far side of the world

Yuletide 2011

2012-01-01T01:53:00.000-08:00

Well...I never really get into the Christmas spirit... I am more into the Yuletide
The Solstice is more my hols... I believe in Hogmanay....the Scottish Hols. I attended a wonderful Yuletide party with my workmates... we had delish appetizers and finger food, some good Patron margaritas and lots of laughs. I worked on Yuletide Eve.... which is how I love to spend my Yuletide eve. On Yuletide AM, I fed my horses their hay, grain and a special treat of peppermints..... Red Mercury is a ho for Peppermints. But Tao of Bud .... he is all grain....Then I sauntered down to Tammi's house and shared pressies with them. Del loved her Monsters jersey, Kota loved her books, and Tammi loved her wine, candles and chocolate. CJ loved his Wii hockey almost as much as mom and sister!!! I had four days off.... so I was able to attend a bachelorette party with Tam, Kim, Sus, and myself... to celebrate Jerri's coming wedding on the 5th of Jan. We just went out for supper then to Famous Daves for laughs and bloody marys. Mmmmmmmm. Lots of laughs.
The highlight of the hols was my trip up to Yose where I met my sister and Bruv Ray to spend the day ice skating. We had soooo much fun! We had a gluten free picnic lunch and then hit the ice. OMG two hours of skating we were all knackered! We sat in the pizza parlour by the fire and just went "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Otherwise a great holiday. Until the flu bug hit.....
I am feeling better and need to go back and get a few hours of sleep as I am feeling better.. and want to do a bike ride in the AM..... as long as tummy behaves.

cheers

Happy 2012

Preston Reed: Love in the Old Country

2011-10-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

On a Music High

2011-10-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Sat night. 22 october 11. 11 days after my 49th birthday.... I had the honour of seeing Preston Reed in concert at Coolwater Ranch house concerts...... Yeah. awesome. 40 fans.. one awesome guitarist. I have waited a year to see him live.. and my dream came true!!!! awesome. I have listened to his music for the last few years.... learning my faves... and found a few new faves last night.. including "Far Horizons".

I love live local music..... the big music companies can kiss my butt.. I love independent artists... so full of love and life.

Have I gushed enough? Yes, still on a music high.

Another great weekend!!

2010-10-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

Yes it was a great weekend! Had big night home opener for Fresno Monsters Hockey... we lost, but still a great game! Can't believe how much I missed hockey! (but then, i was consoled with World Cup Soccer this summer.) Sunday was a bit gray and rainy... Topaz and I were slated to do the Fresno Bully Walk, but when she looked out the door and saw the rain.. she "said" "No Woofing way.." and went back to bed. LOL.

back to work for two nights... then Weds night it's Nickelback with my Besties!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yosemite birthday continued.....

2010-10-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the birthday in Yosemite went well! Kitty, Ray and I met at Bridalveil falls at 11am... we all arrived within minutes of each other. We immediately set off to pay for room at Yosemite Lodge (could'nt check in til 5). We had a bit of brunch... then K and R rented bikes. We spent 3 plus hours in the bike seat!!!!! I had my mtn bike... so of course that made Ray want to go off road. (shhhhhhh). We rode over to the Ahwahnee and checked out the glamour hotel of Yose. After the ride, we checked in and had champange and played "pass the piggies" game. We had supper at Yosemite lodge mountain room. Mmmmmm. I had flat iron, Kitty had Prime rib and Ray had shrimp and pasta. We were stuffed!! There were still tourists in the valley... but not too many. The weather was superb! We even sweated on the bike ride! Had to stop for Screamers mid ride (screamers = ice cream).
On Weds AM we meandered down to Glacier Pt and Sentinel Dome. Hiked to the top of the dome and took a ton of pics (Ray and I were in Photographer mode!!!!)

All in all, this was a great birthday!! We were not in Hawai'i... but we got to spend my bday together. The only thing missing was Mom.... still in Paradise.

Yosemite Birthday!

2010-10-09T11:13:00.001-07:00

Well, October 11th... dinner at Flemings Steakhouse. Mmmmm!! Tuesday AM, I pack up the bikes and head up the hill to Yose! Will be staying at the Yosemite Lodge in one of their "family" rooms......(which means OUR own loo!) Dinner at the awahnee hotel/restaurant. Gonna bring the bikes and cameras and new Telephoto lens and get me some awesome shots. So from Monterey, to Hawai'i to Yosemite.... and lots of good music inbetween, it has been an awesome summer. Three weeks ago Sunaj and I saw Laurence Juber in a house concert at Cool Water Ranch near Oakhurst. And next week I am going to secure tickets for Richard Smith (Chet Atkins Protege) on Oct 23rd.

summer 2010

2010-07-27T11:43:00.001-07:00

Yes, it has been a heck of a summer.. Have travelled to the coast twice... kayaked.. my kayak is very happy as it got pulled down off the hooks and was allowed to float in salt water... my first time taking the kayak to the ocean. And even though we were at Del Monte Beach in Monterey, the currents were still there with the waves and gave me a heck of a work out. saw some awesome music... and more to come. Went white water rafting last friday, something that has been on my bucket list for a long time now. :)
And to end the summer, i get to go to Hawai'i on August 24th.

woo hoo.

cycling, holidays, .....

2010-03-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

'This last weekend consisted of nights out with the girls. Hockey party and then Pines in bass lake to hear Stone River rock. Due to circumstances beyond financial control... Switzerland is out. :(
Got to focus on saving for trip to LA for reunion in Sept and Vegas in October. Plus all the other day to day life activities. Grrrr. I hope to make it to Suisse in 2011.

spring... and riding again...

2010-03-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well, spring is around the corner even if we still have some skiing to do.... hopefully we have a few more snowfalls before April 9th when I am to take 10 yr old Delaney (my pseudoneice) skiing at Badger Pass. Today, I took a bike ride from Fresno (willow and international up to Friant. Had to buck wind all the way up to Friant, but on the way home... woo hoo! I cruised. Felt sooooo good to ride and sweat, unlike the Blossom Ride 10 days ago where I froze all day long. Gotta keep riding and get in gear for Switzerland bike trip. I am so excited to be riding my bike across Suisse..... even if i am taking the wussy route (shhhhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell Coach Mike!) Also plan to do some workouts on the dance floor to Stone River this weekend.... And doesn't banging on the glass at hockey games count as a work out? Cos, we sure as heck do NOT sit still at games.

Next Holiday....... off to cycle in Switzerland. Ja!

2010-01-06T05:17:00.000-08:00

My next hols will be off to Switzerland to cycle from Geneva to Rorchash (spelling?)
Will keep you posted. pics will be loaded.

Hawai'i

2009-11-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

Hawai'i. I left Coarsegold at the insane hour of 3 am.... picked up Sheila, who by chance, was also leaving on a plane from FYI at 6am. I got to the airport in time.... checked in on time. Sat at the gate, sans coffee, as the coffee kiosk was not open yet. (Growl). We got herded onto the plane and proceeded to sit on the plane til nearly 8am. The plane kept breaking (parking brake, come on, we are flying NOT parking, LOL!)Well, they were offering drinks... but why drink liquids with no loo available!!!! They got smart after 2 hours and shifted us to a new plane. The Ground team was useless. All they could tell me was that I would not make my plane in San Fran to Honolulu. But I get on the plane to San Fran and arrive by 0910. I shuffled over to the customer service desk when my new and trusty AT and T phone rings with some tropical song (my sister) She is sat on the plane. I am whatgate? "84" "no shit! I am at 82, are the doors shut?" "no why! See you in a few secs" I slam shut my phone, grab my bag and jump under the rope line thingie. I jogged over to the gate 84 and Voila! the gate is OPEN!!! I shoved my ticket at the guy and dash on to the plane as the doors are almost but not yet ready to close. There are still people walking down the aisle of the plane so we are not set to fly yet. As I walk by Kitty and Ray's seats I wave with a BIG wave and smile. I had no idea if my luggage made the plane or not. but heck, the stuff was tagged for Hilo so i could always get it when it arrived! So we got to Honolulu together. Kit and Ray booked butt off the plane to catch their flight to Hilo (I had a later flight). I moseyed my way to the Wiki Wiki Bus and got the first on I saw... When we arrived at our new gat... who was behind me? Kit and Ray! Bugging me about following them and how Still Kitty can't ditch her smart baby sister! I was busting up! Those two brats caught their flight to Hilo. I got to wait at Stinger Rays for my flight on Go! airlines (the airlines that offers "happy hour" on drinks at certain flight times! ) Anyway, Go! and Island Air are in the part of Honolulu airport that does NOT have AC. So when I sussed out where the gate was, I went back to Stinger Rays and ordered myself some Gluten Free Lunch and a Mai Tai. (drink your liver out Kitty and Ray!) Stinger Rays is ALWAYS packed, so i took a seat at a empty group of tables. I sat there with book and mai tai and Thai Chicken Salad when two ladies about my age asked if they could have the other part of the table. They ordered their drinks and food and then started talking to me... they were from Pleasanton and as the convo wore on, found oout that we all graduated from Cal Poly in 1986!!!They were off to Lanai. Time wore on, the ipod tunes continued to play in my earbuds and soon I was able to climb up to the Go! flight steps to Hilo. I took pictures from the plane of Oah'u, Moloka'i and Mau'i. When I got to Hilo, I ran up Kitty, and they were just getting back to the airport to get THEIR luggage which missed the flight to Hilo (it was prolly partying with my luggage on my flight!) I has grabbed my suitcase in seconds and found Ray in the big black ford truck. We then found Kitty roaming the airport with their luggage..... and headed back to Mom's place in HPP. Kit and Ray spent the couple hours picking up the truck, getting it safety checked and registered so that was time well spent. That evening at Mom's was mellow.... a bit of Chardonnay, poke, ocean salad and my gluten free snack were our "buffet dinner". I must say we slept well that night.

7 August 09

2009-08-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

well, the big trip this summer was to Yose. Just a 2 hour drive from my house.. and that includes stopping at Longs in Oaky for lip balm. Met up with Sis Kit.... at Bridalveil falls.... we then took my car up to the village..... rented a raft and floated down the Merced for a good 3 hours. We packed along sammies, drinks and gummy bears. Mmmmmm! And thanks to SPF 30.... look ma, no sunburn!!!

Next fun.... Hawai'i in September..... When I get to Kayak in Hilo bay to dance with the green sea turtles and dolphins. Mmmm Awesome.

4th July 09

2009-07-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

This Saturday is my first 4th July celebration, at home, in the states in several years.. and the last time I was "home" I got stuck working, and that really sucked. So tomorrow, I am packing up the swimsuit, beach chair, cooler of Corona and Lime.... and heading to pool side at Ellen's house. I will be bring along with me this killer black bean and corn salad. Mmmmm. Love it, tainted with cilantro and lime.
So have a happy fourth all.. keep it safe, keep it sane, but have fun with your family and friends. :)

This is life??

2008-09-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

Last night, being that it was Anniversary of several friends, we gathered down at our local watering hole/lounge/restaurant. We had supper and got to hang with the band at dinner.... The husband of Anniversary couple #1 is the bass player for the band. Dinner was sooo delic. I dined on Rib Eye Steak and baked tater. Mmmmm. After dinner, we mosied over to the lounge where Stone River was warming up.....

Friday Night 9/5/08

2008-09-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

Worked all night Thursday night... came home cleaned up after horses.. went grocery shopping.. came home did laundry and cleaned.. mucked horses again at 5pm.. then Tam and I were off to Fresno for movie and dinner. We caught Momma Mia, a movie which I thought would be totally stupid, as I am Norweigan and don't get off on Swedish pop music. But the movie was a gas! We cracked up thru the entire movie!!!! After the movie, we went and ate at Dai Bai Dang.... Mmmmmm. I had whitefish and blackbeans and snow peas.. paired with a glass of merlot. They soooo fit. We had such a great ADULT night. We stopped off at Borders book store ( open til 11pm) and Messy/Tammi bought a book. I had just received two new books via Amazon that day... so kept self from buying more. LOL. On the way home.. it was uneventful, til we got a few miles past 22 mile house Valero....... and we came to a stand still for half an hour. Tammi rang up her dad.. who was enroute to Coarsegold.. and he was about a mile behind us. When traffic got moving again.... we found that the accident looked to be a pickup truck rollover... but we saw no ambulance and heard no copters. Maybe the guy was so drunk he escaped injury?? who knows. Tis not my job to clarify.

kayaks and the blues

2008-08-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

I have travelled around the world this summer. I have kayaked our local waters, I come home to find The Blues. Last night we went down to the Blue Heron lake/bar/restaurant and paid 7 dollars for a tri tip dinner and live music "on the green". Brad Wilson played, they do blues tunes. They were set up next to the lake in the Gazebo. You know the band has to be good when they do excellent renditions of Stevie Ray V's tunes. It is a bring your own chair and blanket event... bring the heathens also, as kid meals are only 2 bucks (hot dog and chips). The music was great from our seats yet there was one person with the best seats on the water....kayaking around Blue Heron Lake in their kayak to the pulsing sounds of The Blues. This picture of me is not me paddling to the beat of Brad Wilson.... but made me think that "Hey, there is way enough water here still to paddle... so the old kayak is gonna get dusted off next week and get a dipping in the lake. All in all, on the water or on the lawn.... Twas a great Friday night at YLP.

15 july... from Heathrow to Coarsegold

2008-08-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

Long trip. Long plane ride. I took a big breath when I reached Heathrow in time for my fligbt to LAX. I have loved my safari.. loved the people, loved visiting with mum, loved charles and safir, loved the kids asking for pens and "pe pe" (candy) But I am glad to be home with my dogs and my housemate. and yes.. glad to be back at work. Missed my friends.

Stay tuned for my adventures in Bass lake on the bike with Lilly on October (we are doing Loop the lake x2 for the grizzly ride) and then I will be in Hawai'i for my 46th bday.

13 july.... The Safari ends.

2008-07-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

We had breakfast and went out to meet Charles so he could drive us back to Dar. Charles was out there... The lads tossed our bags (Light according to Charles) into the LandCruiser and then Charles states he needs breakfast (we were early). So we sent him off to eat and we went over to the office and chatted with Conraed, the Dutc SouthAfrican camp host. So Charles finished his mornnig meal and we jumped into the LandCruiser for our trek back to Dar. Of course Charles was on Lion Alert all the way. He got us to Movenpick hotel... checked us in... and bid us goodbye til the AM.
Mum and I checked in, checked email on the hotel wireless on my lappie.. .and then decided to go down for a swim in the infinity pool. We swam until I got too hot.. so we headed up to the room, Mum stopped at the coffee kiosk and I went up.... in the hallway i found Shane and Sue from Saadani... we were all like "huh?" Weird.. they were in the room NEXT to ours!!
Mum came on up.. and met up with them too. She chatted and agreed to dinner together.

So we all freshened up and grabbed a cab to Sea Cliff resort for dinner. We had dinner at a nice afresco restaurant. i had thai curry. Sue had a Cosmo and I had a margaria. mmmmmmm.
We all drooled at the gift shop window after dinner and agreed to come back in the AM for shopping.

14th July.

met up with Shane and Sue again after breaky. I had made a dash out to the Mini Mart up the road for tanzanaian Tea. It was easy to get there.. but oh my gosh... to get back across the road to the MovenPick was hell! I had to dash between cars to get across road. This is NOT California.. they do NOT stop for Peds. But I got home with the tea.

As I got back to the room... Shane and Sue were knocking on our door. We took a cab back to Sea Cliff..... but on the way, cab had a flat... so we got to watch the men change the tyre. I love cabs in Africa, cos you pay em 10K shilling and they will wait for you for hours!!!!
We got back to Movenpick.. had lunch at the hotel and then I packed to get my butt to Dar Airport. I as told I would be picked up at 2 pm. At 1:30 they called saying the ride was there... and he had been there for half an hour trying to get to hotel to find what room I was in and who I was!!! The ride to the airport sucked... traffic worse than LA. My driver finally got me there... helped me with my luggage and I tipped him well. I checked in to my Air India flight to Bombay.... ugh....
Well guess what.. flight is late...

to make a long story short... flight kept getting delayed... and 3 hours later.. we were told that flight would never happen. Now they had 40 plus pissed off Indians hollaring. I was the lucking sod.... I had a connection in London. So they put me on KLM flight to Amsterdam to London so I could catch my AA flght to LAX.
I was STOKED!! I didn't have to fly to Bombay. But what sucked is that I couldn't get a call to Mum at Movenpick because my phone was on Zantel... and Zantel lets calls through when it feels arsed to. Did get a text out to Kit. That was good.
After I had my KLM boarding pass in paws... I went through customs.. AGAIN. (never did have to pay that 8 dollar exit fee.....) I bought a few more items in the airport shops.... to use up those shillings.... then headed to the cafeteria and grabbed a Beer!! I needed it! I was sooooo stressing about getting home. I was actually happy to not have to fly via Air India into Bombay. To get re-routed via KLM airlines was a Dogsend. Woo hoo.
I got on the plane at 2330.. settled in and went to sleep and woke up in Amsterdam where I spent a few hours waiting for flight to london...... nothing like leaving Amsterdam at 11 and arriving in London at 11. Had a few hours in London.... had to go through custons to get my butt to American Airlines. I got on the undergound.. got to terminal 3 and checked in... and entered the departure terminal where I bought out the place in Cadbury chocolate!! MMMMMMM

12 July .... Village tour

2008-07-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

at first we were like.. village tour... no way... but it was actually a really cool tour even if we did'nt meet up with Charles......................... I still think he never did the walk! The kids were cool... and Shane and Sue walked with us. Cool couple. and they loved Mum too. It was a walking tour. Charles said that he would walk the road and meet us at the village.... stated that he did not walk on the beach... Mmmm another Maasai tradition?? (Really, I love the Maasai culture.) We got to the village and were immediately found by the children.

We got back to Saadani on foot... Mum went off to jump in the ocean, while I grabbed my lappie and went up to the office to jump on the wireless to check email. (Knowledge gained thanks to Shane.) After that... lunch. Shane and Sue were headed back to Dar that afternoon. So we bid adiau and carried on.

I loved meals here best... great food and great chats with the staff.

10 and 11 of July

2008-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

We wake up this AM for a game drive. The animals here are not as numerous as at the other parks.. but Saadani is a new park... saved from poachers. The animals are making a comeback slowly. We did a drive unitl about noon and came back to the lodge for lunch.....oh what a treat!! We have never had lunch at the lodges before (in the last two trips) and this lunch was enough to make Emeril salivate. Fresh bbq'd prawns.. HUGE prawns. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Love how they always provide fresh fruit for afters.
The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming in the Indian Ocean.... ok so it was wading... cos on this day the water never got deeper than thigh deep. I attempted to snorkel but all I saw was sand swirling in front of my mask. After dipping in the salty ocean we showered off and jumped into the pool OOOOOh nice! did a few laps and went back to banda to lounge in the sun and drink tea. Awwww the life.
Dinner that night was on the veranda... but before dinner we went out to the "treehouse" to check out animals comeing at dusk to drink at the watering hole... all we saw were a few bats and some bugs... Grrr. So we went off to the open air bar for pre dinner drinks and supper.

11 July
today was the river safari. this was the day that we met up with Sue and Shane (Aussie and Kiwi). we took a boat trip up the Wamu river. We saw crocs, birds and hippos. It was really nice going up the river rather than in a landcruiser.

We were back at the lodge for lunch again.... fish and shrimp kebabs. MMMMM.
Spent the afternnon reading until about 3pm when Charles took us out for an afternoon drive.
We got back in time to shower and get ready for dinner. Yet anothe delicous supper afresco.

10 july still.....

2008-07-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here are just pics of our game drive on 10 July.

Saadini... travel to on July 9

2008-07-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

We left Mikumi early on the 9th of july. the drive to Saadani included passing out pens to the local kids..
We got to Saadani... and relaxed on the beach.. I ran to the ocean.... and checked the water. We relaxed a bit the first few hours, showered, read our books and headed for dinner at 700. Dinner that night, after drinks on the open air bar/lanai was afresco next to the pool. They had the pool lights on and candles all around. Beautiful. And the food was delicous! We had soup for starters and chicken for main dish. We were pretty knackered, so we buggered out early and back to the banda for sleepy time.

8 July- walking tour of Mikumi/ Udzungwa Mtns.

2008-07-31T06:08:00.001-07:00

and this AM w e head out to hike the Udzungwa mtns. Mum wasnt feeling well so I took of in the landbruiser with Charles and Sapphire. We got to the Sanje reserve and charles hired a guide to takee me up on some long ass hike.... WRONG. No loos... no long hike.. I have been drinking water like a fish.... I ain't going on no 4 hour hjke!! I subjected the guide to an hour.. .tjhat's it.

We got back to Vuma Hills post lunch. Mum is feeling better and has had lunch; so Charles and I have tea with her. The bartender checked out Charles.. but he could go piss off.... we were having tea with OUR guide. supper that night was another tasty affair... but soup agian for starters.
I definately know that Foxes Safari makes the menus for all camps at a central location in either Capetown or London.

7 July 08

2008-07-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

This AM we got up and had breaky and did an all day game drive. We started off by seeing a dead male lion with his ladies still roaming about. the drive found us many giraffe, wildebeat and jackal
Charles was excellent at finding Lion tracks.... but we didnt find lion. but he found us some cool crocs, ellis, hippos, giraffe and impala and zebra.

6 July 08 Drive to Mikumi

2008-07-31T04:39:00.000-07:00

Ok... so I took a few pics from the LandBruiser!! So kill me.
We passed out pens to the local schoolkids. Charles was a great judge on who was in school and could benefit from a pen. (Kids in Africa need to provide their OWN pens for school. (next time you school supply shop for your kidlets.. tell em this)
It was a hell long drive and by 4pm we were at Vuma Hills Tented Lodge. It was an ok lodge... loved the hosts Vicki and Adam. They were from Portsmith, England.... and she chuckled that I told her she was from a shire named for me....Devonshire.
It wasn't the best lodge, and a tad too cold to imbide in the pool and Mum was feeling lll on the day of the hike in the Udzungwa Mountains. We had to drive up into the mountains.. prolly 2K up. I mailed post cards from Kidatu. I wondered if the postcards would actually get mailed.. but they did!!!!! So i cannot lose faith in African Postal System YET.

The hike was steep and hot and sticky.... Silly Charles expected me to do a 4 hour hike with out a loo stop...........WRONG. I told him... 5K max!! And the hike was STEEP! oh my gosh. We saw blue monkeys in the trees.. but they were too fast for me to get my camera of my pack. So I just took in the sights with my eyes. We drove on back to Mikumi... and met up with a recovered Mum who had just had lunch.... so Chas and I had tea with her in the dining tent. Chas seemed quit happy... but the bartender kept flashing him looks... he drank on and chatted with an hour or more.

Dinner was the usual affair.... soup for starters after drinks on the Lanai. I had a pint of Kili lager... and mum had a Ginger beer....of which I have had a couple.... They have much better ginger beer in Africa.

We got to check out the Civit before supper... love those Civits.... African Raccoons.

5 July. Early morning game drive in Ruaha.

2008-07-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Morning of July 5. We survived the elephants at dusk the night before (what a way to celebrate American Independence eh?) We get up at 0600 and meet Charles and Safir (Sapphire as I call him) at 0630..... Sans coffee or tea! The sun was rising as we set out in our private LandCruiser (bruiser)... and not an animal to be seen. The sunrise was gorgeous as I always love watching the sun rise in the AM. (Must be why I am a night person!!!!) finally as the sun rose we started seeing a few elephants and giraffes.... always love to see these two majestic creatures.
We drove around Ruaha game reserve til 0830 and then were deposited back at camp for breakie. No elephant visitors at breakie, but after we got back to the banda, and read, wrote and showered... we decided to trek up to the office for postcards and stamps. We bought out the desk of their stamps, and headed back down to camp.... well, we tried... as we found an elephant ahead of us chewing on a wicker laundry basket. One of the Maasai men showed us the goat trail back down the hill to camp... and we made it with being mauled by Tembo.

Lunch was at the camp..... no elephants joined us. We went out on an afternoon drive with Charles and Safir. We were starting to get a tad disappointed until we found the elephants and the lions. We found the lions stranded on a sandbar in the river..... .as they were chased there by a group of elli's.

We got back to camp in time to freshen up for supper. This time we waited for our Maasai guard to escort us. We walked a few bandas (tents) on and heard a Dutch couple hollaring for us... apparently they had no torch (flashlight) and their power never went on in their banda.... so they were glad to be escorted to supper. Mum and I were not too impressed with Foxes Safari Lodges (a chain) as they don't treat the safari drivers as well as they do in the north. We got to the dining hall, and found that supper was on the "beach" of the river. Dinner was good... well, passable. we forewent the afters and headed back to the banda as we had to get up early in AM to head on to Mikumi.

4 July.... American Independence Day

2008-07-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July.... for us. it is Game Drive day!!! Breakfast then game drive.... We found the lions.
We found a lion status po Crocidile meal. The vultures were ready to dive in as were the jackals.
Now, I don't mean to be rude, but we came across of pride of lion sharing a bit of lunch de Ruaha.... You had to use binos to see... and as we were all quietly sat along side the trail... along comes a minivan full of Indians. The kids immediatly jumped out and started yelling "lion!" at the promt of the adults yelling "Lion" We kindly asked them to be more silent.. and their comment was "they can't hear us". Oh.. so they tested a Lion's hearing...ok... so I will take pics of the lions eating Indian kid for lunch. As they left, there was a trail of empty bottles and trash. oh come on!!!
That night back at camp, we decided to walk to the dining hall before dark so we wouldn't have to wait for the Maasii "guard". As we were walking, I stopped and said... "is that an Elephant?" Mum, shocked, says "THATS AN ELEPHANT!!" We stood there than I said, follow me! I dashed around a banda to get to our via the river... Mum wouldn't follow... silly mum.
Then this Scottish family walked towards us.. my idea was for us all to walk in the same direction. away from the elephant.. but NO!! Mum has to get to the dining hall.

So the Scot Dad walks us part way there. and from there... i had a beer!!!!

3 July...... long drive day

2008-07-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

]
A LONG drive from Selous to Ruaha. We actually had to drive through Mikumi, our third park to get to Ruaha. 10 bloody hour drive!! I took lots of pics from the LandBruiser... got some good shots!!
we were soooo glad to get to the Ruaha Game Reserve.... cos it was only a short drive further to the Ruaha River Lodge. A good lodge, except that it was a chain owned by Foxes lodges. The food was good.... but I could imagine the menus being engineered by a corporate person in Dar es Saalam for all the lodges. We always had soup for starters.. at Sable Mtn and Saadani.. we had a variety of starters.

But at Ruaha.. we did get the the evening Elephant in camp and the usual lion prints. That was cool, but the river was way too low for Hippos, and we were camped RIGHT on the river!

2 July 08

2008-07-28T09:31:00.001-07:00

OK. Mum arrives by bush plane today. I got up, ate breaky and jumped into the landcruiser.... thankfully leaving the luggage in the Banda. Charles got us to the airstrip which is at the border of the Game Reserve (Selous) at 0915 sharp.. but the plane... LATE! We waited til 0930 then drove a few kilometer to the ranger station and found out via radio tranmission that the plane would be in at 1000 hours. Gee.. when in Africa.. should of known, being the Train to Selous was 12 hours late!!

We drove back to the airstrip with an extra passanger who needed to fly out. Sapphire (Safir) gave her hell about how the park fees increased in just a few weeks... was funny listening to the argument in Swahili... a language which I can ask for beer, wine, loo, water and how are you!
Mum arrived at quarter after ten... we went back, fed Mum and jumped back in to the jeep for a game drive.. where we got to see the LION!!

Dinner that night was another afresco affair.. drinks in the open air bar.... and dinner in the open air dining room..... We even after dinner entertainment by the local Civit who would cruise in nightly for the grub tossed out by our server Moody (short for Mohammad)

1 July 08

2008-07-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

Today, we left sharp at 0800. Charles driving, Sapphire riding shotgun....a bumpy ride out of the lodge area into the actual park. We drove for maybe half an hour and voila, Charles screcches on the brakes and shouts "wild dogs!!!!!!" I was unedumacated at this point and thought I was looking at my Hyena. No.. Wild dogs, aka Painted dogs. We were sat a bit back from them.. I could see their big bat ears sticking out of the grass. Charles finally creeped forward and stopped. we were RIGHT in front of them and they were being lazy dogs... and then they all stood up and decided it was recess.. and they PLAYED!
Oh I was in such a state of happiness.......... and I had not even realised yet how rare these puppies were! They are rarer then the Leopard and the Cheetah. I also was not advised by Mum that she wanted to see these gorgeous Wild Dogs. The dogs were her reason to go to the Selous!!!!
The rest of the day were Giraffe (Twiga), Impala (swala), and elephant (Tembo).

We got back to the lodge at around 4 and got hold of Maggie at Albatros headquarters... Mum would be flying in to the Selous airstrip at 0930 on Weds the 2nd. I could just imagine Mum completly knackered after all her plane trips and hell in getting her butt rescheduled on flights.

Dinner that night was cocktails before and a nice beef dish with soup. Mmmmm always love how they serve us delicous medaterranian food. Not totally Euro food.. but Mediterranean fare.... which I ADORE.

30 June 08

2008-07-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Monday AM. I was up at 4 am.... 2 hours before breakie, and 3 hours before meeting up with Charles. So I finished packing, and took shower. At quarter past six, I headed across the street to the ATM to grab some shillings.... and ran into Charles. He was like, "had breakfast yet?" I hadn't so he shoo'd me off to go eat. I filled up on breaky and grabbed the bell boy with my luggage on his trolley. Charles pulled his LandBruiser around and loaded up my luggage, once again, he picks the stuff up and says "LIGHT!!" He is used to travellers who bring everything with them including the bathroom sink. (those tourists should pack their toilets instead of the sink!) Today was just drive, drive drive! My butt got sore sitting in the LandBruiser. Most of the ride was on tarmac roads... but at one point, we started on the dirt roads... which were semi smooth til Charles decided to pass the BigCat/JCB Digger which was "smoothing" out the new road. This safari was really different as we were constantly going through villages where the kids hollared out "pens!" "biks!" (I am not handing out pens til the end of the trip kids!!!) Before we got to the dirt, Charles pulled over to the side, dips his head out the window and looks at Safir (Sapphire I call him) and me.... "Flat tyre!!!"
We made it to the enterance to Selous National Park..... Charles paid the fees.. and drove us on into the park, another few hours. Saw Giraffe and Impala along the way and an elephant or two. We got to Sable Mountain Lodge at around 2pm... where I was checked into my banda and pointed to lunch. Mmmmmm lunch!
the views from our open dining room were awesome. No game drives today... just relaxing at the banda, shower and reading. Sable Mountain is on solar power only.... and they only turn on the power for certain hours a day. I had no electric outlets in my banda... so no charging up the ol laptop, puter or camera (camera battery was chargable in the landbruiser.)I did a bit of journal writing on the puter... read on the Lana'i and at seven went down to the dining hall to read and have a tonic and gin.
Dinner was fab!! tomato and avocado salad and chicken for mains.I was soooo looking forward to the tomato and avocado salad.. but it wasn't served in a half avocado as we had at the Masaii lodge back in 06. I definately worked off my meals by climbing up and down the hill to meals. Mum woulda hated this climb... and when she got here on day three.. she hated it. But heck, even Charles was like, "i am not climbing that hill again in the AM, you meet me down at the landcruiser."

ok, home again.

2008-07-23T08:33:00.001-07:00

Im home. I had a great holiday in Africa. Mum got started 3 days late... but she got there..... even if she missed the African Wild Dogs! Which was her reason for going to the Selous. I even feel a tad guilty that I saw them and she was on a plane to Dubai at the time. I had to fly to Nairobi and Dar by myself, and sister Kit was all worried that I had to fly solo.... oh come on sis! I am a world traveller. I put mysel f on all the planes.... no worries. I even got to giggle at Dar when they demanded 100 us dollars for Visa fee. Oh gee! I get to PAY to visit your country!
Meeting Charles in Dar was the start of a great treat. I spent less than 24 hours in Dar.. but for some reason it seemed like days! I got there at noon... swam, had lunch, and later had dinner. I walked the town and took pics.

Lariam Dreams await.....

2008-05-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well, today is 5th May. Cinco de Mayo. I celebrated this "holiday" by venturing down to the International Travel Clinic and received updates on my vaccines, and to get my anti-malaria meds. I opted for the Lariam, despite its reputation for hallucinations. What? Did someone say hallucinations? You mean I get to experience gunfights, sword fights, sea driving..... six headed monsters and more? Bring em on! I still say that the best anti malarial is a nightly gin and tonic as skeeters detest Quinine. Now I just have to get through Saturday's century ride and when I do, I get to go to East Africa. Ok... I won't promise that I am going to do the full 100. I'll try for the 81 and will definately do 67. I always have a metric century tucked down inside of me somewhere. Unfortunately, I always have a leukemic patient to ride for.

preparing for Tanzania.

2008-03-11T02:19:00.001-07:00

27 June 2008. I fly from Fresno to LAX, where I meet up with Mum to travel to London on American Airlines, and then on to Nairobi, Kenya on KenyaAir. After that flight, we catch a puddle jumper to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. From there, we will be picked up by or favourite safari guide, Charles. He will guide us around Southern Tanzania. We will start out in the southern Selous and staying at Sable Mountain Lodge for two nights. we then go to Ruaha and stay at River Lodge for another two nights. after Ruaha, we travel on with Charles to Mikumi National Park and and stay at Vuma Hills for two nights. From there we go to Saadani Safari lodge for 3 and I think now 4 nights. This lodge is gonna be my favourite, as it is on the Indian Ocean... and we will get to see our favourite body of water. Woo hoo.
As we will be able to stay on the Coast of Tanzania and get out dose of the Indian Ocean, we will not be travelling again to Zanzibar. We have done that before, and even though I might travel again there... I would rather not stay there again, as our tour guide wanted to plant us at Breezes Resort, and as they say in the movies..... "been there, done that and threw away the teeshirt."
Our return trip is going to be hell..... we fly from Dar to Nairobi (Kenya Air) then on to Mombai aka Bombay, India via Air India.... from the to London... and from London to LA on American Airlines. Oh mah gosh... India?? I would complain, but I can now say that I have been to India.... I don't have that port of call on my list of places to travel for years yet.
Ill keep you posted on my travels, in the mean time I will be cycling my bum off in preparation for the May 10th Century ride around Madera County. I need to get my syntroid refilled this week.... so that I can start feeling the energy again. I am soooooo dragging these last few days cos I ran out of my meds. Gotta go get the meds tomorrow!!!!

Africa is WHEN??????

2007-10-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

It is only October.... Africa/Selous/Southern Tanzania and the Indian Ocean are MONTHS away. I have to clock in lots of work hours before I get to feast on fine food, wine, and do nothing but take pictures, chat with our private driver Charles, take walking safaris, and swim in the Indian Ocean. Ohhhhhhhhh I am a waiting!! Next week I am travelling again... but alas, only a 45 minute planetrip from Fresno to Lost Wages. And it isn't even for pleasure. Oh wait, the nursing conference is during the day.... Friend Kim and I will have the evenings to enjoy the good food, casinos, free booze whilst disarming the "one armed bandits" and attending the shows. Circus de Soleil..... We were gonna spend the evening oogling the Las Vegas Wranglers on the Hockey Ice... but the Wrangers are packing up and going to Anchorage, Alaska that week..... ( I get to boo them tonight at our local hockey arena.... Fresno Falcons V. Las Vegas Wranglers. Well.... thats all. Naptime before the game.

another week stressed on by....

2007-10-06T03:22:00.000-07:00

Well, the week is over. Stress. too much stress. Keep wondering how the heck I am gonna make this next hols to Africa work out. But alas, it will. (Thanks Mum). I keep watching new shows on travelling in Southern Tanzania and my mouth is watering over swimming in the Indian Ocean again. So, now I shall get the enthusiasm back again.

Hawai'i is but a memory now.

2007-08-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

Well. I returned home from Hawai'i on the 7th of July and got back into the swing of work..... oooh it has been just over an month and I am ready for holiday again. Sure, There was a hurricane and Tsunami alert on the Big Island.... and they had a 5.7 quake at Kalapana (black sand beach that is my favourite) Am already planning the next holiday.... Southern Tanzania... Selous. Gee... whilst Mum did the Selous I was supposed to be climbing Mt. Kili with Kitty and Ray (best laid plans of mice eh?) But that is for next summer.... on the closer horizon is a trip to Vegas for a nursing conference, gambling, good food and HOCKEY!!!!!!!! (Las Vegas Wranglers). I just have to cough up the funds for the conference. 450 smackers. I can do this. Will be cool to have a road trip with Kim. We can get a lil Hula Girl doll and label it Ellen.. and bring it along and take picks of HulaEllen having fun.

Another hols on the boards.....

2007-05-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well, Come 27 June, I will be off again to paradise. Mum is in Hawaii now, and Kit and Ray will be there shortly before I get there. Gonna lay on the beach, drink mai tais, snorkel and take LOTS of pictures. And check out the dolphins and maybe climb a volcano or two. Keep an eye here and you will read about my adventure and even see a few of my pictures. I will be taking lots of pictures to display in the Sierra Art Trails this October.

12 July.... homeward bound.

2006-08-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

12 July. Wednesday. Today is our homeward bound day. We checked out of Hotel Tembo at
1030 (after a horrible buffet breakie of which I had tea and the least of the stale croissants.) We stashed our stuff in the hotel lobby's lock up closet and checked email on the free internet... and it was free cos it was dial-up and SLOW! We had to wait until 2pm to get a ride to Zanzibar airport, so we sat about the verandah and read. Being that breakie was a sad affair we went out looking for a good lunch, which we found at the lobby of the Serena Inn. (good coffee there too.)
After a nice light lunch, we went back out into the town and did a bit more shopping at two cool stores that we had visited the day before as we still had Tanzanian shillings burning in the pockets of our safari shorts.
Time moved on slowly, as slow as the internet we were surfing to pass the time. Soon our Island Express van arrived to shuttle us to the airport. Once again, we had it easy as the porters lugged our duffels to the check in line. We were pointed to one line, so we stood there and then this American BIATCH looks at us and said something rude refering to the fact that we were in the wrong line for Nairobi. I was ready to ask her who made her boss! It wasnt as if we were jumping the queue in front of her! We moved to the next line.. only to be moved back to first line in minutes. After we got through that hassle.... we moved on to the passport and visa line where we got the thrill of paying 28 something dollars (American please) to LEAVE Tanzania!
They even offer to wrap your luggage in cello wrap for a price of five American dollars. We declined that luxury though. The flight back to Nairobi was a much bigger plane than the white knuckler we rode to Zanzibar, and we got to fly past Mt. Kili (Mum took pics.) When we got to Nairobi, we got off the plane and thanked Dog aka Thor for not having to shlep our luggage around Narobi Airport. We went to suss out a taxi to Carnivores restaurant as we had our Kenya Visas in paws... but only found out that the road into town was backed up for hours due to traffic and accidents.... so even though we had 6 hours until the flight to Nodnol..... we would be calling it close to getting back in time :(. Instead, we walked down to the Java Lounge for a cuppa coffee (I was so warm I took an Iced Mocha.) We sat and read and sipped coffees for a bit... then we got up and walked around the airport shops for reading material. I bought a Jodi Picoult novel "The Pact" to read on the plane. We bidded our time and went on to collect our free meal ticket for dinner in the wait lounge. We got sat at a table next to a Kiwi/Svensk couple... very nice couple. We sat and chatted with them. I can't remember the lassie's name but she was with a swede named Tomas. They were on their way back to northern Sweden. After supper, it was just a lil while before loading up on the plane so we sat in the waiting lounge and read.... listening to swahili and screaming babies........ then we got to go sit in the departure lounge. They took forever and a day to get us on to the plane. Finally, settled in and given blankees.. we tucked into our cramped economy seats for a few hours of shut eye.

We arrived into Heathrow with the sun.... after breakie on the plane they delivered us to customs at London... luckily we just had to do the "in transit" thingie... so no worries.. but we still had to collect our luggage and shlep it from terminal 4 to terminal 1 to check in for our United Airlines flight to LAX which would take off 7 hours later! We did the usual customs, collect luggage.. schlep it down to the trains.... on the tube... to Terminal 1 where we then gladly checked in our now heavier luggage onto the plane (why is it that even if you buy nothing abroad, you luggage is way heavier on the return flight?)
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Mum and I hung about the departure lounge at Heathrow, had a coffee at the Starbucks Kiosk and read for a bit. We each took turns running off to the loo and the bookstall for yet more reading material.. (oh come on... of course I need a new book.. cos you see, it was an eight hour flight from Nairobi, and now I have a 10 hour flight!)
We whittled away the time... had a bit of lunch at TGIFridays (burgers baby, burgers.) and finally were allowed into the departure gate where we sat for another hour because of course the plane was over booked and they were looking for volunteers to take a different flight... oh, the 1000 dollar voucher sounded good.. but a night in my own bed and being snogged by my doggies sounded way better!
OK.. we are on the plane now. But leaving Heathrow is always a chore.. arriving too. One seems to always have to sit in the hot plane on the hot tarmac waiting for take off clearance... we waited nearly an hour and finally were allowed to take off. Mum and I had seats not together, and unlike the trip over, both of us were too worn out to bother with trying to trade for seats together.. so we just stayed in our ticketed seats. I did my best to sleep the way over. Tried to watch movies, but the only good one was "eight below" and I just couldnt sit through watching those poor malamutes alone at the south pole again. LOVE those dogs!
Well.. Im cramped, tired and grumpy.... we arrive in LA. Mum books buns off the plane cos her plane to SLO via SF is gonna take off... shes hoping to get a different flight straight to SLO... so she is GONE. I get off.. make it through customs, collect and redeposit my luggage and head off to United Express where I find mum at the gate for flight to SLO. (her original flight is taking off with out her to her delight.) She has an hour til her flight, I have two hours to wait myself.

O.K. wait is over. I'm on the flight to Fresburg. But I hardly remember it cos I sat down, clipped in and soon fell asleep barely remembering the safety lecture. I just remember waking up and looking out the window and wondering if i was looking down at L.A. or Fresburg.... thankfully it was Fresburg! (and when is someone thankful for seeing Fresburg? LOL)

Off the plane... waiting for the luggage so I ring up Elli at work. Oh ma gosh, the schedule sucks.. I have to report for work Sat night.. its THURSDAY (nearly Friday) now. So I collect luggage, cuss again about the work thing, and go out to suss out a cab over to work so I can get my car. But where is my car... I wait a few minutes, ring up dewitt subacute.. and ok.. Jan is out on break getting Jack in the Crack. Luckily, minutes later he shows up with my Subaru and Im soon on my way home to my own bed and my dogs.

11 July 06 On to StoneTown.

2006-08-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

Well. We packed up early this morning and checked out of the breezes at 1030 am. We had to settle up our bill for drinks, activities and lunches. We didnt do too bad. Two of us, three days... we rang up 171 dollars. We had to wait a short time for our Island Express minivan back to StoneTown. Got to say goodbye to Robyn before we took off. (She was on her way out on a visit of the Jozani Forest, home of the Red Colobus Monkies.)
It didn't take us too long to get to Stone Town where we were deposited at the Tembo Hotel in the heart of downtown StoneTown. It was hot and muggy but we were also getting hungry so we went on out for some food. The locals are always out for a buck and Mum thought she'd listen to this local as he said he would take us to a restaurant... after a bit of a walk we sent him packing and found the Monsoon Restaurant (Swahili Cuisine.) Zanzibar is like Mexico is like Gibraltar.... you wait and wait for your food.. then when you are about to eat your leg your meal arrives. Even as you are sat at the table on the verandah the locals will come on by with goods in their arms, on their heads or shoulders... and offer to sell you stuff. I got offered a ton of cashews and a cartload of sunglasses. We finally got lunch and scarfed it down and headed back to hotel to cool off in the pool. The pool was a cooling affair, but not too cold. We splashed about and cooled off and chatted with two Norsk females who were on holiday on the island waiting for husbands to come back from climbing Mt. Kili.
After the swim, we dressed and went out on the town to take pics and buy some last minute silly stuff to take home to family and friends.

Dinner that evening we went to The Beach House. Well, they served good cold beer. I ordered the red snapper..... Mum had the crab stuffed bell peppers, but had to wait an hour for the fishing boat to return to dock with the fish and crab.
Our server was sweet.... but he left his brain at home cos he was basically "feets.... do yo stuff" kinda attitude. We were rather pleased that supper was sooooooo delicious. One thing I believe that we will always remember is the FRESH FRESH veggies and fruits offered/served to us. And after a week of FRESH veggies, the frozen veggie mix served at Tarangire was really disappointing. To this day I miss the freshness of the veggies and fruits..... oh wait, or is it that I miss having sliced and peeled fruits awaiting me at breakie? (cos who the heck wants to get up early and peel and slice fruits?)

10 July. This is Paradise!

2006-07-30T19:41:00.001-07:00

Today we signed up for a snorkeling tour. We went out at around 1030, via bus to the snorkeling beach where we then waded out to our boat for the next hour. I didn't actually get to see this lion fish while snorkeling. He appeared nearly under my feet as I was walking out on the reef at low tide. Snorkeling was a blast. The water was bathtub warm and oh so salty. My eyes kept burning from the saltiness. We were in the "safety" net of the coral reef, thus keeping the sharks far from us as the crashing surf about a mile out at the edge of the reef kept the sharks from bothering us. I didn't bring one of those under water cameras, but they don't fetch the best of pics anyway. Saw LOTS of fish swimming in and out of the coral. Climbing up into the boat was a trick into itself. It wasn't so hard for me as my arms were still in good shape from my Century ride. But the poor oversized French woman sure had a tough time getting into the boat. And the lad running our snorkel expedition was useless. The two native boat lads actually helped ms. fat frenchie (oops, thats Mum's term for her.) into the boat. Im sure that she felt embarrassed.. but shes French! (oops sorry... I'm starting to sound like Paul Theroux here.)
After an hour in the salty indian ocean we were done and travelled back to the resort. On the trip, we got chatty with a young Australian lassie, Robyn. She was just a sweetie, travelling by herself. Breezes was a luxury stop away from her safari group. She was like, "after this place I have to go back to camping.... grrrrrr!" You do so get used to the luxury. (Ever seen the Celebrity Cruises ads on the telly? "I was not to be bothered til 6 am..." or " I was to have tea on the deck every day at 5..." Well, that was us! We got back to Breezes, hit the shower at the pool and rinsed off the worst of the salt film from our bodies and dove into the pool. We splashed about for a bit and then the rain came..... but did that run us out of the pool? No way! We floated in the pool and chatted with a woman from Danmark who was staying at the Breezes whilst on holiday to visit her son who worked as an engineer in Stone Town. Her young granddaughter was just a lil cutie. Ok.. snorkelling, swimming... the stomachs begin to growl. So we get out, towel off and don sarongs and meander over to the open air lunch restaurant and had a beach side table. I had the local fish which was delicious. The rest of the day was spent on lounge chairs reading and taking pictures of the windsurfers and more dips in the pool.
Dinner that night was a delicious buffet of seafood. Mmmmm. Fish, shrimp, lobbies. I was a bit disappointed with the lobbies, as they grilled the lobbie tails on the barbie til they were WELL done. But the other stuff... seafood risotto.... Mmmm oh so good. I had ordered a glass of wine before supper in the lounge/bar and the waitress never asked for my room number to charge our room.. so we just walked on to dinner.... with my wine... and when we went to leave after dinner we told the (male) server he says "shhhh, don't worry about it" LOL. Gosh I loved those young men working at the resorts and lodges..... so happy and go lucky and ready to please. And even if they were out for the monetary tips they always smiled and never frowned or whined when we asked for our luggage to be hauled to and fro. As we were finishing our supper, there started the evening entertainment on the patio outside the open air dining area. A group of young men doing acrobatics.... with cheerleader type human pyramids included... only they would run and jump up on each others shoulders. They were just awesome...... and surprisingly they didn't even have a tip bucket out!
We meandered back to our room after the show and found, our once again, clean laundry waiting for us on our freshly turned down beds. (no choccies on the pillow again.) We were leaving the next day at 11 to go to Stone Town in prepartation for our departure home.

9 July. Its Sunday and we're on Zanzibar.

2006-07-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Just a day to relax and hang out on the beach. cruised the tidal zone. I waited for high tide but when it came in the wind was killer.. forget kayaking! finally hit the gift store in the afternoon as it was only open from 4-6 pm and NO credit cards.. weird.
we did lunch at the local lil pub.... i had chicken satay mum had papaya salad. not bad. dinner was at the Sultans Table. Mmmmmmmm tomatoes and cilantro for appetisers, sauteed/breaded veggies, nan bread, prawns, and creme brulee. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. After this we were way too knackered so next on the agenda was bedtime. Beds were turned down on our return from dinner, mosquito nets in place but alas, once again, no chockies on the pillow :(

8 July 06.. end of safari... on to Zanzibar!

2006-07-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well, one night at Tarangire was enough. Guess we got too spoiled at Plantation lodge and Migration Camp. Still have to be thankful for the ensuite loo though.
Today, we travel back to Arusha. To the airport where we catch a dodgy plane....to Zanzibar.
Will be nice to sit and relax on the beach aside the Indian Ocean. It is still hot, but muggy as heck and the rain comes in ... dumps.. and then goes away. Mum and I even swam i the pool at Breezes whilst it was raining.
We arrived on the Island. Were greeted by Island Express and transfered to Breezes on the southeast side of the island (so no island sunsets.) We definately felt like luxury prisoners as to enter the resort you went through a guard gate and drove on up to the reception area.
When we got in, there was this a-hole greeting his mates who apparently used to work there. He was doing his best to sucker free meals out of the management. We quickly buggered away from his weirdness and were taken to our bungalow. Wonderful lil room.... great verandah out front.
The first order of business was to don the swimming costumes and go for a swim in the pool. I then dashed down and signed Mum and I up for snorkeling the next AM.
We had supper at the restaurant.. which goes along with the cost of the stay. Before dinner I imbided in the Kenya cocktail "Dawa" which is their version of a Mojito. Vodka, honey, crushed ice and lime. Mmmmmm Verra verra good. Its all I needed for the nite! We supped well, I had fillet of steak and veggies. Mum had Barracuda. We had "afters" of flambe' fruit. Mmmmm.
Do we have to mention that we slept well that night under our mosquito nets?

7 July 06. On to Tarangire.

2006-07-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, today we had breakie and climbed back into the LandBruiser with Charles at the helm. This time we had our bic biros in paws and ready to pass them out to the kids on the road side. It is such a gas seeing the kids run up to the truck and hold out their hands for a pen. Had this one kid (appropriately clad in a "Ninja" teeshirt) who kept his pen in one hand behind his back and held out his other for a second pen. He kept trying to get the pens we gave to the lil lads. (we knew the lil ones would lose their pens later to the bigger lads.) Charles was just busting a gut ... I'm like... "what, remembering your days of being 9 years old again?" He just laughed and nodded his head in agreement. We stopped along side the road near Karatu and bought some stuff at the Maasai market. (of course I did the bargaining thing too.) Didnt buy too much, a couple of Maasai blankets and a nice sarong for Kitty. (the sarong just called out her name!) We had already stocked up on good african coffee beans at the Plantation Lodge. As we were driving through Karatu we slowed to pass out some more bic biros to the kids, there were two young boys on a bike and they about fell over themselves AND the bike to get to us! One young lassie was just GORGEOUS as she held out her hand for a pen. In the Maasai culture, if you have your head shorn of hair (or very short) means your higher status in the tribe. Though in Karatu it was more the Iraqwe tribe. (I spelled that phonetically.) see http://tanzaniatouristboard.com/places_to_go/towns_and_cities/karatu
for a link to this part of Tanzania. We had a not so long drive to Tarangire National Park where we had a bit of a game drive... got to see a lion munching down on a freshly killed warthog.
Saw LOTS of elephants, and of course the famous baobob trees (the upside down tree.) We checked into Tarangire Safari Lodge and got into our so called luxury tent (well heck, at least it had real beds and a loo.) Lunch at the lodge was a fair affair. After lunch, we jumped on the internet to check email for the first time in 10 days. I attempted to download my pics from camera to CD.... but their silly puters wouldn't let me put the pics onto the CD, kept saying that the CD was corrupted ( I blame the xray machines at the African airports for THAT!) That was a frustrating hour which killed my desire to go out on an afternoon drive, so Mum went out with Charles and checked out the elephants. I let my headache resolve, than sat out on the deck at the main lodge and read, drank cokes, and watched the elephants cruise by below our camp. (and noisy they were at that!). I spent some time in the gift shop buying hats and teeshirts and a few gifts. Dinner was a sad affair. Their version of Tilapia was to take a hunk of fish batter the hell out of it, stomp on it, then fry it till it was fit for use as the sole of my hiking boots. The female serving staff were grumpy as heck. (quite a contrast the the happy smiling men who were happy to please at the drop of a hat.)
But this IS the far side of the world, as we found out, cos the generator gets shut off from 3pm to 6pm and Midnight to 6am. Mum and I turned in early and read in bed by headlamp.

6th July.... still at Plantation Camp

2006-07-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

ok.. we are staying 2 days here. Its a nice lodge. Not so pleased at how they dress the help in Aunt Jemina outfits... but the beds were comfy and they did turn downs at bedtime. The food was good. tonight we had a more enjoyable dinner..... no family with teenagers. We actually got to chat with the Brits next to us.. and they were actually enjoyable. Appetiser of Tuna, salad, soup, Main course of fillet of steak, veggies and potatoes (remember, this lodge is run by Germans.) All the veggies served were grown on grounds.. and DELICIOUS! we stuck around for "afters" and coffee. The red wine I had at dinner was ok... good... strong... not the best.. but good.
We tucked into bed early as we had to get up to travel to Tarangire National Park.... on the other side of Lake Manyara National Park. We are still smiling at this point. Before dinner, we had a shorter game run... got to see more cheetah, lion, wildebeast, elephants etc. On the way back to the lodge, we finally asked Charles, "hey, what are the kids yelling at us for?" He said "pens!" Mum is like.... "hell! we brought tons of pens for the kids.... but they are back at the lodge... we need to pass them out!" So Charles promised to slow down for us in the am to pass out pens. (the children have to BUY their own pens for school work!!!)

5th July... Morning with the Hippos

2006-07-24T01:42:00.000-07:00

This morning we leave Migration Camp. No more sounds of hippos bellowing at sunset. No more monkeys nicking our toast from the breakie tray.
But as we leave Migration Camp, our first stop is early at the Hippo Pond. The hippos are out and snoozing, flapping water over their bodies to keep cool in the AM heat (and it IS winter too.) Note the crocodile above snoozing in the sun... either he is thinking about how to attack one of the big bugger Hippos.. or knows better to stay away.
After the hippos, we had a long drive to Ngorogoro crater.... But first we drive to the exit of the Serengeti National Park... were we find several lions hanging out right at the exit, and rather close to the loos. More driving, we then finally decend down into the new and different clime of the crater. There is multitude of life, they say that only one Cheetah lives there...but we spotted two different cheetah in two days. The crater went from cool forest to dry savannah. The lion, wildebeast, zebra, rhino, elephant, cheetah all roamed in their own lil areas. The hyena and jackal roamed and kept a careful eye out for lion kills of wildebeast. We stopped at a cool swamp/lake picnic site where, despite the birds and biting flies. lunch could be enjoyed in the cool breeze. (and the antics of the "overland truck" tourists was something for a good giggle.) Hint #22 NEVER take a safari on an Overland Truck unless you are under the age of 20 and enjoy roughing it.... ie running to a open "longdrop" loo at 3 am and having to share in the kitchen duties.....
By the afternoon, the heat and flies had taken their toll, and we were ready to check into Plantation Lodge. Nice nice lodge, but they tend to dress the female help in costumes not far from that of the mythical Aunt Jemina. (head scarves included.)
Our room was good.. nice beds with skeeter nets. Lovely verandah and a private and shower. Dinner was another delicious affair: avocado salad, bread, salad, soup, rice and veggies including fresh fried cabbage. boiled potatoes brit style and beef with mushrooms. Dinner would have been nicer with out the family next to us.... they consisted of two young daughters and a dad and an obviously new female in dad's life.... the girls (one who talked non stop about dorm life at UC Santa Cruz) would not even acknowledge this new (asian ) female.
Dinner over.. we buggered out before "afters" and crashed.

ok.. its 4th of July.....

2006-07-23T02:49:00.000-07:00

and this young spotted hyena is taking a 4th of July dip. His watering hole isnt nearly as crowded as Bass Lake is today... and a heck of a lot quieter. Today we did a game drive in the Serengeti... it was hot hot hot. We saw lots of good stuff, a cheetah eating his breakie, lions, gazelle, zebra (even a dying zebra), Impala. Today was my ultimate stupid day... this is the day that I got the smart idea to change my cam settings from large to small fine so that I could take more pics (see... we had no puter access...so I couldnt put my pics on a CD at nite.) Not sure where or why the dang camera decided to format the disk.. but it did, to my shock, dismay and general all around pissed-offness. Now I just have to take those rolls of film in so I have pics from the previous days lost on the Digital Cam. The day was long, hot and dusty. Lunch was a rugged affair, yeah.. rugged in the Migraton camp style! They pack you tupperware containers of pasta and meat dishes, fresh fruit, bread, and Mmmmmmm DairyMilk choccie bars for "afters". They even pack real ceramic plates and metal cutlery. We got back to camp at around 4pm I think (time was not my first priority) and headed straight for the pool. Even Mum took a dunk. Got out and slathered back up with sunscreen, pulled out the book, ordered a coke and RELAXED on the sundeck. We had sent our dirty laundry out for cleaning.... so tonight we anxiously awaited its return.. all clean and smartlike....pressed too. But before we could see our clean laundry, we had dinner at "the captain's table" i.e. we at with Camp Boss Peter and Anita, both from South Africa. One other couple, the ones from Huntington beach, and a older gentleman from Connecticut joined the table. Our last minute thought was "gee, hope we don't have to dress for dinner.... our clothes are still in the laundry." Dinner was a delicious affair.... leek soup, and baked Tilapia (cos I don't like lamb). Desert was a menagerie of chocolate sin..... can't remember what they called it.. it was just chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. The meal was adorned by a nice bottle of South African Sav. Blanc. That's what is nice about Africa... LOTS of good South African wines.
After "afters" the eyes started to droop, so we found our young lad with the bow and quiver and arrows and followed him to our room.... once again all we saw of danger were hares and civits. Next morning was gonna be a early morn... tea and coffee at 6, breakie at 0630 and take off at 7. Dang that Charles.
We had been hearing bits and pieces of the 2006 "soccer" world cup. By the time I had left Scotland, Ukraine was out. US lost early. England was kicked out by Portugal on the 1st. Today, the 4th was a good day cos Italy kicked the Evil Germany out of the race. Woo hoo!!!!!

into the Serengeti. 3 July.

2006-07-21T05:48:00.000-07:00

up early... too early. the lads at the lodge hauled our luggage down to reception. We had a gorgeous buffet breakie at pool side. Delic coffee.. but they do tend to make it a tad weak. We have to stress STRONG coffee. stuffed on eggs and fruit and coffee... we joined with Charles in the LandBruiser, luggage in back.. and off we were to the Serengeti. We skirted the Ngorogoro crater to visit the Olduvai Gorge. Didnt do down into the crater yet.. that is to come. But we travelled long and hard into the Serengeti, had lunch at the enterance to the park. Bought some diet coke and dairy milk choccie at the lil store.... the choccie had seen better days... i swear, it had been melted and resolidified at least 3 times. Got some great pics of gama lizards at the Olduvai site.
it was a long and hot day and by the time we arrived at Migration Camp ( 5 star) we were ready for showers.... too tired for even the pool). We were once again greeted with cold juice and towels.. and introduced to the camp by Manager (South African) Peter.... the staff took us to our luxury tent... and showed us the torch and the whistle (whistle is to call for assist should we need something after dark.) The park IS in the middle of the Serengeti .. so they frown on guests walking about alone after dark. There are hippos and leopards and monkeys roaming free.
We showered... changed and basked in the luxury of our tent. once again big fluffy beds covered in white linen /down duvets. and sherry in the decaunter next to the beds. We did sunset on the verandah.... I imbided in a gin and tonic (have to be a bit colonial don't we?) When the supper bell rang, i ordered the fillet of steak, veggies, (gnocchi for appetiser), and pumpkin soup. Also had a glass of red wine and fruite platter for "afters" with good strong coffee.
After dinner, went back up to the verandah for after dinner chat. There we met a couple from Huntington Beach, and another single lady from Florida. Tis funny thing on holiday... you meet up with and have chats with people that in normal everyday life you would never interact with; so I reckon travel is a good thing. Didn't someone say travel broadened your horizons?
Finally the eyes were getting droopy so Mum and headed for the room.. we were escorted back by a young lad with bow and quiver on shoulders... too bad the most dangerous creature we came upon was a hare. Next, the usual... SLEEP.

Nairobi late 1 July into 2 July 2006

2006-07-21T01:34:00.001-07:00

Well.... 8 hours on the plane, but only a 2 hour time difference so the ride wasn't as tiring as from LA to Heathrow; still we arrive at 9pm and had to grab our luggage, go through customs and get our tourist visas. We were shuffled through to one line, and then realised we had to get the visas FIRST... which was opposite what the first customs official told us to do. We were standing at a desk filling out visa forms when this female Kenyan official came up to Mum and I and two Brits. She grabbed all our passports and said "follow me!" So we did... I'm like "ok and she is taking us WHERE?" But relax, she just took us to a shorter line where the customs men were ready and willing to take our 50 dollars American to give us a 3 month visa into Kenya. Ok... so now we get to wander out into the front arrivals area of the airport where tons of people are standing and holding placards with names on them. We finally spot the man from Albatros Travel who is to shuttle us to The Nairobi Safari Club for the night. I check my mobile phone ... yep.. have service in Afrika... safaricom. Not sure what they are gonna charge me to make a call.. and not ready to find out. Its dark, and "cold" to the locals.... (feels fine to me after 100 degree temps in Fresno.) Kinda funny to see the locals running about in their heavy wool jumpers in July (remember, Kenya is just below the equater... so its Winter there.)
We got to the hotel... and after 2 rooms got one with TWO beds. The rooms were nice, but decorated in 1950s Fancy Smancy... that kinda furniture that you know is regal but you wouldnt feel comfy propping your feet up on the sofa. The first order of business was showers. Then bed. Sleep was good.... except for the frequent clunking of Kenyan plumbing from the toilets above and below.

Morning comes at 630 am. Sunrise and sunset are at nearly the same time every day 365 days a yr (life at the equator.) Because of this... Swahili time is a 12 hour clock. 6am is 0 morning and 6pm is 0 night. go figure. breakie was a buffet..... mmmm fresh delicious fruit and once again, real proper tea :) We chowed down and went to the lobby to wait for our transit coach to Tanzania. While waiting.... i went into the gift shop and bought some post cards. The exchange rate is 1 US dollar gets you 70 Kenyan shillings (compare to 1 us dollar gets you 1255 Tanzanian shillings!) Our transit coach arrived... we piled on... and the coach moved on to collect tourists from other hotels... we got a close in view of Nairobi.. which is not the most poetic city. The drive from Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania was interesting... just podunk towns here and there.. and as Jimmy Buffett sang "bamboo shacks and carts with bananas piled on top." Every other building was a bar. Nothing fancy.. just a shack and tables... pull up a rickity chair and have a beer.. but at least the beer is cheap and COLD. At the border.... the locals came out in traditional costume to hawk cheap souviners (i suspect Hecho in China.) If you don't to buy just ignore them. We waited in line to get our passports stamped to leave Kenya, back onto the coach... then we drove a lil way and got back in line at the Tanzanian Customs Shack (and I mean shack). There we had to cough up 50 US dollars each for a Tanzanian Visa. One of the lads, Andrew, from America had only Kenyan dollars cos he was travelling the world for the last 7 months, our driver informed him that it would be 4000 Kenyan shillings. He is like "no, 50 US is 350 KSH. " The driver says
"thats how it is." I looked at Andrew and said "well, looks like you are paying the commission to turn those KSH into dollars." He laughed.
We all finally got our visas... after an near eternity of waiting.... piled back on the bus and left the cheap goods hawkers behind. From there, it was down hill into Arusha where we were met once again by our Albartros contact who introduced us to our own private 4WD Landcruiser(LandBruiser) and our own private guide Charles.... a native Maasai who was raised by missionaries after age 9.) We were provided with a box lunch from Arusha Hotel... taken to get Tanzanian dollars and bottled water. (don't drink the tap water.) An hour's drive and we were at the Manyara National Park. Charles secured our enterance fee and opened up the Land Bruisers roof so we could get better pics. Into the park, we were lucky to view elephants, Impala, Gazelle, Blue faced monkey, Pelicans, Flamingos, Warthogs, Maasai Giraffe, half submerged hippos and LOTS of birdlife. (Charles is a birdman.)
We were then taken to our night's lodging.... E Unoto Maasai Village Lodge. There we were greeted by smiling staff offering cold juice and cold towels to clear away the worst of the dust.
The rooms were "Maasai huts"..... but the ceased being huts at the door. Once inside, it was sheer luxury... BIG huge beds covered in white, thick linen and down duvets, a huge verandah, huge bathroom and seperate shower and toilet rooms. The only thing to remind you that you were in the Bush was the fact that the generator turned off from 12 am til 6am (western time that is.) We showered, changed and went on down to dinner. The dining room and bar were in two seperate open huts surrounding the infinity pool (we arrived too late to take a dip) I imbided in my first Afrikan beer... Safari lager (they like their lager in Afrika as its soooo hot there.)
Dinner for me was Lemon Rosemary Chicken, lyonnaise potatoes, veggies and fresh bread. The salad was heaven... avocado salad.. which was a half a FRESH avocado filled with a marinated veggie... onion, cilantro mixture. (TO DIE FOR!)
After dinner the Maasai people came in and preformed their native dancing and chanting. VERY nice. We were stuffed and tired... so this long day dictated a early bedtime as Charles was coming to collect us at 7 AM. (ARGH!)

Leaving Scotland. 1 July 06

2006-07-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

Well, three days in Edinburgh. I got my Scottish fix. We had a wonderful dinner at Wannaburger Friday night.... portabello burger and salad for me and a chicken burger for Mum. This place looked like a fast food joint but it was a sit down restaurant with delicious burgers..... AND they served Corona with lime. Once again, it was a long day, so we crashed early..... only to have to get up at like 4 am in order to get a taxi to the airport to fly back to London. Our taxi driver was a gas... he spoke in the true Gaelic.. and talk he could. it was dinna, ken, verra...... Bryan gave us a taste of his Gaelic brogue but said if he spoke like that the whole day we would never understand a word he spoke. We got to the airport and with ears full of Gaelic, hustled into the BMI check in line. Seems that EVERYONE was trying to get back to London on this early flight. We had seats...... but when we got on the plane there was another lad who had the same ticketed seat as I did.... so after the flight attendents sweated it for a few minutes they moved Mum and I up to business class. Woo hoo! We got free breakie instead of having to pay 10 quid for a box breakie. (too bad we didnt get this boost on flight to Nairobi or LA).
We had just a couple of hours at Heathrow, but we had to trek from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4
to catch our flight on Kenya Air. (getting to Terminal 4 includes shleping our stuff down to the trains level and taking the (free) Heathrow express). We found the Kenya Air check in counter
easily..... just find the largest deepest crowd and thats it. We unknowingly jumped the queue in front of a young English lad.. but he was like... "no worries...I won't tell." we did fret a little bit because appartently there was one young lad who got to the counter and they told him that his ticket wasnt on record even though he had paid for his ticket MONTHS before. But alas, we got our boarding passes and we on our way.

On to Stirling 30 June

2006-07-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

Ok.. so this pic isnt of a real Scottish lad.. but he plays the music and dresses the part.. and looks like he coulda been in Braveheart. (You have to bear with me on the Scotland pics cos I dumbly delete my first 200 pics.. ARGH!) Today, the 30th of June, we woke up and went to breakie at the Southern Cross Cafe on Cockburn street. Verra verra good breakie with a verra verra sweet waitress of whom we gave our email addys to. Her name was Charlotte and she was just a doll.
I had the vegetarian egg breakie which came with vegetarian haggis .... which btw is much much more palatable than the regular haggis which contains any and all parts of the sheep and or lamb. At breakie, we rang up Tim on my mobile phone and arranged to meet up with him at around half twelve. So after breakie we cruised on down to Waverly Station (Edinburgh's main railway station) and hopped onto a train to Stirling which is about 1 hour from Edi. We were met in Stirling by Tim and 7 yr old Joanna... who is just a doll. Had lunch at Tim's and chatted for a few hours, whilst Joanna entertained us in between her painting. The rain clouds cleared and so we all went for a walk and Tim gave us the grand tour of Stirling. Did actually get to get a glance of the Wallace Monument from the top of a hill where we trekked to (there was a park at the top and Joanna insisted on visiting the park). Lil Joanna flew up the side of the hill as we adults huffed and puffed up the stairs.) We took pics at the top, of course mine were in cluded in the ones deleted, but Mum got a few. We walked on down and around back into Stirling and back to the train station. ..... and back to Edinburgh. On this train ride, i took the plunge and bought a bottle of Irn Bru (the drink that DI Rebus sooooo loves when hungover... oh man. god awful cougar piss!) It tastes like someone dropped several ha' pennies into the bottle and let them sit for a month. Blech.

Still in Scotland....

2006-07-20T01:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we met up with our coach, well, the coach to take us to our coach..... we got on the proper coach, with all the right people and we were introduced to our driver/guide Bryan. He was a typical Scot with the typical humour. He even came dressed in a kilt. He got to driving, and after picking up everyone on the way out of Edinburgh, he had everyone introduce themselves. Bryan sure loved the family from Wisconsin... and knew right off to refer to them as Cheeseheads. They were good natured enough to actually LIKE being called cheeseheads. We had a LONG drive ahead of us, but along the way as we travelled through Glencoe we were given the history of the Jacobites and the revolutions. (Jacobites being followers of King James of Scotland). We got to go by Ft. William where Jamie Fraser ( The Outlander Series) was imprisoned. We stopped for lunch at Sprean Bridge just after Fort William. (on the tip of Loch Linnhe). After lunch, we travelled on up to Loch Ness in search of Nessie. At Loch Ness we got onto a boat for an hour ride up the Loch in search of Nessie. But don't even ask Biologist Ricky about Nessie, cos he doesn't believe in such nonsense. He did tell us about the large fish and also carnivore fish down below. Ricky was definately Scottish as one of his first comments were " we have GPS for two reasons: one-we are Scottish, two- we have a bar!" The humour went on as such for the next hour. The loch was amazing and if you looked at the sonar of the loch.. you would see just how deep the crevase of the loch is. After the boat ride, we got back onto the coach... Bryan began swerving back and forth and commented "honestly, I only had four pints of beer while you were on the boat..... chuckle chuckle" We rode on up to the top of the loch were we visited Urquhart Castle (or what is left of it). When the Scots abandoned it.. they destroyed it. The drive after the castle was long and slow, but we soon cruised into Inverness where we started back down the coast of Scotland. This is where everyone napped whilst Bryan played Scottish music. I slept, Mum slept... but as the Corries began to play I woke up. I was sooooooo chuffed to hear Bryan including The Corries in his forte. (Corries are my all time favourite scottish folk music.) The trek down into Perth, well around Perth, was very familier.... then I saw the railroad... and this was the route i took in 2002 from Edi to Inverness to get to Isle of Skye. The coach passangers snoozed on until we got to Pithlochry our next and final loo and snack stop. After Pithlochry, it was all down hill into Edi. Bryan dropped everyone off at central locations. As he dropped Mum and I off, I gave him a tip of 10 lbs sterling and commented "now you don't have to tell the wifey that you spent money on 4 pints of beer" he laughed. We hoofed it up to High Street and had dinner at a nice Italian trattoria.. we both had seafood risotto... WAY too much food. The wine was fair. We went back to the 3rd floor walked and collapsed on the beds and crashed.

Afrika Continued.....

2006-07-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, we arrived in Ediburgh, had our tea. Mum took a rest and I went out and got some money exchanged and hoofed it around Edinburgh taking a look see at my favourite town. I realised that Fleshmarket Close (location of Ian Rankin's latest Rebus novel) was just down the street... and I then realised that it was on this Close that I stayed in a pissy lil hovel of a BackPacker "hotel" back in 2002 (when I realised that I'd never stay in another hostel!) I sussed out a Thai restaurant for dinner, also found Leta's pub where she used to work back in 1980 (Bannermans). They still have the huge cows stuck out of the sides of a building across from Bannermans. Went back to the hotel and Mum was more alive, so we went out for dinner, but alas to our discontent, the Thai place was shut so we instead ate at a local pub.... which wasnt too hot. We walked around Edi, and stepped into Bannermans, I had a pint of carling (which Gumby promptly dived into my beer). Mum had a
lemonaide. Its a student pub, and they had a DOG Awful band playing... finished the drinks, retrieved Gumby from the pint glass and boogied. We found a small shop and purchased some breakie items and juices for the AM as were getting up at a god awful hour to go on a 12 Highland tour. It was only 10 pm but still bright and sunny. Forgot how cool it was to have sunshine 20 hours a day! I crashed away that night in the glow of the setting Edinburgh sun.

We woke up to sunshine.... at 3 am! (Yikes) struggled sleeping for a few more hours. (No wonder we fell asleep on the bus during the Highland tour). Had proper tea and muffins for breakie then went out to find our tour bus.

The End of the Holiday

2006-07-17T04:50:00.000-07:00

Well, the Holiday is over... we endured 36 hours and 4 airplane rides to get home (including 2 6 hour layovers in Nairobi and London.) Unfortunately, we were unable to duck out of the airport (we had 3 month visas already) and go to dinner at Carnivores Restaurants. It is a restaurant where they serve all kinds of wild game.. they grill the meat on large skewers.. and just carry the skewers to your table and slice off a few hunks of meat. Mmmmmmmm.. Me Maasii woman, me love MEAT. (ok.. so Im Norweigan.. but I swear there is a link between Maasii and Nowegian.)

Well, We started off our holiday by flying to London. (I flew from Fresno to LAX, Mum flew from SLO to LAX.) I met mum at the airport and we then climbed aboard a United Flight to Heathrow. The plane was pretty much PACKED... and a lady that mum had travelled with from SLO didnt have a seat assignment.... oh were we envious when she got placed in business class! (She, Pam, was soooo chuffed with herself.) Mum and I had seats a row apart... but we got ppl to change seats so we were able to sit together, so I promptly pulled out Gumby and took pics of him hanging out on my food tray. (When I sort out how to download the pics from camera phone, Ill post them.) Anyhoo, after 10 hours of very short naps..... we arrived at Heathrow. We got through customs and then went to board a BMI plane to Edinburgh.

Once we got to Edi, it was a cab ride into town... checked in at the Castle Apartments main reception lounge. The lad checking us in had the most striking green/blue eyes... he saw my Yosemite shirt and was giddy about California as he had worked there for a stint of time.
We got another cab to the apartments.. and then the surprise came... uh, they didnt tell it was a 3rd floor walk up.. (and mind you 3rd floor in UK/EU means 4th floor in American. ) We had to shlep our stuff up the spiral staircase to our room which was NOT to the standard that we found on the website.... gee.. never believe what you see or hear on the internet... novel idea eh? But at least it was a room and a loo and a so called bed.... and they had tea!!!!!! and sugar and milk... PROPER Tea was promptly in order.

7 days and counting

2006-06-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Yes.. this is a pic of a successful woman. I have just finished Tahoe's "America's Most Beautiful Ride". 100 miles, 1500 feet elevation, basically 5k to 6k feet in elevation. Am I worried about doing walkabouts in Africa? Not a bit! We leave in 7 days.
I can't wait.

getting closer

2006-05-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well, its 10 days til the big bike ride, then after that its recover so that I can enjoy Africa. Things are falling into place. On Weds AM, I went down and got my vaccines... typhoid, flu, (for the hellava it), polio and yellow fever. also have malaria meds grasped firmly in paws. I chose to use Doxycycline... even though it causes nausea on an empty tummy). It was the cheapest... but you have to take more pills.. oh well. Ill pack lots of Vitamin B too.. cos skeeters HATE blood tainted with vitamin B.

Headed off to the far side of the world.

2006-05-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I get to head out into the world soon. This time off to the far side of the (wild) world... lands where Paul Theroux writes ... and pisses and moans... about. I get to see the lands that Jimmy Buffett sings about and I get to take LOTS of pictures. Mom and I will fly off to London on 27th June where we first will spend three days in my beloved town of Edinburgh, Scotland... discovering Rebus's Scotland and visiting with Tim over a pint and some cool fiddle music. Ill have my laptop, my digital camera, my camera phone and my mp3 player... oh wait, im going off to AFRICA? Gosh, whoever woulda thunk that one day we would have to travel with all this STUFF? Wasnt gonna do the laptop, but heck, i can use it to download my many pictures, so what the hay?
After getting my Edinburgh fix, we will head off back to Nodnol (thats London for you forward moving folks)... where we wil hop onto a yes, a Kenya Air, flight to Nairobi. 8 bloody hours on a Kenya Air plane!!
'
meanwhile... a few words from Jimmy Buffett's 'Far Side of the World' .... ok, so its the whole song!

Ramadan is over
The new moon's shown her face
I'm halfway round the planet
In a most unlikely place
Following my songline
Past bamboo shacks and shops
Behind a jitney packed like sardines
With bananas piled on top
I ran away from politics
It's too bizarre at home
Away I flew, tuned into Blue
'Maybe Amsterdam or Rome'
Awakened by a stewardess
With Spain somewhere below
On the threshold of adventure
God, I do love this job so
So while I make my move
On the big board game
Up and down a Spanish highway
Some things remain the same
Girls meet boys and the boys tease girls
I'm heading out this morning
For the far side of the world
Oh, I believe in song lines
Obvious and not
I'd ridden them like camels
To some most peculiar spots
They run across the oceans
Through mountains and saloons
And tonight out to the dessert
Where I sit atop this dune
I was destined for this vantage point
Which is so far from the sea
I've lived it in the pages of Saint-Exupery
From Paris to Tunisia
Casablanca to Dakar
I was riding long before I flew
Through the wind and sand and stars
Caravan
Ride that hump
And Timbuktu's a jillion bumps
Sleeping bags and battle flags
Are coiled and furled
That's the way you travel
To the far side of the world
A sunset framed by lightning bolts
Burns a lasting memory
And a string of tiny twinkling lights adorn the sausage tree.
While the embers from the log fire
Flicker, fly and twirl
Then drift off toward the cosmos
From the far side of the world
Well it's Christmas and my birthday and so to that extent
The Masai not the wise men
Are circling my tent
I teach them how to play guitar
They show me how to dance
We have rum from the Caribbean
And burgundy from France
New Year's Eve in Zanzibar
With Babu and his boys
High up on the rooftop
You can relish all the noise
They are dancing on the tables
People bouncing like gazelles
Two 0-0-1 is ushered in
With air raid horns and bells
Time to sing time to dance
Living out my second chance
Cobras and sleeping bags are coiled and curled
That's the way it happens
On the far side of the world
Back at home, it's afternoon
Six thousand miles away
I will still be there when I get through
Attending this soiree
There are jobs and chores and questions
And plates I need to twirl
But tonight I'll take my chances
On the far side of the world
That's the way it happens
On the far side of the world