I'm Blogging!!

Hello to all,
I have decided to join this century and start my own blog.  I know, I know, I said I liked just sending it all by email but I think this will be easier to upload pictures and I have a zillion of them I want to share so I am going to try it.  Ready, set, Go!!!

SOUTH AFRICA
This is the  view I have each morning when I stand on the Balcony outside our room.  The mountain in the background is called Table Mountain (because it is so flat on top) and most mornings it is covered by a thick cloud cover (called the table cloth).  I am hoping to go up to the top in the next day or so.  I would love to say that I am going to hike it but I'm guessing my back (or lack thereof) will buy me a cable car ride up.

I still can't believe it is all happening. We really are having the best time. I am still not in my right body. I am not sure how long it will be until I feel rested in the morning and tired at night. Presently, I am wide awake when it is bedtime and dog tired in the morning. Somewhere in the middle of the day I feel dragged and I yawn for hours. I think my internal clock is not fooled and knows something is amiss. Regardless, today is another beautiful day in Paradise and I am going to enjoy it. Bob went to work at the crack of light because the Plant is about a 45 minute drive from the city and he is still a little panicky about driving on the other side of the road ( it is even scary as a passenger) so he wanted to beat the traffic. I, on the other hand, just got up (9:30 am - shame on me) and had a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit and mystery meat. It could have been springbok or kangaroo (I hope not ) but it was kind of tasty!! I am not even sure what I will do today. Most likely walk around the waterfront and see what there is to see. The views are amazing no matter where you look.

Let's go back to yesterday now that I can post more pictures.  When we arrived at the place where the Penguins live there was a short walk to the entrance and there was this group of what looked like school children singing and dancing.  The song was African but the feeling was universal.  They were like all kids singing and happy!  It was a joy to listen to them.

Now on to the Penguins.

The little restaurant we stopped at purely by chance was called Camel Rock (I guess that is why later we spotted some Camels in a large field down the road) but when I looked in our guide book it was the place to eat in this area. Dumb luck! It is also the place the Baboons roamed freely.

To the left of this picture was a wall that went between this place and the place next door. That is where we saw the Baboons. We were sitting at the first table and they were just about 10 feet from us.

 

This was the baby.  Most of the time she stayed on her Mothers back but every now and then she jumped off and played a little before Mama called her back and said "hop on" and she did!

  


Here is a picture of the male. It is hard to tell how large he is because he is alone but he was at least twice as big as she was. Almost the size of an 8 yr. old child.

After dad crossed the road, Mom signaled to the little, one who promptly hopped aboard and then they crossed the road and joined him in the bushes.  It is interesting to note that they look both ways before they cross the road.  The lady at the restaurant told us that they keep designing "Baboon proof " garbage containers, which they quickly learn to defeat.  The latest of them they beat by smashing the container to the ground and the garbage pops out of the holes in the containers.  Smart, smart, smart!!

After lunch we continued along the Cape on the thrilling Chapman's Peak Drive. This route puts Big Sur to shame. It has been plagued by rockfalls and we did see some large rocks in the road but the drive is so amazing it is worth the risk. We liked it enough to go back next weekend. Here are some pictures from that drive.