The Muppets are Funny Again!!!

Just saw this on you tube and it is fantastic! I read that this is part of a viral campaign for reboot that the Jim Henson company is doing. New CDs and a movie are on their way. VIVA LA MUPPETS!
Quick December Update:
Lance is working on papers
Kristin is working on everything else
Boggie looks really cute in his red flannel jacket and Delphi continues to tolerate us all until she can figure out how to open the food canister by herself.

Lance and I will be visiting Lance's Grandparents in Kearney,Nebraska for a few days but will otherwise be spending Christmas in New York. Presents and cards might be late but will be heartfelt. All we want for Christmas is health (health health health) and happiness for all of our friends and loved ones... though a pony would be kinda cool too. We *heart* ponies.

All the best,
Kristin, Lance, Boggie and Delphi

A little music to deck the halls by...

Hello and Happy Holidays from Ready!Set!Go! Lance and I are up to our eyeballs in projects these days but are taking a little time out tomorrow night to catch a local band. You might have heard of them. Here's some stuff from a recent concert:



Oh yeah! It's gonna be awesome. Twisted (ahem) Sister has an entire album of Christmas songs to play with so it should be a fantastic time.

All the best to everyone!!!!
K

Hey that's me!

Minute 1:30. I was taking a Dear Jane class as part of the Made in New York Quilt Exhibition and the woman on the left is showing me a technique. I look way too serious! Enjoy the quilts!

Happy Friday (blowing off the boxes edition)

And now we dance!

Check out their other stuff. Fantastic! Expiration Date is also quite cool.

Kristin vs. The Boxes, Day Whatever

Folks who move a lot often tell or are told the following joke:

"Opening boxes is great! It's like Christmas" Good-natured laughter usually follows.

Well, I'm writing tonight to tell you it is not like Christmas. Christmas is a lovely, relatively short period of time when people are given gifts that are either small enough to be carried or large enough to be so totally awesome (Pony!) that it doesn't matter. Christmas has cookies. Christmas has cheerful wrapping paper to induce holiday cheer. Christmas has the possibility of shiny new gift cards.

Opening moving boxes has none of this.

First, unpacking takes all of eternity. Kristin! You exaggerate! Yes and quite often but possibly not this time. Many people have told me of unopened boxes moved from garage to garage. You, kind reader, might have a few yourself. (If not, can I send you some?) Moving boxes also tend to be heavy, dusty, a blandish brown with brown tape, are gift cardless and never contain any cookies that you really would want to eat.

PLUS if these boxes have been in storage for a year they could be filled with things that you completely forgot you had/don't need anymore/replaced last month or are soooooooo yucky that you wonder why you even let it in the house. I'm looking at you mis-matched Americana Christmas fingertip towels from 1999.

I kvetch (love that word) but things are getting better. The apartment is at the glorious point where we could "live" with the chaos. I wouldn't want to let anyone see it but we could "live" with it. Big progress considering two weeks ago the apartment looked like this:

Bedroom with sleeping dog
Kitchen with plotting cat
Office with leaning tower of boxes
and Spare Bathroom, or as I told the movers,"The Book Box Bathroom"

So you will just have to trust me that everything is 100 times better and looks 1000 times worse because things are out of the boxes and I'm finding places for it all. Much of it going to the Salvation Army across the street or Catholic church up the road. (Crossing my fingers for the return of indulgences!)

It's nice actually. We can see things coming together. We can sit on our couch and sleep on our bed. We also find little jokes left by movers. The box in the upper right of this photo for example.
Yulp, that says, "Sweaters and Garden Hose" Odds are we aren't going to be wearing those sweaters. All's well. Come visit anytime and take things home with you. (Dog and cat not included in offer.) (Husband negotiable.)

Never mind

I lost to the school teacher who I probably would have voted for too. School teachers are awesome! It's thanks to them that I can rite so good. : )

Lance is a big jerk btw. When I told him about the results he did the whole L on his forehead thing, started chanting "Loser! Loser!" and marching around the apartment.

So for the rest of the evening he will be shunned. Not that he will notice as he is playing video games. I actually hope he loses. Then he would be the big loser. I hope he loses the biggest game in the whole gaming system because then he would be the biggest loser of all loserdom. I hope he comes close to winning, then the battery dies in his controller device and he isn't able to change it in time and loses so bad that the game doesn't even play right anymore.
That would be cool.

Back to the boxes.

Please vote for me so I can see Wait Wait Don't Tell Me at Carnegie Hall!

Hi Everyone,

Lance is fine.
Bogie is fine.
Delphi is fine and don't she know it.
I am fine and hoping you will vote for me in a little contest Paula Poundstone is running tonight on Twitter.

Long story short: There's this really funny show on NPR called "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" It is hilarious and I've listened for years. One of the regulars is the very clever Paula Poundstone. She also posts on Twitter which I joined just so I could read her posts and the posts of other funny people like her. (Note: Will Wheaton is such a cool guy!) (2nd Note: I will never ever post anything on Twitter so please don't "follow" me as it will be like people are staring at me and I will become nervous and throw up a little and faint.)

But I really love Wait, Wait so when Paula announced a contest I entered and next thing I know I'm a finalist. o..... m..... (squeak).... g!

So I come to you tonight asking for your vote.

Please.

Or you can vote for the mother of twins or the grade school teacher because I would vote for either of them if I were a nicer person.

But I'm not.

Please vote for me anyway.

Here's how:
You join twitter then go to Paula Poundstone's page which is here:

Click on the gear looking thing below her name and do the "@ mention Paula Poundstone" option. It will automatically return you to your twitter page and after the automatic "@PaulaPoundstone" say you want to vote for #3. Again, I'm kinda pulling for the mom of twins or the grade school teacher but it's worth a shot.

Thanks. : )
Kristin

Kristin vs. The Boxes, Day 3

I suspect the boxes are reproducing when I turn my back but can't prove it. Boggie was going to keep an eye on them but disappeared several hours ago. I'll radio for help if I can't find him by sundown.

Kristin vs. The Boxes, Day 2

It's time for a neurosis update!
Kristin now trembles in fear when faced with boxes labeled:
Misc, Garage
and
Knick Knacks, Spare BR
...and frankly you would too at this point.

Kristin vs. The Boxes, Day 1

You know what would make this apartment really perfect? An attached two car garage with shelves.

Just an idea.

Psst!

Don't tell anybody but we just got internet in the apartment! Just our little secret.

New York City!

Hey there one and all. We made it to NYC and are in the hotel. Must.... stay.... awake.

K's To Do List
Fly to The United States of America - check
w/ all luggage - check
Get on the internet and notify family - check
Find and consume a hot pretzel with lots of yellow mustard - working on it.

Actually, this afternoon is finding a phone chip for Lance and exploring the neighborhood. Probably scope out an apartment building or two. First appointment with first realtor is tomorrow morning. In the meanwhile, we are very happy to be back in the USA, miss our friends in Botswana tremedously but look forward to touching base with many of them in the next month as well as seeing family.

I am also looking forward to finding and consuming a hot pretzel with lots of yellow mustard.

Hello from Botswana!

K briefly steps out of house - waves cheerfully - runs back inside to do more "moving stuff."

You Say, "Overkill." I say, "Nairobi and Johannesburg airports."

"But Kristin," you might ask, "wasn't the suitcase already locked and isn't a spiffy, darn near impenetrable yet subtly stylish Samsonite suitcase?"

Funny story behind that one. It wasn't locked. The night before my flight to Cameroon I was busy doing standard "night before long trip" stuff. But I was also cleaning the house and cooking meals for the visiting FAO who would be staying at our casa while we were away. (She canceled at the last minute and is a truly lovely person so I'll probably forgive her someday.) Anyway, I stayed up all night working. This will surprise none you who have lived with me or seen me 10 minutes before a dinner party. I like things to be just so.

What I neglected to do was to check the suitcase keys in the actual suitcase. Turns out I had the wrong set and did not realize this until my ride showed up 2 HOURS EARLY to take me to the airport. He had another rider with an earlier flight and could I be ready to go right now because the traffic would be just horrible and we would both miss our flights if I took any longer. I think I went through all five stages of grief right then and there, taking just a little extra time for Anger and Bargaining.

So I ran upstairs, tried to lock my suitcase, discovered the problem, ran all over the house looking for the other set because there wasn't time to switch suitcases. Breakfast dishes were abandoned in the sink. The beautifully written note I prepared for our house guest remained unsigned and without the phone number of the Embassy Point of Contact I meant to add. It is truly amazing that the house didn't collapse in the face of all this chaos. Wait, part of it did collapse - but that's another entry.

No keys, no hints, nada. I gave up and lifted my suitcase, not realizing that in not locking it I also had not shut it completely. And guess what... it opened and clothes spilled onto my floor.

At this point I probably screamed something not suitable for family ears. Suffice to say I was somewhat taken aback and expressed appropriate disbelief and frustration. Loudly.

I stuffed everything back into the suitcase, closed it, latched it, dragged it down the stairs and out to the car. At the airport I had it shrink wrapped and hoped for the best.

(Side note: it wasn't just my stuff in there btw. Lance was limited in his earlier suitcase weight so I was bringing a considerable amount of his clothing for an important conference. It was all neatly folded and packed until it fell all over the floor. You wouldn't think things like that would happen in real life. Turns out they do.)

The luggage arrived safely and I had it wrapped again for our trip from Cameroon to Senegal. No one knew if there was a wrapping service at the Senegal airport so I improvised. What you are seeing above is my suitcase, wrapped in shopping bags, wrapped with packing tape. You might be able to make out my name and "Gaborone, Botswana" too just so the thieves would know they were getting female clothing from a warm climate. Actually, it was more like a good 75 yards of totally awesome West African Fabric since I was wearing several layers of clothing to allow for more fabric in the suitcase. Don't even ask how heavy my carry-on was.

So that's the story behind my suitcase. It made all the flights that I did and for that I am eternally grateful. One last postscript. When Lance and I were at the airport, he noticed that more than half of the bags going to South African Air planes were similarly wrapped whereas bags going elsewhere were not. We few, we happy few, we band of Johannesburg-bound travelers. We know what's overkill and what's necessary to make something look like too much trouble to steal.

Happy Father's Day!

zip zop zoobie
zabba dabba dweebe
whoop whoop we be
singing HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

And so are these guys:

We love you guys!!!! Happy Father's Day!!!
Lance and Kristin

The good news is my luggage made it.

Hey Everyone,
Kristin here. I'm back a few days early while Lance works on a Visa then is off to Angola. Cameroon and Senegal were great and I'll write about them when L. returns with the camera. In the meanwhile, I just though I would update you (vent vent vent) about what awaited me back in Gabs..

As the title states, the good news is that my luggage made all the connecting flights. Safe, sound and slightly scuffed so no worries. Many many yards of amazing fabric are in there so I was happy to see it. Then the fun started.

First, my ride didn't show up. The travel agent has a driver, he was suppose to be there, it was dark, I was alone, he was a no show. Grr. Then all the taxi drivers disappeared. Then I realized my cell phone battery was dead. Then a very nice guy let me use his phone to call Thom and Debra who took me home. I promised them cookies. All was well again.

Everything looked normal. Smelled a little musty. I've been put so no big deal right? I send Thom and Deb on their way.

Then I start noticing weird stains on the kitchen wall, on the fridge and in the cabinets.

Then I notice the entrance to the attic is open - this is where the rats were tap dancing a few months ago.

One of the doors to the kitchen is blocked and a moist towel is on the (wooden) floor.

The kitchen ceiling panels are bowed, my mop and bucket are outside and the water is turned off. I think I missed something rather exciting.

So, yeah. I'm back in the house with no water, mold on the walls in the kitchen, evidence that somebody cleaned things up but didn't email or leave me a note saying what happened. The heater in the bedroom is also broken, I'm cold and I really would like to take a shower. or flush the toilet. or have a cupa tea. Mostly, I would just like the power to stay on tonight and the house alarm to not go off because that would really just kinda stink.

In response, I have taken Nyquil because I dare not temp Murphey's law by taking anything stronger. Screw you world. I'm going to bed. Fully dressed because, did I mention the heater isn't working? Many work orders sent tonight.

Still, it's great to be home.

Hey from Senegal!

Greetings from the coastal town of Dakar. The Atlantic is back on the wrong side of the map but we don't mind. Ourselves, our luggage and most of our remaining sanity made it thought the 10 hour flight. (Don't ask.)

Our hotel is very comfortable. Perhaps too comfortable as it provides both shampoo AND conditioner which is surefire indication that we can't afford this place. But, it also has a bidet (get it, "but"?) which inspired Kristin's google-research entertainment for the evening. Who needs Netflicks!?!

Tomorrow morning, Lance starts helping out with the conference and Kristin represents the good people of America to yet another unsuspecting culture. If any of you travel through Africa and people immediately show you the purple fabrics, you know I've been there.

Hey From Cameroon

Lance and I are in our hotel in Limbe, Cameroon having completed the perilous drive from Yaounde, and ending the evening eating fresh Barricuda (no food poisoning yet!) on a lava black sand beach. This FAO stuff is rough y'all. A few more days and we go to Senegal. A few more minutes and I get to go to sleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Observations from the Microwave

Did you know that homemade chicken soup can explode in a microwave and all those lovely veggies that you so cheerfully diced can hide in the darnedest places and produce smoke on subsequent uses if you don't find them all? As of last night, so do I.

... Or How I Learned to Love the Embassy Mail Pouch System

My quilting buds from South Jersey (rules!) and I did a block exchange this Summer. Center pieces were prepared, distributed and we all used the same pattern to complete the block. (Good choice Zehdreh!)

These are my centers, made using paper piecing and mostly shwee shwee fabric from a local store. Baskets are a big deal in Botswana so that is why I choose the pattern. I pieced the block rather than use a single fabric because I was a gazillion miles from my exchange partners and didn't know any better! These are everybody else's completed blocks which I (eventually) got mailed back to them.What a great color exercise that was! I only had the fabrics I brought with me (can't really use the local stuff as isn't 100% cotton except for the shwee shwee) and it was important to take the color preferences and personalities of the recipients into account. I hope I was close. It will be interesting to see what everyone's completed quilt tops will look like.

Mailing back the blocks and the subsequent signature labels (don't ask) was really tricky because we are greatly limited in the size and weight that can be shipped via the embassy back to the United States of America. So to explain the delay I included the following list.

1. I couldn't find stamps - this really was a factor as you can't buy them here!

2. I missed the embassy "mail plane" as it only comes on Tuesdays.

3. I couldn't find the blocks/signature labels.

4. I got distra... Look! Butterflies!

5. I was in South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and/or Ethiopia.

6. The dog ate my homework ... make that "envelope"

7. Dry Mouth = couldn't seal the envelope.

8. Dingoes stole my pens = couldn't address the envelope.

9. I knew there was something I needed to Finnish but thought it referred to the language.

10. I was working on a time machine so I could go into the past and mail it to you before you even mailed them to me, thus creating a paradox and possibly a tear in the time-space continuum because, as you now see, I am actually and evil scientist out to rule the world. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!

The best laid planes of mice, men, and quilters in Africa often get waylaid. This is after they go awry but before they go out the window. All the blocks arrived in Jersey (still rules!) safely.

Happy Friday!

omg I'm so busy omg I'm so busy omg omg

But I've been waiting all week to post this!!!! Happy Friday! Wish me luck because omg I'm so busy omg I'm so busy I really really hope someone buys our car but now I need to get the guest room ready for a visiting FAO friend!!!

Sing Along Time!

Happy Anniversary to us!
Happy Anniversary to us!
All the naysayers can kiss my grits...
Happy Anniversary to us!!!!!

And Happy Birthday to Boggie!!!!!!!
Yes folks. It was 12 years ago today (12!!!) that Lance and I got hitched in a modest little church on a hill. Okay. There was nothing modest about that crazy day and I'm still amazed it went as well as it did. Props to my parents for that one!

Today Lance is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and I am getting our Botswana car sold and filling out paperwork for the move. Next week, we meet up in Senegal.

Who woulda thunk it?

I make many many jokes about our many many disagreements (for a PG synopsis click on "They say opposites attract. They are idiots.") but we are a surprisingly good match. Who else would put up with either of us really? Lance and I can't decide if we are more psyched about going to the Metropolitan Art Museum or New York Comic Con. And don't even get me started on Dr. Who.

So happy anniversary to us. : ) Here's to a dozen more. Preferably celebrated with us in the same country but you know how things go so we won't be too picky.

Hello future ICTers in the United States of America!

So Lance told me he gave this blog address to the family that is replacing us and another future ICT FAO. And then he ducked. Bright man my husband. Not that I swung. Not that I was really tempted. It was just cute.

So, hi there you FAO people you! How's Georgia? Aren't those walking trails great?!? Make sure you explore the ones behind the dental office as well as the one next to the Commissary. Say "hello" to All Purpose Flour and Mexican Food for me. (You miss the darnedest things.) And don't worry, your next living quarters will be much larger than the hotel rooms you've been living in for the last few months.

Of course as I write this I'm sitting in a small hotel room, waiting for visas to strange countries, quietly cussing in as many languages as I can remember. (I really need to learn to cuss in Klingon. That would just be too cool.)

This, eventually, brings me to the real point of today's entry. This is a blog written basically because we love our mothers don't want them to panic. It's a silly little thing with pretty pictures and grammatical errors. Don't take it too seriously and don't quote me on anything. Except maybe the point about All Purpose Flour and Mexican Food. I really miss those things. Mmmmm salsa.

Don't worry. It will be great, except when it's not, but then it will be great again. Pack lots of sunscreen because it is mad expensive over here. Get all your accounts online and stock up on your favorite socks. Noise canceling headphones are FANTASTIC for airplanes and blocking out noisy neighbors.

And do resist the temptation to smack the Charlie ICTers whining about their move to Europe or anywhere else where going to the ballet is an entertainment option. I know it's hard. Sit on your hands if you have to.

All the best,
Kristin

But You Know What They Don't Have in Namibian Parks?

Proper doors on the bathrooms! From our selectively published list of "strange places to go" I offer the following photo: Nice huh? The problem is I took this photo from an outhouse WITH THE DOOR SHUT. Outhouses with half the door missing = not a big problem. Outhouse with half the door missing and it is the bottom half = problem.

And, of course there was no seat cover and toilet paper would have been totally ridiculous. Little trick for you future travelers: when your household roll gets low, put it in a plastic bag and carry it with some hand sanitizer all the time! Someday soon I will be in a fast food restaurant in the United States of America and there will be a door and seat and toilet paper and maybe even soap and I will smile but be missing Africa a little.

And You Know What else They've Got in Namibia? (Part 3)

Gorgeous skeletons of camel thorn trees protected by the dunes. They have been water-free for over five hundred years and are only disturbed by the occasional tour group or music video crew.
Of course Lance and I were there too.
And that was our far too brief visit to the beautiful Namib Desert and the amazing trees in the Dead Pan. It was really a photographer's dream with the dunes changing color through the day and the black streaks of iron ore coming out as it got hotter. Goodness, but it got hotter! We enjoyed a late breakfast with conversation in the shade and headed back to the lodge by noon. A loooooong drive back to Windhoek through the changing landscapes and racing the setting sun.

Btw, I don't just say we "raced the setting sun" to be poetic, though I was kinda going for that truth be told. In many areas of Southern Africa, if you are driving at night time you run the very high risk of hitting something or someone. (It does happen and gets very complicated very quickly!) There are no lights outside the cities and fences are never a guarantee. We have lucked out so far but that is after slowing down considerably and the occasional shout of "Donkey on the left!" or "Cows!" or "Guy!" What's funny is the last 150 km into Botswana are always the worst as far as animals in the road and we are inevitable driving it in the dark. TIA m'dears. So that is why we could only spend half a day in that amazing park. Honestly, it is the one place we have visited that I feel like we must go back to. Preferably with a better camera, a tripod and big floopy hats.

You Know What They've Got in Namibia? (Part 2)

Well of course you do because you read the last post. What you may not know is that once you walk up a dune you can run down it with nearly no risk to life or limb. Soft sand = soft landings!

You Know What They've Got in Namibia? (Part 1)

Big Beautiful Dunes.

All the running around. All the great food and interesting people we met, those memories are barely there. But the memories of the day we spent at the dunes are going to stay with us forever. Or maybe it's just the sand that will stay forever because I keep finding that stuff in our luggage.

The visit was divided into three parts (as are these entries). First was the climb up "Big Mama", the second highest dune in Namibia at 180 meters high. The dune at the top of this entry is "Dune 45" so named because it is 45 miles from from Sesriem and is the 45th dune from Sossusvlei. Our guide said that all the tours go there just because it's just off the main road but really isn't that big of a deal. We were headed for this lovely piece of landscape.
Shots from the ride out and the walk up:

Why Kristin Thinks the Kaiseb Pass Needs a McDonalds.

So as nice as it was seeing the ocean again, we had a long day ahead of us and needed to hit the road. A road which started out pretty nice ...
... and quickly deteriorated into a very unpaved trek through a lot of "not much" and "nobody." This was the lovely and lengthy drive (6 hours!) through the Kuiseb Pass.
See all that nothing in the previous picture? I hated all that nothing. You know why? A hypothetical traveler of the female persuasion who drank a glass of water with breakfast is not likely to find a discreet place to go to bathroom in all that nothingness.

Hypothetical gentlemen travelers do not seem to have such problems. Or at least they don't worry about it. That kinda sucks and proves that smart women who drink water on crazy hot days are not meant to drive through the desert for 6 hours. I've done it so none of my world-traveling sisters will ever need to attempt it again. Sisters, you're welcome.

Now the next photo is very, very important.

Yeah. It's okay. Neat view of a funky African bird nest. But the real reason why I'm posting this photo is because I really had to fight for it. We were driving through a particularly sandy stretch of road and stopping was not advisable, as my beloved husband pointed out. However, I had to get a picture of that tree, in that ravine and the sky was perfect and the shadows were interesting and it will only take a second really and, because Lance loves me, he stopped and I took a few pictures.

And the car got stuck in the sand.

Then Lance got it unstuck.

So you understand why I had to post this photo. Married people, you really understand why I had to post this photo. : ) Driving on.

The road changed, was suddenly paved, and the scenery changed drastically. This was the Kuiseb Canyon.

Which makes sense, considering we had just crossed over into the tropics. Snicker. Snicker. (Notice that someone wrote "Pop" over the last four letters. The road does strange thing to a person and said persons tend to do strange things to signs.)
Finally we arrived at our destination. The Sossusvlei Lodge!
Tremendously cheesy, a bit expensive and totally worth it.

The life of a traveler is a rough one folks. Actually, the electricity, and therefore room fan, isn't turned on until the hottest part of the day is over so the porch was the most comfortable place to sit. I wonder what he could be looking at?


Why it's me! Pretending I'm a meerkat. Poorly. But you get the point.

I *heart* tents you don't have to set up!

That evening the hotel put out a yummy buffet dinner. I remember trying bbq zebra and oryx - the oryx was better. Lance liked the kudu. We crashed at what felt like midnight but really couldn't have been later than 9.

Early to bed - Early to rise and explore the dunes!

Meanwhile, back in Namibia

A guest in the garage!

We were cleaning out our garage and I though I'd share some pics of a guest we found living in our spare boxes. You've got to love Africa!

It is a horned baboon spider, a close relative of the tarantula. It is poisonous and agressive but not life threatening. It is a ground burrower and not usually found in a garage.

Here it is reacting to my attempt to shoo it out of the garage with a broom.

Aparently Raid works on really big insects as well. As soon as I sprayed him (and trust me I had to get much closer than I wanted to to do that) all the fight left him and he ran for cover in one of our spare refrigerators. I left him there for a few hours and then came looking for the body. (Otherwise I would never get Kristin back into the garage)

Namibia by Air

Well Kristin insists that I must contribute writing to the blog. I feel I contribute greatly to the blog but she insists that writing must also be done. She even figured out how to make it happen. By asking me to write about something she did not participate in.

Kristin and I really enjoyed our visit to Namibia. Namibia is one of the least populated countries in the world and is mostly covered in desert and savannah and it’s beautiful! Thanks to the U.S. Army I was able to see a large percentage of it when I hired a small single engine plane in Swakopmund for a 3+ hour airborne tour. Originally I wanted to fly over the northern coastal regions because we would be driving south and would miss the region known as the Skeleton Coast. The guide convinced me that the southern tour is better and more importantly I would be the only person on a northern tour and would have to foot the bill for the whole flight. As my boss would say “Uncle Sugar is generous but not that generous.” Kristin decided to stay behind and spend the morning relaxing in our quite comfortable accommodations. Just after dawn I was picked up by the agency and met the 8 German tourists (everybody is German or speaks German in Swakopmund) who would be spliting the bill with me. I lucked out and got to sit in the co-pilot's seat which gave me a great view. Though the pilot was not amused when I joked that if I wanted a better look at something I would just grab the stick and turn. I also got to sit in front of the malfunctioning engine temperature guage which went into the red shortly after takeoff. There was a functioning digital one that the pilot monitored, but he neglected to mention either fact before takeoff...nice. We took of from a dirt runway and were on our way.

This is what it looks like near the coast just inland from Swakopmund, notice how the dunes cluster along the coast. The flat area this side of the dunes is chriss crossed with thousands of vehicle tracks mostly from thrill seekers and the German tourists that flock here.

Further south there we flew over a rocky river canyon which has seasonal floods. The river is there year around but most of it is below ground. It was kind of neat to see the green vegetation that followed the course of the underground river.

Near the river canyon (in south central Namibia) the vegitation is savanah. That is a herd of zebra on the left.

Not far to the West we entered the famous soususflay region with its giant red dunes.

We actually climbed one of these (Big mama) later in the trip (and could not get the sand out of our shoes for weeks) these are the largest sand dunes in the world. We'll detail the hiking portion in a future post.

This is a picture of an old mining camp out in the middle of the desert. Those German immigrants were ethier really tough or really stupid, probably both.

We then hit the ocean and turned back North, it was about this time that I started to notice foul vomit odors from behind me but it was not constant just brief whiffs. At least one of my four my fellow passengers apparently was not enjoying the trip as much as I. The above picture is of one of the coastal wrecks. It is so far inland because the sand ebbs and flows.

Here is an aerial view of the purple salt fields Kristin blogged about. We pretty much drove around this entire picure the day before.

Hey its a FAO ICT picture! This is a photo of Wavis Bay, the best open water port in Africa. As you can see (the original photo is much better) the ocean liners litterally sail up and park. no fuss, no muss, but there did appear to be a bit of a line. We tried to get a good look at it by vehicle the previous day but you cannot get close to it. We did find our way out to the tip of the penninsula though.

A cool picture showing our partner plane and some of the ships waiting to get into Wavis Bay.

Here we are back at Swakopmund our hotel is in the back midde of the town and the ocean front restaurant from a previous post is next to the pier that you can just barely see on the right.