Safari Day 1 (September 20, 2012) This morning after breakfast (during which we had a great visit with “Dr. Canada” again) we met our safari driver/guide, Saleh. His last name is Seif (pronounced “Safe”). We greeted him with the Swahili “Nimefurahi kukutana nawe” which impressed him and he seems very pleased at our efforts to…
The Kilimanjaro Climb It’s September 12, 2012–exactly year and one month to the day after our wedding, and our official honeymoon is about to begin. (If you missed the first part of the Africa story, read it HERE.) Gladys herself–the energetic, cheerful and ambitious owner/founder of Gladys Adventure–was at the hotel to pick us up…
“Did you ever wire that money? We still haven’t received it.” A jolt of panic shot from my heart to my fingertips as I read the words on my e-mail screen. My breathing became more constricted, my palms moistened and my heart revved up. I had made a significant down payment on the most expensive…
I recently answered this question on Quora.com and thought I’d reproduce my response here along with some photos. Enjoy! My husband and I worked at the South Pole Station; I have been there one season and he has been there 5 seasons (all summer seasons). About half the population is scientists and half is…
I really wish I could hear like a normal person. Usually my hearing aids do a tolerable job of making up for the deficit, but there are notable exceptions.
“Tell your boy that I’ve got a six pack on him and he’d better win.” Eric eyed me through the dish pit window as I scraped egg remains from the breakfast plates in the South Pole galley. The marathon was coming up and bets were flying as to who would finish first. Eric and other local gamblers…
“Hello, ladies! Have you heard about Ladies Night at the South Pole Telescope?” I turned to lend my attention to the bearded speaker who maneuvered his lean, tall frame into a chair next to us, fixing his smiling eyes on each of us in turn. I recognized him as the cosmologist who had given last…
A few minutes before midnight, I left the cockpit of the C-130–vibrating on its giant skis, propellers buzzing–and placed my fat white boots onto the crunchy snow, blinking into the sunlight reflecting off the sea of white stretching ever outward to fall away with the curvature of the earth. In the foreground, a small crowd…