What’s Happening

Although admittedly this blog has focused on our extraordinary adventures, and while admittedly some of them have been quite amazing, (and admittedly much more interesting to read about), these aforementioned adventures in reality occupy a minuscule fraction of our time here. Our minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and yes, almost a year, are, in actuality,

Out Of Africa

(With apologies to Karen Blixen, of course.) When I left The Land Of The Free and The Home Of The Brave last April for Amazing African Adventures Unknown, my intentions were (what did I know??) that I would not leave the continent for the duration of my two year commitment. That was my plan. I

Stateversary

Because so many Denverites are transplants from somewhere else, many people celebrate their “Denversary” every year on the anniversary of the day they moved to Denver. Denver is such an awesome city, it’s worth celebrating! A year ago today, I left my beloved Denver in search of adventure, and to begin my career with the Department

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

To the best of my knowledge, except for some animal sanctuary in Georgia, the three animals named above do not reside together in any natural ecosystem. Africa is home to lions, Asia to tigers, and North America to bears, so I’m not sure why Dorothy and her friends were expecting to meet them on the

Lessons Learned from the Streak

A word of caution: This post is about running. If you hate running, or reading about running, or even if you hate runners (OMG, no way, right?!?!?), go ahead and move on to the next item on your reading list. So I belong to a group of runners from all over the world. It’s really

The Road Is Never Long When The Company Is Good

“The road is never long when the company is good.” That certainly applies to our trek up Mount Kilimanjaro, both to my fellow hikers–my son Adam and our friend Todd–as well as to our crew of sixteen guides, chefs, and porters from Team Kilimanjaro. Where do I begin? It’s been a dream of mine to

Courage, Ma Ma, Courage

Pronounced with a French accent, as in coo-RAJ, Ma Ma, coo RAJ. It’s my favorite thing about living here and I look forward to it every week. Amongst the many things that figure into what makes a place a good place to live, (alongside of the people, the climate, the safety and security, the food,

Adventures in Gorillas: Congo~Style

Mathematically speaking, I’m not sure if one can have a Once-In-A-Lifetime experience more than once in a lifetime, but we did. A year ago this month, we had the incredible opportunity to float the Grand Canyon. 12 days, 188 miles, 75 rapids, 0 showers, one near death experience, and one horrendous scorpion sting later, it

Adventures in Africa: Burundi~Style

I take my job seriously. I work hard. I try to work smart. I’m available 24/7. I’m as prepared as I can be for an emergency. I’m no slacker. But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so every once in a while, I hand the Health Unit Duty Phone off to

July 20th = One Hundred Days

Elementary school children often celebrate one hundred days of school with lots of fun counting activities. And although I’m far from elementary school in every way, I thought I’d steal their idea and celebrate my One Hundredth Day with you. One Hundred Days in Burundi. Fourteen weeks. Sixty-five work days. Countless new friends, co-workers and