Ken’s 65th BD

Ken turned the retirement age today! Happy Birthday to my husband  I was going to have a huge party for him including a live music with his friends but he didn’t want to do it. He thinks it is a too much work entertaining his guests on his own BD. We started our day with the hotel breakfast. 

Our reservation was supposed to include a complementary late 2PM check out, but the hotel’s automatic messages kept asking me what time we check out made me worry about being charged. We weren’t sleepy anyway so we checked out at noon. 

We headed to Petersen’s Car Museum, LA’s biggest car museum. 

Ken loves muscle cars. I took too many pictures. I don’t know which one I should post here. This is the first picture I took inside the museum. 

Ken said this car was one of the most impressed ones in the museum because he had never seen this actual model before. 

This was one of my most impressed cars in this museum. I like the body style. 

Batman’s car was huge! 

Back to the future car. Was it displayed in the universal studio before?!? 

Looks like a fish! 

Nice color! 

This is another car he was very impressed. He said not many Chryslers were in the museum. 

Ken didn’t want to race the car, but I did. 

Mick Jaguar’s car? 

James Bond’s car. 

Fast & Furious cars were everywhere. 

Charger?!? 

It wasn’t a real one ken said. His ultimate favorite is 67 Shelby Mustang. 

Future Weymo. 

This was used for Fast & Furious filmed in Japan. 

Low rider. Lying down and drive? 

This drives like 30 mile per hour 

Suzuka time! 

You can be a part of art 

This is so cute!!! Nice Van Gogh painting! 

One person car by Fuji Japan! 

On the way to Ken’s favorite restaurant, we went through Pasadena. Ken mentioned about Eddie Van Halen’s statue. That’s an excellent idea to stop by! Actually there was no real statue yet. They just have a plaque. 

Dinner at Clearman’s Northwoods restaurant. This place is Christmas all year around! Love the atmosphere! 

Yum yum  The waitress was nice and food was great! And of course, a complementary BD desert. What a difference from the last night’s restaurant! 

Love the stained glass 

He brew the candles on the birthday deserts 3 times altogether. I hope and pray for our happy, healthy and long lives together. 

Ken’s BD Part 1

We usually go out of town on special occasions but this time we had to stay in town due to my passport issue and insurance reasons. I had $300 credit on Expedia so I decided to book Biltmore hotel. It is my first time staying in downtown LA. On the way to our hotel, I was surprised how bad DTLA is. It was worse than I expected. Probably it has the highest number of homeless people in US. The hotel is close to that area. The another reason that I booked here is because I had to pick up my passport from Consulate of Japan, which is 5 minutes walk from the hotel. Security at Japan Consulate was quite tight. I had to go through 3-4 security checks. This is taken from the front of the building where Japan consulate is in. The tallest building in LA is US bank building. We reserved the dinner tonight at the top floor. Got my new passport 

Then we checked in the hotel. I like old art. The hotel was opened in1923. Many famous people stayed here including presidents, movie stars in the past, and many famous movies were filmed here. 

In the review, some people said the highest floor’s hallway reminded her of the movie, Shining. It wasn’t filmed here but it does look creepy. The hotel is more than 100 years old. It is probably me in the mirror, but I have never seen the mirror image that far. Weird. 

Our favorite Austin Powers! 

We got the highest floor but the building has only 11 floors. Ok view for the short building. 

Dinner place is only 2 minutes walk from our hotel. That’s the reason why we finally decided to do the dinner for over $100 per person even I heard the food was mediocre and service was not very good. Just paying for the view from 71st floor. 

We had a lot of time before the dinner, so we went to Angels Flight which is also a historic thing in LA. We would have never done it unless it had only 8 minutes walk from the hotel. 

The ride felt like less than a minute  Very rough ride. I asked the hotel staff but no one rode it. One of them was even scared of riding it 

We still had over 2 hours before the dinner so we used our $60 credit that was given to compensate the club lounge access. It was closed today. Also I had other $40 credit from destination fee and special deal on my reservation. 

Ken ordered $63 wine bottle. 

While he was enjoying his wine, I explored little bit. 

Beautiful I think we can eat breakfast in this area tomorrow. Hotel breakfast was another reason I booked this hotel. I really wanted to come for afternoon tea but it is offered only Saturdays. 

Pool was closed. I almost brought the swimsuits! 

Ready to go to the dinner. There is a dress code. Ken’s snobby look 

Another snobby look 

I like this picture of Ken. 

Here we are at 71st floor of US Bank building. As I expected, they didn’t give us the window table. Even after the window table was open, they refused to move us saying that it was for four people. Later the table was occupied by two people  I kinda knew. That’s why I was debating between going or not going until the last minute to confirm the reservation. Repetitive music was annoying, too. Typical modern restaurant atmosphere. And the waiter brought a wrong drink to Ken. 

Window was dirty and outside looked hazy unless you sit by the window. 

Sunset time. 

Is this a $6 sause from Japanese supermarket? Terrible as it looks! Salty  When a server asks how the food is, we usually say good even it is not good. This time I couldn’t even pretend. I just got frozen when he asked me the question 

The ribeye was tough but the one on the right was what? I couldn’t even recognize as a food! It was overcooked like 3 times! So hard and dry small piece of meat.  And the same bulldog sauce was given  If I have to give a compliment, the vegetables were good but I finished them in 2 bites. 

Paid cake! The restaurant here doesn’t give a complimentary BD desert! 

This one was the nastiest desert I have ever had! 

Well, the place was worse than I expected even I was ready to be compromised. One of the worsetrestaurant food I have ever eaten. The pictures below were taken by the window I had to sneak in when the table was empty. 

There were many window tables were available but they just didn’t serve that section. I read about it on someone’s review so I expected it. Our seats were the same as bar stools and super uncomfortable. It gave me backache. After paying the bill, they gave us free drinks which were also bad and too late to kiss our butts. We couldn’t finish them  Glad it is not real BD. Tomorrow we will celebrate his real BD. 

Eruption

Today was a long day. Last night when I was about to go to the bed, I checked the weather of Volcano. It said ash advisory  Then I checked the activity of the volcano. It was erupted  But it erupted 1:50PM. When I found out this, it was already past 10PM. Ken was already sleeping, but I woke him up and decided to get going to see it. It is once in a life time experience! Our hotel is in Waikoloa and Kīlauea Volcano is 2 hours away. It was raining hard on the way. I was very sleepy but I drove and hope to catch some activities. We could’ve caught the best time of the eruption if I checked it earlier   It was already close to 1AM when we got there. We directly went to Uēkahuna. The rain was scattering. At least we could catch the ending of the eruption. The mountain was all red. It was cold and we got wet by the rain, so the pictures didn’t come out well. 

We are really glad that we caught it. If we didn’t go there, we would’ve regretted badly. It is amazing that it happened during our stay 

We slept only a few hours. Today the wind was very strong but the weather was great in Waikoloa. The forecast was cloudy in the afternoon, so we rushed for snorkeling in the morning at the hotel lagoon. We saw some turtles  We are staying in Palace Tower where we stayed when we came with Ken’s gig about 20 years ago. This view reminded me of Royal Hawaiian. 

Our background of this picture is where we did snorkeling. I didn’t bring a phone with me when I snorkeled. 

We found out that there was a train collision accident last month. We just missed it. Part of the attraction in this hotel was a train. Transportation boat wasn’t working either. Only shuttle buses were running but we never took it. 

There are so many beautiful sceneries but I didn’t take much photos on this property. The parts of the reasons are that it is our second time, frustration at the time of check in, and man made modern structures do not impress me. Still amazingly beautiful! Our bill looks legit and I started liking this place again. 

I still couldn’t forget about the blue ocean I saw when we ate at Poke Shack. I wanted to swim in Kona. Since today is our last activity date for this trip, I had to do it today. The weather wasn’t good there, but we drove from our hotel in good weather to Kona in bad weather  I couldn't change the destination beach since it was almost 3PM.  I read Kahalu’u beach was a good snorkeling spot for beginners, I chose this. Also this place was close to Poke Shack so I thought the water color might be the same. When I arrived the beach, I was disappointed. It looked like a getto beach  Anyway I rushed to do snorkeling under the cloudy sky.

 Soon after it started raining. After that we went to a couple of markets to find groceries for tonight and tomorrow. We ended up with going back to Foodland Farm market. Their poke is so good and great price! I hope to do snorkeling before we check out tomorrow. I don’t know if I can get up early. Night night! 

P. S. On the day of check out, I went for snorkeling early in the hotel lagoon. Only a few people were there. I found a small manta ray  I chased it which led me find the big turtle looked like a mushroom on the bottom of the ocean floor eating breakfast. The shell was covered in moss so I didn’t see the numbers but it was chipped on both legs. Probably the same turtle I saw a few days ago. I saw my favorite blue fish, probably they are called blue parrotfish, 5 of them swimming together, then I got off the water. I had a great time! 

After all I liked my room even on the bottom floor. It looks like we had a huge backyard and very quiet in shade. Perfect for cracking macadamia nuts and getting to see small strange animals and birds. People were seldom there on the grass. View from our room.  

The fixed our bill correctly and I am happy. 

I found our hotel from the plane! Hilton Waikoloa. This place is always windy but I still love there. There might be a third visit in the future. 

In one week of stay, my eyes got used to see rural sceneries with a few lights. These LA lights impressed me looking like Christmas lights. 

Very rare to have a bad weather in our area, but on the way back to our house was stormy condition. Thankful that we accomplished our 25th wedding anniversary trip safely and seeing our cats being well at home 

Waialea Beach

Big birds came to me as soon as I opened the porch. They probably wanted food. 

The hotel gave us a complementary breakfast because of the problem at the check in. We used the vouchers this morning. It was a good breakfast. 

We were supposed to move the room but the front desk refused to give us a new room. After we complained about the broken bathtub last night, she said she would take off the first two nights of the parking fee. I hope it really shows on our bill. 

Since we ate too much and Ken was really tired, we stayed in the hotel room until 1:30PM. It was cloudy and windy anyway. 

We went to a local store to get a new snorkeling gear. Then we went to a nearby beach (Beach 69) to see if it was still safe to do snorkeling. Waves were rough but some people were still snorkeling after 3PM. Because I forgot to bring a life jacket and was afraid of my shoulder getting out of the socket by rough waves, I gave up on swimming in the ocean. 

I found a sea urchin in the shallow area. So many beautiful rocks! I picked up three to use for cracking the macadamia nuts. 

It is a nice beach. Some parts have calmer waves and beautiful trees provide shady areas. 

It was already past 4PM, we left for a market to find food for tonight and tomorrow morning. Foodland Farm market was actually really nice! Poke bowl was only $10.99 for two choices. We spent $22 at Poke Shack in Kona for a tiny bowl the other day! We bought three poke bowls. We came back to the room and after yummy poke bowl dinner, I started cracking the macadamia nuts. Thankful to the rocks I picked up, one of them was perfect that had a nice indentation which was useful to hold the nuts in position. 

Before

After. Wow! Many eatable fresh nuts! I can’t wait to roast them 

P.S. Roasted at home! Taste great 

25th Anniversary

Waking up with a headache on 25th anniversary. I had to take a pain killer. Expedia’s problem continued and they emailed me for a penalty  What the fuck! I had to waste my time again with their chat explaining what happened from the beginning. They gave me 200 points as their apology. My sunglasses I fixed yesterday fell apart and my face massager stopped vibrating. There was a fraudulent charge on my credit card and I had to cancel the card. I have to update my card number with 6 venders for automatic payments. But it turned out that the charge was done by Ken   I can’t stay mad on our big day. We had a healthy breakfast that we bought from the market yesterday. 

I was walking around to find a good snorkeling spot.

This is our building and our room has no privacy on the ground floor 

Fortunately the weather was good. We went to the shore inside the Hotel premises for snorkeling. Still I wasn’t feeling like taking pictures in a bad mood. The shore was great for Ken. The water was tame and shallow. Ken’s snorkeling gear wasn’t working well.  I tried to fix it, and I broke it  I am breaking so many things since yesterday! Anyway, Ken stayed on the lawn laying down and I went for snorkeling. Fish were big there. I saw many beautiful ones. Specially I liked the one I saw in Hanauma bay 4 years ago. It is blue base but shines in many different colors. I saw 4 big ones of the fish kind in one spot. Also I saw a huge turtle with chips on both legs and number H168 was written on its shell. Also a long one like trumpet fish?!? And a purple snake like fish, probably some kind of eels. Oh a big sea urchin, too! Before I get off the water, I saw a smaller turtle without numbers. Snorkeling was fun and it fixed my mood. 

It was still 10 minutes past 1PM, I took a bath but the bathtub stopper was broken! I didn’t break it! It was already broken  I called a front desk around 3PM and finally a guy showed up about 1 hour later. He said he would send a technician right away. The technician never came  Ken missed to take a shower before our dinner at 5PM. We had to get going. About 20 years ago when we came here with Ken’s gig, I was so impressed. There was a train running to take us to each building. I 

Saw parrots and even swan was there at that time.  Today, the train is broken, no parrots no swan either.. This place is going down. 

We reserved beach front table, but we took inside table since it was so windy. 

Ube bread! So yummy! It matches to Ken’s shirt. 

The place was so expensive. We both had King Salmon and 3 glasses of red wines costed us almost $250. The salmon was almost raw inside. Tasted good! 

Complementary anniversary desert was so good! Chocolate was melting inside! 

Finally our bathtub was fixed. I think we are changing our room tomorrow. 

Kīlauea Volcano

Today started weird. I kept breaking things. First thing in the morning, I spilled a whole bag of macadamia nuts chocolates on the floor! I washed them throughly so it wasn’t a big deal. Then I broke my face massager in two pieces. The cords inside are still connected. I am hoping an Aron alpha can fix it.  Then I dropped my sunglasses and one of the lenses came off. I was able to put it back after some efforts. Japanese proverb says “if things happens twice, the third time will happen.” Weird things happened to me three time today so I thought that was it until we checked in tonight’s hotel. I will write my frustration later on this page. 

This morning, luckily we had some Sun to explore the volcano. The room costed almost $400 but there was no TV, no bathtub and blocked view of the crater by the tree 

We checked out and rushed to take more pictures from the hotel because the parking at Lava tube is very limited. 

Briefly stopped at Kīlauea lki overlook parking. 

We got a good parking spot at Lava Tube, whew! Hawaii vacation is supposed to relax in free time but we felt like we were always pushed by time in order to get to the right place at right time in right condition . 

It was a shot distance! 

The next stop was Steam Vents.

From there, we chose sulfur banks trail. The steams kept us warm. 

The last stop today was Uēkahuna. 

The sun came out for 15 minutes then it started light rain again. Mountain weather is unpredictable. We were done with steams 

We needed a real Hawaii vacation so we headed to Kona for lunch. During 2 hours of driving, Ken was snoring. I hope he had a nice sleep. We stopped at Poke Shack inside of an apartment or a condo building. Behind of the building was a beautiful blue ocean! We ate a super small poke in 2 minutes looking at the ocean  

Still hungry but the tourist area was almost impossible to park unless you pay $$$ so we headed to our lodging area. On the way, we stopped by Island Market to get some groceries for tonight but we also caught happy hour at Jonny Bahamas. Hamburger was good. 

I was happy until we checked in this hotel! Oh my god! I don’t know how Expedia is doing on accounting! My receipt says it was paid off except some fees at the resort, but the hotel never got the payment. We were probably at the counter for over one hour. We missed the sunset  Hotel staff gave us leis and free breakfast coupons for apology but it wasn’t solved yet! I had to contact Expedia all night and checked my credit card statements. I hope it will be solved before we check out. We are talking about 4 digits charge!!! And I am not happy with the location of the room but I might stay there whole time. If we have enough energy to fight about it, we will try to ask a better room location. While I was checking my credit card statements, I found one mischarge. My card is now cancelled for a fraud protection and it is kinda headache 

I am smiling but I am pretty pissed off 

Ken is again snoring while I am writing this. I thought we slept 10 hours plus his nap of 2 hours in the car. Hawaiians sleep a lot 

Macadamia Nuts

It’s been 5 months since I wrote my last blog. We had a trip to Japan at the end of November but I was too tired to write a blog. We had a great time visiting Kyoto and kobe during Koyo season. 

Today we are in Big Island Hawaii! This trip was originally planned for last year but we postponed it because of hurricane Kiko. This time whether is actually worse than the original dates, but I didn’t feel like going through too much hassle to change dates again. Anyway we have been so lucky weather wise every time we traveled.

We arrived at Volcano House almost midnight last night. Traveling from Kona airport took over 2 hours but luckily it wasn’t raining. Because I didn’t want to spend $400 a night for such a short stay, we rented $94 cabin. It was my first experience renting a cabin with no private bathroom. I brought a portable heater and kept it on all night but the inside never got warm. No wonder! Later I found out that the top opening is a screen only! We used two Kairos and somehow we managed to sleep until the morning. The cabin was more decent than I expected though. If the weather was good, we would’ve been able to do star gazing  

Since Hawaii is two hour behind of us, we could start a day very early today. 

We checked out early and stayed at the lobby for a while. The weather was not super clear but at least we saw a rainbow   Smoke is coming from the crater. It’s been actively erupting since December 2024. 

We wanted to visit Thurston Lava Tube but the light shower started and didn’t get better. I originally planned to go to Black Sand Beach today so we headed there before the rain catches us. Birds specially roosters and hens are everywhere in Hawaii Island. 

Black Sand Beach

We headed toward the volcano hoping the weather gets better. On the way, I saw pink signs of macadamia nuts tree farms. I LOVE macadamia nuts ever since the first time I ate it when I was in early teen. Since we had to wait for the rain to stop in the Volcano area, I asked Ken to pull over the car by the trees. I found a lot of nuts on the ground. I thought they were ok to take because they were already dropped. It would have been great for the cabin stay. We could’ve roasted them outdoor but we already checked out and staying a hotel room tonight. 

I didn’t know anything about how macadamia nuts were grown and harvested. It was a great experience. We found fun in the bad weather. 

We decided to head toward Hilo. On the way, I saw a sign of Mauna Loa Visiter’s Center. We turned around to head there. I didn’t find this on top 10 things to do in Big Island online. As we get closer to the visiter’s center, I saw more pink signs. Now I know the farm by the street belongs to them 

 As soon as I came in, a nice worker at the counter offered me free nuts in many different flavors. The best one was Garlic & Onion but I liked Strawberry with white chocolates, too. Since Garlic one has a higher salt content and I can find them in Tokyo Central, I bought mostly chocolate coated ones without salt for Ken. 

Soon after, tour busses arrived and the place was filled with people. We sat outdoor dining area with a cover and ate macadamia nuts ice cream, watching the tourists wondered in the garden. The rain started and they were rushing to be inside  On the top of our table, there was a TV screen. The promotion video of Mauna Loa explaining their history and production was on. I learnt the nuts on the ground were still good. Oh well! I spent enough money there to pay off for the nuts I picked up from the ground by the street earlier 

Sugar Kane 

We still headed for Hilo. Ken’s first visit to Hawaii was Hilo about 30 ?!? years ago and he was interested in visiting there again. 

Huge tree

Hilo wasn’t really exciting to me  Since Rainbow Falls park was nearby, we stopped there. Falls can be seen from the parking lot. It didn’t require a long time to see them but it still costed us over $20 for the extremely short visit. Nowadays, you have to scan the QR code and pay online  No rainbow! 

Tree roots look interesting. 

Another giant tree! 

The dolls remind me of Ken’s family 

Slide Rock State Park

After we soaked about one hour before checking out from the hotel in Pagosa Springs, we hit the road early. Mesa Verde State Park was on the way, but we found out that the famous Cliff dwellings were 45 minutes drive inside the park. We gave it up and headed to Sedona, the next lodging place on the way home. We arrived Sedona earlier than we planned so we had early dinner at uptown. We had beer at the same place last time. It has a very nice view. 

Before checking in at Hilton Club Vacation Summit, we stopped by Chinese restaurant where we had dinner last time we came to Sedona. This time we ordered to go. While waiting, we found Slide Rock State Park on the visitor’s guide magazine. Chinese lady recommended going there early in the morning. 

We added this itinerary today. 

We worried about parking, so we checked out the hotel early and arrived there at one minute before they opened!  We were the first ones! I love beautiful photogenic places with water. This is perfect! 

Free apple picking is offered from September 15th. We missed by 3 days early. Bunch of good apples were already dropped on the ground. 

Not much hiking required. 

It was similar to Patholes but red! 

This is the furthest we went into the trail today. 

We stayed behind the big rock because it was in shade. Rocks were too slippery and water was so cold, we didn’t get into the water. 

I have never seen these flowers! 

Only a few people were sliding. I slided at Patholes near Lake Tahoe a few years ago. It was pretty dangerous and hit on rocks everywhere. I didn’t want to do it anymore. 

When we were leaving, a bunch of kids came into the park. So glad that we did it early 

On the way to Phoenix, we stopped by a garden gift shop and I purchased a wood tray. 

Cactus on the way to Phoenix. That’s Arizona!!! 

I didn’t know what to do for a short stop in Phoenix so I checked online and found Phoenix’s famous Fry Bread House by native Americans.  We had lunch there. Fried bread was like a nan. 

Pagosa Springs

Ohayo, Pagosa Springs!

It rained little bit. 

We started late today eating breakfast at Rose cafe around 12:30PM. Main road is under construction. 

These domes are for geothermal growing. 

Now we were ready to soak! 

I wanted to go to the pool by the river. Big one was occupied. This one is real nature setting, the bottom is mud and stones. 

Too bad this clean looking one in the River was closed due to the slippery condition  I noticed this resort’s bathtubs are all not slippery. In hot springs, slippery conditions are normal. Their cleanliness is excellent! 

Almost all tubs were occupied so we went to Blue Lagoon, a big thermal pool. It was too shallow to swim. Probably real Blue Lagoon in Iceland was our best hot spring experience but I like the Spring Resort as well as Blue Lagoon. Soon later other people came in and we moved to this hot Lobster Pot, which is 110 degrees. Soon after bathing here, the staff came to inform everyone to get out of water due to thunder lightening risk. We decided to rest in our room until we were allowed to soak. 

Now I realized that our room has the view of Mother Spring, which is the world deepest hot spring! 1002 feet, which is taller than pyramid! 

After we waited about an hour or so, we went back to the hot springs until we were told to get out again for the lightenings. 

Since it was raining, we went to eat at Boss Hogg’s, which was about 4 miles from the hotel. 

Monument Valley

The day before yesterday we left for a 5 day trip. I wasn’t confident on my health so I thought we’d better travel when we could. I finished my doctor’s office visit in the morning of the travel and nothing was to worry about  First we planned to go to Hawaii but I cancelled it due to hurricane Kiko. It didn’t directly hit the islands but I still didn’t feel like air traveling near the hurricane plus my favorite snorkeling activities might have been impossible due to dangerous rip current. I lost my points on my credit card to pay for the one night penalty to the hotel but I was glad that wasn’t really affected the refund amount. When we went to Big Island last time, I believe more than 20 years ago with Ken’s band, it was storm  We were the only ones swimming in the ocean and my shoulder was dislocated! Well, no more dangerous activities, we decided to go to Colorado instead. 

Nice clouds with the sunset on the way. 

I reserved the hotel just before we took off. The hotel was renovated 6 months ago and it was the best value in Flagstaff. Super clean, comfortable beds, quiet and complementary drinks at the arrival for $68 a night 

Made to order breakfast was included. Ken could order no salt breakfast! 

Soon after we got on the freeway, Ken missed the exit and we had to add 7 miles to turn around. I didn’t want to lose time since we had to drive about 7 hours to get to the destination. I was mad but I thought it meant something trying to tell me to check my car. My tire light kept coming on so I wanted to check it. Ken was arguing and saying it was ok because it disappeared while driving but I insisted to put air in the tires. The first air machine didn’t work and even pissed Ken more. I switched driving and I went into another gas station to put air. One tire was low. I was glad that I made sure my tires were ok because we drove in the middle of nowhere going. There were absolutely no gas stations for a while. On the way, there were nice sceneries of red clay mountains like Grand Canyon and Page ish. Since I was driving and Ken was sleeping, I kept going so no pictures. He woke up at Monument Valley as his mood was fixed. 

Last time I came here was about 30 years ago with Yoko and friends. I painted this butte in my college art class. 

A hat is on the top of Ken’s hat. 

Actually coming from the other side looked more impressive. My rear view mirrors had nice buttes. 

Hurry to take a picture before cars were coming 

Mexican Hat camping area. 

We arrived at our destination, the Spring Resort in Pagosa Springs at 6:30 PM! Colorado is one hour ahead so it was really 5:30. Good job on driving! 

Food wasn’t good for over $100 dinner 

Pools are available 24 hours for hotel guests. 52 pools and about half are hot springs and other half are plunge pools. First pool I chose was Moon River because of my mom’s Buddha name. Probably it was the hottest of 108 degrees (later we found the hottest one was at 111 degrees on the other side of the property). It was too hot for Ken but I loved it. Other American hot springs are always not hot enough for me but this resort offers nice hot ones with no chlorine! We stayed soaking until about 11PM. (Adding later: Forgot to mention that I saw a shooting star. It was so bright and big and lasted long so I doubted and thought that was something else like a plane falling?!? According to internet, it was a peak of meteors on September 9th  .)