onsen where dreams come true

! Click on the long thin box and then map above to see where I went.
I'm currently feeling really relaxed, because I've just come home from a great onsen experience. An onsen is basically a Japanese hot spring: there are many, and the good ones have outdoor pools as well as in, where you can sit and relax and bathe in the mineral-rich water.
I went to one with some local JETs, to one about 15min drive from my house. Shame I don't have a car, because it was one of the best I've been to! The name, Yumeminokuni translates as 'the place where dreams come true' - quite a nice name for the onsen I think!
It's special as there are 5 pools with steps covered with running water between them. The pools get progressively hot as you go up. Well, they're meant to, but I found the first and third extremely hot, but the others varyingly ok. But the steam rising from the water was matched perfectly with light drizzle and a misty murky evening.
Arriving fairly late (around 19:30), we had a Japanese dinner in the canteen/ restaurant part before we bathed. Was a good plan as I was really hungry! The place doubles as a brewery, which I hadn't properly realised before, otherwise I'd have tried some of the home brewed beer - in different strengths & colours and labelled in German, oddly enough.
Anyway, it was really great, and I'd love to go back. Maybe even in winter- having an onsen in the snow is an experience I've yet to have. Steaming hot water but cold snow falling on your head sounds fun!
Below are some pics and links to more pictures.

It was good going today. It reminded me that the last time I went to an onsen was with Mum in Nagano prefecture. No massage machines in this one, but I feel suitably relaxed and ready for bed now...