Abiquiu lake from afar

Here's a shot of the lake from far away. I just liked the contrast between the desert, water, and sky. If you haven't gone to Abiquiu before, make sure you check it out.

Abiquiu Lake Shore

After we checked out the view at the overlook we went down to the shore and walked around. There were these cool flat sheets of rock at the shore and the first thing we saw were a bunch of Seagulls sunbathing on the rocks. I sneaked up on them and used my 12x optical zoom on my camera to catch a photo of them lazily enjoying the afternoon on the rocks. Why there are Seagulls in the middle of a little desert lake in NM, I don't know! Maybe they got lost?




I also spotted some cool trees growing out of the water and through the tiny cracks in the rock. It looked pretty surreal and almost... shall I say, enchanting?

Abiquiu Lake Overlook

These were taken at the overlook of the lake visitor center. They have a nice area fenced off so that you can walk up to the edge of the lake cliffs and check out the view. The water was a gorgeous green with a hint of blue. We went on a tuesday, so there were hardly any other people there besides us. It was so nice, quiet, and tranquil there.

Abiquiu Rocks

Last weekend we decided to do a day trip to a town we've never been to before... Abiquiu. It's in northern New Mexico, and was one of those places I have always wanted to check out. This was partly because I'm a big Georgia O'Keeffe fan and this was the place she chose to call "home". When you get to Abiquiu, it doesn't take long for you to understand why.

I can't believe it took me so long to finally go. It's only about 2.5 hours away from Albuquerque! But I'm really glad I did because it was really beautiful. It was one of the best drives I've had for a while... really scenic and perfect for my little Mazda Miata. The weather was perfect too: sunny with a cool breeze. We could even smell the sweet scent of wildflowers as we drove through.

The photo of the rocks above were taken right off of Highway 84 near Abiquiu Lake. The next few photos are of Abiquiu Lake. Remember to click on the photos for full-size view!

Self Portrait

I don't normally do self portraits but I just happened to turn around and see my own shadow on the ground blending with shadows of the trees. I liked the way it looked so I had a little fun with it. I think it captures my personality pretty well.

White Flowers and hidden spider

These clusters of white flowers were everywhere on the trail. I won't attempt to identify them because my knowledge of trees and flowers is still quite limited. But if you click to enlarge the photo, you may notice a spider in the top right corner of the flowers. It blends in so well that it's hard to see even in the closeup image. Does anyone know what species of spider it is... J/K :)

Bird in the Trees

While walking on the forest trail, my friend spotted this bird jumping from tree to tree and curiously watching us. It was so hard to snap a photo because once I got it in focus, it would dart to another branch and be out of focus again. This was the best photo I could snap before my friend chased it down like a cat... no more like a panther.

I don't think I've ever seen a bird like this here in NM before, but I believe it is a male "Western Tanager". For more info about this type of bird, go here: Bird Link

The woods of New Mexico

Having just come from the big city of Tokyo, I really needed some time to relax and stroll in the woods of New Mexico and enjoy the wide open spaces and blue skies of this state. I originally wasn't going to post these images but I decided to do it to show the world that NM does indeed have trees and forests. (Not just desert!)

These photos were taken on the east side of the Sandia mountains that are right next to Albuquerque. The west side of the Sandias faces Albuquerque and is much drier and has mostly desert vegetation. Basically all the rain, snow, and moisture in general gets dumped on the east side so that the west side gets nothing. I think the technical term for this phenomenon is called the "shadow zone". Our "shadow zone" being the east side.

The Flight Home...Sayonara Japan!

I'm glad I had my camera in my bag with me on the plane. I looked out the window and saw a beautiful sea of clouds and had to capture it. This was on the 9-hour flight back to the states. All in all I had a great time in Japan, and I know I'll probably be back. There are many things and places I have yet to see there.

This concludes my postings of photos of Japan. But of course, I'll continue to post photos of my continuing travels wherever the road leads or the airplanes fly.

Mitsubishi Micro

I saw this cute micro sized Mitsubishi car in Yokohama. It looked so futuristic and cool that I had to snap a photo of it. I don't know what it's called, so I'll make up my own name for it: The Mitsubishi 'Micro'. I bet the 'micro' would sell like hotcakes if they sold them here. It's even a 4 door! Kakkoii!

Update: I did some reseach and found some more info on this car. This car is called the "i-car"... perhaps a play on the word "ipod". It is simply called the "i" in Japan. ( I like my name for it better) The good news is that they are testing it in the USA now to see if there's a market for it here. I hope it does well and that they start selling like "ipods" here :) If you'd like more info on it, here's a story about it on some automotive site: Link-a-roo

Castle in the Sky

I have no idea what kind of business this bulding was for, but the sight of the castle on top of it stopped me in my tracks. Looks like the Disney castle to me. It would be cool if you could actually go inside the castle. Maybe you can... but for now the castle in the sky remains shrouded in mystery. Let me know if you have any insightful information regarding this place.

Update: Thanks to M. Yamasaki, the mystery is solved. This is a Karaoke place... which makes perfect sense because there were tons of those places in this part of town. In fact, this was the night that we went to do Karaoke with some friends. Although we didn't go to this building with the castle. Sorry, there are no photos of me doing Karaoke... some things you just gotta see in person to believe :) Domo Aragoto,... Mr. Yamasaki!

Mini Shrine

Here's a little tiny shrine I found while walking through Akihabara. You can compare it to the bicycle to see how small it really is. You could almost put it in your pocket and take it home with you. Unfortunately my pockets were full of change for the subway system. The orange cones reminded me of New Mexico.

It's Godzilla!!!.... No wait, ...it's the King! ->"Kong" that is.

I spotted Kong in Harajuku at the "Zen Mall". It looks like he had just finished a meal of fish.

Meiji Shrine

This was the entrance to the Shrine. There was a place to wash your hands and face to purify yourself before you entered the temple. When we arrived here, we were so happy to realize that there was a spring festival or "matsuri" going on that day at the shrine! There were perfomances including traditional music and dance. I was lucky to catch one of the particapants wearing traditional clothes walking towards the temple. It was rainy that day so everyone was carrying an umbrella. That just added more to the composition of this photo, I think.

Here's the inside plaza area directly past the gate... probably exactly where the guy with the umbrella was standing in the previous picture. There were beautiful flower arrangements on the tables in the back... you can barely see them in this photo.

Here's another performer running towards the other side of the shrine. I barely caught him on camera... he was running pretty fast. I had great luck that day snapping the perfect moment. I'm glad he didn't look straight at the camera either. I don't think he even saw me saw me. I love getting those candid shots.

This is a photo of a dance performance. He was doing a traditional Japanese dance with two fans. It was really cool to watch and there were also musicians playing on the floor next to him... though I didn't catch them in this frame. I love how there's another guy in the background too. This photo almost seems like it came straight out of a movie... so dramatic! Like the movie "Hero". Let me know what you guys think?

Road to Meiji Shrine.. a hidden forest

To get away from the craziness of the big city, we decided to go to a shrine near the train station in Harajuku. Even though it's right within the city, you can't even tell because it's a huge forested area with amazing umbrella-like trees and other greenery all around you. Their parks and shrines are like little pockets of forest hidden within the city. It's sort of like Central Park in NY, but the parks here seem to be preserves of forests and not man-made. It's like you just turn a corner, walk a little ways and suddenly magically transported... think "spirited away". The wide road takes you to a beautiful old shrine temple. These photos are some of the things you'll find on the way to the Shrine.


The bottom picture are of some Saki barrels that were donated to the shrine. The walk to the shrine was so peaceful. I highly recommend it if you're ever in Harajuki. I will post pics of the Shrine itself in the next post.

Window into Japan

Here's some photos out of our hotel room on a sunny day. We stayed at the Asian Center of Japan Hotel. It was a nice western style hotel with private in-room bathrooms and such. There are other hotels in Japan called Ryokans (Japanese inn) that are Japanese style with shared public baths and traditional Japanese decor. In the top picture you can see a huge crane that is doing construction on a skyscraper. We saw many of those in Japan. It's hard work to keep rebuilding and improving what Godzilla has destroyed :)

Disney Store in Japan

The Disney store looked so cool, it almost made me want to go in... almost. But we were tired from walking all day and there are plenty of Disney stores in the USA anyways. It looks like Disneyland not Disney-store, doesn't it?

Warp drive cars in Japan

Okay, so there really weren't warp drive cars in Japan... but if there were, this is what they'd look like screaming down the highway. We were on a bridge with lots of cars zooming by so I thought I'd take some slow shutter night pics and get the cool streaking effect. I'm happy with how they turned out.

Small Art Gallery in Harajuku

We stumbled upon this art gallery in Harajuku while going shopping there. After one look at the outside architechture, we were sucked into checking it out. It had some really cool artwork that looked like student's work... some great, some not so great. It had a really casual atmosphere about it. There was even a little snack shop in the back of it in a patio-like area complete with a little garden with sculptures. I believe this was a studio/gallery. The first floor was a gallery area while the upper levels were studios and offices. Harajuku seems like the fashion/art center of Tokyo, and was one of the most interesting places to take a stroll.

When you're feeling not so fresh....

You gotta love Japan when you see these kind of signs. It puts a smile on your face. So if you need a bottle full of freshness, you know where to go. Drink up!

Oh, btw please don't hesitate to comment on any of these blogs. I'd love to hear what you think... and my blog is sadly missing comments.

Creepy house in Harajuku

I was surprised to see this really old house in between two large modern buildings. It looked creepy and haunted... and had graffiti all over it. The Construction vehicle was just passing by... and not demolishing it or anything just in case you were wondering. I wonder why it's still there... maybe it's cursed and nobody wants to knock it down out of fear? Pretty cool contrast though. If you're walking down this street, you can't miss it.

China Town temple in Yokohama

These are some photos of a buddhist temple we saw in the Chinatown in Yokohama. It was really beautiful with walls and pillars that were carved from what looked like soapstone. This was near the entrance to Chinatown, so it was quite a sight to behold when we first entered. The photos don't do it justice but I hope you enjoy them anyways.

Electric Town

These are some photos of Akihabara... aka Electric town. This a technology hub and a great place in Japan to get the latest and greatest gadgets. So many toys.... so little time. Unfortunately, I didn't have much cash so only window shopping for me. The lights were so beautiful at night too. The middle photo and bottom photo are of the same location but one was taken during the day and one at night. Check out how different they look. Akihabara... it's like Las Vegas for Nerds!