A Rambling Weekend of Adventure

I had a great weekend. I got to explore the area by bike with the help of a map, and found some really cool neighborhoods in the neighboring town of Otawara. I went to the bakery and a local grocery store to buy apples. I followed a great green way bike path and cruised along the river until I was riding off of the map. I eventually found myself and explored some more off-beat parts of the city.

After lunch I went bouldering with Mitsuru-san our staff climbing fiend. The bouldering wall is in a warehouse district close to the farm. It is a long low wall that goes from vertical to overhanging cave, and there is a giant foam crash pad on the floor. The routes (referred to as "problems") marked with colored tape and numbers which helps reference which route is which. Since I am so much taller than everyone else that climbs there I have begun skipping holds on the routes, this is a constant source of entertainment for the other climbers. This skipping inadvertently makes the routes harder and thus brings everyone back down to my level. We had a great time yesterday on red #7 which I took from 9 moves to five making the last move a dyno (think flying.) None of us actually stuck the dyno yet but I have faith that we will next time.

Last night we went to one of the commuting volunteer's house for dinner and festivities. He gladly shared his collection of exotic liquors from around Asia and we ate our fill of nabe. I had a great time.

This morning I woke up early to go snow shoe hiking in the mountains with Ishiyama-san. He is another commuting volunteer and splits his time between ARI, his passion for wildflowers, and guiding hiking trips with the Shiobara visitor center in Nikko National Park. He picked me up around 8 and we met a group of about 25 retirees at the visitor center for a 3 hour trek through the snow studded mountains. It was very pretty and very cold. The Japanese seem to age very well and no one had any problems on the hike it was amazing. After the hike I got to visit Ishiyama-san's house which is very nice and complete with a traditional Japanese garden. I met his wife and got to see his photo albums of wild flowers. He has three large wild flower observation areas in the mountains where he has documented over 800 different flowers. He is a very interesting man.

Unfortunately, my camera is on the fritz so I didn't get any of my own photos this weekend, but there were cameras present so I will try to track down some photos and post them soon. I will leave you with a picture from the Organic Farmer's soccer weekend, we got to wear Japanese clothes. Stay warm, hug an Episcopalian, and eat some good food for me. Peace and Love.

Mike