Yuzawa is a resort town in the Japanese Alps. Well, the Chamber of Commerce says that Yuzawa is in the Japanese Alps, so I should believe them. However, I think the signature feature of the Swiss Alps, which tops out at 14,691 feet, is its glaciated topography. The Japanese Alps top out at 10,475 feet, so they may have had lots of glaciers, but Yuzawa is at only 3,875 feet, and there was not a sign of glaciation anywhere.
Still, there were ski slopes and chairlifts, and I was reminded that it snows at sea level here. We stayed in a large stand-alone hotel that kind of reminded me of the hotel on the Indian Reservation near the newly formed Tulare Lake. We were here to see at least part of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale and, especially, the Kiyotsukyo Gorge Tunnel.
The next three nights, we spent in Joetsu, an off-the-tourist road city, so we could double back to the eastern part of Triennal and then drove – mostly along the coast – to Kanazawa, at the center of the tourist road. We are now in Kanazawa, surrounded by American – or, at least, European-American looking – young people.
This part of Japan is known for its rice and its sake. Michele says that the rice is very good, but my taste buds aren’t refined enough to taste the difference between this rice and, say, Luna Koshihikari Organic Rice from the Sacramento Valley. The Sake was different; the local stuff was terrific.
As we leave the shoreline, we come back into rice country. I’m amazed at how the rice fields seem to fill every empty space, but on reflection, I think it is probably the opposite. As family fields get divided between heirs, some sell their plot and it then gets filled with buildings.
US Highway 395 runs from the Canadian border, just north of Spokane, through Reno, into the LA Basin, where it gets lost in the freeway maze around San Bernardino. A big chunk of it, about 300 miles worth, running through the high desert along the eastern flank of the Sierras, is one of the most spectacular drives in the world. I drove across California to 395, a week or so ago, to get a couple of pictures of the Sierra monolith at sunrise. It is the first time, in over ten years, that I’ve gone somewhere to just take photographs. I had forgotten how much fun it was.
That had the added bonus of getting me to Siesta Lake just as the light was getting good. By the time I got to the Olmsted Point scenic turnout, the light was good with clouds hanging on the face of Cloud’s Rest. Olmsted Point is at 8300 and it was already cool but I hoped the sky would get better in the sunset so I decided to join the other photographers who were standing around waiting. The sky did get a little better but it got much colder and I kept getting into the car to warm up. 
and snowed and, then, Saturday night, the skies cleared and it stopped (photo by Michele). 
With perfect timing, Richard Taylor had rented a cabin in Yosemite and invited Michele and me, along with Marianne, Courtney, and Gina, to spend a long weekend. On Sunday, there was not a cloud in the sky and we drove to the Valley. Thank you, Richard, you are truly a mensch. 
For reasons unknown to me, I have not been able to upload any pictures since the Supermoon. Last month, we watched the Moonrise from Twin Peaks but we went to Corona Heights, lower and north of Twin Peaks. Because we were lower, I thought the moon would come up slightly later but, because it was the evening of New Year’s Day the San Francisco skyline was not as lite up. The crowd, however, was local.
