Yudanaka does not have onsen only for people but monkeys as well. While paling in comparison to la isla de los monos in Peru, the snow monkey sanctuary was pretty sweet. Monkeys, monkeys everywhere and close enough to shake off on you after dipping in their hot springs. Since its spring there were plenty of babies and younglings.

The walk back from the park was long enough to warrant soaking our feet in one of the many foot onsen scattered about. Before bidding farewell to the constant roiling underfoot of mountain runoff and steaming hot spring outlets soba was in order.

My lunch selection of hot soba in broth topped with what seemed to be a quail egg was tasty although a little too viscous for my tastes. But, they had soba soft-serve ice cream. Yum!

The final destination today was Matsumoto, also in the Nagano prefecture. Aside from seeing hordes of Japanese school girls and overhearing some old ladies complaining about foreigners, the trip was uneventful. The curry we had for dinner was, on the other hand, quite epic. The best surprise was dipping some exceptional french fries in yakitori sauce.

Sarah needs to hold our coin money or I will spend all of it on delicious vending machine coffee like the one pictured. The US really should have $1 and $2 coins. There is something satisfying with being able to buy very tangible things with only coins. And it is so very easy; no doubt it would help the economy.