Christmas 2024

 Happy Holidays from the Deep South!

It has been a busy year for us mainly due to "covid make-up" travel.  In April we made our first international trip since 2019 when we did the cruise between Bali and Bangkok.  We spent almost three weeks in southern Africa, of all places! We have really wanted to visit Israel and do the Nile River cruise, however, these areas are not possible or safe for tourists now.  So that left Africa.  We didn't know what to expect.  We traveled with Odysseys Unlimited.  They specialize in small group travel with only 12 to 24 people on most of their tours.  Our trip was divided between southern Africa's national parks and reserves for safari experiences.  The other half was sightseeing in Johannesburg, Cape Town, the wine country and the Cape of Good Hope. This trip was an amazing experience.  For all of the misgivings beforehand, both of us totally enjoyed Africa from start to finish.  Many of the things that can spoil a trip (over which you have no control) like lost luggage, flight delays, illness and bad weather never happened.  One big concern was over malaria.  Our Tour Director, James, said that there hadn't been any cases of malaria in a long time in the five countries we visited:  Republic of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia.  James felt that the US was going overboard on insisting that travelers get malaria pills.  It was a major hassle for us to get the Rx for it.  The weather was perfect. It was cool overnight, but warm and sunny during the day, very much like the weather in San Diego.  I can almost say that we never saw a drop of rain the entire time.  However, the day we flew from Mfuwe in Zambia to Cape Town, it was raining in Cape Town when we landed. at 8:30 pm.

We began in Johannesburg with an in-depth day in Soweto where we learned a lot about the history and life in the townships from well informed guides.  We already knew a fair amount about apartheid, Nelson Mandela and the ANC.  We toured his home which is now a museum.  For a time the Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived down the street from Nelson Mandela.  As a side note, Desmond Tutu delivered the keynote address when Kristin graduated from UGA. It is a shame that Johannesburg is overrun with crime, making it a very dangerous city.  Luckily, we stayed in a lovely suburb called Rosebank.  For as nice as Rosebank looks, many homeowners still surround their property with barbed wire.

When we were finished with Johannesburg we flew to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  We were fortunate to be there in the afternoon because the orientation of the sun created rainbows all along our walk.  There are 18 viewpoints. We did the first 16.  This took close to three hours.  We walked just under three miles.  Even though we never saw a drop of rain, we did get soaked from the extreme spray from the falls.  With the warm day and low humidity we dried out very quickly.  Because the walk was so long we were able to see many features of the falls and the Zambezi River.  The Zambezi plummets to create the falls and the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  Victoria Falls is neither the widest or highest falls in the world, but it is the world's largest sheet of falling water at twice the height of Niagara Falls.  The highest falls are in South America - Iguazu Falls.  The African name of Victoria Falls translates to the smoke that thunders.  David Livingstone discovered the falls and named them in honor of Queen Victoria. Victoria Falls is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.  The other six are the Aurora Borealis, Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Mt. Everest and Paricutin (a relatively young volcano in Mexico).

We went on our first game drive the following morning at a private game preserve. It's claim to fame is that most of Africa's elusive and endangered black rhinos are contained there.  Most people on game drives never see them, but we did.  We saw the back half of one as it darted out of the bush, then ran away.  So, we can say that we saw 4-1/2 of the Big 5;  Cape buffalo, black rhino, elephant, leopard and lion.  In the late afternoon we did the Zambezi River cruise which ended at sunset.  This is a good time to see a lot of wildlife.  The next day we went into the town of Victoria Falls.   After we visited a school we toured the Victoria Falls Hotel, a very grand property which overlooks the falls.  There were no activities planned for the afternoon, which was nice, since we were staying at a resort with two pools and beautiful gardens.  In the evening we heard a guest speaker tell the "Fascinating Story of David Livingstone".  In addition to his biography, the speaker gave insight into the living conditions and culture of the time.

Then it was on to Chobe National Park in Botswana for 3-1/2 days.  We went on all of the game drives.  One evening we went on the Chobe River cruise.  The park is huge at 4517 square miles.  In addition to a large concentration of game, the park is home to 450 species of birds.  Chobe has the world's largest elephant population at 120,000.  Zebras, lions, giraffes, impalas and buffalo are well represented.  From Chobe we did a day trip by boat to Namibia to visit a village.  It is most interesting to see how people live with little to no electricity or running water.

After leaving Chobe we flew on a propeller plane to South Luangwa National Park in Mfuwe, Zambia.  This is another huge park, a pristine wilderness.  The unique feature of the park is that the accommodation, Mfuwe Lodge, is in the park itself.  This means that you share space with the wild animals.   Overnight we could hear lions roaring as their pride lived nearby.  Hippos roamed in the lagoon beyond the deck of our hut.  Elephants have been known to walk through the open-air lobby.  The huts were actually very nice.  They were solidly constructed to prevent animals from entering.  They were also air conditioned, although we almost didn't need it.  There was plenty of hot water for showers.  To get to and from breakfast and dinner when it was dark, we had to go with an armed scout for safety.  The food was outstanding.  Most of it came from an off-site farm that is owned by the lodge.  Mfuwe Lodge has been consistently rated in the top 5 lodges worldwide.  We did all of the game drives and marveled at being able to see wild animals in their natural habitat, rather than in a zoo.  SLNP had the best guides, so we enjoyed those game drives the most.  One day at SLNP we went on a walking safari.  This safari was limited to six people, plus the driver, a guide and a sharpshooter who was armed with a rifle.  Normally on game drives you are not allowed to exit the vehicle,but on a walking safari you do leave the vehicle and walk single file with the sharpshooter in front, and the driver and guide bringing up the rear.  The walking safari took about two hours.  It was surprising how close we got to zebras and giraffes who largely ignored us.  The guides know where there are lions, so they avoid them, even though lions tend to sleep a lot during the day.  On one of the regular game drives we did see a leopard and  cub in a tree, eating an impala that had just been killed.  We did leave the lodge for a day of sightseeing in the town to see a water bore hole project and visit a school that gets a good share of its funding from the Mfuwe Lodge.

When we left Mfuwe Lodge the safari portion of the trip was complete.  From there we flew to Cape Town.  We stayed at the Table Bay Hotel, a luxury accommodation in full view of Table Mountain. The early morning fog gave way to sunny skies by the time we arrived at Table Mountain, so we had gorgeous views  of the city.  The afternoon included a tour of the Cape peninsula with stops at the Cape Point Nature Reserve and Boulder Beach to see the penguins. The final stop of the day was at the Cape of Good Hope.  The Portuguese discovered it in 1488 and since then the Dutch, French, British and RSA flags have flown over it.  It is as far south of the equator as Roswell is to the north, 34 degrees.  Another day we did the Cape Town city tour and visited the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful.  In the afternoon we drove to the wine country.  We stopped at the Rupert  & Rothschild Winery for a gourmet lunch and wine tasting.  We truly enjoyed Cape Town and could have easily spent a few more days there.   Non -stop flights between Cape Town and Atlanta are available, but not on the day of our departure.  For some reason we had to go through Amsterdam on KLM (horrible)  which made a long flight much longer.  We changed planes in Amsterdam and flew to Atlanta on Delta on a brand new plane.

At the end of June we did a driving trip to visit all five grandkids. We went to VA first via the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Now after hurricane Helene's rampage through the Asheville area, almost all of the parkway in NC is closed until further notice.  It was great to see Eric, Amber and the boys.  Each of them had just celebrated birthdays.  Alec turned 4 on May 29 and Ethan turned 8 on June 7.  They have a beautiful neighborhood swimming pool, so we enjoyed that.  One evening Ethan participated in their swim team meet in nearby Clifton.  One day we went to Middleburg, a very quaint town.  Then it was back in the car for the trip down I-95 to Savannah.  We did it in two days, stopping in Pinehurst, NC for one night.  Alexis was in DC for a Girl Scout event, but luckily she made it back before we left for home. We did some sightseeing in nearby Springfield.  We played a lot of games with the girls.  When we left, we took Keira with us so that we could drop her off at her Girl Scout camp, which was about 20 miles SW of Macon.  That saved Jim and Kristin from a three hour drive to get her there, then return to Rincon.  The detour to the camp didn't add much time or mileage to our trip.   We had not been to Crawford County before.  It is in a very scenic part of middle GA. 

We still had one more trip in 2024.  At the end of September we flew to Albuquerque on the heels of hurricane Helene.  We were gone for almost two weeks.  About 25 years ago I had been to 49 of the 50 states.  The only one I had not visited was Kansas.  Mike put together a fly-drive trip to the "high plains" which included KS.  We picked up our rental car at the Albuquerque airport.  It was a Nissan Rogue.  By the end of the trip we had put 1150 miles on it.  Good weather favored us again.  Not a drop of rain the entire time.  Normally, the daytime high temperature in September and much of October is 75 degrees.  However, it was 90 degrees during the middle of each day.  

The first evening we stayed at the Sandia Resort and Casino.  It is very close to the Sandia Peak Tramway.  We rode that the next day from 5312 feet elevation at the start to 10,378 feet elevation at the summit. The vegetation changes from desert to alpine as the temperature drops.  From there we drove to Tucumcari.  The town's claim to fame is being on "Historic Route 66".  Many of the original hotels and motels have been returned to their mid-century modern vibe.  The following day was spent driving out of NM and through the panhandle of TX and OK before arriving in Liberal, KS at 2:55 pm on September 29th.  So  now I have been to all 50 states. Our destination was actually Dodge City, population 27,000.  It has a rich history from the days of the wild west when it was known as the "wickedest city of the West".  We had two days there and saw nearly all of it.  The downtown walking tour is extensive with 82 points of interest.  The Boot Hill Museum is huge.  It has rooms devoted to the area's history from the earliest settlements by the Plains Indians to the 21st century.  Most of the exhibits focus on Dodge City as a boom town from the late 1870s.  Outside of the museum is the Boot Hill Cemetery and jail.  Dodge City was the eastern endpoint of our trip.

Next we headed west into SE Colorado.  We stopped at Alamosa because it was about 30 miles from Antonito, CO where the following day we boarded the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. The excursion takes all day and rises to 10,015 feet.  We were fortunate to ride the train when the aspens were in their full fall golden color.  The train is powered by steam; the engine is 99 years old and still going strong.  The train ride covers 64 miles.  We disembarked in Chamas, NM where we boarded the bus for the ride back to Antonito.

The next day we were in Taos, NM.  We stayed at the historic La Fonda Hotel on the plaza, which is surrounded by shops and art galleries.  We went into many of the galleries in addition to touring the Kit Carson home and museum.  We left Taos for three nights in Santa Fe.   Our hotel was conveniently located a few blocks from Santa Fe's plaza, a mecca for art museums, shopping and restaurants.  Each day we were able to do all of our sightseeing on foot, including Canyon Road where most of the art galleries are located.

We returned to Albuquerque and for our last full day of the trip we re-visited "Old Town".  Later in the day we went to the Balloon Fiesta.  We saw the balloon ascension on TV early that morning, but we had tickets for the evening balloon illumination.  In the evening the balloons remain tethered to the ground, but they are lit, so they still look quite impressive against the night sky.  There was also a drone show and fireworks.  The following day we returned the rental car and flew home.

Over the summer Mike decided that he would not volunteer for AARP Tax-Aide in 2025.  This means that for the first time in 11 years we can travel during the winter when I prefer to travel. We were hoping to do another trip with Odysseys, this time to Costa Rica in Central America.  Those tours are already filled to capacity.  Instead, we will be in AZ in late February and early March.

We were disappointed Braves fans again, and not just because they failed to make the playoffs.  When we were in Botswana, of all places, Mike read a news feed on his iPad that Comcast cable subscribers, which we are, would no longer be able to watch Braves games due to a stalemate between Comcast and Bally Sports.  Fortunately, Braves on the radio was unaffected. Near the end of the summer Comcast and Bally reached an agreement.  My happiness was short-lived.  Comcast would only broadcast Braves games for subscribers of Xfinity Ultimate, which we do not have because it is very expensive.  Mike feels that we are already paying too much for the cable package that we have. He has wanted to "cut the cable" for some time in favor of a few streaming services.

The biggest weather event for us was hurricane Helene.  We had two days of very heavy rain and high wind.  Because the storm moved a bit more to the east of us, we escaped without property damage and we never lost power.  The two areas in GA that were the hardest hit were Augusta and Valdosta, near the FL border.  Kristin and Jim were without power for close to a week.

Milestones for this year included "Old Faithful's" reaching 55,000 miles in early October.  Mike and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on May 11th in Cape Town, which made it all the more memorable.  I am still an avid walker and go to Silver Sneakers a few times per week.  I had eye surgery in September.  Mike keeps busy with house and yard projects, although I would be a lot happier if he stayed off the ladder!

We send our best to you for Happy Holidays and hope that 2025 is a good year for you.