Climbing Albuquerque mountains and volcanos -- toddler-style -- with a dose of adrenaline

Climbing the Sandia Mountains via the world's longest tramway (3 miles) to the summit at 10,300 ft!

A couple of nights ago, I finally watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I knew when I first watched the preview in the movie theater that I would love it since it's about imagining adventure in your life and then making it happen.

As I watched the movie, I couldn't stop smiling thinking about the travel "risks" that I've taken over the years that turned into incredible experiences:

• Crashing the dinner party of my Eurostar seatmate in Paris
• Going to Bangkok and taking a 3-hour bus ride with chickens and fruit peddlers
• Taking buses in remote areas of Japan and trying to match kanji on the bus to our maps 

The movie reminded me of that wonderful yet scary feeling of adrenaline when you're in an unfamiliar place and you're wondering, "Am I crazy to do this or would it be crazy not to?"

In Albuquerque, I had a milder version of that feeling when I took the kids on the world's longest tramway up the Sandia Mountains to a peak more than 10,000 ft high. When I was researching things to do with the kids for the trip, I thought the tram would be so fun, particularly since I loved the one I went on in Hakone, Japan, near Mount Fuji. But, doing it alone with toddlers? Although I called and talked with the staff there and got advice from the Albuquerque visitor center and everyone said it would be fine, I still didn't sleep well the night before. 

The tram station was about 20 minutes from downtown and when we got there, there was a sign that said the weather at the mountaintop was 31 degrees (it was about 60 degrees in Albuquerque). What?! I asked if that was for the legit top of the mountain or where the tram was taking us and the man looked at me funny and said both were the same thing. Then he said it probably was closer to 45 degrees and he had to update the sign. Whew!

I put an extra layer of clothes on the kids and we were off! The staff and tourists were awesome since they let me keep our ginormous double stroller unfolded so I could better manage the kids.

The littlest mountain climbers atop the "North" Mountain. Elsa would be proud!

I'm so glad we went! The scenery was beautiful and Dylan LOVED the dips our car took each time we came up to one of the towers. Hilariously, he kept calling it the North Mountain (Frozen).

From the Sandia Mountains, we drove another 20 minutes to the National Petroglyph Monument, which stretches 17 miles across Albuquerque's west mesa throughout volcanic cliffs and canyons. The trails feature petroglyphs, rock picture carvings, on volcanic rocks dated 400 to 700 years ago made by Native Americans and Spanish settlers.

Toddler trail climbers at Boca Negra Canyon

We "hiked" as best we could along the trails at Boca Negra Canyon and admired the carvings of drums and animals. Definitely not stroller friendly since there are giant rocks in the middle of the trails, but we all still had a great time and even made friends with some lizards.

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Love Letter to Japan

My favorite new song by The Bird & The Bee...

Reflections

I’m four hours into the 13-flight from Tokyo to Newark and reflecting on how to savor details and feelings from this trip. I’d like to prolong what I’ve experienced -- balance, personal growth, contentment, accomplishment, appreciation — so that come Monday after a full work day, these feelings don’t disappear like the cherry blossoms that are falling from the trees.

I’ll miss using chopsticks (even though I STILL don’t hold them properly), making fun of the people on our language tapes with Gina, random acts of kindness (presents!!!!), nods of respect, warm toilet seats, experience meals (shabu shabu, yaki-tori) and cherry blossoms. Thank god it’s getting warmer because walking outside is a beautiful thing!

As a bonus, I hope my Japan adventure has stimulated my motivation to finally finish our Asia-inspired guest room. I’d like to get back in the habit of framing pieces I’ve bought instead of shoving them in a closet until inspiration strikes at a later date. I’ve got a bunch of stuff from my D.C. trip a year ago, Bangkok in the fall and now my Japan souvenirs. Michael’s, here I come!

Ten days for this trip appears to be a perfect length. I’ve had a wonderful time with a great traveling companion, and now I’m ready to go home. I haven’t heard my husband’s voice in 10 days, and that is an eternity. I definitely have a shelf-life when traveling if he’s not with me.

When I told friends and family about my plans to visit Japan, many people wondered what the allure was for me. I hope I’ve helped to give you a flavor of the beauty, tradition and culture that drew me to visit.

Transportation overload

We did it! It took three bus transfers and a lot of pantomiming with our broken Japanese, but we made it from Hakone to Lake Kawaguchiko near Mount Fuji. Here’s a rundown of today’s transportation madness:

--Hike for 30 minutes toward a Mt. Fuji viewing point until we tired

--Ride from hotel chauffeur to mountain train station
--Ride train to cable car station
--Ride cable car up a mountain to the Hakone ropeway station
--Ride ropeway gondola roundtrip and squint for views of Mt. Fuji despite clouds, admire sulfur
vapor rising from Owakudani volcano
--Ride cable car back to trainstation, accept carved mirror gifts from lovely Japanese woman
happy to practice her English and proud of our Japanese speaking skills (???)
--Ride train to station near hotel
--Walk back to hotel
--Ride bus headed toward Gotemba, pass the Hakone Glass Forest, get off at next bus stop and
schlep luggage back to Glass Forest, pass on ride offer from friendly Japanese man
--Continue bus ride to Gotemba, transfer to bus for Kawaguchiko
--Call hotel and speak broken Japanese to secure ride from station (high five after getting to
say“moshi moshi” on the phone…how Japanese greet one another by telephone)
--Ride in hotel van driven by 14-year-old

Whew! Are you dizzy? I sure as hell am. It may just be the after-effect of the onsen bath at our hotel…whole other story.

The Glass Forest was gorgeous…imagine crystals hanging from tree branches like little sparkling flowers. We loved that parts were open air so you could admire the beautiful mountains and springs outside. We ate lunch al fresco in the café and tried not to laugh at the bizareness of a Japanese man singing Italian love songs. No idea about the relevance of hosting this type of Italian museum in Japan, but it was awesome all the same. Too bad we ran out of time to visit the Open Air Museum.

Once we got to our hotel which overlooks Lake Kawaguchiko, one of the Five Finger Lakes near Mt. Fuji, we were starving, so we made reservations for the sushi bar. No one at our hotel speaks English, so the chef brought out the fish he had and we pointed to what we wanted prepared and he told us the name in Japanese. We had tuna and mackerel sashimi and some rolls with a shitload of wasabi that burned my nostrils and eyes. I couldn’t stop laughing when Gina said the Japanese wearing masks (we’ve seen a ton) to prevent allergies from hanami season (cherry blossoms) should just use wasabi to clear out their nasal passages.

Oh, and once the chef served us, he hovered over our table until we started eating, which was unnerving. We told him our sushi was delicious, and he made us another round.

After dinner, we bought beer from the vending machine and tried to sneak it in the onsen (public bath), but then thought better of it.

Tomorrow, we hope to visit the Kubota museum to see seasonal, gorgeous kimono in a breathtaking mountain setting. The exhibit I saw in San Diego in December was the inspiration for taking this trip to Japan. Then, we head to Tokyo.

Fans, mountains & vending-machine beer

This morning Gina and I channeled our inner geisha to create beautiful hand-painted fans with a cherry blossom motif. Since neither of us are practiced in the art of drawing, we relied on existing fan patterns to create our design. Coincidentally, we both selected the same pattern from a couple hundred options despite having very different artistic tastes. Over the course of a couple hours with some guidance from a worker with limited English, we painted our masterpieces, which will be shipped to the U.S. in a month after the skeletons of the fans are attached.

Of note, the Japanese obsession with cleanliness nearly cost Gina her face as we attempted to leave the factory/store. As we “walked” out, we noticed a raised threshold, and I cautioned Gina to step over it, but neglected to caution that the door was glass. KABAM!!! Thankfully, there’s been little noticeable brain damage. (Also, we must note that yesterday, a woman was scrubbing the subway floor tile with a toothbrush-like tool while we stared in amazement.)

We stopped in a mom and pop coffee shop after class to nurse some caffeine along with Gina’s bruised ego. No one spoke a lick of English, but we had the best coffee that was brewed from crazy Bunsen burner devices on the counter. I was very proud that the old woman understood me when I said “oy-shi-katta” (“that was delicious”). However, despite pointing to our hysterical English to Japanese flashcards to indicate we wanted breakfast, we could not score a meal for the life of us. When we inquired about tofu and rice, the friendly man behind the counter said, “See you tomorrow!” ????

So, we walked a minute or so to another “kohi” shop and finally got served. Then we scurried to our inn, grabbed our luggage and hit the subway to Kyoto Station to pick up the shinkansen (bullet train) to Hakone, the most popular destination for natives in the area.

Before our trip, we nabbed a fantastic reservation at the Fujiya Hotel, Japan’s first Western-style resort that was built 130 years ago. To celebrate its anniversary, the hotel has been offering foreigners a bargain room rate.

The scenic bus ride through the mountains from Odawara Station to our hotel was spectacular. Fujiya features a hot spring that actually feeds bath tubs in guest rooms and a picturesque walk on the ground with a koi pond, gardens, waterfalls and the like. And, most importantly, beer vending machines, which is how we stumbled upon Kirin and Suntory beer. I was doing impressions of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation with my Suntory beer endorsement…

Tomorrow we hope to explore the Hakone Open Air Museum and the Hakone Ropeway. Fingers crossed that we make it to Lake Kawaguchiko in the evening after a number of bus exchanges in the mountains.

Sayonara!

Tomorrow starts my 10-day Japanese odyssey with my friend Gina. I've got cherry blossom fever big time, so I can't wait to get moving despite the 30-hour journey from Cleveland to Kyoto. BUT, I found out that I've been upgraded to first class (for free) for the first leg of our flight tomorrow to Houston, so I'm psyched. I've never flown first class before! Hopefully we can convince the folks at check-in to let Gina accompany me. Now if only we can score deluxe seats for the 14-hour flight from Houston to Tokyo and the four-hour train ride to Kyoto... Here are some highlights of our itinerary:

Kyoto: April 2-6
- Visit Nijo Castle and as many of the 19,000 temples in the city as possible
- Go geisha watching in Gion
- Breathe in the cherry blossoms (check out the blooming forecast...perfect timing!)
- Take a sushi cooking class

Hakone: April 6-7
- Explore the Venetian glass museum (the blogger who reviewed the museum in the link helped us to plan our transportation for our trip. Thanks Sandy!)
- Ride the Hakone ropeway by Mount Fuji

Lake Kawaguchiko: April 7-8
- Admire kimono at the Itchiku Kubota Museum at Mount Fuji (Canton currently is showing kimono from this museum, and I saw a preview of the exhibit in San Diego)
- Sample the hot spring by our hotel

Tokyo: April 8-10
- Ogle giant tuna at the Tsukiji Fish Market
- Poke around the Imperial Palace
- Grab coffee with a reporter at Time magazine in the ginormous Mori Tower

FYI, since we're staying in Japanese ryokans for most of our trip, I won't have reliable Web access until Tokyo. I'll do what I can to find Internet cafes every couple days to blog, and I'm hoping I'll have Web access on my work phone so I can send travel updates via Twitter (check the home page of my blog on the right side). The phone's on the fritz, so I'm doubtful that will happen since I can't make or receive calls at this point. So, DON'T WORRY if you don't hear from me for a while. We're going to have a great time, and we're visiting very safe cities.

Back to packing...