Packing for the Kilimanjaro trip. My day pack and the purple "Grape Ape" duffel bag I packed.
We just barely fit all the bags in the trunk.
In Amsterdam in the airport, we saw a poster for Tanzania by chance.
On the plane from Amsterdam to Tanzania. I happened to be looking out the window as we passed over the northern coast of Africa.
These are mud bricks. Some people appeared to fire their bricks in a kiln; other people just let their bricks dry in the sun.
Our first day climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. You start in a lush rain forest on the mountain slope. This is a view looking up at the trees.
A view of Mt. Meru in the distance as clouds roll in over Kilimanjaro. Mt. Meru is 43 miles away. We were walking up a ridge between Machame camp and Shira camp on Day Two.
The summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the early morning light. This was from Shira camp on the beginning of our third day.
Looking down on Barranco camp on the morning of Day Four. The view is from part of the way up Barranco wall.
A warning in an outhouse. This is at Barafu Camp on the morning of Day Five.
After several hours of walking, we reached the crater near the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and camped there overnight. This is a view looking straight up at a glacier in the crater.
The next morning, we climbed the last 800 feet or so from the crater to Uhuru peak. We made it in time for the sunrise.
This is what I looked like after a week on Kilimanjaro with no showering or shaving.
Elephants in Tarangire National Park. The safari was great fun.
A young zebra colt.
This blacksmith melted metal (notice the bicycle part in the lower left) to make bracelets and rings. To heat the metal, note the animal skin bellows on the right.
Looking across a dry lake bed just before the sun set.
We met bushmen near Lake Eyasi in the early morning to watch them hunt. They killed and cooked a bird.
The Ngorongoro crater is teeming with wild animals: lions, cheetahs, hippos, elephants, and zebras. Another great place for a safari.
On our last day in Tanzania, we ate at a local restaurant. This cat captured my attention with his different-colored eyes. Later he captured a bit of chicken that I dropped for him.
A door in Amsterdam. We had a long layover, so a few of us made our way to the Rijksmuseum and back.
Back home, and happy to see my cat Emmy.
Unpacking the Grape Ape and all my stuff onto the floor.
My wife helped to organize a clothing swap shortly after I got back. We had trash bags full of donated clothes all over our place.
Cindy and I happened to drive through Los Altos while there was a Corvette show in town. The whole town was full of wall-to-wall Corvettes.
*Someone* made a stress ball with my face on it.
On the way to an offsite, we stopped by the Chick-fil-A in Fairfield, California. If you've gone to the trouble of getting to Chick-fil-A, you might as well stock up. :)
An early morning jog by Lake Tahoe. The water was calm and the scene was quiet.
I forgot to grab a photo this day until the last minute. I just walked around outside and shot a few quick photos.
Humanist Hall in Berkeley, California.
I was in line at the grocery store and these magazines were side by side.
