *someone* had one or two too many margaritas on new years eve and was sick all morning and during the drive down (it’s me, I’m someone). So we did lose a bit of time we wanted, and missed out on taking tripod family photos that first day because there was just no way I would be up to it. We settled on getting to the hotel in time for Emme’s (and my) nap.

We were not impressed whatsoever with the mountain view inn, which was a steep $154/night for a military hotel, and no wifi?! You had to pay $9.99 for one day of wifi. It did have a small kitchen. The kitchen would have been great but I was too hungover to organize food before we left. lol. Not my best moment people. 🤣 Luckily I am not picky about hotel rooms. The run-down feeling didn’t bother me, but it did bother my pilot husband who is used to being put up in places like Hiltons. (🙄)

Anyways everyone woke up feeling refreshed and we headed to the Gotemba Premium Outlets so we could get some Shake Shack! They were out of the mushroom burger which was a real bummer for me, lol. But the shakes were 👏. Otherwise we decided we wouldn’t be back to the mall. It had tons of fancy stores if you’re into shopping though! Here is our overall itinerary. If we had gotten there earlier we would have also done the Fuji Kachoen Flower and Bird park again because the last time we did it Emme was too little to enjoy it.

1st:

2nd:

  • Breakfast at Japanese Denny’s near base (would not repeat, wished we had looked for a fluffy pancake place)
  • Makaino Farm
  • nap
  • Family Photos

3rd:

Makaino Farm

This was the highlight of our trip! It was ¥600yen per adult to to get in, and Emme was free because she is under 3. They have all the standard farm animals, and you can get close enough to touch all of them. I kept saying, “I can’t believe this was only ¥1200.” 😂 The cows were the most elusive which was a bummer because they are Emme’s favorite! There was a big line to see them up close so we skipped it, but she saw some others near barn.

The best part IMO was the giant field of sheep which you are allowed to walk freely in and feed. Also GREAT ice cream. Never pass up soft-serve ice cream in Japan, I have yet to have one that wasn’t seriously amazing. Other than the 7/11 ones, those aren’t my fav. But otherwise never pass it up. here are a crap-ton of photos because I was having so much fun there! Emme was totally in her element.

Family Photos

We stayed on Camp Fuji at the Mountain View in which is only accessible to DoD ID card holders on a space-available basis. There was only one other family checked in it seemed to us. So anyways I knew I wanted to grab some family photos while we were down there because Ed had been gone all fall so we missed out on Holiday card photos. I figured we might spot somewhere to snag some while driving, and we totally did! After our day at the farm Emme took a nap and I got everything ready so that when she woke up we could split. Well, when she woke up Fuji was mostly covered by clouds, which was fine, I knew taking photos in the afternoon meant a high chance of clouds. I still wanted family photos though!

So we did them anyways and I just didn’t use a deep DoF to include Fuji in the focal plane. Also because then I would have had to drop my shutter speed and Emme was SO WRIGGLY there was no way that would work in the light we had left. So anyways, here is what we got with an interval timer and tripod. 🤣

Fuji Safari Park

On our last day we checked out and drove to the Fuji safari park. It was cool, but not as cool as the farm IMO. You can drive your car through their park or take a bus, and they have another area where you can walk around and look/interact with less ‘wild’ animals. It was pretty cool to see a tiger walking by our car but I sure wished I had cleaned my car windows so I could take photos. There was no way with how dirty my windows were. 😂

This park was 2700 yen per adult. I would do Makaino farm again over this because the farm animals looked much happier. They had a LOT of animals at the safari park though. Hopefully I paid for a meal for a tiger or two. I’ve never seen that many lions in one place in fact. I would guess they had at least two dozen, maybe three!

Where else have we traveled?

I am admittedly NOT a travel blogger but I have been trying to keep records of big trips we do just for my sake. It also gets me to actually edit photos. You can read about our New Zealand trip here or here, and our Hawaii trip from 2018 here.

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