Run for the Hills

Hi all,

It know it's been a while since my last post.  We went down to Durban and then work got busy, and now we find ourselves just four days away from flying home to the States!  We're going to be in Atlanta, Buffalo (my folks) and then Morgantown (Ad's).  Of course we wish we could get out to Seattle, over to NY, across to Iowa (well, let's not get carried away)... hopefully next time.  We're all getting excited for the trip home, especially Noah.  OK, he has no clue, but I'm busy buying random snacks and digging for forgotten toys that might hold his interest on our upcoming 16 hour flight. (Wish us luck!)  Lucy will be excited to watch the same episode of Dora five times on the seat-back screens. (Hopefully our neighbors-in-flight won't be annoyed hearing her shout "backpack!" at the screen for hours at a time.  Dora often asks the viewer questions, which Lucy still feels compelled to respond to out loud.)

Over Easter weekend, we packed up Alice and headed to the Drakensburg Mountain range. It's SA's tallest set of mountains (11,400+ ft) and it snakes its way (the name means "Dragon Mountains" in Dutch) downward towards Durban.  It was an easy 3.5 hour drive from Pretoria (the roads were much better than to St. Lucia) and as we shot down the N3, the views quickly went from run-of-the-mill Africa savanna (which is still quite beautiful) to breathtaking, craggy mountain-scapes.  This is the beautiful South Africa you hear about.  (Plug, plug... come visit!  Operators standing by.)

 A pic to whet your appetite...

Into the Woods

What gave this area such incredible color was not just the dying ferns (it's fall over here.. in fact, now it's winter), but also these incredible trees with orange and lime-green leaves, plus some cool, orange grasses. 

We stayed in a sprawling guest lodge.  It was so remote (down a 10 mile dirt road, off a fairly deserted highway) that they served us breakfast and dinner.  South Africans love "self-catering" accommodations [Get that meat on the braai!], but I have to say that on a vacation, it's nice to hear a bell that signals "dinner is served!" The food was quite good and it felt old fashioned having all the guests come and eat together. (You each had your own table which gave you some privacy.)  Breakfast included cut-up papaya, which Noah found quite pleasing to the palette.

After Aunt Susie's heart...   

Lucy fed a carrot to one of the horses that roamed around the lodge.  About a dozen horses wandered about.

She was very proud of herself, as well she should be. (I barely was willing to pet the thing.)

Noey was intrigued as well.  But he kept calling it a dog.  

(His vocabulary is limited.)

 The first day we hiked at Royal Natal National Park.  Yes, Adam had big plans for us! 

 The day was unfortunately a bit drizzly, but apparently like a U.S. Mail Carrier, nothing stops a Cohen from hiking.  (Does he get this from Judy?)

 Lucy suggested we head for Devil's Hook.
(Is Eats, Shoots and Leaves translated into Dutch?)

 But first, I shake her free of a deadly cobra snake we encounter on a bridge. (Just kidding, Grandmas.)

 The sun peaks out as we wrap up.   Next stop!  A lone restaurant in the area, the Leaning Tower of Pizza!

Lucy and Pops take a spin at the playground while Noah sleeps off the hike (and he was carried!) and I drink a very delicious (and lactose-full) coffee milkshake.  As I've written before, South Africa restaurants and gas stations often have playgrounds for kids.  (We could learn something from them!)

Back at the ranch, Lucy cleans up in the tub. (She loved that water sprayer, as did the floor.)

Freshened up and ready for dinner, Noah in intrigued by the antics of Tom and Jerry in the lodge's game room, while Adam tries to teach Lucy how to shoot pool. (Noah mostly just toddled around and tried to eat pool cue chalk.)

 The next morning, L was very excited to wake up to find horses out the front window.

Lucy thought sleeping on a mattress on the floor was the bomb.  (I almost told her this is what's referred to in the Torah as Jewish Camping... But I know Adam would have yelled at me.  Or made me actually go camping.  I was an Eagle Scout, for the record, but it's cold in these parts.)

Feed me, Seymour!

Before we head out, Lucy confers with her new buddy.

We head to Clarens, an artsy town with a village green, restaurants, a bookstore and art galleries.  (See, I love camping!)

 Our boy's not a baby anymore!  Crazy, eh?  (We'll be home soon, g'parents!)
But this photo exaggerates things a bit.  He still can't walk down stairs or say the word cat.

Order me a babyccino and I'll hike anywhere you want!

 After lunch, things warmed up considerably and we hiked up into the hills of Cathedral Peak.  (Click to see a crazy view, with definite image enhancement.)

Not sure what prompted this, but maybe I got caught eating Lucy's princess gummy bears (which we use to bribe her to hike).  Actually, she really enjoyed hiking this trip.  We anointed her the "leader," who had to walk in front and report back if she saw something important or interesting. She loved the role and periodically you'd hear her yell something like "rocks ahead" with great charisma.  And we still bribed her with a reward of  gummies at the halfway point. The ones that were still left, at least.

We made it! (Or so I thought...)

 Adam spotted a chain rope that took you up even higher. Lucy was all legs. (Papa's girl!)

 I stayed back with Noah and contemplated the meaning of life (i.e., ate Marie biscuits).

 Yum!

 The kids came back in one piece.

We came upon a cool rock alcove. (Lucy's enthusiasm as leader was waning at this point, but she picked up considerable steam as we walked back down the hill to the car.)

Our last morning at the lodge and Lucy ran straight out to greet the horses.

After breakfast we headed out for one more hike -- one that originated from the lodge.  It involved a bit of climbing, but the proprietors said it was fairly legal and quite safe.

 A beautiful, if windy day.

Where's Waldo?  (Lucy and I, stage left)

Reminded me of Ireland.  Reminded Lucy to look for gummies in Ad's pockets.

 Back in the lodge, we rested a bit and then packed up the car.

Soon, we wound down the dirt road, heading for the N3 and on to Pretoria.

The safari continues, minus one pair of [very old] hiking boots*, plus two (or four) tired kids, and one dusty car.  

xo,

Glenn 

*  The heel of Adam's old boot broke off the last day.

Passover Seder, South Africa-Style

We were happy to be invited to a Passover Seder for the second night.  It was organized by some new friends and hosted by the SA head of US AID (what a mensch!).  It was a varied group - folks from the States, the UK, and even a few South African Jews, too.  As a refresher, Passover commemorates the Exodus story, when the Jews were freed from slavery in Egypt.  The significance of retelling this story in South Africa, where Apartheid ended only in 1994, was not lost on us.  

Speak Zulu?  A 40 second video I made of the Seder:

The video does not come through in the email version. Click to view video in YouTube.
(Yes, I was playing around with MS MovieMaker. Like that fancy title slide? EZ PZ.)

 On to the meal!
(Is it me or is that shirt adding on 15 lbs?)

I made Grandude Stan's Cold Beet Salad and his mock-chop liver.

(I'm no Naked Chef and people ate it up, so I was quite proud of myself.)

Lucy found the Afikoman, a hidden piece of Matzo. (Read more, Tozer.) 

As it is written in the Talmud, she was rewarded with a chocolate Easter Bunny.

The dinner conversation got a bit dull, apparently, so Lucy watched some CeeBeeBees (an offbeat British kids show on the BBC that they play over here). Think Electric Company with funny accents and guys named Nigel.)

A bit delayed, but hope everyone had a nice Passover, Easter, Wiccan Beltane, Spring Solstice, etc. 

xo,
Glenn

P.S. No blog posts next week.  We're headed down to Durban (on the coast... view map of our expected driving route) since Lucy finished Pre-K (cum laude!) (just kidding) and Adam is going to attend the big South Africa AIDS conference.  We're going with our friends, Dalius and Jay (from Seattle!), and their two kids (daughter Jiya, 3.5, and son Kovis, 16 months).  Indian ocean beaches and good Indian food (Durban is the center of the country's large Indian population) here we come!

Noah Climbs %^$&# Everything

Apparently boys are different. I don't remember Lucy trying to get on top of every possible high surface, always just shy of falling over and cracking a head open.  (Sorry if this falls into the dreaded "Isn't my kid cute!" category, but I thought it's important to prep the grandparents for our trip home in July.) 

A typical day for Noah...

Some morning stretches on a plastic tub.

 

Let's go surfin' now / Everybody's learning how / Come on and a safari [Hey!] with me

But how can you be mad at this shana punim?

 

Now we move on to chair aerobics.  (Why sit when you can stand?)

Quick reading break
(in the book box).

One day I came out of the house to find Noah plotting his Mt. Everest ascent, minus pants.

(I had to start taking the slide down while I cook dinner.)

Now what?  

(For the longest time, he was afraid of the platform at the top and didn't figure out how to slide down, so he'd just wait for someone to lift him off.  Hmm... who's in charge of whom here?)

To give you a sense of scale... Yes, it's a far drop.  Luckily I figured out that if he wears soft shoes, they're too slippery to climb the ladder. (Then he outgrew them.)

Back inside...  I'm ready to eat!

 Ah, made it!  Now, what do you have to do to get a sandwich around here?!

He's pretty agile and has figured out how to climb down things, too. But yes, Grandmas, we still keep a close eye on him.

Onward and upward, the safari never stops. xo,

Glenn