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May 01, 2007

Kevin's climbing Everest - right now!

Kevin Cherilla, our leader when we climbed Kilimanjaro, is on Everest now. He put together a blog so that we could read about his experiences while trying to summit the tallest mountain in the world. It really is a fun (and funny) read. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link: www.kcsummits.com/Everest_2007_Blog.html

Definitely go check it out if you've ever had even a little curiosity about what it's like to climb the highest mountain.

August 15, 2006

Britten and Chris return from the mountain

Jonathan and Carrie,

We are home safe and sound (even with all the London Terror that held us up). Thanks for your info on the hiking poles. We found some that we rented and were very thankful for them (especially on the way down, my knees were killing me and we were sliding everywhere in the mud in the rainforest). We were sooo sore for a few days afterwards too! We did make it to the summit just at sunrise and it was absolutely breathtaking. We took about 600 photos and video too. Actually we took more photos but somehow managed to lose one of our digital cameras on the mountain :( We had pretty good weather although we did see rain, snow and hail. We both loved to see the clouds roll into camp! It all just seemed like a whole different world (besides the coca cola that was everywhere!) We took the Rongai route (known as the Coca Cola route) up and came down the Marangu route. Thanks again for all your help! We were very prepared and thankful for your packing tips!

Britten and Chris =)

Continue reading "Britten and Chris return from the mountain" »

July 28, 2006

Kilimanjaro2006 in the news!

Carrie is from a town in the NorthEastern part of the state called Holyoke. The Holyoke Enterprise did a full story on us and our climb, and we thought it was a really nice article!

We've linked to it, or you can click to continue reading and read the article right here on our site!

Continue reading "Kilimanjaro2006 in the news!" »

July 16, 2006

A Few Kilimanjaro Favorites

So, we have some news, and some pictures to share!

Our news:

1. We're in Orlando, leaving for home in Colorado, and we are delayed. We may or may not make our connection in Chicago. Time will tell.

2. We're going to be on the news again! It might happen tomorrow morning. We say might because, well, #1. We might not make it on time.

So, because we're sitting here in an (another) airport, with annoyed people around us, we decided to use the free wireless internet access to do something positive with our delay.

So, here are a few of our favorite pictures.


A shot of the awesome mountain just seven days before our summit.


Jonathan as a cape buffalo.


Fiber Optic Flowers in Africa.


Carrie of the Frosty Hair.


Adam of the "I haven't showered in 8 days" hair.


Zebra Love
(A.K.A. You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours.)


The Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge (where we stayed the first two nights and our last night in Africa)


Carrie and Jonathan on Mount Kilimanjaro


Sunset over Mount Meru (Camp 2 - with Mount Kilimanjaro behind us)

July 06, 2006

Pictures from Kilimanjaro summit

We have over 1,000 pictures that we are currently cataloguing and organizing, putting into an easy-to-navigate and fun format.

But, a couple of people have asked us for pictures from the summit, so instead of having you wait for the next days' postings (from DC, NYC, and NJ, as well as our safari), here are just a few of our pictures from the summit.

Thanks for all your support! We have more to share, MUCH MORE, and it will be coming very soon!

July 01, 2006

We Made it! To the top of Kilimanjaro!

We made it to the top of Kilimanjaro! And we're back safe and sound. We don't have much time right now, but wanted to let everyone know that it was absolutely amazing, both Jonathan and Carrie summited the mountain, and we've got some exciting news to share as well!

From here, we leave for Amsterdam in 3 hours, where we will spend a couple of days. We're very excited about this next leg of our trip, and are glad to have the time to rest on the plane!

We've taken over 700 pictures, and have 2 1/2 hours of video to share with everyone, which will start appearing on the web site shortly, as soon as we're able to get everything put together into a format that will be accessible for everyone online.

Stay tuned!

June 23, 2006

Africa - Safe and sound!

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!

June 21, 2006

Here we go!

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

June 17, 2006

Constitution Hall and driving over bridges in Delaware New Jersey and Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

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!





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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.

Thanks for watching the video!

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

Rental Car Woes, Delaware, and Philadelphia

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

June 16, 2006

Status - Where are you?

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!

June 14, 2006

Day 4 at Arlington, The Iwo Jima Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and the Holocaust Museum

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.

Thanks for watching the video!

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

June 13, 2006

National Museum of Art, the Constitution, and Carrie's Birthday

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!





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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.

Thanks for watching the video!

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

June 10, 2006

The Hains Point Giant Awakening and DC Metro travel

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 carWashington D.C. Traffic sign 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.
Washington D.C. Traffic - unhappy driver 1 Washington D.C. Traffic - unhappy driver 3 Washington D.C. Traffic - unhappy driver Washington D.C. Traffic - unhappy driver - anger

Now, here's me! Very happy about seeing famous Washington D.C. landmarks out the window.
Washington D.C. Traffic - happy driver DC Monument from car

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"

Hains Point Giant distance Hains Point Giant whole giant Hains Point Giant Picture
Hains Point Giant picture head hand Hains Point Giant picture head hand Hains Point Giant picture legs Hains Point Giant picture head

Hains Point Giant picture - Carrie mouth

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

Hains Point Giant picture - sneaky

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

Hains Point Giant picture - bad breath

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

Hains Point Giant picture - get out

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

Hains Point Giant picture - Jonathan Hand Hains Point Giant picture - Jonathan Hand

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

Hains Point Giant picture - chin

Carrie courted the feet and knee
Hains Point Giant picture - Carrie toe
Hains Point Giant - Carrie foot
Hains Point Giant - knee Carrie Hains Point Giant - knee

While I found the hand to be quite nice.
Hains Point Giant - hand

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

On the way to Reagan Washington National airport (to return the car), we got a view (from the distance), of the Thomas Jefferson memorial.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial 2Thomas 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.
Washington National Control Tower Washington National Metro Sign
Washington National Metro - Lighthouse

Washington National Metro

Washington DC Metro - long
Washington DC Metro Welcome to VA Virginia metro sign

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.
Nobel Sheraton Hotel - Vienna, VA

June 06, 2006

Kilimanjaro goodbye dinner with Shannon and Peter

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!








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June 04, 2006

Kilimanjaro and our going away party

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...

Grandma, Bill, and Oma at the Kilimanjaro going away party
Bill, Jonathan's Grandma, and Jonathan's Oma.

Carrie and neighbor Samuel at the Kilimanjaro going away party
Carrie with our little friend Samuel.

Shannon and Christoph at the Kilimanjaro going away party
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.

Carrie and Dad at the Kilimanjaro going away party

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.

June 03, 2006

Long Underwear Models Payless Shoes and liner socks

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.

Kilimanjaro long underwear - CarrieKilimanjaro long underwear - JonathanCarrie 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.

Liner Socks - Moosejaw PackageWe 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. Liner Socks - Moosejaw Package 2We 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!

Liner Socks - Moosejaw Package 3Doug 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.

Payless Shoesource - boxesWe also got our lounge-around shoes through our sponsorship from Payless Shoesource. Payless Shoes - AirwalkThese 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!

June 01, 2006

TV FOX31's Good Day Colorado talking about our Kilimanjaro Climb

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!

May 31, 2006

Where is Kilimanjaro?

One of the questions we are asked most often is:

WHERE IS KILIMANJARO?

Americans aren't generally known for their knowledge of world geography, and to be honest, when we first decided to go, I had no idea where Kilimanjaro was either...so here you go.

Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, Africa, which sits on the East side of Central Africa.

Africa

See, here's Tanzania.

Location of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in Africa

When you zoom in on Tanzania, you can see that Kilimanjaro is in the upper North East corner of Tanzania, on the border with Kenya.

Location of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

Here's a little closer view of Kilimanjaro and the area we'll be flying into. Our 2nd/3rd day of our time in Africa will be spent in Arusha, which can be seen on the map here.

Arusha and Moshi next to Kilimanjaro


And then we begin our climb up Mount Kilimanjaro. We will be taking the Machame route, which is known as the intermediate and most scenic route up the mountain.

The Western Breach is currently closed, because of a rockslide there that injured and killed some people in January 2006 (one person killed was actually from Colorado).

Machame route up Kilimanjaro


Are we scared to climb Mount Kilimanjaro? No. Not really. Mostly just really darn excited! We know it will be a challenge, and we're prepared for that, but mostly we're just excited!

See! Here we are, in preparation with our official "Team Kilimanjaro2006.com" jerseys!

Carrie holding Kilimanjaro 2006 shirt   Jonathan holding Kilimanjaro 2006 shirt   Jonathan's Kilimanjaro 2006 shirt   Carrie ironing Kilimanjaro 2006 shirts

May 30, 2006

FOX 31 went great!

Hi Everyone!

Just a super-quick posting today...

Thank-you all for your support of us! The news show went awesome and we'll get a video of it up as soon as possible!

After the interview on Good Day Colorado, we went to Gart Sports and picked up a really good deal (sale) on a sleeping bag. We're borrowing one sleeping bag, so we bought one. For $20, we got a sleeping bag that is rated to 0 degrees, which is exactly what we need for Kilimanjaro!

More updates coming soon!

May 29, 2006

Kilimanjaro2006 on the TV news!

This morning, we got a call from David at the Denver FOX TV affiliate. We're going to be on the news tomorrow morning!

Needless to say, we're VERY excited!

If you're in Denver, and can break free from 8:00AM - 9:00 AM, we're going to be interviewed by Steve Kelley on Good Morning Colorado on FOX 31.

We'll try to get a copy of the interview to pass along to everyone as well, but if you can break free and record it on your TV, we'd love to have a VHS/DVD recording.

May 22, 2006

Kilimanjaro climbing gear - saving money

Some notes today on the gear we're getting/using for our climb.

First, the most important thing... SOCKS!

Carrie's allergic to wool, so we are getting these for liner socks from MooseJawOutpost. We LOVE Moosejaw!,
Wigwam Gobi Liner Socks

Wigwam Gobi Liner Socks
And, just in case you want to know, here's all the information about these socks...

1 x 1 stay-up true rib leg
Smooth looped toe seam
Crew length is proportional to size
100% Polypropylene (exclusive of Spandex)

We each got 8 pairs of these socks (at $5.00)/piece (w/o shipping), so our total for these socks is $80 (16 pairs).


Our sleeping pads are coming from Sierra Trading Post.
They seemed to have the cheapest prices on a good Thermarest sleeping pad (and we looked). So for both sleeping pads, our total (w/o shipping) is just under $65. Cheaper than our liner socks!
Here are the details on our sleeping pads...

thermarest sleeping pad
Cascade Designs Therm-A-Rest Sleeping Pad - Long

Therm-A-Rest lives up to its name with it's light and compact design. Ideal for backpacking, self-inflating polyester sleeping pad has durable and waterproof nylon bottom for a warm, comfortable barrier between you and the ground.
Size: 72x20x1-½"
Weight: 2 lbs. 4 oz.
Fabric: Polyester with nylon bottom


Outdoor and More
seems to have the best deals on Trekking Poles that we have found... these are the Masters 5.4 trekking Poles.

Since we climb at midnight, we'll also need headlamps.
They're also helpful for nighttime reading and just generally getting around at night.

For our headlamps, REI had the Petzl Tikka Headlamp on sale. We were really hoping for a crank or solar powered headlamp, but it's not to be just yet. The technology either isn't there, or we just didn't look hard enough. So these headlamps are powered by triple A batteries...

We'll go to Sam's Club to get the cheapest batteries we can.

For our long underwear, we are going through
SageSport.com

We got the
Men's Thermal Underwear Top

The
Men's Thermal Underwear Bottom

The
Women's PolyPro Thermal Underwear Top

and the
Women's PolyPro Thermal Underwear Bottom

More gear updates will come I am VERY certain, but for now, this is the Kilimanjaro gear we're ordering.

May 19, 2006

Climbing Colorado trails and Colorado Mountains

Climbing Colorado trails - panorama of Colorado MountainsWe went climbing in the Colorado mountains today.  Well, maybe not the mountains exactly. 
Colorado yellow flowers - Climbing Colorado trails

More like the Colorado foothills.  What we discovered:  Even though going to the gym, and doing a bunch of working out at the gym (which we have been doing), is a good idea, it's probably a better idea, in preparation of a Kilimanjaro climb, to actually get into the outdoors, get on some real hills, and trudge your way up.

Not that it was even that challenging of a trail climb today, but even though Carrie has been breaking in her hiking boots, today she got blisters ("breaking in boots - a how to" will be saved for another post), and both of us were noticing the difference in breathing of being at 8500 feet above sea level, rather than at 6000 feet, where we live.

Jonathan shows muscles on trailBut we did have some time for being goofy - but look at those muscles!  Could be a good place for your company's logo once we're actually on our trip (in 19
DAYS!)

We also had some time to get in some nature photography of foothills and mountains the Indian Hills area (for those who know where that is.


Colorado aspen trees - Climbing Colorado trails

Panorama - Colorado mountains - Climbing Colorado trails Carrie and I were realizing today that we really don't take enough advantage of where we live.  I don't think most people really do.  Panorama - Colorado mountains - Climbing Colorado trails 2 But it's a great habit to get into - finding places around you that are just waiting to be explored and experienced... and you generally don't even have to look that far, or spend much money, in order to find them.

We'd planned to do this anyway, but as a result of our experience today, we'll definitely be headed to Breckenridge next week, where my aunt and uncle have a Chalet that they're nice enough to let us use.  We'll use it as our launch point to climb some mountains that are more in the 12,000-13,000 range

Here are a few more of the pictures from our climbing/hiking today. Click on any of them for a larger version.

Carrie from tree - Climbing Colorado trails
 

Climbing Colorado trails - trees on path
 


Climbing Colorado trails - hiking boots

 


 

Colorado mountains - Climbing Colorado trails pictureTop of a Colorado mountains - Climbing Colorado trails Climbing Colorado - Carrie


Carrie on Colorado Indian Hills trail.  saying bye (or hi)
(Carrie says - see you again.  Come back soon!)

Climbing in Colorado Mountains and porters

Carrie and I are going climbing/hiking today in the Colorado mountains, but before we go climbing, I thought I would share a video with you.

It's a video of porters on Kilimanjaro. Someone else took this video, but it gives me a chance to explain a little about our travel up Kilimanjaro.

There are 17 people climbing with our group. Our foucs, and our job, while we are there, is to reach the summit. Part of the expense of our trip is having porters while we are on the mountain.

As a result of having porters, we won't need to worry about boiling our own water, carrying our tents/sleeping bags, cooking for ourselves, etc. because all of this will be taken care of by a group of porters and support staff, which, we've been told, numbers about 35, to support our group of 17.

I had intended to attempt some Swahili... but with 20 days left, I'm not sure that that will happen. I think I will still try though, because I would like to be able to converse with some our porters - in a minimal way, I realize - but people appreciate when you at least attempt to speak their language.

So, to give you an idea, here's a group of porters, at the end of a Kilimanjaro climb.



May 17, 2006

Pictures of monkeys and the trunk monkey video

So here's the gist of today's posting.

Monkeys:  Pictures of monkeys, talk about monkeys, and monkey business.  (Well, maybe not monkey business exactly...)

When we get back, we will have some great pictures we took, and hopefully, (as one of our sponsors has requested), we'll be able to get some "pictures of cute monkeys"). 

As we don't have any of our own monkey pictures YET, we're sharing THESE pictures of monkeys with you instead.

When it comes to the monkeys we're going to see in Africa, it's most likely that we'll see baboons and spider monkeys.  Apparently, baboons don't really mind at all having humans around, but spider monkeys are generally skittish.  We hope we'll see a full range, but we'll be happy to see any monkeys that see fit to grace us with their presence!

And for the people who don't think that baboons are monkeys...well, we can have the debate later.  (Actually, feel free to leave us your comments below.) But for now, here are some pictures of monkeys from all over.

PICTURES OF MONKEYS
Baboons

pictures of monkeys - baboon and baby
Apparently this is a pretty rare picture of an olive baboon.
   pictures of monkeys - baboon monkey business
Quit acting like Baboons! 
Never mind.  You are baboons.
pictures of monkeys - baboon sitting
This guy says "What are you doing here?"
pictures of monkeys - baboon with long face
Hey, why the long face?
This is a beautiful picture of an amazing animal.

PICTURES OF MONKEYS
spider monkeys

spider monkey - pictures of monkeys spider monkey in tree - pictures of monkeys

PICTURES OF MONKEYS
vervet monkeys

It's possible that we'll see some vervets, which would be great!

vervets - pictures of vervet monkeys monkeys vervets - pictures of vervet monkeys

PICTURES OF MONKEYS
(The following is a random assortment of monkey pictures.)

Capuchin monkey - pictures of monkeys
This picture of a Capuchin monkey shows many Americans the monkey we generally think about having for a pet - popularized by shows like Friends.
picture of Tamarin monkey

This is a picture of a Tamarin monkey.  Tamarins are rather cute monkeys, don't you think?  (Oh, and stay tuned for cute monkey pictures.)

monkey and baby - pictures of monkeys
Don't mind me.  I'm just hanging around!
baby and monkey - pictures of monkeys 2
More pictures of baby monkeys.
monkey pictures - monkey in tree
"Look out below!  I'm a monkey, so I make up my own mind. I could decide to stop posing for this picture and let go at any time!"
Capuchin monkey - pictures of capuchin monkeys

Another picture of a Capuchin monkey.
Very cool angle and close-up!

 

frustrated monkey picture
This monkey looks a little frustrated, don't you think?
India monkey
Apparently, this is a picture of monkeys in India.
picture of monkeys - three monkeys on a branch
Three monkeys are on a branch, and one decides to leap.
How many monkeys are left?
Three.  Why?  One just decided.  He didn't actually do it yet.
monkey - pictures of monkey thinking
"Your picture can't bother me.
I'm deep in thought."
PICTURES OF MONKEYS
Here are just some cute monkey pictures for the "awww" factor.
pictures of monkeys - cute monkey 1 pictures of monkeys - cute monkey 2
(Special thanks to:  http://www.underwater.org/mermaid/tanzania/monkeys.html)
pictures of monkeys - cute monkey 3 pictures of monkeys - cute monkey 4

Oh, and if you've never seen a Trunk Monkey video, you should watch this: 

One of the now infamous Trunk Monkey videos