Over the Mountains We Go

This last weekend we had time off...so we went on a big hike!

Tokushima has many mountains and rivers, so we headed to a wildlife preserve there. 

I don't know what I was expecting, but Bret kept getting me to try and read the hiking book, which I refused (it had been a loooooong week at work, i was soooo tired). It turned out to be a hike from a book giving routes to more experienced hikers. For example, it would say a water source was 2-3 hours away but it would take us 4-5! yikes. We made it okay, though! still alive! haha

This is the river on the way there

 Here we are at the top of the first summit. The second highest peak on shikoku!

After we reached the summit, we continued on through the mountain range for 3-4 more peaks, until we got to the cabin. The best part of this overnight hike was there are lots of sleeping huts. The one we stayed at the first night was so-so, but the hut on the second night was five star.

 It felt like lord of the rings! There were many small-medium-large mountains. It felt good looking back at the range we'd crossed. Really beautiful weather this day.

This was the location of the first hut. So pretty. We shared the cabin with a couple of french travellers. we made a fire and shared some food for dinner together. So nice!

Momo's friends

the buddies

Oh man, all the dog stuff is getting a little stressful. i think we may be using a shipping company to get the dogs home, which is fine, but contacting the company is a headache.

Aside from shipment worries, Momo is doing fine. she did eat quite a bit of butter the other day (it was my fault, I left it out after I made toast) but she powered through. She's been enjoying herself with lots of walks and playdates with friendly dogs. training for tricks is a big challenge though because I never have time alone with her, so I can't do the clicker training. Bret and I are trying to work out a schedule where he takes the Behachi out and I work with her. 

Anyway, this weekend we are going on an overnight hike with the buddies. should be fun!

Momo Updates

Momoko is doing great. She's good with kids and loves other dogs. She's always trying to play or smell every dog she passes. 

We are having her spayed tomorrow morning so hopefully she recovers quickly and forgets that it happened...

Her and Behachi (the other resident dog) are getting along pretty well considering Behachi harbors a strong disdain for other dogs. They played together last week in the woods for about 30 seconds but today I took them to a sandbar on the river fed by the sea and they were ecstatic. Well, Behachi was so psyched about the fine, grey sand there that he went crazy digging and leaping for joy and his good mood transferred onto playing with Momo. They played and jumped all over the sandbar and even into the river. I got dragged into the river at one point (because I had to keep Momo on-leash as she's still a flight risk) and was covered in seaweed, sand and water by the end of it.

Everything is turning out fine!