Stacy's Kilimanjara upcoming Adventure.

My friend Stacy is leaving Sept 4th to hike up Kilimanjaro. I'm home now and have spent the last hour checking out here website. http://www.stacyandjim.com/Kilimanjaro.html

She is so excited and if her website doesn't get you thinking about climbing Kilimanjara, I'll be surprised. Great job Stacy on all your research, preparations and planning.

Have a great hike Stacy!!!


Here is an email I received from Stacy with a link to her blog too:

Hello Friends:

I thought you might be interested in what's been going on as Jim and I prepare for our upcoming trip. I'll be heading to Africa on 9/4 and will be climbing Kilimanjaro with my good friend, Abby Dixon. Jim and our friend David Ascher will be joining us afterward for our safari and gorilla tracking.

If you would like to see more details about the Kili climb check out our website by clicking this link: http://www.stacyandjim.com/Kilimanjaro.html or you can also see my blog which I barely ever added anything to all summer, in spite of my good intentions by clicking this link: http://stacyandjim.com/blog/ The beginning is at the bottom, the most recent at the top. If you want to see more details about the safari portion use this link: http://www.stacyandjim.com/Kilimanjaro_itinerary.html

Also, in a seperate email I will be sending out an email link and instructions to access my Voice Blog I will be posting daily from the mountain. It will come automatically to you as an email link when I post every evening from the mountain. In a two or three minute message you can follow along on our journey and hear the details of daily life on Kilimanjaro.

Hope I'm not boring you to death with too many details, this will truly be one of the most exciting things I've ever done (or will do) and I'm eager to share it!

“One shoe can change your life.” -Cinderella

Stacy Jacob

Here are Stacy's instructions on how to hear her voice blog from the mountain:

RE: my voice drop where you can hear my updates from Kilimanjaro.

Check back between 9/9-9/17 by copying and pasting the url for this voice drop into your web browser or saving it to your favorites http://drop.io/stacyjacob then enter kilimanjaro as the password. All in lower case. You can try it now, there is a test drop on there.

I will be updating with a brief phone message each night on the mountain. When you get into the website you can click on the individual voice-casts by doing the following:

Look for "Audio" near the top left.

Left click one time on the red text that says "voice message" and the date. It should auto load and play for you. Be sure your speakers are turned up.

If there are multiple drops you can click on each one individually and listen in order.

If it does not auto load you may have to click on "download" in the box that pops up.

On 9/16 I intend to be letting everyone know we made it to the summit!

"A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." - Eleanor Roosevelt.

Stacy Jacob

Ray went backpacking!!

My trail partners, LaZorra and TrailDad, are now doing the John Muir Trail. Their initial starting trailhead was Red's Meadow. However once they heard Ray and I were going to be in Mammoth and would like to backpack in with them their first day, they decided to change their starting place to 1 mile from our cabin where we'd join them for the first day and night.

On August 20th TrailDad and LaZorra arrived in Mammoth, spent the night with Ray and me, and all four of us headed out with our backpacks the next morning. At Coldwater Trailhead we (Yes, Ray too.) backpacked 4.7 miles up to Duk Pass (elevation 10,750'), then 1.7 miles down to meet the JMT. At the John Muir Trail junction, we hiked another 2.3 miles back up to Purple Lake where we camped for the night. If you add up this mileage, you get 9.1 miles. Ray backpacked 9.1 miles with a pack, in elevation!!! He did great, so great he now has a trailname - "Outtasight" - because he was so far out in front of us all for lots of the hike. (Today when Ray and I were hiking, he said, "You know my new trailname works whether I'm in the lead or trailing behind!")

We all had fun. as we awakened often, Ray and I giggled most of the night in the tent. Aside from being tired (Ray retired to the tent at 5:19pm), and having sore feet, Ray was a trooper, performed well and seemed to be enjoying this one night backpack. I won't mention how much I spent buying Ray a new sleeping bag and Osprey backpack, buying us a 2 man Sierra Design tent (I forgot my tent), and getting Ray a Prolite 3 thermarest, just so I could spend one night in the wilderness with my husband. Of course my mind says maybe he'll go out with me again now that he has all this new equipment. We'll see, but I'm not holding my breath.

Ray is his new Western Mountaineering 10 degree bag. I can't seem to upload all the other photos with this Mammoth coffee shop internet connection I have. I'll add the rest of the backpack photos when I get home next Sunday.

Ray went backpacking!!

My trail partners, LaZorra and TrailDad, are now doing the John Muir Trail. Their initial starting trailhead was Red's Meadow. However once they heard Ray and I were going to be in Mammoth and would like to backpack in with them their first day, they decided to change their starting place to 1 mile from our cabin.

On August 20th TrailDad and LaZorra arrived in Mammoth, spent the night with Ray and me, and all four of us headed out with our backpacks the next morning. At Coldwater Trailhead we (Yes, Ray too.) backpacked 4.7 miles up to Duk Pass (elevation 10,750'), then 1.7 miles down to meet the JMT. At the John Muir Trail junction, we hiked another 2.3 miles back up to Purple Lake where we camped for the night. If you add up this mileage, you get 9.1 miles. Ray backpacked 9.1 miles with a pack, in elevation!!! He did great, so great he now has a trailname - "Outtasight" - because he was so far out in front of us all for lots of the hike. (Today when Ray and I were hiking, he said, "You know my new trailname works because I could be so slow I'd be outta sight!")

We all had fun. Ray and I giggled, as we awakened often, most of the night in the tent. Aside from being tired (Ray retired to the tent at 5:19pm), and having sore feet, Ray was a trooper and seemed to be enjoying this one night backpack. I won't mention just how much I spent buying Ray a new sleeping bag and Osprey backpack, buying us a 2 man tent (I forgot my tent), and getting Ray a thermarest, just so I could spend one night in the wilderness with my husband. Of course my mind says maybe he'll go out with me again now that he has all this new equipment. We'll see, but I'm not holding my breath.

Ray is his new Western Mountaineering 10 degree bag. To see more of our backpacking photos

I'm gonna be "21" in 3 days!

I'm online at Starbucks in Mammoth.

Cindy sent me an early birthday present - a history of Cind and Lind she put on a YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJgGzhpSe4&feature=related
Cindy and I do have history. I'm surprised by all the photos Cindy has in this slide show depicting so much of our history together. (I'm always telling Cindy to use her camera and she usually says, "I don't have it." or "Yeah, I should.")

I love my gift. I love you Cind. And, I miss spending time in the mountains with you. Thank you for putting together such a very special gift. I really love it.

Lind

The locals at our cabin.

The birds and squirrels have us well trained. They made a commotion outside our bedroom window early this windy morning awakening us and demanding "their" morning birdseed!
Click arrow below to start movie.


Here are some more photos of our new friends. We are obsessed with feeding and watching the birds and squirrels fight for their position at the birdseed trays. Saturday we moved into this cabin #18. Today is Monday and we have already bought another bag of birdseed.
(click on the photos below to enlarge them)
First the squirrels:
I call this squirrel - Fatso, Ray calls the foodmonger and bully of everyone - Jowels.










Our living room and view of the mountains and our local birds and squirrels.

Girls Sundae Out.

Dinner in Mammoth at Moguls tonight was a blast.
Sophie wanted to sit next to me when Craig, Ray, Sophie and I were being seated. I had no idea how much fun we'd end up having. I immediately reverted to being a 7 or 8 year old. I even asked the waitress to bring me the same set of crayons and puzzles Sophie had been given. We played, we colored, we laughed, we tried to tell jokes, and we ordered the same things...just like best friends.

Mammoth photos.

Tina came up to visit us in Mammoth the last three days. The photos below were taken today.
Miss proper hiker on our morning hike.

Cute Tina.

Pretty lake on our morning hike.

Tina left to go home after our morning hike, but as she was loading up her car she came back to the cabin screaming, "Bear, come, come see the bear."
I put my shoes on, changed to a telephoto lens on my Canon 40D and ran out to the lake where the bear had been swimming! I missed him swimming, but ran in the direction he'd taken off. When I found the bear he was checking out some cabins.

But then I guess he wanted to go for another swim as he headed back down by the lake. I followed him.

I guess I followed him a bit too closely as he turned back in my direction. He looked as startled as I was when I clicked this photo off. I stepped aside to give him room and he ran by me.....thank goodness. Ray had been watching me from the cabin while he was on the phone. He ran down to the lake when he noticed the bear and I were only a few feet away from each other.

Photos from Woods Lodge during Week One in Mammoth.

I'm in a Starbucks in Mammoth and have my computer with me (of course), so thought I'd post a few photos. We are having the time of our lives up here.

View from our apartment over Woods Lodge of Crystal Crag, Mammoth Crest and Ducks Pass to the left. We stay in this very small, one room, apartment the first week. We love the view but find living in one room a bit confining. Don't get me wrong, we still love being here.


Ray took this photo of me trying to get closeups of the birds we feed on our balcony. Each morning we wake when we wake, usually around 6:30am, have coffee, read a spiritual reading out loud from Simple Abundance, have oatmeal, read and then go for a hike (after we've had enough lazying around most of the morning!!!)


This was unreal. I was taking photos of the Lodge (last picture below) when out of the corner of my eye, I see something moving to my right. I look and it's a light brown, small, bear. He looks at me (we are 10 feet away from each other), I look at him. He turns back to look ahead of him as he continues to the other side of the Lodge.

I follow him with my camera. I'm so excited, most of the photos I took are blurry. But I got this photo of the bear climbing over a fence while another vacationer was in a chair outside his cabin reading not very far from the advancing bear. The man doesn't see the bear. I yell, "Hello!" The man looks up from his book and immediately begins to run backward with his chair in his grasp and his eyes and mouth wide open indicating he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Obviously he was scared to death. I wonder what he thought of me moving closer and following the bear with my camera?


Ray and me near the top of Mammoth Crest after our hike yesterday. We both feel the altitude. Ray is doing great. I'm thrilled he is hiking with me.


This is the view looking north from the top of Mammoth Crest, 2+ miles up the trail from our cabin. LR.....Like the view of the Minnaretts, Ritter and Banner?


This is one of the photos I took that I might submit for the September photo class assignment #1 on Walls, Windows and Doors.

Off to Mammoth for the month of August.

When the pool/fountain guy was here last week and we were in the backyard, he mentioned that this pictured fountain my brother gave me one birthday would look better moved from where it was to this new position, right outside my desk window.

This Junco bird has made the Angel's head his new perching place. I love it because, as my husband knows, I believe my deceased mother has come back in the form of a Junco bird. Silly, but true.


We won't have internet access, so until September, have a great month.

Paula's birthday. Firsts are always special.

"The Ladies" during dinner at El Rancho July 31st.

Katya and Paula

Paula and Me.

Paula and her boyfriend, Terry who drove in from the desert to surprise Paula in Sherman Oaks.

Terry and Paula, Mom and Dad (Carol and Tom). Tom is an avid hiker and read my journal as I was backpacking.