Driving the Oregon Coast

Our next adventure is driving the Oregon Coast from Astoria to Bookings which is 363 miles of beautiful scenery and on to California to San Francisco.
Along the way we will be staying in little coastal towns.



Our first stop before heading out to the coast is Portland, Oregon which is home to 53 brewery's, the most of any town in the world.




Someone say -

First Stop Rogue for a delicious morning cold brew 

Shark Diving off Seal Island, Simon's Town Cape Town South Africa

Another of the things on our list to do in Capetown was to go shark diving. I know it sounds crazy to want to be put in a cage while a great white sharks swims by or comes at the cage but it also sounded very exciting and one of the few places you can do this. The weather just wasn't cooperating and the seas have not looked like we would want to be on a boat. By weeks end things were changing and we had 1 more day to either go or go home. I quickly did some research and found Apex Shark Expeditions which offered just a few passenger on board and was the team on discovery channel that filmed air jaws.  Perfect! Plus it was only about an hour away.
The boat left the dock before sunrise.

It was pretty cold but no wind and the seas were calm.

African Penguins on Boulder Beach, South Africa

Everything is better in when the sun is out! I flew all this way to see some penguins whats another 2 hour car ride back to Simon's town and Boulder to get to spend some time with African Penguins.

I was very happy we made the trip back. They are really cute and it was fun to watching them.

Table Mountain, Cape Town South Africa

After days of wind and rain the sun finally came out.

We thought a trip to the top of Table Mountain was in order before the wind returned. There is a cable car that takes you up and down the mountain but if there is wind they stop service. I would not want to be at the top and have to hike down.

It takes 5 minutes to get to the top of Table Mountain.

There are lots of trails you can take all with amazing views.

Fog rolling in and covering Table Moutain, Cape Town South Africa

Camps Bay, Cape Town South Africa

The condo we rented in Cape Town was located in Camps Bay, a little town right on the beach. It was the perfect location, with many restaurants within walking distance, close to everything, and the views were spectacular.

We had dinner at many of the restaurants in town. Cod Fathers was one we enjoyed. You pick from the case what it is you would like

then it's cooked and served family style. It was a great way to sample different types of fish.

Penguins of South Africa

The whole reason we extended the trip and added Cape Town to the itinerary is because I found out there were penguins. I have seen them at the Camden aquarium in NJ but getting to see them out in the wild was what I wanted.
  We set out one of the morning for Simon's town where a large colony of penguins live. However once we got their the skies opened up making the experience a very wet one.

Even the penguins did not look happy.

After a moment in the rain viewing 2 little penguins, getting totally soaked, we packed it in.  This was not exactly the experience I was looking for but you can not help Mother Nature.
  We continued onward to Cape Point which is the tip of the peninsula. I imagine on a nicer day the views would be spectacular. There were plenty of great spots to stop and take in the view and lots of trails to hike neither we could do.

 Rain and lot of it. So we did the next best thing, lunch at Two Oceans Restaurant. It was the perfect spot to dry off, enjoy a bottle of wine, and great seafood.
At one point the sun appeared for a moment giving us a nice view of False Bay.

Hop on hop off bus in Cape Town, South Africa

After 9 days on Safari we went on to Cape Town for a week of beach and fun. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side it was cold, windy, and lots of rain for the first few days but we made the most of it.

  One of the best ways to get to know any city is to take one of the hip on hop off buses.

It's a wonderful way to see the sights of the city, while hearing about some of the history, and attractions the city has to offer. If you see a place you want to explore just hop off the bus, when your done you hop on another bus. We got a ticket that can be used for a few days allowing us to really get to know the Cape Town.
 One of the stops we got off was the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront for some shopping and lunch.

Since we had the pass for a few days we used the bus the next day to and went on their wine tour, which includes 3 wineries located in Cape Town, Groot Constantia, Eagle's Nest, and Beau Constantia.

Groot Constantia’s revered history tells us how a man’s love of wine established the first wine farm in South Africa. By going back 330 years, we come to understand how 891 morgen of land created the origins of the South African wine industry, and how every owner thereafter contributed to what we know as Groot Constantia today. - See more at: http://www.grootconstantia.co.za/our-story/groot-constantia-history/?id=8#sthash.LZAFVDEp.dpuf

 The first stop was Groot Constantia, which is one of the first or is the first winery of South Africa dating back 330 years ago.

It was a cold day and once again the rain started, so we took refuse in the Manor house for some wine and food at  Jonkershuis Restaurant.

We started with a some local cheeses and a nice bottle of Groot Constantia Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvigno

The food, the wine, and the atmosphere was just wonderful.

The weather did not was not cooperating so after lunch we skipped the rest of the tour and took an Uber back to our condo. Uber in Cape Town, how cool is that?

The Bush Spa at Mfuwe Lodge, South Luangwa Valley Zambia

 One of the best things we did was prior to arriving at Mfuwe lodge was to arrange to have a little pampering. After a 24 hour travel day a massage sounded like the perfect thing. On our first day after our morning safari us girls had a relaxing massage at the Bush Spa in Mfuwe Lodge.
  It was wonderful and I highly recommend a visit to the spa when staying here. We enjoyed it so much we arranged for another day of pampering on our return after 6 nights in bush camp.
This time we treated ourselves to one of their special packages. I choose the Kegelia African healing and firming wrap which uses extract for them African Sausage Tree, followed by a massage.
Great way to end the trip.

 The spa is all open air and overlooks the pond which has many visitors including a pod of hippo's.
Nothing like getting a massage and listening to hippo's, that was a first.

Take a picture not a body, Stop trophy killing!

Like so many of you, I am deeply sadden and disgusted with the news of the most recent lion killed for the soul purpose of having its head and skin as a trophy.

This one selfish person took it upon himself to kill an animal that so many others have enjoyed watching and photographing over the last 13 years.

Cecil (as the lion was known) has been living in a protected area in Zimbabwe with 2 prides he protected, 6 lionesses and 12 cubs until he was lured out of the park by food in the middle of the night so that this selfish man could shoot him with a crossbow. Cecil was only wounded and was then tracked for 40 hours before finally the man shot him with a rifle killing the lion. Before skinning him and cutting off his head he did make sure he got a picture smiling with the dead lion.

What is wrong with this person? Why do people feel the need to kill such a beautiful creature for their own personal enjoyment?