Ii tenki desu ne?

Translated into Southern it would be, "Beautiful weather, ain't it?" And boy was it! I had decided to go up to Hamakita Forest Park and check it out. The guys at Pulstec said there was good hiking there. But I don't really trust these folks when it comes to that sort of thing. But it turned out just fine. Not exactly the hiking we do in the North Georgia mountains. This is much more groomed. And there were signs everywhere. But it was still really great to get out in the trees and see some nature. Hamamatsu is completely urban, and the only critters you get are the usual suspects - pigeons, crows, sparrows, cockroaches, etc. But out in the Forest Park there were real critters. Song birds, butterflies, big honking spiders, lizards, etc. I even came across a skinny racoonish thing. Apparently I suprised him. He was just walking along and I noticed him before he noticed me. I just watched him for a few seconds. Then he looked up, froze temporarily and then skidattled hastily into the underbrush. It was pretty quite up there, I only ran into a few other people. All old, retired looking folk enjoying the great day. I spent 3 hours up there walking around, and probably only covered a quarter of the place. Absolutely going back there.