cherry pickin
I spent most of last weekend with my girlfriend and her family. Early Saturday morning we went to see the third Pirates movie together. The action scenes were great, but the plot was haphazard and the characters' motives were inscrutable. At most points I felt I wasn't really following the story, but was rather just along for the ride, so to speak. I think this article pretty much sums it up. After the three hours of rather confusing entertainment, we grabbed a pasta lunch and wandered around the mall for a bit before driving back to my town. The plan was to head back and spend the night at her parents' house, so I wanted to get back in time to buy some local gifts. We made it back before the shops closed, and I was able to get a bottle of sake for the dad and some sweets for everyone else, but we still didn't make it back to her place until after 8. And once we got there, almost everyone was already asleep, because we had to get an early start to go pick cherries in Yamagata the next morning.
The sun rose at 5am, and I rose with it. After a quick breakfast of fruit and a bit of coffee, we were out the door by 6:30. Her family had rented a van, and I didn't know it but the whole extended family was coming along: I think the other members were her mom's brother, his wife and daughter, and grandma, but it was only explained once and I still wasn't fully awake. The roads were clear, and we got there early enough to buy the ultimate prize: an hour among the cherry trees. While they don't let you take everything out, they bring out ladders and you can eat whatever you pick, until you get sick of them. Yesterday was the last day they opened it up to the public before closing for regular harvesting, and there were maybe 15 of us in the fields. Some trees were sweeter than others, and the black cherry tree they had gotten from an American cherry seed had fruits that were almost sour. The biggest ones were yellow and red, and reminded me of the Rainier cherries from a previous trip through Washington, but they were juicy without much flavor. Bizarrely, I climbed the ladders without any fear or a second thought. Afterwards we went to an old soba restaurant for lunch before hopping back on the expressway.
Most of us were sleepy from getting up so early, but the guys in front seemed to have the attitude that since we had this van and didn't have to return it until later, we might as well use it. So we went to Matsushima and wandered around a bit. Not exactly a short drive, but it was nice to wander around and see the sights again. At first I had been reluctant to spend the whole weekend out and about, with little time for myself. But actually I had a lot of fun.