Another Year Wiser...

... and more forgetful!  In the blogging blitz that was late September, I failed to mention that some of us (two thirds of us) had birthday's come and go.  For Roger's birthday we drove out West to the escarpment that overlooks Lake Manyara and the Great Rift Valley.  We stayed at a tented camp called Kirurumu.  We didn't do any game drives but rather opting for swimming at a nearby lodge with an infinity pool that over looks the Rift Valley and an ethno-botanical walk on the property of the lodge with a Massai guide.  It was ethno-botanical only in the sense that the Massai guide pointed to one leaf-less shrub after another and told us about the medicinal uses of each among the Massai.  The only tree I remember is the one he pointed out that they use (the roots) and boil it in milk and drink to treat gonorrhea and syphilis.  Roger tried his [adolescent] humor out on the guide with that one but it went straight over his head!


We went to another lodge nearby that has this amazing infinity pool over the Great Rift Valley

The day was cloudy, we were at about 4,000 ft and the water was ice cold.  Millie is made of steel!

The dinning room was right on the escarpment



And you thought you needed to spend hundreds of $$$ on hiking gear at REI.  Behold, the Massai shuka - various woold blankets in complimentary colors and patterns drapped across your body as necessary all for about $7.



For my birthday we had a little celebration at home in which Roger gave me a cake the size of a bicycle wheel.  And how fitting since my prezzie is a a bike (which is due to make landfall any day now)!