Birthday Experience

The search for my 60th birthday experience is still on. I've explored Africa, the Med, the Caribbean, and Central America as possible birthday vacations. Each has a lot to offer.

Since we're talking about celebrating my birth, I thought it only proper I find my long lost relative, Lucy. For those of you who are unaware, Lucy is the name of the oldest remains of a human. She was found in Hadar, Ethiopia and is on display in Houston until some time in April. The belief is that Ethiopia is the "birthplace" of humankind. While I could just go visit her in Houston, I'd rather go to Ethiopia where it all began.

Tandem hang gliding is on the list of things to do. It's the nearest to flying, my effort to recapture my childhood dreams of flying. But I also have discovered rainforest canopy adventures in Costa Rica. Straight out of one of my favorite movies, Medicine Man, I've found the real-life experience that thrills me everytime I watch this movie. Flying through the trees on a belay has now caught my attention.

But what about the name of this blog, The Secret Life of a Butterfly? Let us not forget that there are over 1,000 butterfly species found in Costa Rica and they are everywhere in the air year round.

And, also, "being" in the presence of lions, tiger, elephants, hippos etc on a safari has always intrigued me. I guess another movie is responsible for this--Out of Africa. My husband keeps warning me of the polical unrest in Kenya. Dear, I'll never "own a farm in Africa." Can't I at least see what I'm missing.

Then there's another experience, again, straight out of a movie, Gorillas in the Mist. As my husband keeps reminding me, Uganda and Rwanda are in political unrest also. But to sit as Dian Fossey did, just watching the gorillas, would delight the child, educate the psychologist and enlighten the human in me.

The Med, well, I just have always wanted to take a cruise, see Cairo, Morroco, and Greece. On the other hand, the Caribbean is has perfect weather for a December birthday.

I also have been trying to remember that we'll be on the trip during New Year's. So, where do I want to start 2009?

Time is slipping away fast. I started thinking about this 1/1/08. Somehow, it's now 2/2/08. So I've been thinking maybe I could just start celebrating now by visiting Lucy in Houston. She's got a neighboring exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science--the Butterfly Habitat.

"Life comes at you fast." Commerical for Geico Insurance
"Orange is the new pink and now is the new yesterday." --Carolyn Martin