Kilimanjaro2006

Day 3 on Kilimanjaro was amazingly beautiful, incredibly windy, and phenomenally scenic. The two videos below are from the climb, and you can also see all of our pictures from Day 3 of the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro by clicking here.

Again, the video may take a minute to load after you click play, and you may have to click play twice, depending on your computer. So please try clicking play twice... and then wait for a minute to see if the movie will load. If it doesn't, please try clicking play again.

Video 1 of Day 3 on Kilimanjaro

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Video 2 of Day 3 on Kilimanjaro

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Posted by Jonathan at 10:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The video may take up to 1 minute to work (on faster connections) so click play, and then be patient. The video will load. (If it's still not loading, see the instructions below.)

You can watch our first two days of climbing the mountain (in our video summary below) and then you can see all of our pictures from our first day climbing Mount Kilimanjaro!

You can also see all of our pictures from Day 2 of the climbing Mount Kilimanjaro by clicking here.

Video 1 of our first two days on Mount Kilimanjaro!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Video 2 of our first two days on Mount Kilimanjaro!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Remember, you can also see all of our pictures from Day 1 of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or see all of our pictures from Day 2 by clicking here.

Posted by Jonathan at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're in Africa! Jambo! (Hello in Swahili)

We made it safe and sound, flying on KLM Airlines, which we have absolutely come to love in the last 48 hours. All of our flights were on time, and the planes are amazing. More on that will come in another posting.

We spent our first day on safari in Arusha National Park. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!

Our hotel is amazing too! It's the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge. It's more of a resort than a hotel, on a coffee plantation, with a golf course, and it backs right up to Arusha National Park!

We have pictures and video, of course (over 200 pictures from today alone), which we will be sharing on kilimanjaro2006.com.

One challenge... The Internet costs $5/hour at our hotel, and we're completely out of range of email once we're on the mountain. We're acutally leaving from our hotel at 7:30 A.M. tomorrow. So... this will be the last posting until July 5th.

Until then, if you're worried, don't be. Hakuna Matata, and send lots of positive thoughts our way. We look forward to sharing more our our travels with you then!

Posted by Jonathan at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

On these days (our travel across the ocean days), we awoke in New Jersey, and our friend Viliam Choma drove us from Spotswood to Newark Airport. We then flew across the Atlantic Ocean to Amsterdam. This filght was about 8 hours. We then had a five hour layover in Amsterdam, and took a 9 hour flight to Kilimanjaro airport, in Tanzania. The videos below show our travel to Africa, and our first day in Africa, when we went on safari, toured the coffee plantation (where our hotel was located), and had an otherwise marvelous day!

The videos may each take up to 1 minute to work (on faster connections) so click play, and then be patient. The video will load. (If it's still not loading, see the instructions below.)

You can watch our first day in Africa (in our video summary below, and then you can see all of our pictures from the travel, the safari, and our first day in Tanzania, Africa!

Safari/Africa Tour Video 1

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Safari/Africa Tour Video 2

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Safari/Africa Tour Video 3

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Safari/Africa Tour Video 4

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Download Links
(If you want to download the videos from above) Right Click, choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.
Safari video 1
Safari video 2
Safari video 3
Safari video 4

Remember, you can also see all of our pictures from the travel, the safari, and our first day in Tanzania, Africa!

Posted by Jonathan at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We leave in about 20 minutes for Africa! We are so very excited, and anxious, and nervous, but mostly VERY excited!

We had intended to get up more of our pictures, but simply didn't have time. Rest assured, they are safe and will be posted when we get back.

Our goal is to have all of our pictures and video posted no later than July 30th, as we won't even get back to Colorado until July 17th.

Between now and July 5th, we don't know what kind of Internet access we'll have, but we will do our best to keep everyone updated on our progress!

If you haven't checked out Day 2 and Day 3 pictures and video yet, be sure to do that.

Thank-you to everyone for your support, and we look forward to seeing and talking with you all again soon!

Jonathan and Carrie

Posted by Jonathan at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click the video below below to watch a video of our Day 9!

The video may take up to 1 minute to work (on faster connections) so click play, and then be patient. The video will load. (If it's still not loading, see the instructions below.)

On day 9, we awoke in New Jersey, and rode the New Jersey transit from South Amboy to Penn Station in Manhattan. We went to the Empire State Building, Times Square, Long Island, took a boat ride, saw the statue of Liberty, ate Pakistani food, and saw the financial district at night.

You can watch day 9 (in our video summary below, and then you can see all of our pictures from day 9 here!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Don't forget, you can see all of our pictures from day 9 here!

Posted by Jonathan at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click the video below below to watch a video of our Day 8! Once you click play, it may take up to 1 minute to work.

On day 8, we awoke in New Jersey, and visited Philadelphia again, and then drove to our friends' house, near South Amboy, New Jersey. From South Amboy, we took the New Jersey transit to Penn Station in Manhattan, where we caught one of those crazy NYC taxis to get to the show just in time!

You can watch day 8 (in our video summary below, and then you can see all of our pictures from day 8 here!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Don't forget, you can see all of our pictures from day 8 here!

Posted by Jonathan at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click the video below below to watch a video of our Day 7! Once you click play, it may take up to 1 minute to work.

On day 7, we found ourselves driving through Delaware, staying in New Jersey, and visiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where we saw Constitution Hall! We have some great tips for you for Philadelphia too, which we will have on our pictures page.

You can watch day 7 (in our video summary, and then you can see all of our pictures from day 7 here!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Don't forget, you can see all of our pictures here!

Posted by Jonathan at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So this morning we went to get our second rental car of the trip. Just so you know, they change an arm and two legs for you to do a one way rental because of the drop-off fee. Apparently, the cars all have to remain in the same state they’re registered in, and they have no way of getting the cars back to where they belong. Well, that’s what they’d have you believe. We left DC for Newark, we’re driving a car registered in New York. So, we’re the drop off service, but we get charged more to do their work. And, if you want to pay with a credit card that belongs to someone other than the person who will be the “primary driver", they tack on extra fees for that too. Jeez, I’m beginning to really dislike rental car companies.

I have this rule that in order to say that I’ve been to a state, I have to spend the night there. Well, we ran into a problem with that rule.

Delaware.

It’s so small, and we’re over-nighting in all the surrounding states, so if I wanted to abide by my own rule, I would have to make a special trip out to Delaware sometime just to spend the night. Seems pretty silly to me. So, we tried to find something local and fun to do that would count as us having visited Delaware, thus bending the rule. We came across this Farmer’s Market that, according to the online description is “run by the Pennsylvania Dutch‿. Well, that wasn’t really accurate. It was more of a flea-market than a farmer’s market, but we still went and had a good time. We also got to visit Wal-Mart in Delaware…not local, but still necessary.

We decided to check into our hotel first so we could unload all our bags. Once we got into Philadelphia, it was after 5, so the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall were both closed. But we still had a great time walking around the city. We walked down the Jewelry Row and had amazing Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches at a place called Pete’s Pizza (located between 3rd and 2nd on the same street as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell). Our plan for tomorrow is to go to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall early in the morning and try to beat the crowds. Then we’ll probably head back to Pete’s for some more great food! After that, we’ll head to NJ, where we will stay with one of our awesome sponsors, Mr. Viliam Choma

Posted by Carrie at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Where are you? Which continent?

We're still in DC, but we are driving to Philadelphia tomorrow, and really looking forward to seeing Independence Hall, as well as the Liberty Bell!

Stay tuned for more pictures! Only 5 days until we leave for Africa!

Posted by Jonathan at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Click the video below below to watch a video of our Day 5! Once you click play, it may take up to 1 minute to work.

Today, we went to see the National Museum of American History with the Thomas Edison Exhibit, (among many other amazing exhibits). We also went to The National Museum of Nature and the National Museum of Man. The Hope Diamond is hosted in the National Museum of Natural History, and since diamonds are a girl's best friend, we definitely had to go and see the fabled Hope Diamond.

We also went to eat Thai food with our new friend Steve, and we got some pictures of where we stayed with Yvette! Thanks so much Yvette!

You can watch day 5 (in the video below) and then you can see all of our pictures from June 15th here!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it, by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Don't forget, you can see all of our pictures from day five by clicking here!

Posted by Jonathan at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click the video below below to watch a video of our Day 4! Once you click play, it may take up to 1 minute to work.

Today, we went to see Arlington National Cemetery, The Iwo Jima Memorial, the FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Holocaust Museum.

It was a VERY BUSY DAY!

You can watch day 4 (in the video below) and then you can see all of our pictures from June 14th here!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it, by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Don't forget, you can see all of our pictures from day four by clicking here!

Posted by Jonathan at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click the video below below to watch a video of our Day 3! Once you click play, it may take up to 1 minute to work.

You can watch day 3 (in video snippets, and then you can see all of our pictures here!

If you are having trouble with the above video (i.e. people on dial-up), you might try downloading it, by using your right mouse button. Right Click here, and then choose "Save Target As". Save it on your computer, and then watch it from there.

Posted by Jonathan at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, today markes the official start of our trip!

We were so excited that we decided to see EVERYTHING today! Well, not everything, or even close to everything... but here's the list...

The Library of Congress, Supreme Court Building, Union Station, Chinatown DC, Ford's Theater (where Lincoln was shot), The White House, The Lincoln Memorial, The Korean Memorial, World Wars I and II memorials, The Vietnam Memorial, and the Washington Monument.

As promised, I have added more about what the pictures actually are, and our stories of travel!

Click here now to check out our pictures and travel stories!.

And, if you want to check out our video from today, take a look.

Thanks for watching the video!

Now, click here and check out our pictures!

Posted by Jonathan at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We rented a car at Baltimore's Airport, and drove down to where we are staying in Vienna, VA.  The first night we got here, we must have been total zombies.  But Yvette was nice enough to deal with us, and help to brainstorm a list of places we should see, and more importantly, the order we should see them in.

Because the public transportation system is very good in Washington D.C., we decided to return our rental car, rather than adding additional days.  But we decided that we would see the out of the way "Hains Point Giant" statue before returning the rental car What we noticed was the huge contrast between us (HAPPY), and the majority of people on the road.

But that's to be expected when we're on vacation in a new place, and they're just going about the daily grind.
Check out these unhappy drivers. The guy in the blue car was FUMING.

We seriously thought he was going to kill someone.

Now, here's me! Very happy about seeing famous Washington D.C. landmarks out the window.

So after some slight driving confusion and significant traffic, we got to Hains Point park, and drove to see "The Giant!"

If you don't know what the giant is, it's actually a statue on Hains Point called "The Awakening".
Read more about "The Awakening"

I told Carrie that it would be funny if she took a picture sitting in the giant's mouth. So Carrie tried to crawl into the giant's mouth, and she told me that he tried to bite her.

I had a hard time believing her. After all, this is just a statue of a giant, right?

But, just to be on the safe side, I approached very cautiously.

I tried to sneak into the giant's mouth

As I was crawling in, I realized that Carrie was right. This giant was alive, and he had FOUL breath!

So I got out of there as quickly as I could, in case he decided to take a bite.

As I scampered out of his mouth, his giant hand moved, and looked like it would come right down and crush me.

So Carrie and I pondered - maybe we should head for friendlier parts of the giant.

Carrie courted the feet and knee

While I found the hand to be quite nice.

Hains Point Park also has a lot of other nice locations to see, and things to do.

On the way to Reagan Washington National airport (to return the car), we got a view (from the distance), of the Thomas Jefferson memorial.

We'll return back here in a couple of days.

One of life's little rules is "Always return a borrowed car with the gas tank full." Nowhere is that more the case than with a rental car. But, based on what I was told at the car rental place, I did not re-fuel the car before returning it. That was a mistake.

Long story short, a one day car rental cost us $112.00. Yes, this may quality for the most expensive car rental (for a one day compact car rental) in history. Moral of the story: "Always return a borrowed car with the gas tank full" no matter what the person behind the counter tells you.

Also, you really should have your contracts reviewed, ALWAYS, before you sign them. Sometimes it's inconvenient, but it's ALWAYS a good idea.

We then took the DC Metro blue line from Reagan Washington National Airport to the orange line, to head out to Vienna, VA.

We took the DC Metro to the bus stop, and then walked about 10 minutes from the bus stop back to where we're staying, with our friends Misti and Yvette. Where we're staying is pretty close to this building.

Posted by Jonathan at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just a little update on our travel and what we're up to now!

After pulling an all-nighter getting ready for the trip, my mom drove us to Denver International Airport, which was so cool, since it was her BIRTHDAY!!! Happy Birthday Mom!

Our flight left about 30 minutes late, and we spent the flight dozing in and out of consciousness. (Not really - but since we had only slept 5 hours in 50+, it felt a little like fading in and out of reality). We landed at Baltimore Washington Airport, where we rented a car and drove to Virginia.

We are safe and sound in Vienna, VA, where we are staying with some great friends, and have spent this morning figuring out the public transportation.

Here are the web sites we are using to figure out the local transit system:
http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/425_427web.pdf

Why don't we just rent a car?

We could, but why waste all the excellent exposure opportunities for our sponsors!

So right before we left, we had a little celebration, and popped the cork on some champagne at about 2 AM - one VERY large company called us to say that they were going to be our largest supporter on the trip, and we are very excited to announce who they are to you - as we have with our other sponsors. BUT, we're just waiting to get all the tehnical details worked out (legal and whatnot), so that will wait for just a little longer.

Here are are the companies who are coming with us today -
www.OneLighthouse.com
www.SpeedyPin.com
www.GalleryRoadShow.com

Posted by Jonathan at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The night before leaving for our big trip, Jonathan and I thought we were pretty well prepared. We had separated everything we needed into piles, one for him, and one for me. All that was left was to actually pack them. Because our trip ranges from the touristy to the adventurous, we had to pack for two trips. We have these big backpacks that are home to all of our Kilimanjaro gear. And now that they're packed, we're not opening them until we get to Africa. We did our gear checks both before packing, and as we packed, so we're sure we have everything. But, it was pretty interesting fitting 10 days worth of stuff for 5 climates, and sleeping bags and pads into one backpack. Then we moved on to packing for our tourist part of this trip. By this time it was pretty late, about 2:30am. Jonathan came into the bedroom, looks at me and says, "Do I need any sweaters?" Yes, Jonathan, we'll need lots of sweaters to visit NYC, DC, and Florida in June! Well, we were up all night getting ready, but we're here, and the only thing that was forgotten was a toothbrush.

Posted by Carrie at 01:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jonathan and I got to have dinner with our friends Shannon and Peter the other night. Shannon and I are in the same master's program. The four of us met half way at Buca di Beppo in LoDo Denver. Here's a picture of us all after we enjoyed a very wonderful dinner.  And here are some pictures of
our food. It was yummy.
Shannon gave me a really great birthday card. Here's what she wrote: "Carrie, although it may be hard to 'indulge' on the side of a mountain or in the middle of the savannah, I hope you do get the chance to indulge yourself, even if it means just indulging in a few extra moments of reflection. I hope you have a very happy birthday & I'm sorry I won't be able to be there to share it with you. Shannon"
It's really nice to get something that you need to hear at the exact right moment. And that what she was able to do for me, both with the birthday card, and the card that she and Peter gave to Jonathan and I both. Here's what this one said: "Congratulations! You've accomplished the hardest task: banishing the what-ifs & might-have-beens, and are now setting out following your dreams! May you climb every mountain with this courage & determination and may all the climbing gods grant you good weather & pleasant travel ompanions.

We're so proud of you (and a little jealous too!). Kudos, luck & bring us back great pics! Shannon & Peter" Wow,
Shannon should really work for Hallmark. I wish I could write things that carried as much meaning and faith and "good vibes" as she does.

Jonathan and I always love spending time with our friends, and this was an especially good time (maybe because of this fountain inside the restaurant). Well, thanks again Shannon and Peter. Shannon asked for the great pics, because she does awesome work taking pictures and turning them into DVDs. She has her own website called
Shanbrite Designs. I've seen a few of her projects and they turned out so great that we have commissioned her to take all of our pictures and turn them into a DVD for us!

That way all of our friends can easily check out our pictures, and any time we want to reminisce, we can just pop in a DVD. You'll see more of her work soon. Thanks Shannon and Peter; we love you guys!

Posted by Carrie at 03:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What is the perfect thing to do when you have only FOUR DAYS TO GO before you climb the tallest mountain in Africa? Have a "We're climbing Mount Kilimanjaro party!"

Here are some pictures from the party...

Bill, Jonathan's Grandma, and Jonathan's Oma.

Carrie with our little friend Samuel.

Something funny happened to Shannon and Christoph when this picture was taken. They were visited by a heavenly light. So rather than messing with the heavenly light (via Paint Shop), we left it in the picture.

It's also Carrie's birthday on June 13th, while we're gone on our trip, so we also celebrated Carrie's birthday too, with my parents, brother, sister, and some friends here.

My parents and sister gave Carrie presents for the trip, which means I got to have the benefit of Carrie's birthday, including the presents of: spray waterproofing, baby wipes (A.K.A. Portable shower), three boxes of cliff bars, and powdered Gatorade.

In other good, exciting and fun news, we also have a new and incredible sponsor, Ms. Marge Nuttall.  You will be able to read more about this woman very soon.

Posted by Jonathan at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

5 Days to go!

We got our long underwear in the mail. Whoo-hoo! An earlier post shows where we found the best prices on long underwear.

So here we are, in all our underwear glory, being underwear models.
.
.
.
.

Just kidding.

Carrie auditioned for the underwear model position, but later felt a little nervous about being an underwear model, so this is all you get of Carrie in her long underwear.

As for Jonathan, well, he auditioned for the long underwear model position as well, and didn't feel nervous at all.  In fact, he was happy to share the picture, but Carrie and Jonathan both decided that the rest of the world might not be that excited about seeing Jonathan as an underwear model... so here's Jonathan in hislong underwear, from the waist up.

We also got our liner socks from MooseJaw.  MooseJaw's slogan is "Love the Madness" and you can see from their packaging that they remain true to their mission. We wanted to share their packaging with you, because it just cracks us up. (See the earlier post for the
best prices we found on liner socks.) We each got 8 pairs of liner socks, and 4 pairs of thicker climbing/hiking socks for the Kilimanjaro climb. (Carrie's allergic to wool, so she got different climbing/hiking socks than I did.) Here's the strategy with liner socks... we have one one
pair of liner socks for each day of the climb, and we'll wear the thicker hiking socks two days for each pair. That way, we can wear a new pair of liner socks each day, without actually packing 8 pairs of the thick climbing socks. Conserving space is a necessity on this trip!

Doug Kelley, a friend of ours who has done extensive mountain climbing, left us a really nice message, wishing us well, and he offered us this piece of advice. "Once you're done packing, unpack and leave behind 1/3rd of what you packed initially. You will NEVER use it!

So, we'll see. Jonathan's not exactly known for packing light for trips.

We also got our lounge-around shoes through our sponsorship from Payless Shoesource. These are the shoes we wear around the campsite at night, when we're done climbing for the day and just want some comfortable shoes to put on.  Carrie got the Champion shoes, and I got the Airwalk Flip shoes.

We'll also be getting shoe liners for these shoes to make them as uber-comfortable as possible.

As well, we inventoried our stuff today... more pictures of that coming in a later posting!

Posted by Jonathan at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Carrie and Jonathan (We like talking about ourselves in the third person... makes us feel special!) were interviewed by Steve Kelley on FOX31's Good Day Colorado on May 30th. Why were we there? We were being interviewed about our Kilimanjaro climb, of course.

Here's the video of our interview! We're working on getting it totally accessible for everyone, but if you're on a dial-up, it may take a long time for you to get this video.

Click play, and then be patient! It will take a minute or two. (If you're having any problems viewing the video, please click the "Comments" below, and let us know.)

If you want to download this video, right click on THIS LINK, and then select "Save Target As" and save it on your computer somewhere.

A HUGE thank-you to FOX31 and Steve Kelley for their sponsorship!

Also, we are excited to announce, we have another two awesome sponsors...

InspirionInc

and

TheLanguageofPeace.com

We leave in just seven days!!! WOW!

Getting into final preparations! Thank-you to everyone for all your words of encouragement! Keep it coming!

Posted by Jonathan at 02:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)