Michinoku Park

We've been checking our list of places to visit.  On Saturday, we decided to visit Michinoku Park which is only about 30 minutes away from Sendai.

They have some beautiful gardens.  It must have been spectacular in the early part of spring.

These rocks are set up to be some sort of solar calendar.

This area was covered in red poppies.

This playground had lots of exercise balls for kids to play with.

We found some wild berries.

A paddle boat area.  One dad said he was tired from peddling his family around!

Families can come and set up some tents for shade and enjoy the day.  Most playgrounds we see at schools only have dirt fields.  Or the grass / weeds are not cut, so this was a nice place to enjoy.

There's an area to roller skate.

This is a little zip line

More balls to play on

And a bouncy, slidy thing.

A place to splash and wade

Crazy jungle gym

I know some kids that would have a blast here!

They also have a little historical village with several houses over 100 years old

This is a loom used to weave tatami mats from rice stalks.

These delightful hosts were happy to explain about the houses.

Can you see the images of the children in the wall?

The high ceiling kept it cool inside.  They said the upstairs was for the silk worms.

The stable for the horses was part of the house too.

Some traditional foods we were welcome to try.

Wood working tools

And floral arrangements

These baskets are for silk production

Spinning wheels

And a loom

Beehive

Scarecrows

Shoes made from rice stalks

And snow shoes and all kinds of baskets

They were teaching about the tea ceremony

And, we were treated to a magic show.

He was saying "Oops!  I messed up.  I'll start over!"

Ta Da!

Then we stopped at a farmer's market on the way home.  They had lots of flavors of ice cream too.  The fruit and vegetables were yummy.