Summer Catch-Up Part 1

Soooo since summer is officially over...sorry about that....I thought it was about time to let you in on what I actually did. Yeah sorry, the blogging hiatus has been a little too long....my bad to the 4 people that rely on this for reading material....I'm back and better than ever. I've had an awesome summer including a couple big trips that I decided to break down into a series I'm calling Summer Catch-Up (seriously...I'm acting like a blogging big shot with the whole series thing...believe me I know my place). Anyways, lets talk about stop #1: Turkey:

I spent some time in Izmir first and then moved onto Istanbul. Let me tell you....Turkey is awesome. It didn't make top travel destination lists for nothing. I loved both cities. Probably my favorite thing about each is that so many things are happening outside. In the desert, especially this time of year, nothing happens outside because it's so hot, but I loved walking around in Turkey and seeing so many people living life outside....and not to mention the water. I am such a happy girl when I can walk beside some water. I don't know if it's the consistency of the waves, or seeing how small I actually am, or just those deep grown Eastern NC roots....but I'm so so happy looking out over some water.

Well any good trip starts with the friends you take with you....and you know from previous blogs that I have the most amazing friends ever. I met Brittany in Izmir and it was an amazing reunion....after we actually found it each other (which took a little while). It had been about a year since seeing her and we just had fun....lots of it. She's a great travel buddy....I recommend her.

We started off in Izmir, which is a really cool city right by the water. Brittany had a friend there who showed us around and gave us the best spots to visit. We also got to visit 2 biblical cities: Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11) and Ephesus (Ephesians, Rev.2:1-7). I'm gonna be real honest with you....I do not get that excited over ancient ruins. I pretty much have the attitude of "if you've seen one, you've seen them all." I know, I know, history buffs all over are turning tables (actually, I doubt many history buffs read this blog). All that said, I loved walking around Ephesus. It is well preserved and it's really hard to describe being in a place like that..with so much history and where so many faithful people have walked.

View from Smyrna

Me and BB in Ephesus

The library in Ephesus

Along the boardwalk in Izmir

 After a couple days in Izmir, we flew to Istanbul....I love that place. We stayed on the Asia side, so just about every day we took a ferry over to the European side (you know...continent hopping...no big deal). The ferry was one of my favorite parts...I love me some public transportation. We had a great time sight seeing and hanging out. Its a beautiful city...everyone should visit!!

On our almost daily ferry ride

The famous Blue Mosque

View of the mosque from the ferry

One of my favorite places was the Grand Bazaar...I could shop in here for days

There was amazing tile work everywhere!!

 All in all it was a great few days with great people. I would love to visit again and explore some more.!!

Visitors are What Dreams of Made of

So my life has been this fluid thing that is always moving and changing. It's been like that for a while, and I actually really enjoy it. Most of the time, the thought of settling down in one place makes me all itchy. Of course, there's some drawbacks. The biggest one is not being able to see all the awesome people in my life on a regular basis. I have awesome friends, and while technology is great, it's not the same as hanging out with them in person. So the 2 weeks that Jen and Dudan came were amazing....and let me tell ya...went know how to do a whirlwind tour of a country...

Sweet Reunion

We started with this crazy race...see previous post

Then we headed off to Petra

We took all kinds of transportation...

...because we were so stinkin sore from the race

Not the smoothest ride....but effective nonetheless

Made it to the Dead Sea

Dudan makes friends wherever she goes

Jordan River

Citadel

Mt. Nebo

This is how I felt pretty much the whole time they were here!

Did this really happen??

Soooooo, I have never ever described myself as a runner.....never. I don't think anyone else would either. Mostly, my life has been spent running out of necessity only.....like when a coach was yelling at me, or something was chasing me, or to get to a plate of cupcakes first.

Well that all changed when I signed up for the Dead2Red race in Jordan. It's a relay race from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. I was on a team of 10 that took turns running over and over....and over. The distance is 242km....about 150 miles. Yep, I think I had a psychotic break to make me sign up for this. Up until this point the longest distance I had run was 3 miles....back in high school (you remember that Lance?).

There were a couple huge perks of the race....these kids came to run it with me.....if you're gonna put your body through ridiculousness...you might as well do it with friends by your side.

The race started at 4pm...and each team had 24hrs to complete the race....that's right....I paid money to run all night...yep, I'm leaning closer and closer to a psychotic break.

I was expecting to be hard...really hard, but I wasn't expecting it to be super cold and pouring rain for most of the night...fun surprise I guess..

The hand off between Dudans...a magical moment really

Dead Sea to the left

 

 

 

 

And then night came....our van followed behind each runner....but it was still kind of a strange feeling to be running out in the middle of the desert by yourself. The hardest time for the team was about 330am to sunrise....we didn't think the sun would ever come up.

It was a great feeling to get under the 100km mark

 The morning came, but we still had a long way to go. My team was amazing. They were so encouraging and we passed out the sugary goodness to help each other wake up....there were no naps taken in 24hrs...we we're all getting pretty delirious....

View from the van

Are We There Yet???

Near the end...we would do anything for a little burst of energy....we came close to another team and our competitiveness kicked in. We passed each other a few times...and then our team had it, and broke into the lead...we were far from winning the race....but we beat that team...BAM!!

The best site ever!!

There were so many time during the race where I thought...this is never gonna happen....we are never gonna get to the finish....but little by little, we made it.....in 21hrs. My team was awesome, and pushed me at just the rights moments....they were so encouraging, and even passed me a giant pixie stick when I couldn't stay awake. The Desert Divas and David (our team name) are forever bonded together. We rocked that race!! It was such a crazy experience that sometimes it seems like it never happened....like it was all some crazy dream....but as you can see....I've got the pictures to prove it!!

African Adventure!!

Well I'm back from my blogging hiatus. I didn't really mean to take a hiatus. Life and normal routines just kinda happened.....but I'm back and ready to tell you all about my Christmas vacation. Sure it's a little late...but trust me....this trip was awesome and worth the wait (since I'm sure so many of you can't sleep until I post again...haha).

Anyways, the fun started in Uganda. East Africa continues to be one of my most favorite places in the entire world. I don't know if it's so special because it's the first place I went overseas....where I first fell in love with Africa, but let me tell you...the people are friendly, the grass is green, fresh fruit is all around, and chapati (amazing bread that will change your life) is found everywhere!! Not to mention...I got to spend the holiday with some of my most favorite people in the entire world.

And then these kids showed up!! And if you know them at all, you know they bring a good time. It was so good to see them....and get some mommy/daddy time....and don't worry...they're still good at spoiling me. Last week, I put on a t-shirt that still smelled like my dad--probably the remnants of a good hug. It was hard not to burst into tears....and it was even harder to put the shirt in the washing machine....knowing it won't have that scent for a while...

Part of the time in Uganda was spent at a game park that was famous for their hippos...so naturally we saw quite a few.

There is also fishing!! The park is on the Nile river and we did our best to catch some Nile Perch. I don't know what I was expecting....but those fish are huge!! I caught the biggest fish of my life...and it was one of the small ones of the day...craziness!!

This kid did pretty good too.

Right before my parents arrived...I got to raft the Nile again. The river has changed a little because of a dam that was built....but it was still so much fun. There are more details on the first time down the river here.

After Uganda....I ventured over to Kenya and met up with some friends there.....It was so good to see people who are living similar lives. We swapped stories, ate great food....and pretty much partied. It was awesome!!

Did some hiking...here's me mid jump

Overlooking the Rift Valley....told ya East Africa is awesome

We camped out for a safari

The breakfast nook

so many giraffes!!

Are you kidding me...a whole elephant family?!?!?

sitting pretty

at the Tanzania/Kenya border

us being us....don't be too jealous

Clearly I was excited about everything

We were all pretty excited actually

Typical "we're really cool" pic

 It's fun to have friends. It's fun to have friends all over the world. It's fun to meet up with those friends in amazing places. I highly recommend an African Adventure to anyone....watch out though...you might get hooked.