So, in an attempt to have a somewhat normal blog (and by normal I mean a blog that has less didactic sermons and a few more pictures and every-day posts) I have decided to recap a few of the many vacations I went on this summer.  And somewhere in-between all the ordinary posts, I might throw in a serious, insightful post-- the ones that are so often like my journal entries. Sound good? Good.  (Haha, who am I really kidding?  As of right now, a total of 4 people might actually read this blog. But just humor me here, all right?)

It's only fitting that I begin this travelogue with the highlight of my summer vacations--and possibly the highlight of my entire life-- my trip to the beautiful country of South Africa.  But first, let's clear one thing up: my motive for going to South Africa was not as saintly and virtuous as most people assume.  I didn't go to reconstruct an orphanage with my bare hands, or to distribute mosquito nets in hopes of staving off diseases like AIDS or malaria, nor did I go to see the wild elephants presumably wandering the streets, squashing cars, homes, children, and anything else in their path.  I simply went to see a girl who has made my life a whole lot better: Mikayla.  She is my best friend, to put it mildly, so I went to visit her.  End of story.  The fact that she happens to be from an awesome country that has many good opportunities for tourism was a just a very pleasant bonus:)

Africa.  I would bore you to tears if I told you about everything that happened to me there, so I will bite my tongue and summarize as much as possible.

First of all, I went on a safari.  And no, this does not include wearing the horrible khaki get-up complete with combat boots, tan canteen and a big hat reminiscent of Indiana Jones .  Ha, ha.  Sadly, that is what this ignorant little American imagined.  Ruth-Ann, Mikayla and I were just driving in a car.  One second we were on the highway, driving on the left side of the road with the rest of South Africa, the next we pulled over and paid to get into a park, then we pulled through a gate and the next thing I knew Mikayla's mom was saying, "Okay, start looking for animals."  Whaa? We can still see the freeway. Whatever you say, crazy South Africans.  

Eventually, we wound our way through the bush and played spot the animal.  I looked out the window, peeled my eyes for anything moving, and suddenly I realized there were giraffes--giraffes-- running down the hillside.  Please take a second to imagine giraffes right outside your car, running down the hillside.  And that's basically how a safari goes.  One minute you're driving along, shooting the breeze, and the next you're screaming "ELEPHANT! ELEPHANT, GRAZING 50 FEET TO THE RIGHT!" So that's what that picture of Mik and I is from: the very moment in the safari when we found a teenage bull (male)  elephant, in mast, walking down the very street we were driving down. As Mikayla reminded us, ("He's quite close!") we might've gotten a little too close to this recklessly hormonal teenage male elephant.  But it was worth it.

It might've been a little scary to travel across the world by myself into deepest, darkest, crime-ridden, poverty-stricken Africa.  But it was worth it.