Joshua Tree National Park

Almost alien, definitely beautiful in a surreal way, these wind mills comprise the landscape for miles.
I love the rock formations and of course, seeing these giant "boulders" rising from the earth made my hands twitch and my forearms feel pumped with the image of climbing them.
This is a Joshua Tree for which the park park is named.
Alas, we didn't get any climbing in, although there were climbers everywhere. We did however, set up camp at "Ryan Campground" and hike around in the desert. The pics below are from an old ranch just beyond Ryan's Campground.

As we got a fire started and threw some dinner on the grill we watched the sun set over the mountains.

We only stayed one night, but it was an amazing experience to stay in the desert. Coyotes' howls closed in around the camp site. They ran around us, but stayed in the shadows. When I looked into the shadows with my headlamp, I could catch the reflection of their eyes or even make out the outline of their form as they circled. Yeah, I was a little nervous, but I think they were more scared of us.

Westward Bound-California

First we headed to the east coast and hung out in Vermont for a wonderful (albeit too short) of a time.

Then we continued West to California. Shortly after we arrived, my sister and her boyfriend joined us from VT. In our time there, we hung out with family and friends and then golfed and hiked.
The picture above is from Tahquitz Canyon where we spent the day hiking.

I'll admit I'm not much of a golfer, but the golf courses were beautifully kept and we enjoyed our time on the course irregardless. The two shots above are from Silver Rock Golf Course.

Kenrokuen Garden in the Winter

Winters throughout this region of Japan are known for being COLD and WET. Thus, it's common to see trees and bushes supported by ropes so the snow doesn't cause too much damage.
In the middle of winter, the garden stays open late at night while musicians play and people enjoy the beauty of the winter.

Mame (Bean) Friends

As some of you may know, Japan has a real affinity for anything "cute." Commercials, sign boards, labels on drinks, fashion, even construction cones are very, very cute. I have been immune to this "kawaii" crazed culture... until now. I've become rather attached to "mameshiba," little bean-dogs. Check out the links below, and tell me if you've ever seen anything quite so kawaii!

Each character is a different bean, so there are many little bean-dogs; there are coffee beans, edamame, fava beans, chick peas, peanuts, jelly beans, and many more. In the videos, the beans pop out of their food to share some random trivia. Ha ha! Enjoy!

Happy New Year!!

One of the Japanese traditions for the New Year is visiting local shrines. At the stroke of midnight we piled into the car and went to two Shinto shrines and a Buddhist temple. The following day, we went to the Buddhist Temple, Natadera. The following shots are taken from there.

Skiing (or trying to)

Sorry, there are are no photos of me on the mountain; with my skiing skills, I spent a lot of time flying out of my skis and landed in a messy heap in the snow, so having a camera on the slopes was not a good idea! However, the snowy mountains were beautiful.

Christmas Time!

There was a dress-code for the Christmas party this year: red, green, silver or gold. Here's Masa-san was trying to figure out what to wear to the party. This one didn't make the cut.
It was a good night full of great food, wonderful people and of course, too much cake!!
The little man here, Evan, was so excited by the Christmas log his mom made.
Then there was a lovely chocolate pudding cake from the local chocolate/patisserie shop. Yum!!