After my dad's first weekend in Japan, we headed to Hakone early Monday morning to go see Mt.Fuji! He had booked a trip with a tour company so all we had to do was meet the crew at Hammamatsucho station in Tokyo and take a bus towards Fujisan.

From Tokyo, it takes about 1.5hrs to drive to Fuji...and we made one stop on the way at an awesome Japanese pitstop. I had a major flashback to my first time in Japan when my dad, stac, and I roadtripped with the Banksons from Nagoya to Tokyo Disneyland (5hours) and stopped many times to buy snacks and go to the nice bathrooms! (seriously, they have nice showers too)

My fav snack toppo and dad's caramel peanuts...fun bus ride with my old man!

So we made it to Fuji...BUT...THERE WAS TOO MUCH SNOW AT THE TOP SO WE COULDN'T EVEN GO PAST THE FIRST LEVEL :( wahhhh!

There were SO MANY tour buses there and all of us had to turn around and give up our dream of seeing the view from the 5th level of Fuji.

So we turned around and drove to the lunch spot to eat a good traditional Japanese lunch. Then we drove to lake Ashinoko to take a boat ride.

It was a beautiful day on the lake...pretty cold and crisp. It was definitely refreshing to be out of the city and in nature!

The 15 minute boat ride took us to the other side of the lake to go up on a gondola.

On a clear day you would be able to see Fuji from here...and even though it was really cloudy at the top it was still a beautiful view.

This hot cocoa is so good. Nothing better than a hot can of cocoa in your hands on a cold day.

The tour bus we came on was heading back to Tokyo (crazy one day trip) but luckily for us we planned to stay at a hotel and take the shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo the following day...that way we had more time in Hakone.

After doing some research...I found a good dinner spot to try called Kimura, which is known for their katsu! We took a cab 10 minutes and arrived and the little restaurant that already had a line forming outside.