Home Safe and Sound

So we made it home safe and sound yesterday and after downloading over 1,200 pictures from Amy and I's camera last night and I am going to be working on a slide show of the highlights of the trip. I was able to get some pictures saved down in lower res for the blog. So over the next couple of nights I will be posting pictures from the different segments of the trip. First and probably the best part of the trip was the 5 days/4 nights we spent on safari at Tanda Tula.

Below is a picture of Amy & I with Allister our ranger beside the Land Rover we rode around in the back of for 5 days. As you can see there are no windows doors or a roof. Keep in mind when viewing the animal pictures below as you can see how close we were and how easy it would be to have a lion leap into the truck with us.
Below are a couple of pictures of the "tent" we stayed in while on safari, as you can see not shabby accommodations.
And finally some of the animals we saw. And this is just the beginning, we saw not only all of the "Big Five" but we saw all five multiple times each, as well as many other very amazing and cool animals.

Baby Elephant- probably about 4 months old we were told.
Another couple of Elephants, we must have seen nearly 50-60 over the 8 game drives - very cool creatures and so different in the way they act vs. the ones you see at the zoo, which always seem to move so slowly.

Cape Buffalo - does not look like you should be afraid, since it kind of looks like a cow, but one killed a worker at another camp the week before we got there - very dangerous.
And this is one of the coolest things we saw, a leopard with an impala she had killed two days earlier in a tree.
And here is a White Rhino close up - this shot is without the zoom lens.
This one uses the 300mm lens. That bird is a red billed ox pecker.

And here is a family of warthogs that came walking up the road one afternoon as we were driving along.
We did see 2 prides of lion, here are a couple of shots. As it turns out lions for all thier fame as King of the Jungle, sleep about 22 hours a day. So catching some of them awake, even if they were laying down was pretty lucky.

And we did see Zebra, they might have been the most skittish of all the animals we saw in the bush.
And to leave Tanda Tula our first plane was on Chili Pepper Air, a 6 seat Cessna plane, Amy actually did quite well on the flight even through Ian, the pilot was text messaging during the flight.
So that is some of the very quick highlights from Safari, next is Cape Town.

Finally Pictures

So finally we were able to get to somewhere that allowed us to upload some pictures. We saw all the big five and many more. Take a look at the pictures below. Will post more later, but the process is VERY slow, these two took 20 minutes. And we have better things to do.

Lens upgrade

So the reservation for the lens got screwed up and they did not have another 70-200 mm image stabilized lens. Instead we got this upgrade (120-300 mm) for the same price.

Sign at the gas sation

So this is a sign at the gas station, and while I may be a bit of an aggressive driver, I believe that this program places the blame on the wrong group of drivers. Instead it should be the ''I'm a crappy slow driver, and I'm going to speed up!" Just my thoughts for improvement for this public service campaign.

Although the video on the website is pretty good.

New Camera

So I did end up buying a Canon Digital Rebel XTi for the trip to Africa, but for good zoom I am renting a 200mm 2.3 image stabilized lens. But to practice I rented it this weekend and Saturday morning, which was very foggy here, I went down to the river a took some shots of singles and the dragon boats. See below. I can not wait until I am snapping pictures of lions in less than a week.

BW3 - Best Wings Ever

So to counter Amy's book club which meets on a nearly monthly basis I have created a wing club that is open to all male significant others - or really anyone that wants to attend. And for the last two months we have made a pilgrimage to Delaware for the best wings on the planet BW3. If you live in the mid-west and have one of these fine establishments down the street from you - shame on you for taking it for granted. We drove over 2 hours to partake of the many delicious sauces, boneless and bone-in wings, cheese fries and hamburger dippers (a truly great invention).

Car Trouble

So Saturday evening plans were a little side tracked when we encountered a little car trouble right after our friends Seth and Sheri picked us up. After a slight encounter with a curb the rear passenger tire went flat - sidewall busted right open. So being men we did not want to wait for AAA, so out came the jack and spare tire. All was well until there developed a leak in the gas line.

AUTHORS NOTE: always listen to that little voice in your head that tells you to pull out the owners manual and verify the jack points for your car. -otherwise you might puncture a gas line.

So after the tire was changed, the smell of gas became over-whelming. Not equipped to handle this we did have to call AAA, but they would not come until the fire department determined that the car was not going to blow up. The firemen did come and besides making fun of us, they determined all was safe. See below.
Seth and I are working to try and resolve the issue at hand and and meanwhile Amy and Sheri and enjoying the cool fall evening.

And finally AAA did arrive to tow the car to safety and repairs at Center City Toyota. And in the end the evening was not lost we still made it out to dinner.

Flight delay

So this is a new one. On the way to Seattle our flight was delayed from taking off in Philly by about 2 hours, pretty normal. The kicker came 3 hours in we had to land in Minneapolis because both toliets broke. Turns out no one in Philly unloaded the tanks. Once they got them unloaded we were on our way. This is a picture of the guy that came onboard to figure it out.

Monkey Video

Check out this video on YouTube, it is work appropriate. Best video from a zoo ever.

Michigan Who?

So all I have to say is Go Mountaineers!













Any team that can put Michigan 0-1 out of the gate this season deserves a post from me. And Casey I hope you leave a comment here, because I am curious as to what you have to say for your little Wolverines....Bring it on Michigan!

Whitewater Kayaking

So we were in Western PA whitewater rafting, kayaking, and camping this last weekend. And I had the good fortune of having my first run of Cucumber Falls, a class III-IV rapid on the lower Yough in a kayak captured on film by a professional photographer. So I wanted to narrate the pictures below.

This is me looking very hardcore entering the rapid.

Here I blast through the first hole of the rapid.

Here I am coming out of the waves at the bottom of the rapid, looking slightly off balance.

Guess I was a little more off balance than I thought, no worries my roll is pretty good.

Maybe a little too good, I rolled myself right back over.

That's alright I rolled right back up.

And finally here I am having a little fun in the waves attempting to surf.

Overall, the trip was fantastic. I was pretty happy that my 2nd ever whitewater kayak run was on a river like the lower Yough, which is a class III-IV river.

Movie From Kruger Park , South africa

So not sure if anyone else caught the show i-caught on ABC tonight. The premise is essentially a rehash of popular video clips from youtube. But instead of just replaying them, they interview the people that shot them and tell the stories behind the video, if you will. Anyway the first one on the show was this movie from Kruger National Park where Amy and I are going in October.

So that along with Lew's insight to Air Jaws, it seems that the wildlife on on this trip could really kick ass, or at least bite it off!

South African Trip

So in case anyone is wondering why Amy and I are not traveling too much this summer it is b/c we are saving up time and money for our big South African trip in October. For two weeks we will be out on safari's, tasting wines and hanging out on the Cape Town beaches. The one piece of equipment we do need to get before going is an excellent camera with good zoom. I have visions on putting together slide shows for the plasma at home that will look like planet earth images, I am talking HD quality. Does anyone know if that is possible for a camera that is less than $500-1,000?

I want a picture like the one below while sitting safely in a truck 100' away.

Windy ride to work

I took this on the way to work the other day and while I am sitting on the runway here in Tampa waiting for the 2 hour ground stop to be lifted in Philadelphia I thought I would take the time to post it. It probably was not the smoothest ride to work for these guys but I am guessing they did not have many other options.

Boxing in old city

Not something you see every night, but there was a truck with live boxers and even a ring girl driving in old city (Lew you missed out man). I can not remember what the fight was that they were promoting b/c I was to busy trying to get a picture standing in the middle of 4th street.

Fireworks & the 4th

So the rain yesterday in Philly deyaled the fireworks. They had announced they were cancelled, but amazingly as soon as I was in bed they decided to shoot them off anyway. And being d blocks away I could hear them, but not see them. I hope the weather and fireworks were better where you were. The best part about this holiday is the day off in the middle of the week. You have to love that it is already Thursday.

Great Day for Baseball

Looks like the Phillies are going to pull out one game in the series with the Mets. And at sunny and 78 degrees it was a great day at the park. The chickie and pete's fries were good as always.

Snow in may!

Getting ready to hike the east wall at a-basin. Pretty amazing skiing for this late in the spring. I will save the snowboard for tomorrow.

LA bumper sticker

I knew that California had some odd polictical views but the best bummper sticker ever was spotted outside an In-&-Out near LAX, Chuck Norris in 2008. Now that would result in a serious change in Iraq policy...

Travel Week home strech

So the crazy wee of travel is winding down. I am currently in a cab on the way to my second NYC airport in as many days, LaGuardia. Also knock on wood there is no snow here yet so I may even get out ontime. Looking forward to a serious nap in the next 2 days. One more sales call to go tomorrow.

Worst cabbie ever

So this guy took 45 mins to get me to the airport. His only redeming quality was the music choices, including Kelly Clarkson since you've been gone, that was for you Andy.

Coolest Ski Area - Ever

So my next trip to Colorado may have to include a trip to Silverton Mountain. Any place you are required to have an avalanche beacon is a good place. Check out the story in the NY Times.

Best PA Vanity Plate Ever

Check out the license plate I saw on the way to work yesterday, and what made it perfect was that it was on a huge 4x4 truck. The only thing that might have made it funnier would be deer spelled "dear". That would have been pretty humorous.

Doug eat your heart out

Wild card game, let's hope for the best.

WE ARRIVED!

So we made it 3,627 miles safe and sound. Also in a feat of amazing effort (we had been saving it up sitting in the truck for 4 days) we got the trailer unloaded tonight. We are headed up to the ski hill we drove by on the way in today. We will be snowboarding tommorow. Have a great New Years tonight!

Yellowstone

So we are leaving Yellowstone headed for Missoula. The town was very empty, think of the show Northern Exposure. In fact yesterday a deer jumped out of a yard right on the mainstreet and then proceded to walk down the street. Overall Yellowstone was a good time. We got about 4hrs of snowshoing in around the Mammoth Springs area this morning. On the way out of the park we saw this small herd of very large bison. Also we both had a red beer yesterday on the advice of Pearl, Amy's law school freind, it was alright.

I-90 this morning

Here is what the interstate looks likes right now just inside Montana. It may look bad but it is working out ok, traction is good and the wind is not to bad. We are able to maintain 40-50 mph.

Casey's Wall Drug Purchase

So Casey got a cowboy hat. Tell him it looks wonderful, he really likes it.

Breakfast at Emily's Cafe

Name that shadowed man eating at a roadside breakfast joint in South Dakota.

Dinner time!

We stopped for dinner at Arby's just north Omaha on our way to Sioux City tonight, projected mileage total for today is approx. 850. See ya all for breakfast tomorrow!

I-75 Butter Jesus

So just outside Cincinnati on I-75 there is the Solid Rock Church and they have what must be a 60 foot bust of Jesus coming out of a man made lake. Just the first of what I am sure will be many strange sites on this trip.

And the adventure begins..

So we made it to West Virgina and had lunch at the Applebee's at the Cabela's exit. Not making bad time but we still have about 230 miles to go.

Survival gear

So I was in Campmor today and the impending cross country drive with Casey on my mind the sight of this survival blanket seemed like a good insurance policy for us...11 days until departure from the 'nati to Seattle.

What is not fun.

So you know what is not so fun, having the airline delay your 8:10pm flight until they finally cancel it at 10:30. Then knowing that the next morning is not looking any better you get into your car and drive the 250 miles from Philly to Hartford, CT getting in at 2:30 am. Anyway that was how I spent last night, hope your's involved less time in a car.

Where did you eat lunch?

I had a cheesburger and cliff bar at 11,200' under clear blue skies.

First trail...

Not to shabby here at winter park...

First run

How is your morning? Mines decent.

Sweet, sweet HD

So I finally made the plunge and went for the 42'' panasonic plasma. Right now it is on a stand but will be wall mounted next week. It is all perfectly timed so I will be all set for the Jan 8th gator romp. In fact I may have to smoke some alligator meat just for the occasion!

Christmas cheer in philly

So I was in Macy's today andcaught part of the Christmas organ show.

Keith Sutter