It’s go time.

Tomorrow, we hit the road not-very-early and head for Hakuba, a ski village about four hours drive away. Hakuba lies in the greater Nagano area, site of the 1998 Winter Olympics. On Wednesday we will ski at Happo-One, a resort that hosted several events at those winter games. Fun fact: it’s pronounced Ha-po-oh-nay, and not Ha-po-[one]. My fellow expat mom Debra pointed this one out to me, preemptively. Thanks, Debra!

The Nissan Cube doesn’t quite hold four people plus requisite gear, so we rented an awesome/hideous minivan from base. Mark and the kids drove it home this afternoon. The initial assessment from the ten year old, with no editing whatsoever: “It smells like someone farted in it about seven thousand times.” Can’t wait!

Tonight we load the car; tomorrow we drop Ruby at the dog hotel and hit the road.

The snow is allegedly terrible. We are from the Mid-Atlantic states of the U.S., so this is not new to us. Nor do we care, because we have packed beer. And wine.

Updates to follow!