I retired from teaching over five years ago. However, teaching is still in my blood. Since retiring I have twice gone to the African country of Malawi to teach in the pastoral training program there. At the end of August this year I went to another African country to teach, Togo. When I told people I was going to Togo, they would typically look a little confused. I would have to explain to them that Togo is in West Africa.…
Continue Reading “Teaching Leaders in the African Country of Togo”
Our trip through Madagascar continued the next day as we left for Antsirabe. It was another long day on the road. Luckily we stopped in a little town for lunch where we were provided with singing and dancing by the locals. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of opportunities for work outside of Antananarivo, so I assume this was probably considered a good job, especially when they can receive tips from foreigners. After our lunch (I had noodles and…
Continue Reading “Encountering the Indri Lemur in Madagascar’s Rainforest”
Our journey inland began early the next morning. We loaded into our little bus and set out for a long journey. When I say long, it’s not long because of the distance, but because driving in Madagascar is an adventure of its own. The roads are not taken care of, and you spend a lot of the time slowing down to avoid potholes. One can also be stuck in village traffic along the road. For these long drive days (6-10…
Continue Reading “Lemurs and other Unique Creatures in Madagascar”
Madagascar wasn’t a place that had been on my bucket list, but I sometimes like to take the country less traveled, less traveled and far. Madagascar is so far away that getting there was an adventure in itself. As you can imagine, there are no direct flights to Madagascar. I first had to fly to Istanbul where I had a 12 hour layover. Then I took a flight to Madagascar via Mauritius. Fortunately I was able to do a free…
Continue Reading “Andrea Begins An Amazing African Adventure in Madagascar”
This trip has been about touring some of the byways in northeastern Oregon. There was one more byway in Oregon I wanted to tour, but we couldn’t make it work with our schedule. Instead I suggested we drive along the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge to see what it had to offer. Most people drive the Oregon side because of the ease of the I-84 freeway. Checking out the other side of the river seemed a unique opportunity.…
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On Thursday of our journey through three byways in Oregon, we started the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway. However, it is a long byway so we did not finish it. We drove through the Hells Canyon area and ended up just past Joseph in the town of Enterprise. Today, Friday, we would finish the byway and begin to make our journey back home. In looking over the guide for Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, I realized we had missed an important stop,…
Continue Reading “Driving From Wallowa Lake to Pendleton, Oregon”
During our trip to Northeastern Oregon, we have followed two different scenic byways. On Thursday we would begin the third and final byway, the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway. This route starts in Baker City and goes for over 200 miles so we will not finish it in a day. While there is an emphasis on the Hells Canyon, this byway offers more than just that particular location. The first place we stopped goes back to the storied history of Oregon.…
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On Tuesday we explored the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway in northern Oregon. However, we did not finish the route. The byway continues all the way to Baker City. It’s actually a good thing we hadn’t planned to finish it as it would have been really late if we had driven to Baker City. John Day was a good place to stop. Today we finished the Journey Through Time Byway and then drove the Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway. It is…
I grew up in Southern Oregon. Despite being an Oregonian there are a number of regions in Oregon that I have not explored. The northeast corner of the state is one of those areas. This region has a number of unique features. Since Silvette had a week of vacation to use up, we decided to take the opportunity to check this area out. My research indicated a number of scenic byways crossed the area so we used those as a…
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I am back in the United States, but I didn’t find the time to finish the blog post I intended for this week. Instead I am posting a photo of what’s to come next week. This is a location I think is a hidden jewel in our region so be sure to come back next week to read all about it. Later in the year I will share where I have been for the last two weeks. See you next…
