We're off! First stop, Amsterdam, then Kilimanjaro airport, Tanzania. Stay tuned..
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Welcome to Margaret and Paul’s International Adventure blog----
Background
As many of you know this year is a special year for us.
We both turn 50, will celebrate 25 years of marriage, and become empty-nesters as our youngest, Sofia, heads off to college.
We thought it most fitting to plan a special trip that would allow us to celebrate these accomplishments in a unique way, and create a special memory for years to come.
So our adventure begins……
· We head to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft)
· We then go on Safari in Tanzania
· We then head to Capetown, South Africa to experience their wine country and history-rich land.
We then head to the Lake District in England to walk where Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats (English romantic poets) all wrote their poetry. This has been on Paul’s bucket list for many many years
· We then head to the Emerald Isle where we rendezvous with several of my siblings to tour the southern Irish countryside, visit County Cork where Margaret's relatives were born, and then watch the Fighting Irish battle Navy in the Navy/Notre Dame football game in Dublin, Ireland.
· Return home where we will surely be even more profoundly grateful for our family, wonderful and generous God, and our Incredible United States of America!
This blog is our way of sharing this wonderful experience with each of you. We will post as often as we can.
Enjoy!
Training
Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Africa is one of the Seven Summits, at 19,340 ft. It is the only one of the seven summits that is non-technical. What this means is that there are no mountaineering skills required. In essence it is a trek, or hike, up to the top----no crampons, no ice axes, no ropes. If you can walk, and you are willing to train, you can climb Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is often referred to as “Everyman’s Everest." Even though Kilimanjaro is a non-technical climb, it is said that it is the most under-rated mountain in terms of how hard people will prepare and train. After our experience trekking in Nepal in 2009, where we summitted Kala Pather (18,200 feet), we know how important it is to train and be as prepared as possible.
So, our story begins deep in the Plumas National Forest, at our cabin near Lake Davis, California. Above Lake Davis lies Smith Peak.
Smith peak has a National Forest Service lookout for fires (notice the little house looking building on the very top). We have been hiking up Smith regularly since the beginning of June, carrying a 20 pound pack, in our effort to prepare ourselves for the rigor of our expedition with Alpine Ascents, Intl. At the top, Gene, the Fire Lookout, monitors our progress with comments like "You can't be breathing hard here---how will you do up there?"
We selected Smith Peak because it is a very efficient hike for training. It is 3 hours in duration, 1800 vertical feet, 7 miles round trip, and the summit is 7,788 feet. So you get a lot for your investment. Working full time meant we needed to be as efficient as possible.
We have had many fun adventures during the training portion---
Reading Rob Chrisman’s blog on the way down: the commentary reflecting everyone's fears and angst over the newly formed CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) was strangely juxtaposed with the beautiful conifers and calm views of the mountains.
On one hike, what we think was an F-18 out of Fallon low-passed over Smith, hugging the lee of the peak, and buzzing Lake Davis before heading back to Nevada. It literally felt like we were wingman out of a scene in Top Gun, the movie!
We were really blessed to be able to do several of our hikes with our daughter Madeline, who managed to study for her Series 79 test during our hikes. We couldn't resist getting a picture of her with her study materials.
On several hikes, a hawk that was upset we went by her nest buzzed us, screeching. We have a picture of her below.
Since we are blessed to be partners in a condo at Incline Village, we also trained on the Tunnel Creek hike at Lake Tahoe, which has spectacular views of the lake.
The last part of our training program was three back-to-back days climbing Mt. Rose (10,778 feet). It is 5 hours in duration, 1800 net vertical feet gain, 11 miles round trip. It was important to do this Mt. Rose climb three days in a row so we would get a sense if we were ready for the Kili climb. Except for a few blisters, we felt great after day three.
We now take a rest day and then off to Tanzania! At the cabin, the gear check and packing continues...ciao for now!
As many of you know this year is a special year for us.
We both turn 50, will celebrate 25 years of marriage, and become empty-nesters as our youngest, Sofia, heads off to college.
We thought it most fitting to plan a special trip that would allow us to celebrate these accomplishments in a unique way, and create a special memory for years to come.
· We head to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft)
· We then go on Safari in Tanzania
· We then head to Capetown, South Africa to experience their wine country and history-rich land.
We then head to the Lake District in England to walk where Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats (English romantic poets) all wrote their poetry. This has been on Paul’s bucket list for many many years
· We then head to the Emerald Isle where we rendezvous with several of my siblings to tour the southern Irish countryside, visit County Cork where Margaret's relatives were born, and then watch the Fighting Irish battle Navy in the Navy/Notre Dame football game in Dublin, Ireland.
· Return home where we will surely be even more profoundly grateful for our family, wonderful and generous God, and our Incredible United States of America!
This blog is our way of sharing this wonderful experience with each of you. We will post as often as we can.
Enjoy!
Training
Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Africa is one of the Seven Summits, at 19,340 ft. It is the only one of the seven summits that is non-technical. What this means is that there are no mountaineering skills required. In essence it is a trek, or hike, up to the top----no crampons, no ice axes, no ropes. If you can walk, and you are willing to train, you can climb Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is often referred to as “Everyman’s Everest." Even though Kilimanjaro is a non-technical climb, it is said that it is the most under-rated mountain in terms of how hard people will prepare and train. After our experience trekking in Nepal in 2009, where we summitted Kala Pather (18,200 feet), we know how important it is to train and be as prepared as possible.
So, our story begins deep in the Plumas National Forest, at our cabin near Lake Davis, California. Above Lake Davis lies Smith Peak.
We selected Smith Peak because it is a very efficient hike for training. It is 3 hours in duration, 1800 vertical feet, 7 miles round trip, and the summit is 7,788 feet. So you get a lot for your investment. Working full time meant we needed to be as efficient as possible.
We have had many fun adventures during the training portion---
Reading Rob Chrisman’s blog on the way down: the commentary reflecting everyone's fears and angst over the newly formed CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) was strangely juxtaposed with the beautiful conifers and calm views of the mountains.
We were really blessed to be able to do several of our hikes with our daughter Madeline, who managed to study for her Series 79 test during our hikes. We couldn't resist getting a picture of her with her study materials.
We were fortunate to have the support of many friends during our training, some of whom even joined us on our hikes. Below are pictured the wonderful Skachs and Maya Brandl on the Mt. Rose hike--Thanks for all your love and support, we had a ton of fun with you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)