Colorado Adventures

コロラドの冒険

Homeleave, part 3

３人は東京に帰ったので、マーティンも来ています。 今私は時差ぼけが会ったので、３時午前から、起きているけど、正常ですよね。トビは純子さんの犬のトレニングのカンプから帰りました。彼はインディと草だの家族を恋しいだけど、私たちは大丈夫と思います。後でそれについてポーストを書きます。寝ることができないから、コロラドにいるの一週間の写真を見ました。コロラドで、マーティンの家族とたくさんいい冒険をしました。訪問はとてもよかったです。後で、時間がある時に、スマッグマッグに写真を乗せます。今にはいくつかどうぞ。時差ぼけなので、一ヶ月日本不在ので、私の頭が悪くなりました。それで、残りのポーストは英語です。

3 of us are home in Tokyo now, and Martin is on his way.  I've got jetlag, and have been awake since 3am, but that's normal.  Toby's back home from his stay at Junko-san's doggy training camp.  I think he misses Indy and the Kusada's but he'll put up with us.  I'll post about that later.  Unable to sleep, I've looked at some of the pictures taken during our week in Colorado.  We had so many adventures with Martin's family.  It was really a great visit.  I'll process the pictures later and put them on smugmug.  Here's just a few for now.  And, because of jetlag and being away from Japan for a month, my brain is not working for Japanese, so the rest of this post will be in English.

It was the first time for most of us to go White Water Rafting, and we totally enjoyed our trip down a section of the Arkansas River with our guide, Andy from Buffalo Joe's.  The left side of the boat, which included Chris, Robin, Monica and Jonah was very efficient in their use of the paddles.  The rowers on the right side left something to be desired.  However, we made the best of it, and taught Andy how to count to five in Japanese, as that's the most strokes in a row that he would call out.

Hiking is another important activity that we took advantage of while in Colorado. You can see Pike's Peak very clearly from their home, and the surrounding area is lush with a variety of trails offering various degrees of ruggedness, altititude, vistas and hiking environments from deep mountain forest with rushing waterfalls, to meadows of wildflowers to lofty outcropped formations such as "Pancake Rocks" where you can see Monica and Jonah perched upon here.  The seven of us packed our lunchs and cameras and each carried two bottles of water.  The weather cooperated to a point.  It wasn't too warm up in the mountains, and there was just a little rain spitting while we enjoyed our lunch of sandwiches, yougart and fruit and trailmix.  Jonah, who might grow up to be a meoterologiest, especially enjoyed watching the sky change as the clouds gathered and darkened and then dispersed.  Hiking offers the chance for the adults to introduce nature to the children.  Two kids growing up in Tokyo don't often see this kind of raw nature, and Monica and Jonah really enjoyed being with their Uncles and Aunt out there in the wilderness, as well as their wonderful parents....  On our return back down the mountain, we chose a different route, which went through an old pine forest towards a falls.  Along the way, we started seeing Colorado Columbine, the state flower.  It is really beautiful and has a very interesting shape.  We would just see one at a time, growing alone, then a few more, a few more after that.  It intriqued me, this wildflower with the splayed tails and the bicolored face, and its more recently acquired notorious name.  I took this picture of Robin, above.  She's so intent.  Martin took some nice columbine closeups.  

This is what I'm talking about.  Hiking along until you come upon water, following a stream down, watching it grow,  or sometimes disappear back into the mountan.  Often growing to something so lovely as these falls where Monica and Uncle Chris enjoy the view and a cool sense of tranquility with nature.  We, like all hikers we know, are very careful not to disturb the nature we find.  Anything we take in, we carry back out, such as trash, and we don't pick wildflowers or other pieces of nature, other than an occasional small rock.  Taking pictures is the best way to keep and share the experiences.  Here's a happy couple, Martin's little brother Matt, and his wonderful bride Robin enjoying a little rest near the summit of Pancake Rocks.  Of course, a week is only seven days, so on Sunday we had to pack up and drive to the airport for the next leg of the adventure.  Uncles and Aunt returned to St. Louis, we returned to Tokyo via a short stay in MSP, while Grandma and Grandpa waved good bye, and hopefully not, "good riddance" from their front porch.  Don't worry, despite the comic picture below, the "After the Hike" wearies, we'll be back!