Road Trip!

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.” --G.K. Chesterton

Victoria Falls at Sunset

Victoria Falls is breathtaking.  The spray from the falls drenched us as we walked across the bridge.  It's tough to see from the photo, but there wasn't much of a barrier between the slippery sidewalk and the edge of the cliff.

Isaac at Victoria Falls

Take this guardrail, for example.  The bottom rail was low enough to trip a toddler and the upper one wouldn't prevent him from falling to his death.  I wonder how many people, after spending six hours crammed in a car with their family, have considered either hurdling themselves over the edge or "accidentally" knocking Grandpa over.

The ferry to Botswana

Victoria Falls wasn't our final destination, so the next day we piled back into the car and headed to the border.  My mom admitted that this was the craziest experience she's ever had.  Even the guide books give detailed instructions about how to navigate through immigration and get yourselves on the boat. 

The ferry boats can only take one or two trucks at a time across the river, so there was a line of 40 trucks Waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting.  (And we wonder why prostitution is an issue at borders?)

Fortunately, passenger vehicles get to skip to the head of the line.  

Truck on the Ferry

Once over the border, we got to chat with the folks at Botswana immigration.  They had all of us get out of the vehicle and walk across a filthy mat drenched in some chemical that killed the Zambian germs on our shoes.  

Botswana or Bust

We came to Botswana to see Chobe National Park on a self-guided safari.  Eric drove us all around the park, and we found all sorts of animals.  The thing is that my dad goes batty for birds and needed to photograph each and every one them.

A pretty bird.

Another one.

Unfortunately, my father's obsession turned my husband into a warthog.

Eric Showell

For the record, the park discourages people from exiting their vehicles, because there are, uh... WILD ANIMALS all around.  Richard just needed one more bird photo...

"Don't tempt me, Richard!" --Eric

The next day we took a boat safari on the river.  Fortunately it was guided by professionals...or people who seemed to know what they were talking about.  I did notice, however, that even our guides got chills when a hippo would surface next to the boat.

Deadliest animal in Africa

Our guides let us get up close to some mighty big crocodiles.  They assured us that these beasts wouldn't hop into the boat, but it still made me nervous.  There's a first time for everything, right?

Grandma and the crocodile

For a grande finale our guide pulled out a water lilly and demonstrated how to make it into a necklace.  That was the highlight of the entire trip for my kids; well, that and getting to watch hours and hours of movies on the dual DVD players.

Water Lily Jewelry

So after 10 adventure-packed days, I dropped Grandpa and Grandma off at the airport this morning.  It was such a honor and privilege to share our world with them this week.  (And we really appreciate all of the photos!)