2011 - Sabbatical Year

 Israel

We started out in Israel where we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary with friends in Haifa. We fell in with a fun group of co-travelers and Paul enjoyed showing SJ around on her first trip to the Holy Land. There were lots of amazing things to see in Israel, including the Rosh Hanikra caves at the northwest border to Lebanon, the Dead Sea and Masada. We also visited a Druze village, the Avshalom Stalactite Cave and Jaffa - things Paul had never done before. As always, nothing in the world compares to the experience of walking along the streets in Jerusalem. You can see more pictures from our Israel trip here.

Standing on top of Masada, Dead Sea behind us

Just arrived after 30 hours in the air - everything is blurry :)

Friends we made in Israel, standing in Old Jerusalem

Jordan

Our tour through Jordan was brief but fascinating.  We had hoped to see the main “Treasury” building in Petra and would have been pretty satisfied with that.  Instead, we found out that Petra is huge, at one time housing as many as 27,000 people.  Petra's structures were almost entirely carved into bare rock walls - these are not caves that were enlarged. That's why Petra is considered a Wonder of the World and UNESCO World Heritage Site. We spent 6 hours walking around the ancient city in awe of the scale and scope of what these people accomplished more than 2 millennia ago.  After leaving Petra, we traveled to Jerash - one of the best preserved Roman cities in the Near East.  It’s comparable to Pompeii, only without the volcano.  Many of the original structures are still intact, including a very large Roman theater and a working sewer system. Considering we'd never heard of Jerash before, we were pleasantly surprised by all there was to see. Overall, we are very glad we spent time in Jordan - you can see more pictures of our trip here.

Theatre in Jerash

Queen Hetsheput's Tomb, Valley of the Kings

Elephants crossing the road in Tanzania

Egypt

The timing of our visit to Egypt was extremely fortuitous. After the overthrow of the government in early February, things had settled down by the time we arrived in early June.  Cairo was a buzz of activity and all major government services were running as normal. Most people were very glad to see tourists, as tourism is down over 90% this year.  We saw our fill of temples, tombs, and monuments - all without any significant crowds.  Our trip included a 5-day boat cruise down the Nile, and the boat was less than 20% full. It’s a shame to see the troubles flare up again over there, but we’re grateful for the unique experience of being in the middle of such a well-known area without tons of people all around us.  We also enjoyed meeting many Egyptians who were eager to share their thoughts on the birth of a new nation. No trip to Egypt would be complete without visiting the pyramids - and we also did a little camel riding while we were there. You can see more pictures of our time in Egypt here.

Young leopard in Botswana

Sunset in Botswana

Safaris (Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia)

After a short respite on the island of Zanzibar, we spent the final 3 weeks on safari in Tanzania, Botswana, and Zambia.  We loved the pace, people, and scenery that we encountered every day on safari.  We saw an amazing number of animals, including the “big five” (elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard, and cheetah). We saw lots of baby animals including elephants, lions, zebras, hyenas, and giraffes. We took a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti and saw a small part of the Great Migration. We were even able to stop and watch four lion hunts (two were successful) and two hyenas hunt a warthog - a bit gruesome, but an amazing experience just the same. Our trip ended with a visit to Victoria Falls, the largest sheet of falling water in the world and a Natural Wonder of the World.  It was a great way to end our trip and start our 40+ hour journey home.  

Hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti 

Malachite Kingfisher

Without question, this was a trip of a lifetime!  If you haven’t already seen our travel blog, you can read it here (where you can also sign up for travel updates in the future). Some highlights from our safari pictures are on this page, but you can also go to any of these links to see more pictures of our safaris. We took over 6400 pictures, so getting down to only a dozen highlights is very challenging. :)

Dog Update

In less happy news, six months after Lorax passed away, it was time to say good-bye to Luca.  Luca was an incredible dog - after being diagnosed with “severe” hip dysplasia at age 2 and requiring two different surgeries to remove blockages in his stomach before age 5, he still managed to make it to his 12th birthday.  He maintained his amazing personality and energy right to the end, and rewarded us every day with his special brand of affection.  His final ailment was diagnosed quickly and we had just enough time to allow all of his human-friends to say goodbye before he went off to join Lorax in puppy heaven.  I’m sure Lorax is still stealing his toys, even in the afterlife.

Rainbow over Victoria Falls

Giraffes in Tanzania

Luca at 6 years old

Lorax at 3, Luca at 5 years old

Luca’s passing in February was well timed, as we dreaded leaving a 12 year old dog alone in the house for 42 days with only the dog walker to keep him company.  Our home was dog-free for the first time since our honeymoon - at least until we returned from sabbatical. After much discussion, we decided that a house without the sound of dog paws was too quiet for comfort and we found ourselves wishing for some canine companionship.  On July 15, we adopted Strix - an 8-week old Great Dane puppy who worked his way into our hearts in about 15 seconds.  He was 13 pounds when we got him and when he turned 6 months old, he was already 75 pounds.  We estimate that he’ll be between 130-150 lbs at full size, but in the meantime he seems to grow visibly every night!  After seeing these pictures, surely you'll agree that he’s probably the cutest dog ever. :)

Strix's first day home

Strix at 7 months - already bigger than Lorax was

Not sure he wants to go for a walk today...

As you might expect from two working dog-parents with no kids, we have been actively enrolling him in puppy kindergarten, socialization classes, doggy day care, and a full play-date calendar.  This poor little dog doesn’t know what hit him! When we leave him alone for 5 minutes, he heads to his favorite bean bag in the hopes of catching some shut-eye.  While we’re gone on Christmas break, he’ll be at puppy sleep-away camp, getting lots of training and play time with other dogs.  Hopefully he’ll still want to come home with mom and dad after New Years. :) You can see even more pictures of him here. (we have taken over 1500 pictures of this little guy in the first 5 months we've had him - cell phone cameras are a blessing and a curse :)