Rambler: Beth
Drink at Hand: Prairie Berry Winery Sand Creek American Red Wine
Happy New Year Welliver Photography fans! Thirsty Thursday here again. Time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. Since this is the first Thursday of the year, and seeing how this whole "Throwback Thursday" thing is getting to be pretty popular, I figured I'd throw it back to New Years 2007 for tonight's post.
New Years 2007 was our last New Year in Japan. We'd gone to a Japanese temple either at midnight or on New Years day each year. However, seeing the first sunrise of the year is a big deal in Japan, so for our final New Years we decided to go to hike up Mitake-san (Mt Mitake) and watch the sunrise from the temple located at the top of the 3,048' peak.
While there is a cog rail that goes up the mountain, we decided, in true Welliver Photography fashion, to hike to the top in the dark. After all, it was New Years and the Japanese love their New Years sunrise celebrations...therefore, the cog rail was packed. The effort was worth it.
Though as you can see, it was insanely crowded. And no, that is not Terry hold that camera up...he actually took the photo above and below.
After watching the sunrise, visitors at the shrine get their fortune, or O-mikuji, for the year. It is customary to tie to the fortune to a nearby wire or branch after reading the fortune.
The wires get pretty full on New Years at any shrine.
The fascinating thing about visiting shrines on New Years is despite the throng of people, its a quiet, peaceful experience. You leave feeling happy, content, and hopeful for the coming year.
Some big changes coming to Welliver Photography this year. Its always nice to reflect on where we've been and what's gotten us to where we are as we move forward into the next year. We plan to make a year filled with adventures, and hopefully, some cool photos doing cool stuff in cool places. One thing is for sure, we only spent one night out in a tent last year and we plan to do much better than that this year! Time to start making the New Years worth of weekend plans! And then get out there and do something awesome!
Happy New Year!