27.5

Twenty seven hours, thirty four minutes and eighteen seconds, that is how long it took from my parent’s front door to our “hotel” in Arusha, Tanzania. I would have written it out like this, 27:34.18, but I thought it had a better impact in words. We flew out of Chicago to Amsterdam, from there we had a three hour layover before heading on our flight to Kilimanjaro, both flights were similar in length, just over eight hours. I woke at 5:30 am, September 28th, the day of our flight, I’m a notoriously nervous traveler, Betsy is so good to put up with me, I suppose she has to since I’ll be “camping” with her for the next ten months. Saying “goodbye” to my parents in O’hare, which is always a hard thing to do, putting on socks (thank you Mom, Dad and Betsy) in the security line, and hurrying up to wait for the plane to board, were the first items in a long list to be accomplished. Flying to Amsterdam was surprisingly easy, it didn’t hurt that we had exit row seats, although the poor guy next to us had our laptop drop squarely on his head, not once but twice during the flight; I’m surprised he didn’t give the two of us a black eye to match his skull fracture. We made friends with one of the flight attendants; he was really nice and gave us special treatment (extra bags of almonds, first class tea, and extra attention), who would have thought being nice to someone might make them do a little extra for you? We flew KLM, as far as I can tell they outclass all of the American carriers, although their faux Italian food is terrible! We were, however, able to nab four bottles of red wine which were saved as a celebratory drink on our arrival. The flight over to Amsterdam was uneventful, it was night time as we flew east and couldn’t see anything, not that the Atlantic Ocean is that spectacular. We spent a few restless hours in the Schiphol Airport then boarded our plane to Tanzania. We went over the Alps, somewhere between Switzerland and Austria, then over the Adriatic Sea. We saw a few pieces of southern Italy and then as we flew over the Mediterranean Betsy told me to look out the window; we were coming up to the coast of northern Africa. The stark contrast between brilliant blue and khaki sand was a sight I have never before seen, it was really cool. Right around this point we were served dinner, which had a Pu topped dessert. (see picture above) We were able to view the Nile and parts of the Sahara Desert; it was quite an amazing and spectacular flight. Mid-way through the flight I noticed Betsy fast asleep; unfortunately I am unable to sleep on planes, I tried but to no avail. We landed and made a mad dash to the customs department to fill out visa forms and beat the Europeans so we could get out of the airport, it was sort of like a race to a “baggage-finish-line”. Luckily, we won and all of our baggage arrived in one piece and we were off to Arusha 45 minutes away. We went to our hotel, which is literally a hole in the side of a wall; Betsy disappeared for a tenuous five minutes as five Tanzanians stared at me awkwardly. She re-emerged signaling that we had a hotel to stay in and that was it, we made it, and had a few bottles of wine to toast a very long and tiring trip. I’m glad to finally be here, but I am a LONG way from home!
-Ryan
ps- I will post pictures later, I forgot to bring the memory card...

'bout freakin' time?

Ryan and I are engaged! He took me on a hike in Dubuque and proposed to me at the top of a bluff overlooking the limestone cliffs, then got down on one knee and proposed! Besides him dropping the ring (luckily it feel AWAY from the giant cliff) and me welling up and blowing a snot rocket, it was perfect. Ryan designed the ring, an asscher cut diamond with a platinum setting. It's perfect, and I love it more every time I look at it. No wedding plans yet, but keep an eye on plane tickets it Iowa!

-Betsy

Covey Roots Tour

Back in Seattle, my mom, and Uncle Peter and Aunt Sue, took us on a tour of their 'hood and downtown. The tour included watching the salmon run at the locks (and "watching the rich people end their weekend" as the giant yachts went back to Lake Washington from the sound), a picnic on the Golden Gardens beach (where my aunt Ann spent her summers), and the Aurora Bridge troll. We also hit up the downtown highlights, including the totem pole in Pioneer Square.

-Betsy

Pu-bucks

We went to the original Starbucks in Pike's Place Market and to my surprise the coffee was just as horrible there as it is in all of their other locations! Seriously, they could reason for you to visit their first store by making a decent cup of joe, but no, it's terrible. So terrible, in fact, that I spit out my first taste, Betsy caught the action on film. Over-roasted & acidic, hiding the fact that they purchase the dregs of bad coffee beans and then to top it all off, they burn the coffee in the pot! When will they learn to make decent coffee, they should seriously hire Kristen Covey.

-Ryan

Meeting the Coveys!

Finally, I blog about the real reason I went to Seattle, to meet the Covey side of Betsy's family. First full day in Seattle I was a touch bombarded, meeting about 20 people but I wouldn't have it any other way. G-Betty, the matriarch of the family, is awesome and hilarious. She passes the time knitting, creating eye-glass buttons (don't ask), rock-butterflies (just what they sound like), reading about going to Mars and complaining about all the new people moving to Seattle. All of the others I met were awesome as well, must come from the great area in the Northwest, gives everyone a good attitude. Peter and Sue Covey let us stay at their house as we explored Seattle. Sue is the master of hiking preparedness, she always packed lunch for us which saved us from exhaustion. Her daughter, Kristen, could very well be the best coffee maker in the world. Ann and Tom, who live in my dream location on Whidbey Island and also run a crabbing sweat-shop on their back porch, employing, strangely enough, only Iowans. So, all in all, the family is great and would love to move out there and be close to them, unfortunately, the Coveys won't allow any more people in Seattle.

-Ryan

The REAL Iron Gym

We went to Deception Pass, it's located on North Whidbey Island connecting the mainland of WA to the island. I think it's my current "favorite place on Earth!" location. It has everything I need, shelter (I can live under the bridge), exercise (I can do pull-ups on the bridge and run up and down the cliff overlooking the water), and food (blackberries). This place is seriously awesome, everyone should go at some point in their life, just don't fall off the cliff! I can hear the Covey family saying, "Ryan, step away from the cliff's edge, please, I don't want call your parents". Well, even if it was a selfish reason they didn't want me to die, at the very least I know that Laura Danforth doesn't want me to die on her watch...

-Ryan

The Trail of Blisters

We decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and make a trip to Mt. Baker, in the Cascades about 3 hours north of Seattle. While I was planning a leisurely walk in the woods with my parents and aunt and uncle, Ryan had in mind a little more. We decided (Ryan was gung ho to do it, and I wanted to be able call 911 when he potentially fell off a cliff) to do the Chain Lakes Trail, a 7 mile trail with some gorgeous views. The only problem was that I was wearing 2-day old Chaco's and we had 2 hours to complete it. With a little bit of speedwalking, some sustenance from wild blueberries along the trail, and just a small amount of whining on my part, we made it with 15 minutes to spare! ....only to find out that there was another 2-mile trail we had to take to get back to the parking lot where the car was parked, and where we were meeting the rest of the family. By this point, I had learned why the hiking boot industry exists, so wonderful Ryan volunteered/was forced to RUN up the mountain to the car and come back and pick me up. Ultimately, my blisters healed, and in retrospect, a good time was had by all!
-Betsy