Jidokudani Yaen Koen at Nakano

At our home in Wilsonville, summer has arrived and they have openned the neighborhood swimming pool.  Last week, Lee and I were able to go to another pool--at the monkey park in Nakano, near Nagano, Japan, which most everyone has heard of.  What fun!  ("Yaen" means wild monkey; "Koen" means "park".)

Mom and baby, out for a little dip in the pool.

Here's why Nagano what able to host the Winter Olympics.

It was a beautiful 30-minute hike through lush green forest up to the area where, in an area about the size of a football field, we watched about 100 snow monkeys.  There is a river running nearby with rapids, but this pond and a few others in the area are hot springs.

Ah!  Who doesn't like nit picking!  It's heaven.

Just hangin out.

Ever wonder what a wet monkey looks like?

Jump
(When this little guy got out of the pool, he got out right by me.
He was about 4 inches from my shoes.  No fear.)

In the arms of love.

The signs said not to touch the monkeys.
Lee just put his hand out, and this little guy reached up
and gave him five.  Then off he went.

Can you see baby hanging on underneath mom?   

Or if you get tired of that, you can go piggyback.

Ahh!  Life is good!

After this yawn, I may just take a nap.

These four were having a fight.  They were back and forth
in these rocks, making sounds like they were really mad
at each other and chasing each other around.

You're not going anywhere till I get this nit outa here.

Just sittin and thinkin.

I loved this old guy.  He sat like this at the edge of the pool for a good 40 minutes.  What you can't see is a photographer just about two feet from his face and at the same level, just taking pictures.  I watched for a few minutes and this monkey would turn his head to the left, to the right, lean it to one side, then the other, etc.
It was almost as if he decided to go ahead and cooperate, giving the photographer a shot from every angle.

Hair Salons:  Hair Make NYMY, and Logic Hair.