Another post is up for May 10th.

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Something I Would Do Well to Keep in Mind

when I am OCD-ingly planning out every hour of each day in my planner.

Now available: Ngorongoro crater

See below (May 10, 2011)

I Love. . .

this song.

And probably most of you have already heard it or know about it because I am usually pretty much the last person to catch on to new songs, but in case you haven't or in case you've forgotten about it.

And I have to give credit to my cousin Geri for blessing me with this little gem because I first heard it on her blog.

It's just so cute. It makes me want to skip and prance around my house.

PS I know. I know. I need to finish our trip. I promise to post at least 2 new posts about it TONIGHT. There you go. I've said it and now it must be done.

Ruckus Run

So I realize that I still need to finish my posts about the trip, and it really is just laziness on my part because I have most of the actual writings of the posts already done, it is just the putting them together and uploading pictures that I have left.

BUT right now I want to talk about this Run Ruckus Boston race I did 2 weeks ago which was basically like a 5K course with military-like obstacles. It was SUPER fun. It was also really hard, but it was great because they do it in waves, so once you finish you can look back out over the course and see people still running it and actually even over the next few days, I could just see the course and the obstacles in my mind, and think, "wow! I did that!"

Don't be fooled by the medals.
Everyone is a winner in the Ruckus Run.
I did finish in 46 minutes though and the avg. for men AND women was 45 minutes.
So yeah, you should be somewhat impressed. ;)

If you click on the link I put above you will be able to see a map of the course and some pictures of some of the obstacles they had. One of the first obstacles we came up to was "down and outs" which was this series of 4 or 5 mud pits in a row where you had to jump down into this pool of muddy water and run across it and then climb back up the other side and over a mound of dirt just to find that there was another one to go through and another and another and another. Although it definitely wasn't the hardest one, it was a little shocking to find such a wet obstacle right at the beginning of the race when you knew that it meant running the next 3 miles in soaking wet shoes and shorts.


Here is a link to some photos that were taken of me during the race. Two of the pictures were of the "gorilla bars" which when I heard about there being monkey bars on the course, I definitely didn't think that they would be one of the hardest obstacles for me, but these bars were made out of wood and they weren't stuck into the sides very well so they rotated around (I don't know if that was on purpose to make it harder, or just poor-craftsmanship) and so as you will see I was only ever able to get through 3 or 4 before dropping to my death below. And then the other obstacle that really gave me trouble were the 8-foot walls. I was able to get over the other ones that were shorter, but I had to pass after two unsuccessful attempts at each of the two 8-foot walls.

Anyway, it was a really fun and rewarding experience overall. I did it with 3 friends from my ward and I think that each of us along with other people we've talked to since the race will be running it again next year.

Brent, Melanie and I BEFORE the race

Melanie, Brent, Mary and I AFTER the race

And after a quick but necessary rinse.

Sorry for the delay

I have had most of these posts written for over a week, but we haven't had internet that would upload one picture in less than 60 minutes since we left Spain, so that is why you are only getting these now and all at once.

PS You should be able to make the pictures bigger by clicking on them. They are pretty small but I was afraid if I made them any bigger the post wouldn't all be able to fit on one page.

Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Looking out over the crater from the deck of our room.

This lodge was pretty cool. It had a real cabin/hunting (NOT poaching, the catch and release kind maybe. . . can you do that with hunting? Anyway. . . ) feel to it. We again were welcomed in with warm moist towels (and with me being the little bit of a clean body person that I am, you have to understand that this is a major point winner for me) and some freshly squeezed orange juice. It was delicious, and that's saying something because I’m not usually a big juice lover.

The lodge’s location is also awesome because it sits on the edge of the crater and all of the rooms face out over the crater. I have to say that I still think that I liked Gibb’s farm a little better (not just because I was able to show up my brothers in cow milking) but maybe that also had to do with the fact that at this lodge we no longer were the only ones around. But this lodge was lovely and it was fun to have a new experience.

Toothless grin after C.J. nicknamed me "cheese-whiz" for smiling too big.

Relaxing around the fire after a "hard" day out on safari

With these binoculars you could see the animals down in the crater

A group of Masai youth that came into the lodge to do a dance before we ate dinner.

Apparently the higher the boys can jump, the more beautiful of a first wife he gets.

Eating another 5-course dinner.
Man. Life is rough on a safari.

The two love birds that made this whole journey possible.
Thanks Mom & Dad!

Safari Day 2: Ngorongoro National Conservatory

Leaving behind Gibbs farm we headed off for the Ngorongoro crater. It’s called a “conservatory” instead of a “park” or “reserve” because the Masai people are allowed to live and pasture their animals on the land. Ngorongoro crater is this 160 square mile crater and Hezron told us that many of the animals will just stay there year-round because the walls of the crater are so steep.

Anyway I will just start off by saying that as AMAZING as yesterday was in Manyara Park, today was even 100 times better. To get a small picture of it, try to imagine a huge crater completely COVERED with African animals roaming all around like it was the set of The Lion King.

We were a little worried because it had rained all night long (which as pretty as it sounded over our heads on the tin roofs is not exactly great for safari viewing) and when we woke up, it was hard to see out even 10 feet in front of you because of the fog, and even when we drove through the gates of the conservatory the weather still didn’t look too promising, but it was amazing how the weather happening exactly over and inside the crater was completely different than what was going on around its rim. Inside the crater was completely rain and fog free—perfect weather for the perfect day of our second day of safari.

Just about to drive down into the crater

Wildebeasts. Possibly some of the ugliest animals ever, but still there is something cool about them.
Also, Hezron says that they "are a bit stupid" (in comparison to the zebras anyway)

Thomson Gazelles

Pumba!

Cape Buffalo.
Look at the cute little baby!

Another baby buffalo.
It was cute because whenever we got near or stopped by them, if there was a baby or small one in the group, the adults would all turn and face us in the car just to say, "Hey. Don't even think about it!"

Dik Dik. SOOOO small.

Oh Hey Mr. Hyena!

Not sure of the name of these guys.

Or this one either.
But look at those legs!

When I think about African wildlife, I don't usually think about ostriches, but here they are!

Okay, so this is an example of why Hezron is like the COOLEST and SMARTEST guides ever. We were just driving around the crater looking at all of the things you see above, and then Hezron was like, "Hey. We gotta hurry and catch those elephants before they cross the road." We all look at each other, because to us, no elephants were even in sight. So he points way off in the distance at this moving line of small black dots. "They're going to get water" he says, "and we want to get on that road before they cross." So we rush off and are able to get there in time before they cross the road. Hezron turns off the truck right in the middle of the road and then the elephants seeing us stopped there, put themselves in single file and just cross along RIGHT behind us. We literally could have reached out and touched them if we had wanted to. Which wouldn't have been the best idea because even though they aren't usually looking for a fight, these African Elephant guys are HUGE and you definitely don't want to be on their bad side.

Here they come.

Putting themselves into a line.

Single file.

Their line was so straight I think they might be soldier elephants or something.

Preparing to cross the road

My favorite.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE it!

And they're on their way to the watering hole.

This one decided to catch a quick bite just to show off.

I really wish I knew/remembered all of the names of these birds. But alas, I do not.

LIONS! guarding their kill from the previous day



4 lionesses (and 1 or 2/3 of 1 hart beast)



These two were about 20 feet off just taking a nap and relaxing in the sun.

1 brave little jakal starts creeping in to see if he can steal a bite

3 buddies join him to try a team attack

Nope. Not happening on these ladies' watch.

This lady lion decides it's just easier to lie right next to the food
instead of having to get up and down and up down chasing away the little guys.

Jakal--the African kanine.

another birdy

Pumba's relatives.

Not a clue.

SOOOOooo pretty!

Evidence of the co-habitation

We stopped here for lunch.
Just eating lunch in the middle of an African garden of Eden.
NBD.

Me and my new BFF Hezron.

Me and my old BFF Mom
("old" as in long-time BFF. Obviously.) 

Boys just chillin' out up top enjoying suckers from that place in Alpine.
(yes we brought some Utah with us)

Love this pic.

Packing it up and ready to finish the day.

A better pic of the little lake so you can see the hippos.

Hart beasts (live ones)

This is an example of one of the reasons that Hezron says that zebras are a lot smarter than wildebeasts.
The zebras stand together like this so they can be looking in all directions.
While the wildebeasts are just chowing down.

Heading back out of the beautiful crater.

Animal sightings of the day: African elephants, lion and lionesses (with dead eland) , wildebeests, zebra, hyenas, Thomson gazelles, gnu, Hartebeests, secretariats, hippopotamus, flamingos, warthogs, 2 black rhinos (from a long ways away, but close enough that we could see them and their horns with our binoculars), cape buffalos, plover, jackals (2 types. I can’t remember their names), vultures, and I think that is about it.