Another roadtrip travel post today. Not the one on kyoto/nagoya [though i will write more soon] but the 2nd roadtrip i went on with my sister, brother in law and husband. We went to Ito Shizuoka.
Whilst there..we dropped by a “Road Station”. Those familiar with my blog would have read my previous posts about SA/PA [Service Areas/ Parking Areas] which are rest tops aka truck stops on the expressway. However there are also stops of interest along certain normal roads [which are frequented by those travelling] They are known as “Road Stations”
Ito Marine Town Road Station
Similar to a SA/PA, Road stations are a place one can park their car and have a rest. There are usually tons of bathrooms XD
Car parking is usually free.
Ito Marine Town Road Station is one of the bigger road stations [Sized like an SA]. Some road stations are very small. [like a PA]
This particular road station was ranked No.2 on the Kanto Area Road Station Ranking done by one of my fave shows [smaStation] on the 20th November 2010.
Before you go inside, there are several stores outside selling food like the ice cream store below
If you are there on a good day with lovely weather, you should get some food and enjoy the views outside
Can you see tat cute dolpin shaped boat in the back ? You can buy a ticket to go on a short ride! Its has a glass bottom for viewing!
And guess what this is?
Yup! its a really long footbath facing the ocean!
Lots of people were buying icecream [or beer XD] and enjoying it at this footbath whilst watching the scenery.
Part of the station was under renovation.
For example , part of the spa/baths was being renovated so we didnt visit it.
Had a packet of milk
It was FABULOUS.
We bought tickets to go for a ride on the “pirate cruise”
Since the weather was so good that day, the view was FANTASTIC
Btw seagulls were chasing us as some people on board the cruise were throwing prawn crackers to feed them XD
The cruise ride takes around 45mins and is very informative [sorry japanese only] It was very windy that day so the ride was jerky at times but i had a good time!
Ok time to finally go INSIDE the station XD
As usual there are tons of stores selling souvenirs.
We love our souvenirs and local delights/snacks XD
If you live in Japan, many of these places are happy to organise delivery of the items to your home via courier. So you dont have to lug it home. Good if you are travelling light or your car is really full or you want to send it to a relative living somewhere else in Japan.
Anyway we decided to go for a spot of lunch!!
What i had…
What the husband had [this restaurant is famous for its hamburger steak]
What my sister had
Oops i didnt get a pic of what my brother in law had XD
The restaurants are mostly on the 2nd floor and the stores on the 1st floor
Its quite a busy road station
All in all, i thought it was a really nice place! Excellent place to stretch your legs if you have been driving for a while.
The good thing about a road station..is that unlike a SA/PA which is located on the toll highway..you can actually visit it even if you dont drive! For example, this road station has buses running from Ito Station daily!
If you wish to visit, here is the website http://www.ito-marinetown.co.jp/
In other news, its the husband’s birthday today [13th December]
I bought him a cookies and cream icecream cake from Cold Stone.
Happy Birthday to my dearest Husband!
Hope everyone has a great week ahead
XOXO Yumeko
p.s i had a bit of time off lately so i started sewing again. i had some items for sale last friday but i am sold out now. if u missed it, i am doing a big update this week. my sale blog is here http://tezaiku.blogspot.com/
p.p.s i have been getting a lot of comments from you guys asking if the old posts will be available soon. yes they will be. To avoid trolls, they will only be available to approved registered users. Will post about it soon!!
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hahah sadly the dolphin boat ride is only 45mins long. it would cost too much to be on it all day long XD
yes we have cold stone but we dont get as many of the good flavours like US. did u eat cold stone in taiwan? husband likes it there cos they have cookie dough
no cookie dough here XD
yay for holiday break!
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it was really good but i was sitting on the outside upper deck and i kept wondering if the seagulls were going to poop on me hahaha
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ah i didnt know Sakie-san is from Nagoya, i should have asked you guys for tips when we stopped there for one day on our drive to kyoto.
where do u usually go?
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nope i didnt photoshop the pics , it was really really blue and pretty that day! heck i think i didnt do it justice! thanks for looking!
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it depends on the place! but generally i find them relatively clean ^^
the queues can be bad though!
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didnt get to try the glass bottom boat so i dont know sadly XD but i am kinda scared of enclosed spaces so i didnt think i would want to try that XD
i think specialized milk farms would tend to only sell whole milk but if u visited just the supermarket or the conveniece store..they all sell low fat or skim milk [i think 2% is popular]
we dont have dairy queen here but i used to buy it in Australia!
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yup they do! i ordered this one on rakuten! there are more flavours in usa. we used to buy them for big occasions when we lived in usa for 2 years ^^
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actually this is a road station and not a SA or PA [wrote that in the blog entry XD?] hee anyway lots of ppl here do it, they do trips just to an SA/PA specificaly
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AH! sorry about tat hahaha yes yes ok i will!
my sister’s was just a cheese seafood dip!
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thank you!!
oh i was more worried they were going to poo on me XD
where are u located?
i lived in US for two years and tats why i first tried it! they have cookie dough in US but not in japan [boo]
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thank u sweetie!
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yeay! move here soon then
lived in CT! ^^
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Hey sweets! thanks for the support! i had some issues with some trolls so had to lock my old entries!
i am still trying to figure out the locked post thing so once i do, will blog about it ^^