We FINALLY have some visitors from the USA!! Hurrah!!
Our youngest son, Andrew, and his friend Kelly came for a visit between my final exams I gave and the Departmental Board meeting wherein we will report our students' final grades.
We picked them up after 54 hours of travel from Phoenix through Chicago to a long layover in Frankfurt, then to Johannesburg for a long layover before coming on to Gabs. They were a bit "tuckered" to say the least.
We had planned to give them 3 days of rest before embarking on our epic road trip. So, Sunday they rested, but Monday we got them up at 0600 to drive up the road to the Gabs Game Reserve.
It was a terrific morning. It was overcast, and again, we were the only park visitors, as far as we knew. We saw all of the usual animals, plus a hartebeest. We saw ground squirrels for the first time in Gabs. We only saw a few zebra, but everything else in abundance. It was a good intro to Africa for them.
Andrew is a professional photographer, so he had a good chance to get some great shots of Vervet monkeys, impala, ostrich, warthogs, hartebeest, etc.
It was kinda neat to be the "guides" who knew where to go, and what we were seeing. We wore them out by about 0900, so we headed to Wimpy's restaurant for breakfast. They wanted to go rest a bit, so us elderly folk took them back to the flat.
A good time was had by all, but they were still jet-lagged a bit. We can't give them any more rest, because their time here is short, only a bit over 2 weeks.
We can easily see that 2 weeks is a short time in Africa, but it is harder for us to recognize that our life on this earth is equally short. "What is man, but a vapor that exists for a while and then vanishes." Yet we spend all this time, energy and attention focusing on this life, short as it is.
Andrew and Kelly spent some time planning their trip, but they sure didn't devote all their time and energy to it. Hmm, maybe there is a lesson in this for us?
Our youngest son, Andrew, and his friend Kelly came for a visit between my final exams I gave and the Departmental Board meeting wherein we will report our students' final grades.
We picked them up after 54 hours of travel from Phoenix through Chicago to a long layover in Frankfurt, then to Johannesburg for a long layover before coming on to Gabs. They were a bit "tuckered" to say the least.
We had planned to give them 3 days of rest before embarking on our epic road trip. So, Sunday they rested, but Monday we got them up at 0600 to drive up the road to the Gabs Game Reserve.
It was a terrific morning. It was overcast, and again, we were the only park visitors, as far as we knew. We saw all of the usual animals, plus a hartebeest. We saw ground squirrels for the first time in Gabs. We only saw a few zebra, but everything else in abundance. It was a good intro to Africa for them.Andrew is a professional photographer, so he had a good chance to get some great shots of Vervet monkeys, impala, ostrich, warthogs, hartebeest, etc.
It was kinda neat to be the "guides" who knew where to go, and what we were seeing. We wore them out by about 0900, so we headed to Wimpy's restaurant for breakfast. They wanted to go rest a bit, so us elderly folk took them back to the flat.
A good time was had by all, but they were still jet-lagged a bit. We can't give them any more rest, because their time here is short, only a bit over 2 weeks.
We can easily see that 2 weeks is a short time in Africa, but it is harder for us to recognize that our life on this earth is equally short. "What is man, but a vapor that exists for a while and then vanishes." Yet we spend all this time, energy and attention focusing on this life, short as it is.
Andrew and Kelly spent some time planning their trip, but they sure didn't devote all their time and energy to it. Hmm, maybe there is a lesson in this for us?
How wonderful that Andrew came for a visit! I know you are thrilled to have him there! I can only imagine that you miss your children and grandchildren very badly.
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