farlands | traveling near and far

December 2016 memories:  A shopping stop along the way and visiting with hard-working sales people on the precarious edge overlooking the Rift Valley: Curio shop on the side of the hill A  lunch stop at a western-style cafe brought us a most delicious latte that every one fought over for a sip: Outstanding Chai Latte  As we relaxed and caught up on our Safari adventures.... Sisters at the coffee shop A stop at a pottery shop included a display underfoot of hand-made tiles. These ones in particular made me smile: Can you see the ants?

It's interesting working on a blog.  You find out your good skills (I'm often pleased with and amused by my photo captions), and you find out your weaknesses (I start off strong and detailed about the first three days of a trip and then...nothing).  It happened with my Tour de Arkansas, it's happening right now with our Kenyan trip from the beginning of this year, and I don't know what in the world I'm going to do about the most recent trip we took, unexpectedly, to the Baltic States, Scandinavian countries and freakin' St. Petersburg, Russia.  Poor me! So, since I lost my notes on Kenya due to an overzealous purging of my email, let the photos and mini narratives begin: For our safari leg of the trip, we flew out of  Wilson Airport on a small plane.  The terminal was small, nice and had very good coffee.  Our driver that morning got us there in plenty of time, and then we were off, into the smooth, way less bumpy than roads, air. John and Jeff are...

After a rough night (I woke up around 2:15 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep) we departed at 9:00 a.m. to drive back down to Nairobi to visit the  David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust , which shelters and raises baby elephants.  Many have been orphaned due to poaching for ivory (boo, hiss), and a surprising number of them were also found after falling into a well.  2 groups of of approximately 14 baby elephants ranging from 8 months to 3 years made a grand entrance with their handlers and were fed their bottles of milk in front of the 150-200 people along the perimeter of the feeding area.  Then the babies got to play in the dirt and mud, with balls and each other.  It was awesome, and we could pet them on their sides as they walked by.  The goal of the organization is to care for the elephants until they can start to fend for themselves, then reintroduce them back into the wild as long as it takes for them to be adopted into a herd. Big Baby...

The first peek at sunshine in over 2 days came when I got up.. around 12:30 p.m.   I hadn’t meant to sleep in that late.  First look at Africa in daytime. We were staying in a house of friends of Cherry and Vance's. A family who works on the property would let us in and out; and a few dogs also were part of the mix. After taking a much-needed shower, we went over to Brakenhurst , the seminary that Vance ran for many years before retiring:  The grounds were lush, lovely and trees and flowers were everywhere, with an emphasis on species native to the area. Vance and the building named in his honor. On the way to and from the seminary, there were people on the side of the road, walking to wherever they needed to. Cars are terribly expensive, and many people walk - families, groups of kids, friends, lone walkers.  Everyone is out walking and we waved at each other as we went bumpily driving by. Cherry, with lots of help f...

Getting ready to go on a longer trip is the hardest in the hours before you leave.  The plants need to be watered.  The sump pump needs checking.  A prescription was not filled…I did better than most times before a trip and just stopped obsessing about everything.  The drive to Chicago was simple and Jeff reserved parking so that made it easier.   Checking in on British Airways, the person at the flight counter gave us directions to the airport lounge, which I thought was a mistake, since we don’t belong to any of the lounge clubs.  Still, we thought we’d give it a try, and when the lounge scanned our boarding passes…we were in!  I love airport lounges in the very few times I have been in one.  It is so much calmer, and the free food and drink is always appreciated.  Then Jeff looked online, and discovered that we had been upgraded to Business Class.  With sleeping pods.  Warm hand towels.  Cadbury Chocolate....

We're back! The first overseas trip for me since the '90's, Jeff since the 70's, and John since he was born.  It was quite special to travel that far, and that long, as a family, and to spend time with more of Jeff's family when we got there (his mother, aunt and uncle). Carolyn, Cherry, John, Jeff and Vance at Crater Lake.  Check out the beam coming down on Jeff's head...! The most vivid takeaways for me personally were (and will expand on all of these in later posts): - How much fun going on a safari was, as I didn't know exactly what to expect: Did not expect to be THIS CLOSE to leopards! - Most people walk everywhere in Kenya, which is so different than in the States.  You could not look out a car window without seeing dozens of people walking along highways, roads, across fields to get where they needed to go.  - Kenyan roads are incredibly bumpy and rugged almost everywhere we went. - It was only the second time in my life that I clearl...