First full day in Arusha!

After our orientation meeting with Justin, we walked down into Arusha to take in some of the sights and to get some lunch. It was a very pleasant walk in that we were not harassed much at all! That was a very different experience for me, based on what I experienced in Benin! We were in search of the Clock Tower...some landmark in Arusha. Ironically, for all that it is talked up, it really isn't much. We did find a nice place for lunch though and enjoyed a good meal. Just walking around taking in the sights was great! Time to rest up for tomorrow...the day will start early with Justin and Ayubu picking us up at 8am! Hopefully, we'll get more sleep tonight!

We made it to Tanzania...and so did all our bags!

I'm happy to report that one of my biggest fears of this trip has not been realized...both of my bags made it all the way to Arusha! That was quite the relief to see them come off the conveyer belt at the airport. Actually, considering the power went out while we were waiting in the immigration line, I think I should be happy that ANYTHING came off the conveyer belt! Backing up a bit from that experience, I should be happy we landed on the runway...as we were coming in to land, I was sitting next to the window and reporting to Tracy that I still didn't see any lights from the airport when all of a sudden we LANDED. That was wild.

As was the plan, we were met at the airport by a representative of Destination Tanzania Safaris, Ayubu. He turned out to be quite a hoot. He has a great laugh and used it often as he got all our bags crammed into the land rover to drive from the airport to our lodge here in Arusha. I immediately felt as though I was back in Benin as the driving experience was as crazy and chaotic as any I had experienced during my Peace Corps stint. After driving on a very nice paved road for the drive from the airport to Arusha, we then turned on to what Ayubu called "an African Massage road" for the final trek to the lodge. That road DEFINITELY reminded me of Benin. See the picture below...

The lodge is very nice. Claudia and I are sharing a room, while Tracy and Lisa are in the room next to ours. We each have a single bed, one bathroom in each room, and plenty of floor space for all our gear. After we got here last night we hit the bar in the lodge to have a celebatory beer. I took an immediate liking to the Kilimanjaro beer - it's very good! We all crashed about midnight. I expected that I would fall asleep quickly but that my body would view the sleep as a nap. Sure enough, about 2am (6pm the previous evening, Minneapolis time) I was wide awake! It did not help that there was an OBNOXIOUS dog barking his fool head off. I did eventually fall back to sleep and possibly got about 2-3 hours total. Little did I know, but Claudia was also having trouble sleeping...however, she was passing the time playing Angry Birds on her iPad under the covers! Craziness for our first nignt in Africa!

This morning we had a very nice breakfast in the lodge. We also met the other couple who will be climbing with us. Larry and Virgie. Both are retired teachers, although Larry had moved into administration and was a Principal by the time he retired from the White Bear Lake school district. They live part of the year in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and are avid hikers. Me thinks we have been given an additional Guide in the form of Larry!

Speaking of guides, our main guide, Justin showed up at 10am to give us our Orientation. We sat out by the pool while he described the details of the trek. Having read up extensively on this trek, most of the information he shared was stuff I already knew. Justin did explain that we will indeed be hiking through the treacherous Western Breach area at night so as to avoid rock falls. Yikes. After the meeting he came and inspected each of our gear to make sure that we had everything we needed. We all passed that with flying colors. Now it is time to head down to Arusha and poke around a bit. I am excited as I can already tell that it will remind me of Benin!

Travel, travel, travel

As to be expected, actually getting to Tanzania has been exhausting in itself! We left Minneapolis at 3:15 yesterday afternoon, and now it is sometime in the afternoon on Thursday, September 8th (Orn's birthday...Happy Birthday Orn!) and we are flying over the northern half of Africa heading to Kilimanjaro International airport. When we left Minneapolis yesterday my brother Steve, (fellow trekker Claudia's husband) talked his way to the gate with us. The five of us enjoyed a beer at the airport while we waited for our flight to board. That was fun and put us all in a relaxed mood as we prepared to fly across the pond (first time for both Lisa and Claudia). We had a bit of a layover in Amsterdam, so I did what every international traveler does as they travel the globe, I loaded up on Starbucks coffee. Poor Lisa has a nasty cold, so she pretty much just attempted to rest (see picture above). So, now we continue on this journey...we will be met at the airport by a representative of Destination Tanzania Safaris...of course, that won't be until sometime this evening! Time for me to try to get some shut-eye!!

Tanzania here we come!

Well, the day has come! We are set to fly out to Tanzania in East Africa so that we four crazy ladies can attempt to climb Africa's largest summit, Mount Kilimanjaro. It is also the tallest free standing mountain in the world. Yikes! Not sure why we are doing this, but to give all of you a taste as to why, I'll cut and paste an e-mail that I sent out last weekend which describes how this trip came about...

Hi Everyone – it’s about time that I actually inform many of you (hopefully not most of you) of some upcoming plans of mine. To cut to the chase, exactly one week from tonight I’ll be spending my first night up on Mt. Kilimanjaro! What the heck am I about to do you ask yourself!! I’m about to attempt to climb Africa’s highest mountain (19, 340 feet…but who’s counting?)!! Yep, call me crazy!! Right now, as I haven’t even started to pack, I would have to agree with you, crazy is the name of the game.

I’ve only recently started mentioning this to people in passing (note to self, to bring this up to the Dean of your College a mere 2 weeks before your departure…probably not so smart), so I know what questions are likely running through your mind. I’ll do my best to answer them. Let me also start by warning you that this e-mail is coming from ME…the one who does NOT have the ability to make things quick. If you’ve got something else to do, by all means go do it and come back to this little ditty when you have an hour or two free. Actually, if you truly do have a free hour or two, could you pop over and get me started on PACKING??!!

Question #1 – “You’re going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro?? It must be on your bucket list!” Nope, it sure isn’t. I don’t actually have a ‘bucket list.’ In fact, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve managed to do thus far. So, how did this come about? Well, a dear old friend of mine saw an article in the
paper almost 2 years ago now, about some company where they led hiking expeditions up Kilimanjaro. She called me. I believe the conversation went something like this…”Mary, we’ve got to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.” Me, “Yeah, right.” Click. I get a call again, “Seriously…there’s this write up in the Star Trib…I’ll send it to you.” Me, “Lavache, I’m afraid of heights. I’m not climbing some mountain.” Click. The calls keep coming. She’s like a terrier and won’t let go. I agree to go down to the U with her (in the dead of winter in frigid temperatures, mind you) and listen to this guy speak. I admit it’s intriguing, but I’m still not on board. She stops calling. Summer 2010, we have our annual Girls Weekend and this Lavache character starts up on it again. I enjoy my weekend (Ah hah, this is all Orn’s fault…he should NEVER have let me go on my annual Girls Weekend last summer!), and politely ignore her. After our weekend the calls start up again. Now she tells, “Tracy is on board, she wants to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.” I think to myself, “I’ve been ambushed! Tracy is a friend of mine from college! They will both expect me to go as I am the link between the two of them! I’m doomed.” I start to casually talk about it around the house. Orn pipes in with, “I think you should do it.” (Ah hah, it truly is HIS fault!). I continue to casually think about just possibly doing the trek and happen to mention it at our Christmas gathering down at my parents house. My sister in law Claudia hears me talking about it and she says that she wants to do it too! What? Now I’m going to have to commit! And so I did.

Question #2 – “Who are you doing this with?” The afore-mentioned women: my friend Lisa (known by me as Lavache) who has been a dear friend of mine since 7th grade, my college friend Tracy, who by the way, did not like me very much the first time we met (she may not like me again after this little hike), and my sister in law, Claudia. We are going to be grouped with another couple from White Bear Lake, such that our group will consist of 6 hikers along with the crew from our trekking company. We signed up with Destination Tanzania Safari’s, a company based in Arusha, Tanzania and Gibbon, MN (the website is www.detasa.com).

Question #3 – “When are you leaving and how long will you be gone?” We fly out of Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon (the 7th) and connect through Amsterdam, arriving at Kilimanjaro International Airport on the evening of September 8th. The actual trek will begin one week from today (the 10th) and last for 8 days. We will spend 2 nights in Arusha upon our arrival in Tanzania, and then another night when we get back down the mountain on the 17th. I will fly home on the 18th, while the other three (Lisa, Tracy, and Claudia are going to stick around to do a safari).

Question #4 – “How do you prepare for something like this?” Well…seeing as all four of us live in Minnesota, there’s not much we can do to prepare for the altitude, so each of us has done whatever we can to prepare for the trek itself. As for me, I always work out 6 mornings a week, so essentially I shook things up a bit by having my Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday morning
workouts be hiking workouts outside. So, for those of you who reside in and around the St. Cloud area, YEP, that’s me who you’ve seen tromping around with hiking boots on, trekking poles in hand, and a progressively heavier day pack on her back! Gunnar and Hans were horrified when they were in basketball camp earlier in August and realized that during the 2 hours that they were in camp I was going to be hiking around the area in all my gear. As Gunnar politely told
me one day, “Mom, you’re kind of embarrassing.” Little does he realize how much worse it’s going to get as he approaches adolescence! The main advice that we received from our trekking company was to buy our boots early and to get them really worked in. Apparently I took that advice to heart. Last Sunday after a 2 hour workout climbing up and down Calvary Hill (the boys sledding hill in the winter) I came home to take off my boots only to see that the bottom of my right boot was literally FALLING OFF the boot! This, a mere 10 days before our departure. I could write a 2 page essay describing my effort to find a boot repair person in the greater St. Cloud area, but I don’t want to relive that. Suffice to say that there is a guy by the name of Ron who has my boot and who is aware that I MUST HAVE IT BACK BY WEDNESDAY. His shop is
closed until Tuesday at this point, so say some prayers for me if you could.

So, that pretty much summed up how this trek came about and how I prepared for it. Let's hope that I prepared well enough! I'm happy to report that I am wearing my boot as the Shoe Repair Guy (my new BEST friend) got it fixed for me in the nick of time. He asked that I bring him back a rock from the summit...rock? I'll bring him back the summit for what he did for me!!

Chene Graduates from Minnetonka!

Well, it seems that Minnetonka High School has seen it's last Meldahl relation to graduate, with Chene finishing up this year. And really, considering that Chene spent this entire past year as a PSEO student at the University of Minnesota, the halls of Minnetonka really haven't had one of us for the past year. That said, we all gathered to celebrate Chene's accomplishments today. What a great student and fabulous young woman she is!

The Wedding Reception!

The wedding reception was a glorious affair - wonderful food with many humorous moments, of course! Who can forget Steve's dismay at the $5 gin and tonic that appeared to be primarily ice with a splash of tonic, or Dad chasing the little old server who insisted on carrying his plate from the buffet back to his table, or Jim and Claudia lighting up the dance floor later in the evening?? Whatever the memories, it was truly a wonderful way to celebrate Chloe and Travis!

Chloe and Travis get MARRIED!!

This was a beautiful weekend to celebrate Chloe and Travis at their wedding in Mankato!! Gunnar and Hans were in the wedding so we headed down to Mankato on Friday afternoon. As we drove into Mankato and got settled at the hotel it started to rain (and rain and rain). We had just enough time to pick up the boys tuxes before heading out to join the rest of the wedding party at the rehearsal. Fortunately, at the venue for the wedding they had a tent as the rehearsal would have been quite the washout (literally) otherwise. Both boys learned of their duties, the rehearsal went off without a hitch (literally, again ;)), and we enjoyed a nice dinner at where else but Buffalo Wild Wings in downtown Mankato (walking distance from our hotel). The day was capped off with a swim in the hotel pool. Lots of fun!

Saturday dawned sunny and bright - a glorious day for an outdoor wedding! We were there early to take pictures - check out the shots both before the wedding and during. More shots from the reception to follow...

Summer's here - time to CLEAN the house!

Orn was a bit shocked to find that both boys jumped in to help me clean the basement on their first weekend of summer vacation! So much so, that he ran upstairs and got the camera in order to document their efforts. Here they are hard at work...

Birthday Time!

Today was my birthday (no details on age...although if you ask Gunnar or Hans, or Orn for that matter, they are very forthcoming with my age!). I had a wonderful day, beginning with breakfast in bed with both boys, then hanging out by the pool with friends in the afternoon, followed by a nice dinner out with my handsome hubby. Can't ask for a better day of celebration! And, I was given a new pair of running shoes, Wii Active, and a golf bag to boot!! :)

Last day of SCHOOL!!

Today was the last day of school for the boys!! Woo Hoo and all that! I was already on my way to the cities to go out to dinner with some friends, so Orn ran out and got a picture of the boys getting off the bus. It was a great school year for both of them, but way fun to have it over and done with as well. Let the summer sports begin!! Everything starts up next week (including teaching summer school for both Orn and me)!!

Hans's Fieldtrip to downtown St. Cloud sites and Gunnar's Fieldtrip to St. John's Arboretum

Today I was able to tag along on Gunnar's fieldtrip to St. John's Arboretum in Collegeville. It was a glorious day to be learning all about the wildlife and plantlife that one can expect to find out there - also the many, many woodticks that can be found in this neck of the woods at this time of the year!

Meanwhile, Orn went along with Hans's final fieldtrip of the year - to Red Lobster (of all places), the new St. Cloud public library, and Lake George. The kids had a great time learning all about lobsters, spending time at the library, and having a great time at the park!

Gunnar's Spring Recital

Gunnar participated in his Spring Piano Recital today. We were extremely proud of how composed he was and how well he did. Hopefully I'll be able to upload the video I took with my digital camera here so you can see his accomplishments for yourself! After the recital, Gunnar was also adorned with multiple awards for all that he has done this past year, including participating in Guild, participating in Contest, consistently practicing, and participating in any of the other activities that Mrs. Kiffmeyer had organized. It was an outstanding 1st year at the piano! Great work Gunnar!!

Orn and Hans hit St. John's Arboretum

Today Orn took some time off to go on a field trip with Hans's 1st grade class. He was to meet them out at the arboretum at St. John's University in Collegeville. Unfortunately, the directions that were sent home from the school were not quite accurate, so he ended up driving around a bit before getting there. Kids manage to make things all okay because as soon as Hans saw Orn come walking up, he bounded out from his class and came over to greet his dad with a, "Dad, I'm so glad you're here!" As Orn told me later, it just made him melt. They had a wonderful time exploring the arboretum together...maybe I can get Orn to add to this with some commentary to go with the pictures he took!