Road trip date to Chiba

First road trip together~

J rented a car so that we could drive down to Chiba.

First stop, Starbucks at a rest area for breakfast.

It was my first time at Starbucks for breakfast. I ordered the salmon cream cheese salad wrap while J ordered this chicken subway which was delicious! Not that the salad wrap wasn't good but because it was a chilly day.....and it just feels nice to have something warm.

The driver and I~! lol

We arrived at our first destination which is a bbq seafood place but unfortunately, they were packed full with tourists from tour buses. We'd have to wait for a few hours if we wanted to dine there. We decided to just visit the small strawberry farm next door and head elsewhere for food instead. Unfortunately, the strawberry farm is not open for picking on that day, so we just bought a pack of strawberries for the drive to out next destination.

Arrived at the next destination which had several restaurants surrounding a huge parking area. Judging by the full parking area, we should've known that all the restaurants would have a queue outside, so we just went to a souvenir shop and bought this biwa jelly drink. At first, I was wondering what biwa is.....and after googling it, biwa is actually loquat.

After that we made another stop at the bay area for some sea view and toilet break.

You can spot out exact location from this tourist guide.

After that we stopped by Mount Nokogiri. We didn't hike up to the famous jagged-over hang (as you can see in the picture below) or to the famous Buddhist sites. 

Instead we went to the place with a view of the bay.

There was a restaurant up there and we grabbed a light lunch there. 

We had the biwa curry and fish cake. Judging by how frequently we're seeing biwa, it must either be really popular in Chiba or it's just the right season for the fruit.

The view up there was amazing~

Interesting looking post box like structure with an area for locks behind for couples to place their locks on it.

As we didn't have much time, we couldn't explore the Buddhist temple grounds, but we will be back!

After that, we stopped by 漁師料理 かなや for a late lunch/ early dinner/ tea break. We were determined to get some BBQ seafood, as it was the reason why we decided to make this road trip in the first place!

Website: http://cgi3.hanto-kanaya.com/

We went for the buffet which costs 2900 yen for an hour and 3500 yen for 90 mins for adults if I'm not mistaken. As it was a weekend, they're open from 10 am till 5pm.

Look at the amount of food we're grilling on that small grill! Lol~

Absolutely love the shrimps and hotate!!! <3

They served sashimi too but there wasn't much variety.

Those that are wrapped up in aluminuim foil are oysters. I didn't try any as I'm not a fan but J said that they were good.

No worries if you don't speak japanese as they have sign is multiple languages.

After that, we walked to the rocky beach behind the restaurant for some pictures.

There were many people there too, just walking around or digging for clams.

After that, we continued on with our journey and we were so lucky to be able to spot the huge Tokyo Bay Kannon-sama from afar.

Our last stop was the 富津岬 (Futtsu misaki ) or Futtsu Cape, to catch the sunset from the 明治百年記念展望塔 (Meiji Centennial observation tower)

We arrived just in time~

The view from the top!

No sign on Mount Fuji on that day, but nonetheless...the view was amazing~!

There were many people there for the sunset too. While it's not the most romantic structure or the prettiest, it is an interesting structure with all the different connecting stairs to the different levels of platforms.

After that, it was time to go back and return the car! Huge thanks for J for driving us around the entire day~

Chiba is a really big prefecture and while there are many attractions, they are spread out. So it is better to have a car if you plan to explore several places in a day.