We were up bright and early on Valentines Day 4:10am to be exact:) Our V-day celebration included monkeys, puppy cookies and a castle. Above you see the puppy cookies that I made for our trip.
Dylan LOVED his valentines Day cookies!
Wild Snow Monkey Park
The wild snow monkey park is located at the Jigoku-dani valley in the Nagano prefecture. At 2,834 feet in elevation the harsh environment where snow covers the ground for 1/3 of the year is a paradise for these monkeys. Not my version of a paradise that is for sure!!! Just goes to show that I don't have any monkeys as ancestors:)
We walked up the the rest of the way to the Park on a winding path surrounded by snow. It was a beautiful walk. If you are going to be cold you just as well have snow to make everything beautiful!
This geyser was located just at the base of the main park area and was where we began to see the monkeys.
There are around 270 wild monkeys at the park. This little guy is very adept at tight rope walking and decided to show off for us.
Rory got an excellent shot of this red faced snow monkey hanging out on the edge of the admissions building. You were told not to look the monkeys in the eye! We were literally inches away from them at times. There was one monkey who did hiss and spit at us when we got a little too close but not this guy. He was very popular and will be in many families photo albums.
This may be the only place in the world that you can see the snow monkeys bathing in the natural hot springs.
Doesn't he look like a scary lion monkey being all wet. Not so cute in my opinion.
Matsumoto CastleThe castle is located in the center of Nagano prefecture surrounded by the Japanese Alps. Matsumoto Castle's original name was Fukashi Castle. It was originally built in 1504 at the beginning of the Eisho Era, in the civil war period. In 1582 the Lord of the Castle changed the name to Matsumoto. The castle is the oldest castle in Japan and considered a national treasure.
As you can see the outside walls of the castle are black earning the place the nickname Karasu-jo or Crow Castle.
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Samurai armor dating back to the mid-16th century
You can see the Japanese Alps to the left of the castle.
As you can see the outside walls of the castle are black earning the place the nickname Karasu-jo or Crow Castle.
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Samurai armor dating back to the mid-16th century You can see the Japanese Alps to the left of the castle.
3 comments:
Awesome pictures - what wonderful adventures you guys are having - love the pic of Dylan with his cookie :o)
Those are great pics! Dylan is so adorable and growing way too fast!! Also? Can I just tell you that I was a little skeeved out by the thought of a monkey that close to you hissing and spitting? Eek.
I LOVE the sumo pics!! I think that would be the coolest experience!
Love you girl!
Love the pics. Um, don't those monkeys remind you of the ones in the DVD that I gave to Rory many years ago?? Remember the one that you all thought was so weird...(I forget the name right now). Anyway - glad you traveled safely. Tried you on Skype last night - sorry to have missed you. xoxoxo
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