After a LONG night, the morning was welcome. We broke camp, had pancakes for breakfast, and walked the very short distance to the Ranger Station. Someone is there during the entire tourist season. No electricity, no indoor toilets, but check out the view! The walk to our next camp included a couple of suspension bridges (which I would have LOVED to have had on Day 4, you will see later why), a beautiful water fall, and at least one bear caution sign. At the waterfall we stopped to not only take pictures but to eat lunch. He had prepared this cream cheese mixture that we just LOVED. Cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil and some basil. YUM! Today wasn’t as long a walk as the day hike in, but there sure seemed to be ... read more

Backpacking Adventure Glacier National Park Montana Africa? Summer Camp? Panama? What to do? What to do? After many searches for an adventure that we had never had before we decided on a 6 day backpacking trip to upstate Montana. BRRRR! In June! We are anticipating snow still being on the ground while we are there! We will be flying to Kalispell, Montana - greatful for all those Tanzania to America frequent flyer miles - our round trip tickets only cost us $10 each! We are going with Glacier Guides Service as our guide. I have never been to Montana ... did you know it borders Canada? HA. It's way up there. Now, the preparation phase has given us new insight into the backpacking world. There are very specific rules about the placement of your gear in ... read more

I have heard the phrase, "going the last mile", or "the last mile of the way", or even people talking about meeting a 'milestone' in their lives, but only the last few months has those taken on a new meaning. This time last year Anthony and I started running for better health. It's that time in our lives when things aren't where they used to be, and the midlife spread has nothing to do with peanut butter. Well, if truth be told it probably actually does, we go through it almost as fast as our daily fiber. But I don't have to explain if you are over 45, you know what I mean. A dear friend of mine, Tammy Fowler, has been an incredible incourager. She started running a couple of years ago too, and this ... read more

Ok, before I get into the entry for today let me make a couple of corrections from the last blog. First, my apologies for misspelling Eilean Donan, and then the Explorer Pass was actually like this: you get to go 3 days within 5 to any of the 78 places for the first price I mentioned, and then the 2nd option was 7 days within a 14 day span for the second price. The other previous blogs have been basically only about what we have seen and done from the perspective of being a tourist. Now let me tell you a bit about behind the scenes. While we were in Tanzania it was so nice to be able to have visitors from home. You always got the scoop of how things were going in the states, ... read more

Today we had a free day and spent the entire day sightseeing in Edinburgh, the Castle, the Cathedrals, then out to Linlithgow Palace, and then Stirling Castle. It was a gorgeous day, the sunbathing was out in force. They are thinking heatwave as there were mini skirts, shirtless guys, and people laying on just about every piece of grass they could find. I am going to try to get some of the pictures posted for highlights. The research hasn't been done yet, so don't think to badly of me if I get some of the details wrong. Edinburgh is the most massively enforced Castle we've seen ... oh wait - I've only seen two .. one was in ruins and didn't even have a door and the other one was on a hill so far away ... read more