Memorial Day Weekend Adventure

I didn't have any particular plans for Memorial Day weekend. I was considering just renting movies, hanging out with my family, and catching up on some projects. Then I realized that it was almost halfway through 2008, and I hadn't been on any adventures yet.

So I decided to go "somewhere." I called my travel agent to see if there were any last minute deals since I didn't have a particular destination in mind. Then I made a list of places I thought would be interesting to visit.

Sequoia National Park was high on my list. It had been on my list of places I wanted to go for over four years. I spontaneously decided that this Memorial Day weekend was the perfect time to go.

On Thursday night, I called practically every hotel, lodge, campsite, and inn to find a room for the following nights. One man actually said, "for this weekend? Are you kidding?" At 11:00 pm on Thursday night, Lucy from the Ben Maddox House called me back to say that she had had a cancellation and now had a room available.

And the adventure began...



Here I am in front of the Ben Maddox House Bed & Breakfast. After a 4 hour drive to Visalia, I arrived around 10 pm on Friday night. Lucy welcomed me with a glass of wine and a sampling of local cheeses.

Hanging out with Lucy in the front room. Usually I have a green smoothie for breakfast, but Lucy's blueberry french toast was too good to pass up.

My primary intention in embarking on this adventure was to see the giant sequoia redwood trees. The General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest tree in the world. I did see General Sherman as well as other huge redwood trees, like the one in this picture. However, since it was foggy and cold in the park, I only spent a few hours there then decided to explore other areas...

This is one of the many lovely murals in the cute town of Exeter.

In Visalia, I saw a brochure for a place called Cat Haven, a wilderness park dedicated to the preservation of wild cats. I love big cats. Here I am connecting with a cloud leopard. I had never seen a cloud leopard so clearly or so close before.


Here's a fun picture of the cloud leopard. I wish I could have recorded the funny sounds he was making.
I felt lucky to meet Dale Anderson, Founder & Director of Cat Haven.

So my spontaneous trip to see the giant sequoias evolved into so much more. The whole experience was a good lesson in being flexible and open to anything.

Jambo From Tanzania!

I just got back from my first photo safari and learning vacation in Africa. What an experience! I took over 1100 photos, and I’ve posted some of my very favorites here. To see more click here!


This woman is trying to get me to taste some of her banana beer.


I was amazed at how close some of the animals came to the jeeps. The most thrilling incident was when an elephant came right towards my window and our driver quickly moved out of the way. I was so happy that I brought binoculars, too. Here I am checking out a family of elephants in the shade of a Baobab tree (like in the book, The Little Prince!)


Here I am with some of our amazing guides from Thompson Safaris and one of our jeeps with the tops that pop up for better wildlife viewing. The guides continually amazed me with their ability to spot animals far away. Once they realized that I was starting to pick up some Swahili (I made flashcards on the plane), they started quizzing me.

I was surprised to realize that I already knew some Swahili thanks to Disney’s The Lion King. “Hakuna matata” really does mean “no worries” and “simba” means “lion.”

Baby lions! So cute! There was a whole pride hanging out in the rocks.


Two cheetah brothers, scoping out gazelles.

These lions plunked down right in front of one of our jeeps. It’s like they’re posing.

My favorite wildlife viewings were of big cats.

Hyena and hartebeest stare down.

We turned a corner and suddenly saw sixteen giraffes among the trees. I’d never seen baby giraffes before.

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit a Maasai village.

I was so happy to see so many baby animals on the trip.

Tanzanite is my second favorite gemstone after sapphires. Look at this! Dark, clear and huge! Only $970,000. Can you believe they let me hold it?