CHEKIT: Monkeys...and Mishaps.

J&J are coming back from Japan a few weeks earlier than expected - and I have to say I'm kinda bummed - for them, obviously, and for Dispatches - it was kinda nice reading about our friends' overseas adventures; still - if you're reading this, Jen, I hope you're feeling better and I know you and Jeff will manage to get back there soon.

And hey - it wasn't a total wash - I mean, come on! Monkeys!

It is widely known that I LOVE MONKEYS. Every shape, every size. Whenever we go to the zoo we spend hours in the monkey house. So it is not surprising when I was researching our trip to Japan and found out about the Jigokodani (Jee-go-ko-dun-ee) wild monkey park and saw the monkeys hut tubbin' in the natural hot springs on their live webcam, that I absolutely had to go. To sweeten the deal, I found a Ryokan that is literally steps away from the Monkey Park. Jeff teased me and called it "Monkey Spa" because in the description they said there are several Onsen (natural hot spring baths) including one outside known to be frequented by the monkeys. In fact, Jeff went to the bathroom earlier and could see an 18 inch shadow of one sitting on the window sill. It's not near anything, really, it's about an hour's hike from anything that would resemble civilization.

And when she says she loves monkeys, people, I mean, SHE LOVES MONKEYS. To the extent that if she was ambulatory, she probably woulda tried to smuggle one of those things out of the country.