Carmen Dolny:  

Well, I love to travel so many of the highlights of my years have been travel adventures. I have lived in Tucson for the last 30+ years on seven quiet, tranquil acres on the west side and very close to town. I love it! Lost my husband quite some time ago very suddenly and unexpectedly on Christmas Eve, which made things pretty hard for me, but as you can see, I somehow survived as did my lovely children. Used to have lots of animals but not recently. I miss having them, them but it is easier to take off on the spur of the moment without them. I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, from the Tanzania side four years ago. Two friends and I reached the summit on 9/11! We started out in beautiful lush rain forest and ended up in stark arctic desert with a temperature at the top of minus 15 degrees F! Base camp was at 15,000 + feet, and the last leg of the climb, up the volcanic cone, was absolutely grueling. Nonetheless, it was a fabulous and very amazing and awesome experience.Top is 19,432 feet, and no oxygen. Started up that last portion of the climb at around midnight, reaching the rim and proceeding around at daybreak. We were fortunate with the weather -- no significant snow and no rain or wind storms, just a bit of light rain and no excessive wind. We had the welcome benefit of some moonlight on the way up to supplement the light from our small forehead lamps. The glaciers in the volcanic cone have in recent years receded to 20% of their previous size, and it is estimated that in a mere 10 years there will be no more glaciers at all. There is already no perpetual snow on the peak. What a fabulous experience! Then headed out to wildlife preserves and then to the east coast of Kenya to a beautiful little island called Lamu, there there is no vehicular traffic, only donkeys and carts, some bicycles...Expand for more