The Alps

Picture this...vibrant green hillsides, sweet smelling flowers in every color imaginable, and endless snow-covered peaks as far as the eye can see. Add in sparkling blue lakes and quiet villages filled with happy cows and you have the Swiss Alps. Our visit to this region far exceeded every romantic notion we had envisioned.

Hiking the Lauterbrunnen Valley:

The beautiful Swiss town of Lungern:

Hiking in the Alps was unlike any other hiking experience in the US. Almost all hikes here take you into small villages where you will be served a proper meal...no need for trail mix, powerbars, or dried fruit. Here you will receive the staples: beer, sausage, dumplings, bratwursts, roast pork covered in gravy and much more. You can even purchase fresh cheese, milk, and bread from the farmer on your way down the mountain. This is truly a trekker's delight.

Enjoying a great meal and cold beer at Tegernseer Hut, near the summit of Buchstein Peak.

After reluctantly leaving Switzerland (we will return soon) we worked our way through Liechtenstein, Austria, and back into Germany. While we were trekking in Nepal we met a couple (Peter & Rosi) from Krueth, Germany who invited us to stay with them. Curious to explore the German Alps and get a taste of true Bavarian culture, we gladly took them up on the offer. We spent the past few days in southern Germany at their house, hiking the local trails, exploring the nearby Neuschwanstein Castle and even taking in a local festival.

Doing what we do best - immersing ourselves in the local culture:

We have discovered hiking in the Bavarian, Swiss, and Austrian Alps all offer the same exceptional experience. Hiking in the U.S is more of a solitary endeavor, while in Europe it is a social outing. We do love the US-version of backcountry hiking where you can hike for days and not see another person but having a homecooked meal awaiting your arrival at the summit is pure genius.

Anyway, we just dropped Connie and Hannah off at the airport in Munich and we're headed back to Switzerland (we didn't get enough of it the first time) to visit another couple we met while hiking in Nepal: Phil and Amelia. They were at the end of a yearlong trip when we met them so we're very curious to see how they transitioned back to the "real world".

Surfing Germany

It’s a little after the fact, but this is something we definitely had to write about…While waiting for Dustin’s mom and sister to arrive, we spent a few days visiting our friends Julia and Andi in Munich (Julia was our first ever couchsurfer while we were on our boat back in CA). While we were chatting over excellent German beers at their apartment they mentioned a river in Munich with a standing wave that can be surfed. Since we’re on a “surfari” our ears perked up…surf in Germany?

We hadn’t been in the water for a surf since leaving Bali a good two months ago. Add in the fact that we’ve only heard of a few places around the world where you can surf standing river waves and we had to check it out.

So...the first stop during our exploration of Munich was the Eisbach River in downtown Munich. We scoped out the river and found what looked like a fun, if not scary (it was easy to see why an occasional tourist would drown in the river every year), 4 foot wave where the river went over a series of boulders. The locals were making it look easy, but we knew better. Rachel decided she didn’t want to have anything to do with the cold water and rapids, but Dustin couldn’t resist the challenge. We came back the following day and Dustin gave it his best shot. It was a valiant effort but he spent much more time getting washed down the rapids than he did riding the wave.


Searching for surf in downtown Munich:



Proof: Surfing Germany


The result of most attempts:

Paris

Our first stop after Connie and Hannah joined us was Paris. None of us had been to France before, so we figured Paris would be the perfect starting point even though we are not “city people”. As you can probably tell from everything we’ve done on this trip so far, we would rather spend our time surfing, hiking, fishing, etc than walking around a large city visiting the museums and other sights with all the tourists.

Even though we’re not big city fans, Paris did not disappoint. We spent 2 ½ days visiting some of the main sights…taking in Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower among others. In between, we explored some of the quieter areas and enjoyed the great food. (Escargot or foie gras anyone?) The city was amazing, with beautiful, historic buildings everywhere and something to see around every corner.

At the Eiffel Tower (in case you couldn't tell):

In front of the Venus de Milo statue at the Louvre Museum:

One of the highlights of Paris didn’t even involve anything French…On our last night in the city we decided to pick up some food and have an evening picnic at the Eiffel Tower. Since we didn’t have a corkscrew for our wine we found the nearest group with a few open wine bottles and figured they had to have one. Instead of letting us borrow theirs, they insisted we join them. They seemed friendly enough…plus they had an endless supply of cheese, prosciutto, bread, fruit and wine, so we couldn’t say no. Turns out they were a United flight crew (one of the pilots and five of the attendants) based in Washington, DC, but in Paris on a one-day layover. Seven hours later we had a stack of empty wine bottles almost as high as the Eiffel Tower. We’ll just leave the story at that.

The picnic that turned into a party with the United flight crew:

We’re currently in Switzerland soaking in the fresh mountain air and back to exploring the great outdoors.

Navigating Europe

Since we’ve spent most of the last week driving we don’t have a lot to write about besides some semi-humorous attempts at navigating European roads and Rachel attempting to speak German. Here are a few things we wanted to write about in earlier posts, but either forgot to or didn’t have the time….

Kilimanjaro:
We know it’s after the fact, but in our rush to get a blog written before we left Africa we forgot to write about one of the biggest parts of our Kilimanjaro climb…in the days leading up to our summit attempt we were both a little worried/anxious for the summit day. Less than 50% of those who try to climb Kilimanjaro actually make it to the top and every year there are a few people who die from altitude sickness while on the mountain. Over the four days we spent hiking to basecamp we both spent plenty of time praying for our safety, as well as the safety of those we were with. Both of us, without the other knowing, were praying for God to just carry us up the mountain if we struggled and were unable to make it ourselves.

As we wrote before, come summit day we somehow managed to “fly” up the mountain without issue, arriving at the summit a good 45+ minutes before the next groups. There really is no explanation for our strong performance…we spent the previous 2+ months at sea level in Asia. We did spend plenty of time walking while in Asia, but most of the walking was from food stall to food stall. So anyway, our climbing Kili wasn’t as much about us completing a remarkable feat as it was about us being “carried” up the mountain by a higher power.

On a related note (from Dustin)…those of you who put money on me gaining weight might want to hedge those bets. I'm currently down over 15 pounds. We’ve found that if you climb a big mountain once every 3-4 months and spend the rest of the time exploring on foot then you can pretty much eat anything and everything you want (which I have).

Rachel's German Attempts:
Rachel took German in 9th and 10th grade...11 years ago. When we arrived into Germany she figured it would come right back to her. One of her first attempts at speaking the language was at a bakery we stopped at for breakfast. She was feeling good about her language skills as we were enjoying the coffee and quiche she successfully ordered...until that third coffee arrived. She had switched the German words for "two" and "three"...so instead of a cup of coffee each, we got three for the two of us.

Half-Way:
Another thing we forgot to write about earlier…at the beginning of August we finally passed the half-way point of our journey: seven months down, seven to go. It is going by way too fast, but at the same time we keep thinking of everything we've already seen and all we have left to see.

Current Update:
Since leaving England we made a beeline to Munich where we picked up Connie & Hannah (Dustin's mom & sister). They will be joining us for two weeks while we explore France, Switzerland, and Germany. On the way to Munich we made a quick stop in Luxembourg, which was surprisingly delightful, before getting to Germany and soaking in the full Bavarian atmosphere (lots of bratwurst and beer).

Upcoming Plans:
Over the next four months we plan on traveling from central Europe, through the Balkans, and into Turkey. After Turkey, we’ll see Greece and Italy. By mid-November we plan on being in Morocco to catch those early-winter, north-Atlantic storm waves peeling perfectly into the right points along the coast. If we can pull ourselves away from the waves, we’ll spend our last few weeks in Europe exploring Scotland and northern England.

Favre?!?!?!

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm out of the country and won't be able to watch a single second of Brett Favre wearing the Purple and Gold. In fact, I'm not sure I'll even come back to the US until Favre is no longer a Viking....

Dustin (Rachel is rather indifferent)

England

The last 10 days have been spent searching for a van and enjoying some much needed downtime after our whirlwind tour of Africa. We've been staying with family friends in southern England and it's been great having a house to stretch out and relax in.  We're starting to realize that 3-4 months of continuous traveling is about the limit before you need to take a week or so to just unwind and soak everything in.

We did manage to pull ourselves away from the house for a two day trip into London....a very interesting city.  Historic buildings everywhere, tons of pubs, and lots of tourists.

A view of the London Eye from St. James Park near Buckingham Palace:

Big Ben:

Now that we found the van that will be our home for the next four months we're ready to take off and explore again.  Tonight we'll take the Channel tunnel from England to France and start our European adventure.  

Dustin and Laurie hard at work building a frame in the van for our bed:

Our home, a 1995 Volkswagen Transporter:

Comments

One more note:  We discovered the "Comments" section on our blog required people to sign in using a Google log-in to post comments.  We've changed the settings now so anyone can leave a message at the end of our posts.   Just click on "Comment" and let us know what you think.  

Catching Up

Just a quick post to get everyone up to date:

After a 10 hour bus ride from from Moshi, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya (worst bus trip of our journey so far), followed by a full day of flying, we finally made it to London on August 4th. We're currently staying with some family friends in Southampton while we search for the van that will act as our home for the next four months.

After three months it feels good to be back to a developed, English speaking country.  We no longer have to worry about all of those little things that make traveling so interesting: bargaining for a room every night, not being exactly sure what that meal you just ordered is, wondering how long that six hour bus ride is actually going to take, etc etc. 

We crammed a lot into our 19 days in Africa, starting with our 8-day camping safari and finishing up with six days of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.  That didn't leave much time to keep the blog updated, but we should be able to get back to weekly updates now that we're in Europe.  So keep reading and enjoy!

Kilimanjaro climb...did we make it?

Hike Mt. Kilimanjaro or go to Zanzibar?  Those were our two choices after finishing up our 8 day camping safari, which unfortunately didn't leave time for us to do both Zanzibar and Kili.  Since we both swore off high altitude hiking after trekking in the Himalayas, Zanzibar appeared to be the logical choice, however we decided we couldn't leave Africa without an attempt at climbing the highest mountain on the continent...

Our first view of the summit:

We left at midnight to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.  The sky was filled with stars and the air was crisp.  Perfect weather for our final ascent up the volcano.  We marched like soldiers. Falling into a smooth, steady pace we methodically crept towards the peak.  As other teams stopped for breaks we pressed on in an effort to avoid the harsh, bitter wind that threatened to freeze exposed skin.  We felt like wimps.  Surely, two Minnesota natives wouldn't need 3 pairs of pants, 6 layers on top, and 2 hats each?  But, we did.  Dustin's confidence in us was reassuring, but could I muster up the strength and determination needed to reach the summit?  I was frozen.  My feet felt like stumps and I was positive my fingers were feeling the onset of frostbite.  There was no turning back now.  Four hours in and we had reached Gilman's Point located at the rim of the crater at 18,577 feet.  Twenty mile an hour winds blew at the rim and the temperature hovered around -5 F.

Our trusty headlamps continued to light the way as I periodically looked up hoping to spot the summit, Uhuru Peak.  As we stopped for only our 2nd two minute break in the four hour march up the mountain we realized we had passed all of the other teams from our camp and we were also ahead of the groups from nearby routes.

Thoughts of John Krakauer, from the book, "Into Thin Air" flashed through my mind as we inched closer and closer to the summit.  In no way do I consider climbing Kilimanjaro comparable to the countless trials one must face to reach the top of Mt. Everest, but in that moment I was climbing my Everest and I wanted to make it.

Only a handful of words were spoken during our long ascent to the summit.  "Are we almost there?"  I called.  But my words were lost in the wind.  Dustin, oblivious to my inquiry yells "There's the sign."  Tears flooded my eyes as the sign for the summit came into view.

Freezing cold, but happy to have made it to the summit:

We reached Mt. Kilmanjaro's Uhuru Peak at 5:25am on July 31st.  We were the first team to reach the 19,344 ft summit that morning, standing on top of Africa's highest point by ourselves.

We left Uhuru Peak in darkness, the same way we found her.  The sun rose as we skied down the scree slopes back to camp.  

The beautiful sunrise above the clouds on the way down:

We covered 62 miles in 6 days.  On the day of the summit we logged 25 miles.  The sore knees and swollen feet are merely temporary reminders of weakness leaving the body.

Our dirty feet after our 25 mile day:

Tanzania Safari, Part 2

So...it's been awhile since we told you how the rest of our safari turned out.  Did we get lost in the Serengeti?  How many of the Big Five did we see?  Did we almost get attacked by the locals again?  How many lions did we see?  What did we sing while sitting around the campfire?  Did we even survive the eight days?

For those short on time, here's the answers to those questions:  Yes, for about half a day.  Four of the five.  Only some rock throwing by the local Maasai village boys.  57 total in 8 days.  The song "Barbie Girl".  And, yes, we survived.

Since we're way behind on posts and Ashley's not here to help with the last four days of the safari you're stuck with our quick recap.

Here are a few of the highlights from our last four days on safari along with our favorite pictures.  Good luck to anyone who wants to look through our Picasa albums with all 562 pictures we took during the eight days.

Day 5

• Woke up in the morning not sure what the noise we heard from camp the night before was.  Was it Cody snoring or was it lions growling?  (We had been treated to lovely serenades coming from Cody's tent for a few nights now.)  When Cody came out of his tent in the morning and asked if we heard the lions we knew it wasn't his snoring.  It's a good thing there were fences around our camp....oh wait, there weren't any fences. 
• Number of lions seen today: 14.  Number of times we became jaded to seeing lions: none. The 14 we saw included a pride of six  lionesses hunting some gazelle and a huge male lion that walked within 10 feet of our vehicle.
• Spent our evening sitting around the campfire.  Once all of the other tourists from Italy and elsewhere went to bed early, the guides and cooks from the other camps broke out the Tusker Beer.  We stayed up late drinking Tusker and singing "Barbie Girl" around the fire.  (Fido started the singing, but Ashley and Rachel knew almost all the words.  For everyone's sake, Cody and Dustin stuck to drinking.)

Day 6

• Saw four of the "Big Five" in just a few minutes today....a leopard, lots of lions, elephants, and a huge herd of cape buffalo.
• Got lost taking the "back way" out of the Serengeti.  Ended up in the middle of nowhere in a Maasai village where, judging by the reaction we got, they had probably never seen white people before.  As we were driving towards the village some of the kids threw rocks at the vehicle.  Once we got to the village the kids ran and hid behind their parents.
• After the most bumpy, dusty 8 hr ride any of us had ever been on we finally arrived to our campsite for the night.  In the 8 hrs of driving we saw a total of three other vehicles.  After the ride we all had a new found appreciation for the Land Rover we were in...it could handle anything.

Day 7

• Took a break from the vehicle and animal watching to stretch our legs. We hired two young Maasai boys to bring us to a beautiful series of waterfalls in a small slot canyon.  They were tucked back in a small river valley with no one else around for miles.  Had a great time cooling off in the pools and playing under all the cascades.
• On the way back from the waterfalls we stopped for a tour of a Maasai village.  These people were far and away the least Westernized people we've met on our travels.  We're talking houses made from sticks and poop, crazy piercings and huge rings in their ears, diets consisting almost entirely of goat (meat, blood, insides...they eat it all), and obviously no electricity or Western conveniences.  It was one of the only places we've been on our travels where we didn't see the locals wearing any Western clothes.  The only exception was the one guy we saw walk out in the full traditional clothing and beads, except...What is that on his feet?  A pair of old Nikes?  We have no idea where he got them.

Day 8

• Finished up our last day with the neatest thing we saw while on safari - a pride of nine lions hunting a cape buffalo.  As we pulled up, they had him surrounded and he was frantically fighting off their advances.  Eventually he made it into a cluster of trees where we couldn't see him.  We anxiously watched as the lions patiently waited for him to emerge.  Finally he came running, full speed, out of the trees and straight at our vehicle.  The lions gave chase for awhile, but eventually let him go as he passed within 15 feet of the front of our car.  We blame his escape on the fact that Rachel was cheering for him to get away.

On to the pictures.  For those who can't spare the four hours or so needed to go through all 562 pictures we took over the eight days, here are some of our favorites.  

Our pre- and post-safari departure dinner spot: Khan's - Auto Parts store by day, delicious Indian BBQ by night:

Exploring the slot canyon waterfalls near Lake Natron:

Maasai boy chasing his donkeys home:

Elephants in Tarangire Nat'l Park:

Zebra in our camp on the Ngorongoro Crater rim:

Wildebeest crossing the road in Tarangire Nat'l Park:

The crew in our trusty Land Rover:

Serengeti sunset:

Maasai Village with an active volcano in the background:

Hanging out with the Maasai:

The King of Ngorongoro Crater:

Mmmm....zebra:

The shot of the trip, lions chasing a cape buffalo right past our vehicle:

The big guy that walked within 10 feet of our vehicle:

Somehow the zebra must have known that the lion had just ate and was taking a nap:

Giraffe up close and personal in Tarangire Nat'l Park:

Elephant crossing in Tarangire Nat'l Park:

Cheetah in the Serengeti: