Michael and I are having a wonderful time in Africa and I am finding tons of time to relax.
Here is one vignette from today…..
As our rowboat slipped into the still waters of Lake Massingir, Michael turned to me and whispered “Are you nervous?”
You mean in a 10-foot rowboat, in the middle of a lake infested with 12 to 16 foot Crocodiles….
….with a pod of Hippos vocalizing on an island in the middle of the lake……
…..with over $6,000 worth of camera equipment strapped to my body…..
….and the boat has a slow leak.
What is there to be nervous about?
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Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!
Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!
You can call me crazy, but I RELISH a long plane flight!! I have time…..
to think,
to plan,
to sleep,
to watch TV Sit-coms or movies,
to listen to music
to play games on my phone
to play in Procreate (that reminds me, I need to find the online course that I purchased)
There is NO pressing need clutching for my attention, no errand to run, no client email to answer!
This evening we begin the 15-hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, and I am ECSTATIC!
I thought about planning a quilting project to take with me, but as I reported yesterday, I am creatively spent.
I am looking forward to the trip, to the amazing animals and countryside that I will see, to the markets that I will visit in Maputo, Mozambique, and to again experiencing the beauty of the Kalahari Dessert.
As we travel, I will be posting some stories from the trip, but may not be able to link them to Facebook or any groups.
SO…..if you don’t want to miss the trip, be sure to subscribe to the blog…..
After our time on the Reserve and return to camp, we realized that Michael had accomplished all his goals for the trip, so we changed some tickets and shortened our trip by a few days.
On our last day in camp, we asked to spend most of the time relaxing (which was amazing!!!) but we did make one last drive up into the mountains….
Sadly, it was time to break camp and start the trip back home the following day. Since we were the last travelers through Babine camp, it wasn’t just US leaving…. it was EVERYTHING associated with the camp!!
While we packed our bags and cleaned out our cabin, Michael and Tammy proceeded to take down the two tents…..
……AND dismantle the Teepee….
There were LOTS of ropes involved!!
The last thing to go was the Starlink technology…..
It was certainly a luxury to have fast internet.
At last the truck and trailer were loaded and we made one final stop to pick up the inflatable…..
We then had….
a quick barge trip across the lake,
a long drive to Prince George,
an overnight at the BonVoyage Inn (and Greek food dinner),
flight to Vancouver,
afternoon and evening in the hotel catching up on blogs and other work,
flight to Salt Lake City,
3 hour layover,
flight to Atlanta,
ride to our home with “Driver’s Seat” doing the driving.
WHEW…..it was great to fall into our own bed and enjoy a great night’s sleep!!
This trip has been amazing. Although rustic, I grew to have a deep affection for the Babine Camp….even the outhouse!! As I made my final walk from the “No and Go”, I reflected that I would miss this peaceful and relaxing place.
We have met wonderful, kind people, seen sights that many will never have the opportunity to see, and enjoyed the hospitality of Michael and Tammy at Driftwood Valley Outfitters!! Thanks guys!!
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One last thing, as we were flying to Vancouver, an exciting event happened back in Prince George….. Desmond and Devondre GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL…..
This is a HUGE accomplishment for these two young men, for the people of the Takla Lake First Nation Reserve AND for Michael Schneider and his “Driftwood Outdoor Guide and Business Apprenticeship Program”.
WELL DONE!!!
Tomorrow we will resume our regularly scheduled programming. Be sure to come back!!
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On Monday, the day after we returned from the Reserve, Michael (our host), suggested that we go on a “photographic safari” and see if we could find any more bears!!
As we were starting out, Michael pointed out two trees that had been destroyed by Grizzly Bears….
When we asked how he could be so sure that they were Grizzlies, he pointed and said “one of them left some fur”……
Okay….now we know there are Grizzlies around!!
As we started down the first path, we fell into our usual arrangement, he went first, Michael pulled into the second position with me trailing at the rear. But Michael (guide) immediately stopped and said….”No the camera goes first”.
All I could think of was this scene from the first Indiana Jones movie…..
Our first trail led to this gorgeous lake…..
Michael told us that there were often bears here and he spent a few minutes “glassing” to see what he could find…..
Alas, there were no bears!! (I am not sure if I was happy or sad!!)
I did love the markings on this tree as we were walking out…..
I assume that a bear did NOT make those!!
We moved to another area and immediately found more LARGE Grizzly paw prints….
We followed along the path and climbed down this steep descent into the meadow…..
At this point I am hoping that there is a winch to get me back up!!
We walked along a narrow meadow, bordered on one side by Fleming Creek…..
The area was green and lush and gorgeous and I spent much of my time with the camera in front of my face…..
I loved this large field of seeded-out dandelions…..
….insuring that there will be a HUGE crop of pretty yellow flowers next year!!
We passed tons of blueberry bushes, all bloomed out and ready to produce succulent berries…..
Michael had previously told us that there weren’t as many bears this year primarily because last years berry crop hadn’t been very good. We hope that every bloom will produce a berry to feed a bear this year!!
Michael know this area like the back of his hand and he was willing to answer our copious questions as we walked along….
And, yes….he is carrying a firearm. Remember we are in BEAR country!!!
I captured two small flowers in the field. This beautiful purple one…..
….and this variation of an Indian Blanket…..
The afternoon was spent in camp and then around five, Michael suggested that we go out again. This time Tammy and Inya (her four legged companion) joined us as we saw amazing mountains again…..
Michael and I were curious when we ended up on Babine Lake again, and even more so when host Michael and Tammy started pulling chairs and other paraphernalia out of the truck. We were then informed that we were having dinner on the beach…..a “Sundowner” of sorts!!
While Michael got the fire started…..
…..Tammy hopped into the boat and roared into the Lake in search of FRESH fish…..
I LOVE that Inya is watching her carefully from the shore!!
She was successful and quickly brought in a nice size Lake Trout. The colors in the skin were so pretty and Michael effortlessly prepared the fillets…..
They heated olive oil in the pan and slid the four fresh fillets into the skillet and added 4 more pieces of Haddock.
While it cooked……
…..I spent some time photographing a Loon that was also doing some fishing…..
Before long, the food was ready…..
….and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner of fish and Potato Salad….
I will say that, having grown up in West Texas, we didn’t get a lot of fresh fish and I am not much of a fish person. But the Haddock was excellent and the Fresh-Caught Trout was AMAZING!!!
Many thanks to Michael and Tammy for making this happen!!
Well, we have one more full day left in camp. Come back tomorrow as we finish off this amazing trip!!
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Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!
Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!
By Sunday morning we had finished all of our interviews on the Takla Lake First Nation Reserve and were ready to head back to the blissfully peaceful camp.
Our drive was relaxing, except for the yelling of “BEARS” from Michael (our guide). We stopped four times to watch Black Bears as they danced across the road and into the fields.
The first one sat and watched us watch him for a few minutes…..
….and then decided that we really weren’t that interesting, so he could head to his Sunday brunch……
The second one was a small female who peeked out at us from the bushes…..
Two others crossed in front of the truck but didn’t stop to let us visit with them.
And then we turned a corner and Michael yelled “GRIZZLIES!!!……
We spent the next 20 minutes watching this pair as they walked slowly down the road.
The lighter colored female seemed fairly oblivious to our presence as she kept to the road, but the male was agitated by our being close and he kept crossing back and forth by the female…
It was a totally surreal experience to watch these massive creatures in the wild!
We came upon a small Mule Deer and expected it to run away, but instead it pranced it’s way toward the truck…….
In addition to the wildlife, we also enjoyed some amazing scenery. Seeing these mountains in the background is always awe inspiring to me….
One of the things that we noticed was that the weather was constantly changing. It would start out cloudy….then get sunny….then rain a bit…. then fine back up again. But, when it started hailing I knew that I wasn’t in Georgia anymore……
But, when we arrived in camp 10 minutes later, it was sunny and warm again!!
Since we had been so busy at the Reserve, we decided to loll around camp for the afternoon. I started to lay down and take a nap, but instead decided to go outside and play with some watercolors that I had brought with me.
When I am doom-scrolling on Facebook Reels, I often watch videos about painting and I have learned that your paintings look much better if you tape off a border to start with. I had brought a small amount of painters tape with me and started there….
WOW….I feel so professional!!!
The other thing that I have learned is to start by covering the page with water using a large brush….
….and start adding colors to the water, allowing them to blend together….
I kept playing with this background, adding yellow and purple flowers….
….until I had a painting that I liked…..
Next, I decided to tackle the trees in the background. I knew that I needed different colors of green and had so much fun mixing until I got the color I wanted….
I struggled to get the Aspen trees to show up on top of the dark pines, but eventually added enough white to it. There are probably 15 layers of paint on those lighter trees!!
I was happy with the final result….
Having this little guy visit….
….was the perfect end to a varied and amazing day!!
