May

Last fall, we planned out the last leg of our USA trailer tour. Well, except for the Alaska trip to come another time. We knew as soon as the accident happened that there was no way we would leave my parents and take off for the whole 3 month trip we had planned, so it all was cancelled.  Except we had already bought some pretty spendy tickets to the Kentucky Derby. They were a two day ticket for the Oaks and Derby day, which included all the food and drinks and believe it or not...parking. Churchill Downs has a place online where you can sell them, but they would not give you back the cost you paid and it seemed complicated. We talked about driving just to the Derby, but there was one hitch...I really wanted to be back the day after the derby because it was Mom's first Mother's Day without Cyndi. So driving home in time was not possible. I started looking online for airfare. It was crazy expensive! But I discovered that if I bought a ticket to Cincinnati, it was less than half the cost. If we rented a car, it was only an hour away. So I booked hotels and that is exactly what we did. 

We arrived two days before so that I could see a few other things that were on my list if we had taken the trailer.

First off was the Ark Encounter. It is a life size replica of Noah's Ark. I was so impressed as we walked towards it. 

Inside was not as impressive. It was partly a recreation, but most of it was set up to teach about it and prove the Bible story to be the truth. Of course I believe it, but I don't think most people there needed to have it proven to them. They had two theaters going with explanations about the Bible and a gift shop on every floor and places to buy snacks. Inside was a huge let down.

Here is what I expected it all to be like.

More of that and less of this...

The next day we took a drive in the countryside to see the horse farms and spent time in the capital city, Frankfort.

And then came Oaks and Derby days!

Oaks Day was all about breast cancer awareness. Everyone was wearing pink and it was so much fun watching all the outfits. The men were as much into dressing up as the women.

As soon as you enter, all the food and drinks, including alcohol, is included. Then when you get to your certain area, there is more food that is not included in the general admission. Of course the more you spent on tickets, the food gets different. Our food was served buffet style and you could stand at little tables to eat or take it back to our seats in the grandstands. The upper areas had sit down tables overlooking the track. oh well...

The official derby drink is the mint julep. I tried one, but it wasn't nearly as good as the other derby drink called the pink lily. They served them to us in real glasses to keep. We had a pretty good collection of them going until they got stuck together and we could not get them apart, so we left them in the hotel. I managed to get one of each glass home. That is enough anyway, right?

Our seats were in the front row and even had a handy little glass holder.

Derby Day was less pink and a little more formal, but still showy. So many huge hats, even on the men. Had we known, we would have done ourselves up a little more. John bought himself a Derby baseball cap.

In the general area, you just walked up to any stand and asked for whatever you wanted, they had people with trays walking around passing out drinks and food. The only place you had any kind of a wait was at the fruit stand. I waited 30 minutes to get those strawberry-bananas on a stick! Oh, but they were so good!

Right after arriving on Derby day, the Navy marched the official rose garland for the winning horse. It was enclosed in a gold and glass case.

Our seats were in a covered stand at the first turn. Some of the races were in the grass and others in the dirt. 

The stands were packed!

Nice to see a lot of security everywhere.

These two guys spent all day both days on this bench, planning out their bets. The one with the hat filled me in on just how to bet and exactly which horses, of course.

I only bet once, my horse came in 4th. Oh well, nice to hope.

We made it home in time for Mother's Day. Lindy and I gave Mom a gift card for flowers and that week we went plant shopping. It was nice to see them filling the car with them. Nice to see that they still have hope and are going on as much as possible.

Spring has been wet and cold here. Flowers have happened, but are way behind normal.

There is a hydrangea tree here that is amazing. Full of flowers and it gets better and better the close you get to it.

And the rhododendrons!  Wow! They are covered in flowers. The bushes are no longer bushes, but more like trees.

My succulent from Daniel is about to bloom. He started it from a big plant and gave it to me on our last trip down.

Like I said, it has been wet here. Poor birds don't know what to do.

I know its a weed, but I still like them.

We have had a few deer come through the yard. They just love my roses.

This guys spent the whole day calling out for a mate.

Emily sent a photo of our great-grandson! I sure wish she was close to us so we could share this time with her. It makes me sad to have her so far away from home.

These two have had to have a bunch of teeth pulled! Josiah had eight pulled and Arianna had two pulled. (on different days) They each got to spend time at our place recuperating afterwards. They are getting ready for braces. Lina had a sick day too. She thought we needed to do some sewing, so we made a new bear.

Another hard step. 

We have emptied Cyndi and Dan's home, their shop. We sold their cars and boat. We sold the house. I say we, but it was Mom and Dad. They let me do little things, like I carried in boxes and then watched as Mom went through each piece of paper, each photo, in each box of memories. Sometimes I had to leave the room instead of watching her force herself through that pain. 

But those big decisions, like listing the house, selling the cars and boat, listing their business, they have taken that on completely. Sometimes I started thinking I should be taking those things on instead of them, not because they can't handle it, but because they have had to deal with so much just losing their daughter. I just feel this need to protect them and keep them from more pain, but they keep showing how brave and strong they are and fought through their pain. All I have really been able to do is walk beside them through this and encourage them and share the tears.

Below is one of the hardest days. The last day there, as I drove in, I noticed that all of Cyndi's Forget-me-nots were in full bloom. 

Tears. 

I stopped and took a photo of them, along with the house. I dug up a few starts, for me, Mom, Jessi and one that I took to the cemetery. I took a walk alone around the place, thinking of them and going through another goodbye. And there in the back yard was the bleeding heart plant blooming its heart out. 

Yup, it was hard. 

A really hard day. 

 But it got worse. It came time to lock it up one last time and Mom and Dad got into Dan and Cyndi's truck, which they decided to buy from their estate, and they drove it out. I could hardly see through my tears to take a photo. Cyndi used to always, I mean always, ride in the seat beside Dad. And now it was driving out for the very last time. 

without them

Oh, but that is not all. Just a few days later, came Cyndi's birthday. 

Jessi and I took flowers to their graves the day before and made sure it was looking OK as far as grass and weeds. Mom and Dad took some flowers in the afternoon and we agreed to go to dinner together. Mom said we had to try our best to make it a day Cyndi would have been happy with. It turned out OK and we even ended with a toast to Cyndi before the night was over.

Yes, I am so proud of them. 

I see how they have to struggle to keep on going on. I know it would be easier for them to just give in to it all and give up. But they get up, get dressed and go through another day. 

For that I am so grateful.

The locket that Mom has on, we found in Cyndi's things. Mom and Dad gave each of us girls one for Christmas one year. When she spotted it in the box, she opened it and saw Dan and Cyndi's pictures cut and pasted inside. Without hesitation, with tears falling, Mom put that necklace on. 

She hasn't taken it off yet. 

I ended the month with a trip to Eugene with Jessi and Rachel. Jessi is a huge fan of Lysa Terkeurst, a Christian author and speaker. Jessi has read all of her books and has found so much encouragement in her hard times from her. Rachel has read some of the books too, so when Jessi asked me to go with them, I said yes. It was a really good night. Dinner out and plenty of time to talk with the girls as we drove to and from.

Way back in February, Ariel took his citizenship test. He was elated when he passed it. But because of Covid, he had to go alone and there was nobody there to celebrate with him when he got the results. On top of that, we were dealing with our fresh pain and it just didn't feel right to them to make a big deal out of their joy in the midst of all of this pain that we were all feeling.

Well, they have the best neighbors. They were greeted with cupcakes and flowers that evening. 

But that was not the end of it. Nope. Those neighbors got a permit from the city to close the street and they invited everyone around the block to come to celebrate this great moment in Ariel's life. The last Saturday of the month was their big neighborhood celebration. It turned out great and they are so blessed to have such great neighbors.

Warning!  This post is really really long. I didn't collage the photos because I wanted to leave them big so I could see the pictures better. My photo journal is something I do for myself, so I decided to post all the photos I loved the most. So just be warned this is really long.

Catching up with our trip to Africa

We had scheduled our trip for September, but decided with the Covid Delta variant that we should postpone it.  We were not so much worried about getting it, but were afraid that we might get locked down there. So once we felt things were doing better and we had our booster shot, we rebooked the trip for January. 

Finally we were on our way after covid test #1.  Masks were required on the airports and on the planes. 

It was a 20 hour flight with a stopover in Amsterdam before landing in Johannesburg for a few hours sleep before our flight to 

Victoria Falls.

John does not sleep well on airplanes. His doctor gave him some sleeping pills to help him sleep.  Before going, he tested them out and didn't think they were strong enough. Well...when we arrived into Amsterdam and found our gate, he decided it was time to take his pill. Unknown to me...he took TWO!  I suddenly noticed he was sitting in the seat in the waiting area and his eyelids were fluttering. I asked him what was going on, he mumbled something to me about being sleepy. He held up his hands and he was shaking and he was pulling at his fingertips. Then his eyes went shut and he would not wake up. I got him awake enough to get him to answer that he had taken two pills instead of one.  I really panicked, wondering if he was having a stroke or something.  I didn't know what to do, should I call emergency and miss our flight, should I just let him sleep. I finally explained things to the agent and asked if she would get assistance helping board him when it came time.  She said that if he could not walk on, he would not be permitted to board. I agreed with that, I had to know he could wake up and that it was not something serious. By then everyone around us was noticing. I forced him to wake up and told him if he could not walk, he could not go. A man next to us helped me pull him to his feet. He could barely move, it was as if he had weights in his shoes. It took three agents to hold him up and direct him to the plane. They verified with me over and over that it was not alcohol or other drug related. They had dogs sniff us before we could board. They got him to his seat and he conked back out for the flight.  We spent a few hours in a hotel in Johannesburg and the next morning, he had no memory of any of that!!  He says he will not be taking those pills again!

Finally, after covid test #2, we were at Victoria Falls! It was pretty amazing to see the spray from the falls from the airplane!

A driver picked us up and took us to a boat ramp where our safari guide met us. We had to go by boat to our lodge. As soon as I was on the boat, I joked with our guide "I don't see any elephants..." He replied that he had seen some on his way to pick us up. I was sure he hadn't really. But we had barely gone any distance and there in front of us, beside the river was a real live elephant herd! What a way to start the trip!

We were given the best room on the island, right at the point, and had an amazing view of sunrise and elephants on the shore.

 We had a butler, Mathias who made sure everything was perfect. Obey was the manager. They greeted us every time we returned by boat.

Victoria Falls River Lodge

Our room was so perfect!  Way more than I expected. There was even our own soaking pool on the deck. 

As soon as we were settled into our room, we headed out on our first  safari with our guide Blessed. 

First thing, we saw a hippo on the shore and more in the water. They were everywhere. 

We took a boat safari, either in the morning or evening each day there.

The shoreline was full of so many animals, mostly birds. I was so excited to see so many kinds of birds without it being an actual birding safari.

crocodiles

white faced whistling ducks

open billed stork

one of the birds I most wanted to see! 

bee-eaters!!!

black ibis

spotted thick-knee

white-crowned lapwing

trumpeter hornbill

double rainbow

weaver nests

goliath heron

white browed coucal

Did I mention hippos?

spur winged geese

sacred ibis

Egyptian geese

Meals were always top notch. Always way too much food.

Breakfast always started with a plate of fresh fruit, a basket of warm rolls, fresh made juice and latte. And then we were expected to order a meal to go with it! Always seated outside by the river with monkeys in the trees.

Here are a few sunrise photos from our room.

We woke up to the sound of hippo grunts.

Here are the elephants we watched from our deck.

I spent so much time watching these two playing in the water.

There was a telescope in our room that we put to use.

There were some cute little monkeys on our island. They roamed freely and even enjoyed our upper deck. One day, one of them was tapping to get in our patio door.

sausage tree

Once a day we also took a land safari. I had not expected to see so many big animals at Victoria Falls. Mathias and Blessed made sure and loaded up drinks and snacks for each trip.

Impalas (with an ox-pecker on his back)

Blessed called them McDonalds. I thought it was because there were so many of them like fast-food. But turns out it is because they have a black mark on their rump like the McDonalds golden arch.

Zebras It was awesome to see so many in the wild.

Pied Kingfisher

Baobab Tree

and elephants...so many and so close! unreal to see them like that

male and female KUDU

weaver nests and African Golden Weaver

lilac breasted roller

Giraffes!

ring-necked vulture

wart hog

Red-billed hornbill

African Gray Hornbill

Black backed jackal

Hippo watching at the riverside for Sundowner

elephant tracks

cheetah tracks

hippo tracks

And finally, the whole reason we are at Victoria Falls...

THE FALLS!!!

We walked along the whole trail to see all the observation points of the falls. The map below names the largest falls, we have now been to all three!

In some places, the spray from the falls was so thick you could barely see the falls.

This is the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Amazing Race had a bungie jump from here on one of their episodes.

We ended at a viewpoint for lunch overlooking the river. They have zip lines there, but no takers while we ate.

The national flower of Zimbabwe.

Flame Lily

One of the largest and oldest Baobab trees.

My caddie John.

Before and after the falls. 

So much spray!

Boat ride back from safari

Chuck the baby crocodile. John spotted him on the bank by our lodge. He stayed there for a couple of days. It just cracked the staff up that he named him.

When we arrived, there was a welcome note from the staff and a certificate for massages. We saved them for our last day. Pretty nice, in a little hut right on the Zambezi river.

Room service lattes on our deck the last morning.

Mathias and Chef Leo

Covid test #3 passed and ready for Tanzania.

Getting to Tanzania was not a simple process. Just like we had to go through Johannesburg for a night before getting to Victoria Falls, we first we had to fly to Johannesburg, then we took a flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia before our final destination of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Because of covid, airlines had cancelled the amount of flights and it was really hard and super expensive to find a simple one. We ended up on the fastest, but it required a red-eye flight and a layover in Addis. But we finally made it!

Our first two nights was in Arusha at the Siringit Villas. It was such a fancy place, right on a golf course.

 The first night there were 4 men from Holland that were there to play golf. One of them was the original owner of the lodge. He is an architect and it was built for his family. The next morning they were gone and we had the place to ourselves, just like we had in Victoria Falls. 

First thing, John decided to get a shower. He grabbed his bag and suddenly realized it was NOT his bag!  Even though we had handled that bag so many times for inspection and into our jeep we had not noticed it. Upon arrival to our lodge, it had been taken to our room for us. It took us 1/2 hour to drive back to the airport, turn the wrong bag in and retrieve his bag, then 1/2 hour back for John to get his shower. 

We spent a day and a half just relaxing by the pool, walking the golf course, taking bird photos and eating. They set us up in the garden for lunch, by the pool for dinner and wherever we wanted for breakfast. 

Dickson, Chef Ombeni, Joshua

Lunch in the garden.

Morning latte by the pool.

It was surprising that there were impala and dik-dik roaming on the golf course. Dik-dik are tiny, less than knee high deer-like animals with the hugest eyes.

mongoose

So many birds! and incredible weaver nests!

The ones that look like humming birds are called sunbirds. There were different colored ones around. Most I had not seen before, weavers, barbet, and the ones with the long gray tails are Go Away birds, because they don't stay around very long. Most I didn't know the names of, but it was so nice sitting in the garden or by the pool watching the different ones fly in. 

I thought this was Mt.Kilimanjaro, but it was a different less famous one called Mt. Meru. Kilimanjaro stayed behind clouds while we were there.

The drive through Arusha was an eye-opener. A huge city with animals right alongside of vehicles, women carrying anything you can imagine on their heads (I saw one woman with a huge coffee table on her head!), bikes and motorcycles loaded down with somebody pushing the load along, carts loaded with fruit, people in native clothing, babies tied to their backs and Maasai huts. I tried to get photos, but most of them are in my mind only.

Our driver, Joseph, took us through Tarangire National Park. What a great day! We saw so many animals. Even though we had seen them in Zimbabwe, it was new all over again. I think Tarangire National Park is my favorite. Such an amazing amount of animals there!

Oxpecker on an impala, see the 'M' on his rump?

waterbuck...they call it a toilet seat mark on his rump.

Secretary bird

First lions!!!

I wonder what happened to this guy's ear?

Dik-dik

Warthog family

Superb Starling

White-headed Buffalo Weaver

I could have watched those baboons for hours!

The giraffes here are so brightly colored.

Our lunch stop overlooked a valley full of elephants.

We continued our game drive before stopping at the Tarangire Treetops for two nights.

Our tented room was raised up on stilts into the treetops.

The main lodge is built around a baobab tree. The trunk is right behind the registration desk.  Bats live in the trunk and fly out at night. It was an amazing sight to watch as hundreds of them took flight right through the lodge!

A few 'hung out' in the lodge for the day. 

The watering hole was lit up at night so we could watch the animals come for a drink.

John picked up a stomach bug the second night in Arusha, so by our first night in Tarangire, he was doing pretty bad. I got him some meds, but they didn't help. I ended up having my meals by myself and went on a full day game drive while he tried to recuperate.

A Maasai boma and the guy below, Mungu, was assigned to walk me back to my tent each night after dark.

I did feel bad that John had to miss the safari, but wow!  It was my favorite day! Not because he wasn't there, but because of all I saw!

It was a full day with lunch out there too.

The Maasai are always herding their cattle. This guy stopped us and asked for water. 

LOVE Birds!!!

Kori Bustard

White-bellied Bustard

A huge tortoise

Magpie

Brown Snake Eagle

Storks and Pelicans

Monitor lizard...about 3 ft long

Cattle egret

Hadada Ibis and  Blacksmith lapwing

Sacred Ibis with White-faced ducks

Black backed jackal

First leopard!!!

Gray Crowned Crane

female Reed buck

African Fish Eagles

Yellow-billed stork

Hamerkop

different patterns and colors on the giraffes

saddle-billed stork

second cheetah!!!

Lions!!!

Southern Ground Hornbill

Wildebeest 

banded and dwarf mongeese

We came upon a huge group of baboons

the babies were having a good time dropping from the branches

Termite mounds are HUGE! and everywhere!

When I returned, John was not feeling any better, so I went to have dinner on my own again. Instead of seating me at the table by the pool like the night before, the put me at a table in the Boma. I was glad that another couple had just arrived, so I was not sitting out there alone. A special Maasai barbeque had been prepared along with a traditional performance.  When they started shouting, John could hear it all the way back at out tent and was so sad that he was not up to seeing whatever was going on. He sat and listened while he sipped his clear broth soup alone in our tent. 

All this food just for me...and dessert too!

The next morning, we loaded up for our next adventure. Everyone was there to send us off.

John still wasn't feeling good, even after the lodge had given us some strong medicine, so our first stop was a pharmacy. It was the craziest pharmacy we have ever seen! We drove up, immediately our jeep was surrounded by women wanting us to buy their jewelry. A woman came out of the building and our driver told her what we wanted. I showed him on my phone what Jessi had told us to ask for  and she left. A few minutes she came back out with it. It was only $5!!! for a week supply! When I asked our driver if that was the right price, he asked "Is that too much?!" We laughed so hard and told him it would not have surprised us if it was $50. The photo below is the pharmacy.

The drive to Lake Manyara was full of sights.

If you look closely, you can see the huge earrings that the women wear. 

One picture that stands out in my mind is a  picture I didn't get to take. As we drove out to the main hwy, we traveled on a dirt road for about 1/2 an hour. We went through Maasai property past their huts and herds. We came upon a huge mud puddle. There beside it was a woman doing dishes in the muddy water, her child beside her was only about 6 and had a baby strapped to her back. It really stuck with me as we drove past. I sometimes think those are the 'photos' that are the most important that stay in our minds.

Lake Manyara

It was a mess. It is a salt lake and had flooded, killing all the vegetation which caused the wildlife to go elsewhere.  Joseph did his best searching for something for us to see, but it was a lost cause. We were his first clients since the beginning of the pandemic and he had no idea it was in this condition.

There were plenty of baboons to occupy me for a while.

We stopped for lunch overlooking the lake, you can see where the die-off is.

We arrived at Neptune Ngorongoro Lodge. John recorded it, but I can't get the video to upload here. The guy in orange started chanting and jumping in the traditional Maasai way as we unloaded.

Every lodge we went to, the staff greeted us with warm cloths to wash up. 

We had a two room suite! with a full deck

While we had dinner, they put warm water bottles in our bed, started a fire, put chocolates on the nightstand and pulled down the mosquito netting.

It poured rain the first night. When we arrived at the Ngorongoro Crater, the gates were closed because a bus had slid off the road and was blocking the way. By the time we entered, 2 hours later, the safari jeeps were packed waiting to get in. 

From the pile of jeeps waiting to get in and the long line of us bumper to bumper getting around vehicles that were stuck in the mud, I was expecting that it was going to be really crowded in the crater. Once we all arrived to the bottom, everyone just drifted in different directions and it was really nice.

The first thing we saw was black rhinos!!! I was so surprised that they just grazed right alongside of ostrich, gazelles, wildebeest and African buffalo!

It started out damp, but it didn't keep us from seeing all the animals we were there to see.

We spotted a hyena finishing off a carcass.

Marabou stork

Golden Jackal above and Black-backed Jackal below

Gazelle

This mama did not like this jackal by her young. 

We were there for the birthing season of the wildebeest.

Hartebeest

Eland

He didn't tell what we were headed to see, but Joseph got word on the radio, in Swahili, and off we raced across the crater. What a great surprise it was to find a mama lion with cubs! 

Joseph told us that lions take turns caring for each other's cubs. The others were resting that day. hahaha!

She finally stood up and paraded the cubs in front of our jeep and into the brush.

John had pre-arranged for us to have a catered lunch in the crater, complete with our very own toilet.

Of course, we were greeted with warm wash towels. 

I was happy that even though we were stopped to eat, the animals came to us. There were so many babies in this family of monkeys.

These are helmeted Guinea fowl.

From lunch, we headed out to the Hippo pool.

Masses of hippos there and really close too.

Not sure what the reason was, but there was a loud scuffle on one side of the pond. I love the look on the baby's face.

All day long I kept reminding Joseph that I really really wanted to see the flamingos. "Yep", he would say and that was it.

Finally, we got to the flamingos.

We didn't just see flamingos, we saw Greater and Lesser Flamingos.

Greater are lighter in color and bigger. The Lesser are more vivid.

To top it off...SPOONBILLS!!! 

I hadn't even thought about them being there.

and a pelican.

Then back to our lodge and another warm handwashing.

This is where we abruptly ended our trip to rush home to be with family after the horrible life changing news about Cyndi and Dan's plane crash. (see previous post about that) Time was so blurred right there at first, but little by little I have been able to escape the thoughts of it all and find some time out as I review our pictures in order to post it.