In Stitches

I Survived Senegal and I Have the T-Shirt to Prove It

UPDATE: For those of you that couldn't see the slideshow, I hope that I fixed it, let me know if not. :D Thanks!

LOL, okay maybe no t-shirt (those things are expensive over there), but I do have slide shows courtesy of Photobucket. So let's see if they work.

Okay it seems to work...so this first one is Dakar from the 15th floor of our decidely worn out hotel. It could've done with a major makeover as we had no air conditioning (it was there but did not work) and no hot water. Apparently we were too high up for the hot water to reach us...hey it's not the U.S. so what can I say? Let's just say that cold showers are not so great when you are half asleep. LOL - Okay also in this set are pics of Goureé island. Apparently this is where the slave traders used to take slaves to be transported to Europe, America, etc. It's actually very beautiful and stunningly visual. Unfortunately the museums were closed while we were there.

Next is more Goureé and the beginning of our trip to Saly, Senegal which is a resort area. The traffic in Dakar is mind blowing and not for the faint of heart. I made the mistake of sitting in the *front* of the bus. I didn't make that mistake on the way back. ;)

Sorry about all the different slide shows, Photobucket would only let me put so many pics per show. You will notice some pics of poultry included, I took these at the poultry farms we visited. Very interesting, but nothing like the U.S. See the box of chicks, well I made the mistake of saying the first thought in my head "Oh look chicken nuggets" The U.S. poultry scientist with us laughed, but said "Oh, that's just so wrong." LOL Yes I'm twisted. --- Finally we reached Saly. Which was like suddenly entering the tropics. I have never been to Hawaii, but was told it had a similar feel to it. Stunning is all I can say and a weird 180 from Dakar. And, bonus, wonderful air conditioning and HOT water. LOL

posted by Kim at 10:19 AM | 10 comment(s)

Just an FYI

Thanks so much for all the nice comments to my last post, I really appreciate it. I do still keep up with everyone's blogs, I just haven't had time to do commenting.

A couple people asked why Africa. LOL Well, the place I work for sponsors research collaboration in Africa. My office is helping to run a week long conference in Senegal. Which means I get a trip to Africa to run errands and other such duties. My biggest chore will be to remember not to rinse my toothbrush in the local tap water and take my malaria meds. LOL

Thanks for the well wishes, I'm sure it will be an interesting trip and I'll share a few pics when I return.

posted by Kim at 9:47 AM | 6 comment(s)

Where Has Time Gone?

Wow, it just seems like yesterday that I posted here, but it's been a whiiiiillllleeee.... Sorry about that, life interupted and all that. ;)

In the meantime Greg and I have been on vacation to Wisconsin and I leave on Friday for Africa (Senegal for those that like specificity). So before I go off to the hinterland I thought I'd share some vacation pics. I'd love to share stitching pics but...well...I don't have any. I just haven't been stitching much too many distractions. ;)

Our trip to Wisconsin was so Greg could visit the hallowed shrine of recumbent bike sellers that he worships whenever a catalog shows up at our door. He really wanted to buy a bike but let's be realistic, we have a Saturn and no bike rack, yeah that says it all.

Here he is pining away for a new bike:



He did get to test ride a bike so he was happy. From the bike shrine we went back to La Crosse. I had never been there and I can say that it is a beautiful place. Here are some pics:






(Yes that is both of us.)

Then in our travels we discovered by happenstance "The Biking Capital of America" - no I am not making that up, that's what they call themselves, it's cute. It's Sparta, Wisconsin and they take bicycling very seriously. They even have a bike and aerospace museum in the old Masonic Temple. Yes I did say aerospace, it turns out that 2 astronauts are also from Sparta area. It was all quite fascinating and a lot of fun. We even got to see a hilarious 1963 bike safety video, I can not begin to describe the weirdness of that. But the people were *extremely* friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's a pic of Greg with an astronaut replica:



His shirt says: Cleverly Disguised as a Responsible Adult (Yes I do go out in public with him, I know it's hard to believe. ;p)

And last but not least we hit every cross stitch shop we could find between here and there and let me tell you there aren't a lot of them. Here's our stash enhancement:







We had a great time, but now it's back to work. I will let you know how it went in Africa when I get back. ;)

Take care!

posted by Kim at 1:57 PM | 9 comment(s)