Bakers in Ghana

If you made it through our last blog, you are champions! So many amazing things happened that I just couldn’t bring myself to leave much out. Picking up where we left off—Monday brought us to see the gorillas!! 🦍 We still can hardly believe we were able to watch gorillas up close and personal. Once again, we arrived early and were briefed on what to expect during our hike. Hiking to see the gorillas was true jungle trekking. It had rained heavily the day before, and whatever trails existed were wet and muddy and we had about 700 feet of elevation change. There were a few cleared paths, but we also had a man with a machete leading the way, clearing vegetation as needed.   At first, Lori opted to hire a porter to help her up the mountain since her foot surgery has made her a bit less steady than before. On second thought, she decided to hire an “African helicopter.” An African helicopter is a seat attached to poles, carried on the shoulders of four VERY STRONG African men. Jenn...

5:30 AM on Christmas morning came early! We flew to Uganda, which took about an hour and a half. Santa didn’t pick us up, but instead, we had two amazing drivers, Stuart and Nasib, who arrived in their safari trucks to whisk us away to the Turaco Tree Tops Lodge. It was about a six-hour drive to get there. It was a long travel day, but it gave us plenty of time to chat and enjoy being together. Merry Christmas to us! Friday was Chimpanzee Trekking Day, and it did not disappoint! We woke up early for a briefing on the trek and to divide into groups. We hiked for about an hour up the mountain before locating a chimpanzee family. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but it was truly an incredible experience. We got much closer to the chimps than we expected. They were relaxed and allowed us to get quite near. It felt unreal. We spent about an hour observing them, listening, and taking photos. Thankfully Nick brought our nice camera from Texas and was our photographer—and as you ...

Bright and early Monday morning, we were picked up and headed to the Masai Mara. We traveled by small plane (12 passengers), which made the journey an adventure in itself. We landed on a dirt landing strip and were immediately greeted by hippos and a crocodile not far from our tent, where we would be “glamping.” After settling into our tents—complete with hardwood floors and a granite bathroom—we enjoyed breakfast and then headed out on our first safari drive. It didn’t take long to find incredible animals. It felt almost unreal to be so up close and personal with them. One of my favorite sightings was a lioness who had just killed a wildebeest and was preparing to feast with her cubs. She kept the wildebeest close while several hyenas lurked nearby, waiting for a chance to steal the kill. After about a three-hour drive, we returned to camp for dinner. That evening, we discovered our beds turned down with warm water bottles tucked in to keep our feet warm—the perfect way to end the day...

This has been a Christmas like none other!! We have greatly missed our children, grandchildren, and extended family, but we have absolutely loved our time with Nick, Matt, Soli, and the Doans—whom we like to claim as family! It has made the hard things so very sweet. Where to begin… We flew with the Doans to Kenya, where we met up with Nick, who flew in after a week-long trip to Germany, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland (a little jealous, I must say!). Matt and Soli flew in from Utah. Seeing them and getting big hugs was such a joy—definitely some of the best hugs ever! Saturday morning, shortly after arriving, we headed out for our first adventure: the elephant orphanage. What an incredible experience! The orphanage is only open for one hour each day, and during that time we were able to see an orphaned rhino, a zebra, and 13 orphaned elephants. The keepers shared the story of how and where each animal was rescued and how they received their names. We watched the elephants being bottle-...