Trip to Bromo

So the trip to Jogja was at the end of September. Then the Trip to KL was around October 15. And then, in the most airplane-heavy month ever, I went back to Java again on October 24.  We flew into Surabaya and on the first night  of the trip east Java, we got drove through the night from the airport, and then piled into jeeps ridiculously early to drive up the into the mountains in the dark and watch the sunrise over Bromo volcano. It was cold and spectacular. Then we descended into the baren desert-covered volcanic valley, and climbed some stairs to the volcano's rim. All this within 12 hours of getting off the plane. During this first day the group of 11 of us took just over 2000 photos. here are a few highlights. The next couple of days hanging out in Malang get their very own post. Java is pretty much awesome. 

OK, here we go: Bromo volcano at Sunrise. 

At about 5:00 am, the pitch black began to turn into this:

which turned into this:

...and then this!:

Many photos were taken during this event!

Cold photos:

Experimental lighting photos: 

Sleepy portrait photos:

Group hugging photos!

More really cold photos:

Cute buddy photos, despite the cold:

Group photos that are so perfectly lit they look like we are posing in a studio infront of a poster. 

I swear that's not a paining. really. 

And as the number pf photos wore on and we ran out of picture ideas silly things happened, like...

 Titanic Reenactment pictures:

And Jumping Pictures:

And more jumping pictures:

Including Ninja jumping pictures:

And group Jumping pictures:

But despite all the jumping, it was still really cold:

Once the sun had rissen, and all the jumping photos were taken, we headed back along the ridge:

Where we saw two local women who really know how to enjoy an early morning:

Then we went to breakfast, and made silly faces at a fish-eye lens while our steaming hot chocolate arrived: 

After a good hot meal, went to the moon: (pretty much) 

Where we took a million more photos. Of moon cartwheels:

And sand dune climbing:



Yeah, I hang out with the Power Puff Girls on the moon all the time:



More jumping photos happened: (Of course)


And then, just about 500 meters south, we were back in Colorado: 

I enjoyed being back in my prairie habitat: 

For some reason, posing on cars happened: 

And then riding tiny horses happened! :

tiny horse, big attitude: 

When the horses could go no further, we had to climb some very sandy stairs:

At the top we could balance on the very edge of the Caldera:

It was so sandy and windy we could barely see:

But even blind, there are still photo ops with the Volcano: 

No volcano jumping photos, though, so that's a good thing.

Bromo Volcano, the most extreme temperature change you can find in 12 hours anywhere in Indonesia. Guaranteed. And really, spectacularly otherworldly.

I dig it.