Travel: Colorado

 

After a long journey we made it to the museum!

In early January we took the opportunity to head out to Colorado for a few days of skiing and outdoor activities in the mountains. Little dude and I left early and high tailed it to Denver to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  The museum has wonderful exhibits on space, dinosaurs, and the natural environment. Our two and a half hour visit was definitely not enough time.

 

 

Moose. They also had a great exhibition on the work that goes into creating the nature dioramas.

 

 

Dinos! 

We learned that a T Rex would replace all their teeth every four years, and constantly replaced their teeth throughout their lives. Little dude also got to hold a T Rex tooth- it was huge! The educational components of the exhibitions were truly fantastic, and there were lots of volunteers and interactive stations to provide more information.

 

 

The view of Denver and the Rockies from the museum.

 

 

Super moon in the dawn's light.

After meeting up with Joe in Denver, we headed up to the mountains, where we stayed with Joe's Aunt and Uncle. They are always so hospitable, great to ski with, and have a lovely log home. Enjoying their company is definitely a plus of visiting the Rockies. We spent the next two days skiing at Copper Mountain, with little dude in ski school and us on the slopes.

 

 

Ski selfie.

 

 

Top of Super Bee.

 

Little dude- pro skiier in training.

 

Ready for the mountain.

 

The village at Copper- I love the festive feel.

 

 

Ski scenery.

  

Blue run.

  

Back up at the top.

  

Alpine.

The last day of our visit we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park to snowshoe. The park turns 100 years old this year, and is always a treat for us, no matter the season. We visited the west side of the park, which has far fewer visitors than the east side- in a given year park attendance is 3.5 million, but only 300,000 people make it to the west side. In winter it is very quiet- we only saw a handful of other people during our visit, but we did see a moose up close!   

  

RMNP!

 

Snowshoeing.

 

More snowshoeing.

This was little dude's first snowshoe on his own (he was carried on past trips), and he loved it. For us it was a short trip (just over a mile), but for him I imagine it felt quite long.

 

Park scenery.

 

More park scenery.

Before we left for the day, the munchkin completed the Park's Junior Ranger program- he was so thrilled to get a badge and try on the ranger hat! 

 

RMNP's newest junior ranger.

Travel: Chicago during the holidays

The clock at Macy's (Marshall Fields) on State Street.

In the days between Christmas and New Year's, we took a short trip up to Chicago. The purpose of our trip was mostly to visit family and friends, which we did for the first three days. After all the visiting and merriment, we took some time to head downtown and enjoy the city on our own. We started at Macy's on State Street (which I will forever call Marshall Fields), where we had lunch at the Walnut Room. This was something that my family did yearly when I was growing up, and a holiday tradition that I want our little guy to cherish as well.

On the eighth floor, the Walnut Room and the Great Tree in the background.

Wishes being granted.

Desserts- Frango Ice Cream Pie, Toffee Pie, and the traditional Ice Cream Snowman for the kiddo.

Our next stop was the Art Institute, where we spent the afternoon cruising the galleries. As per usual, little dude was a huge fan of Minimalism. Since he was about a year and a half, this has been his favorite. Even before he could verbally describe his love, he would clap his hands upon entering the Minimalist galleries at the Nelson Atkins. For me it was nice to see the Impressionist works that I loved as a child, and to view the Asian galleries.  

Seurat. Nostalgia for me, mediocre for little dude.

Penetrable de Chicago was a huge hit for all of us, and little dude befriended a guard.

Ellsworth Kelly- so exciting that he jumped out of the stroller.

And Miro, which he remembered seeing in Tokyo (!), and requested a photo of. 

Our final stop in the museum was the Thorne Miniature Rooms. This gallery is so magical, and captured all of our imaginations.

A great afternoon was had by all.

Another highlight of the day was riding the El, even though it was just a short trip around the Loop.

We finished our evening by relaxing at our hotel, which had a great view of Streeterville, the Chicago River, and the Hancock Building, walking down Michigan Avenue (with a stop at Dylan's Candy Bar), and having a great dinner at Volare.

Hotel view.

The next day started (for me) with a 16 degree jog along the river, lakefront, and through Millennium Park.

Funny, where are the other joggers?

Jogging selfie half way through a 3 mile run. The wind was tough at this point (near Buckingham Fountain), thus the face.

Post-run coffee back at the hotel. Joe went to the indoor fitness center, as he isn't as crazy as I am.

We finished out our trip with a late morning brunch at Yolk and a cold-weather walk through Millennium Park to see Cloud Gate (the Bean). It was such a great trip, and such fun to see our hometown in sparkling holiday splendor.

 

Cloud Gate.

Commuting

 

Thursday here was a day different than most- I had to commute a long distance.

This post could easily be a complaint or rant about the experience- I went through atrocious construction and traffic, and encountered any number of terrible drivers, people texting, etc., but I'd rather reflect on why so many Americans hold to this way of life when there are so many better models out there. 

We live in the city. This is a choice that allows both Joe and I really short commute times and distances. On any given day neither of us drives more than 20 minutes one way- and this is significantly longer now that his job has moved locations. This also gives us public transportation options, and allows us to walk to a variety of local businesses (the gym, coffee shops, a variety of restaurants, CVS, Walgreens, etc. are within a few blocks of our house). Honestly, I can't imagine living in a place where driving is required, and I don't understand why people make the choice to live in such places (I know many low-income people don't have a choice, that is a separate issue). After spending time doing a "normal" American commute yesterday I came home both physically and mentally tired, irritable, and significantly poorer, as I spent so much on gas. The physical and mental exhaustion was what really shocked me.

This is not how people in other countries live. There are amazing public transport systems in Europe and Japan, and we could do this as a nation if we so desired. Yet, for some reason people cling to their cars. A car culture is wasteful, bad for the environment, bad for your health, expensive, and inconvenient. It promotes no sense of community. It makes social mobility increasingly difficult. I had to run an errand in the suburbs yesterday- it was a nightmare. When I had to run errands or do some shopping while living in Japan, it was much easier, more convenient, and more relaxed. People can sleep, text, play games, read a book, stand up, and do all manner of pleasant things while riding a train.  There simply is no benefit to the people from a car culture, yet our pervasive give-everything-to-corporations way of governing gives huge benefits to oil companies at the detriment of a true public transportation system. Most of my Japanese and European friends still own a car (one for the family), and use it for family outings to the country, or to haul large items, etc. The difference is that the car is not required or necessary. So, why do we allow ourselves to be martyrs to oil companies, forced into the inconvenience of car-centric communities when we could be living healthier, better lives? Why do Americans convince themselves that they like their cars to much? Surely we are smarter than the car-maker and oil company propaganda. Surely we can see beyond our current predicament to a better way. There is some hope in the generations under age 30, who repeatedly report that they don't care about cars and who are moving back into the urban core at high rates. Hopefully that means that we can look forward to a more urban, convenient future, free of cars and strip malls, and full of trains and walkability.

PS- Kansas City is starting to invest in the future with the current streetcar project, something that I'm very excited about. There is a good deal of outside money fighting the project (!), but I'm hopeful that we can expand the routes, and I know that this will be a great addition to the city.

池袋 Ikebukuro

 

Things are starting to come full circle as my research year comes to a close. I've been selling off things to other researchers and to random people on Craigslist, and Sunday I was running errands around a very hot and humid Ikebukuro, which was reminiscent of last summer when I was doing a similar thing in the same place. Ikebukuro was where I stayed when I first arrived in Tokyo, and I've spent many days there since, so it is fitting that almost one year to the date I'm again sweating it out on the tree lined streets of one of the busiest parts of the city.

 

A Quick Dinner

 

One great thing about life in Tokyo is the ease and convenience of daily life. On the walk home from little dude's school, which is right across from one of the many nearby train stations, we pass two vegetable sellers, a tempura shop, two fish mongers, three convenience stores, a small supermarket, a small electronics shop, a flower shop, two cleaners, and numerous restaurants. This is about a ten minute stroll at a small kid pace, less than that when I walk it alone. On a few evenings we've made a stop at the tempura shop (at the right of the photo) to pick up part of our dinner, selected veggies from the vegetable market (at the left of the photo), and come home to make a pot of rice and steam whatever green veggie little dude thought looked the best that day. It is so nice to have fresh food accessible in such an easy way, and also great to know the local people who supply our food. At the center of the photo is the fish monger that supplies fish to little dude's school once a week. All of these people know us by name, and greet us as we walk through the neighborhood, providing not just the necessities of a quick weeknight meal, but a pleasant sense of community as well.

Proletariat Art at Kichioji

 

Last week I saw a fantastic show out at the Kichioji Art Museum on social movements and the proletariat in mid-twentieth century Japanese art. The exhibition was small, but powerful.

 

 

The show was titled "We Are Real 1920s-1950s From Proletariat Art to Reportage" and included four galleries packed with political art, art which attempted to raise the status of the worker, and art related to war.

 

 

Not only were the selected artworks powerful in their message, but the way in which the pieces were closely placed, including cases of published materials, made for an intense experience.

 

 

After viewing the exhibit, I wandered back to the station through the many vibrant, lively shopping streets in the area, pausing for a fantastic piece of black-tea flavored cake at a sunny little shop.