5/08/09 pt. 1
Today, we left ABC for the Liwonde game park. A-mi-nals!!!
We got out early, and saw amazing scenery and towns on the way. I kid you not, I seriously saw the landscapes as something Tolkien would have brought the 9 through. And it dawns on me that our group has been reduced to that. I see the plains of Rohan, and the huts and hills of Hobbiton. The Shire. Longbottom leaf, and second breakfasts.
We travel in an Apex rent-a-car -- you’ll see its etched windows all over our pictures, I’m sure. Miles of teasing and talking. Some idle, some poignant. We packed drinks and sandwiches, but they are in the other car. We have muffins. I eat the top off one, and later the stump. It’s a long drive, and I’m sure I fell asleep.
We ended up at a touristy-looking resort, the “Hippo View Lodge”. It was bright and clean, and very well landscaped. We looked around, Brian put his head in a hippo statue’s mouth, and then we got on our river boat. It’s cool -- I dug the openness and the 80’s-ish look-and-feel to it. Plus, the boat is named “Shire Queen” -- OK, technically, it’s pronounced “sheer-ay”, but I suspiciously believe it’s another LOTR reference. Maybe Dan Brown needs to get his quack-ness down to Africa and connect some random historical dots about Tolkien...
Oh, the boat ride was so cool! I mean, I wasn’t giddy, but it was epically cool to be on a real-life Jungle Cruise.
We saw bare-chested fishermen in canoes then hippos swimming and yawning -- yes, they blow bubbles AND wiggle their ears!
We got out early, and saw amazing scenery and towns on the way. I kid you not, I seriously saw the landscapes as something Tolkien would have brought the 9 through. And it dawns on me that our group has been reduced to that. I see the plains of Rohan, and the huts and hills of Hobbiton. The Shire. Longbottom leaf, and second breakfasts.
We travel in an Apex rent-a-car -- you’ll see its etched windows all over our pictures, I’m sure. Miles of teasing and talking. Some idle, some poignant. We packed drinks and sandwiches, but they are in the other car. We have muffins. I eat the top off one, and later the stump. It’s a long drive, and I’m sure I fell asleep.
We ended up at a touristy-looking resort, the “Hippo View Lodge”. It was bright and clean, and very well landscaped. We looked around, Brian put his head in a hippo statue’s mouth, and then we got on our river boat. It’s cool -- I dug the openness and the 80’s-ish look-and-feel to it. Plus, the boat is named “Shire Queen” -- OK, technically, it’s pronounced “sheer-ay”, but I suspiciously believe it’s another LOTR reference. Maybe Dan Brown needs to get his quack-ness down to Africa and connect some random historical dots about Tolkien...Oh, the boat ride was so cool! I mean, I wasn’t giddy, but it was epically cool to be on a real-life Jungle Cruise.
We saw bare-chested fishermen in canoes then hippos swimming and yawning -- yes, they blow bubbles AND wiggle their ears!We pulled up close in the marsh to two elephants, and one had a bird on his back! Simon and Rick got some good pictures of us with the oliphaunts in the background. Man, that was surreal.
We saw a croc on the way back, and the same hiphopopotamuses, swimming and waiting. Chris and Dan talked about wearing crocs. Chris undid a tangled shred of rope / cloth that was under Dan’s chair, and wore it like a bracelet. It was such a surfer moment -- he was the only person there that could have pulled that move off.
Somehow Tim fell asleep in his deck chair. I think I would’ve fallen out, but then again, I move when I sleep.
We saw a croc on the way back, and the same hiphopopotamuses, swimming and waiting. Chris and Dan talked about wearing crocs. Chris undid a tangled shred of rope / cloth that was under Dan’s chair, and wore it like a bracelet. It was such a surfer moment -- he was the only person there that could have pulled that move off.
Somehow Tim fell asleep in his deck chair. I think I would’ve fallen out, but then again, I move when I sleep.
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