I'm Back!

I made it back from South Africa safe and sound. It was an amazing trip and the last 2 days were probably the highlight. We stayed at Edeni Wildlife Reserve. We slept in air conditioned African huts which included bed insect netting around our beds. Our last breakfast was shared with elephants eating in the distance. I will share some video later. I captured some great footage of the safaris.

Jo-Burg

Yesterday we arrived in Johannesburg around 1 and met up with some new people. A local couple. Todd was anxious to do some shopping so we started driving. We missed a turn which ended up making for a longer 3 hour ride in the van. We arrived at a shop and did some serious shopping. We were all given African shirts and we fitted right in.
We are staying in a hotel called The Grace. The staff is not as friendly here. We are supposed to be staying here for 3 nights but there is talk of moving down where all the action is. We hit up a 4 level restaurant last night. The name escapes me but the place was awesome. The meal was ridiculous as usual. I'll probably gain 10lbs over here. They also had live entertainment. A real good African band. The drums were real cool to watch. We stayed at this restaurant until 11:30pm and headed back. Today we are doing more shopping. Cheers!

Cape Town

This place is a lot different than I imagined. We have been very productive finding art to send back to the states and I have my hands full with the cameras.
Today we went for a drive around the southern coast looking for carved stone sculptures. We managed to cram 8 of us into a minivan. We had to take a detour because there was a beached whale that they were removing from the beach and the road was blocked off. Didn't see the whale but the stench was god awful. We went to the southern part of South Africa where the Indian Ocean and Atlantic meet.
Here is a local on the beach across from our hotel.
Sunset last night.
View from my balcony in the evening.
Coast of South Africa.
They carved into this mountain to make room for the road. The road was right on the edge of the mountain and was very narrow.
Stone carved statue shop. Enclosed with a fence and barbed wire.
Penguins. We also saw whales on the coast too.
Todd Nelson (owner of Kalahari Resorts) making some selections.
Beautiful.

Day 1

I made it to Cape Town last night 11pm South Africa time. I am 7 hours ahead of you. I finally got some rest and actually overslept but Gary (a guy we have been buying art from since 1999, he also picked me up from the airport) was waiting for me in the lobby. We went to his shop today and I shot some video. Tomorrow we are going to his market along the ocean and plan on getting some more video. It was cloudy today but a warm 70. Attached are some pics I snapped of the sunset at Camp's Bay. The mountains in the pics are called Lion's Head. Camp's Bay is a suburb of Cape Town. We are here for 4 nights. It's easier for me to email from gmail and wireless is only available from the lobby. Though dial-up is available in my room but I don't think I will bother. Talk soon....BR

Kaya at Isenrings

I borrowed the camera from work to get a little more familiar with it before I leave for South Africa on Sunday. Kaya was my subject.Kaya and Taylor playing with the EMS truck.

Father and Son times this week

Erica left for Switzerland Wednesday and Kaya and I have already had some great adventures. Wednesday we worked on painting pumpkins and Thursday we went to Kalahari's Indoor Theme Park.

Pumpkin Time

Today we went on a hunt for the perfect pumpkin.


Here it is! We'll probably carve it while erica is in Switzerland with her parents and sisters. Roger Lehr (her dad) has always wanted to visit Switzerland and as a retirement gift their children are taking them. I'll be a single parent for 10 days. Should be a breeze :-/


It was a great adventure until we got back into the car...

Apple Play Time

A couple weeks ago we found some time to venture over to Ski-Hi Apple Orchard. Kaya probably ate 5 partial apples.Last night we went for a bike ride and hit up the South School playground.

He's quite the climber these days.

Kaya is multi-talented

Kaya loves strumming his guitar with 3 strings. He's already cracked the neck once. What a rockstar!

Duck, Duck, Goose!

Haskins Park Baraboo