The rest of our trip

When I first started blogging about our trip, my goal was to post with as much detail/pictures as I could. Since the first few posts were mostly about our time with our son, it was easy to pick out which pictures to share, since we couldn't show any pictures of him (except for the pic with his adorable toes). But as I've started sorting through our hundreds of pictures, I realized if I posted everything I would be blogging for a very long time. So, for the rest of our trip I picked out a few highlights. 

 Friday, April 27th

We got up early and hit the road with our driver Tsegaw. Watching the sun come up on our absolutely beautiful drive made getting up at 4 AM completely worth it. We found out that not only was Tsegaw a great driver to have, but he was an excellent cook! During our two day road trip we stopped at various places to eat and it wasn't a big deal to bring in the food he had prepared or have the waiters do some basic food preparation for us. We ended up at Awash National Park in the afternoon and got to enjoy the desert landscape and animals, as well as the beautiful falls. We drove back and spent the night in a town called Nazareth and ended the evening enjoying a delicious meal at a neat outdoor restaurant.

 Stunning views during the drive

Orthodox Church

Acacia trees were everywhere

We saw lots of camels on the drive

Hauling water

We saw many oryx in the park

 Our scout overlooking some of the awesome views at Awash National Park

I had to add the picture of this adorable little deer

 Waterfalls at Awash National Park

 While we were checking out the waterfalls we noticed two crocodiles close by. 

(Thankfully they were sleeping.)

Saturday, April 28th

After enjoying a huge breakfast (with some really tasty juices) we drove 4 hours north. Again, the drive was beautiful, but this time it was mountains, rolling hills, grass, and trees. We visited the Portugese Bridge and Debrelibanus Monastery. Part of the fun of the trip was enjoying getting to know our driver and learning more about Ethiopian history and culture. We found ourselves falling more in love with Ethiopia.

This drive was much greener

Great views

Portugese Bridge (built during the Crusades)

Our driver Tsegaw at Jemma Gorge

Breath-taking...literally

Jemma Gorge

 Debrelibanus Monastary

We were privileged to end Saturday night by getting dropped off at Allen and Susan Stoller's and eating dinner with them at a restaurant on a mountaintop with excellent views. We spent the evening showing pictures and swapping stories. 

 Dinner with Allen and Susan

Sunday, April 29th

One of the highlights of our weekend was being able to worship at the International Church with Allen and Susan. As Susan said "it's a taste of heaven" as you look around and see people from all over the world praising God. Unfortunately, on the way home Jon ended up getting sick. So, while he spent the rest of Sunday puking, I was getting pampered by Allen and Susan. I enjoyed seeing the LSM campus and we even stopped for some coffee at a place I had wanted to try. We ended up that night eating at yet another mountaintop restaurant.

 Yummy!

Monday 30th/Tuesday, May 1st

We flew out of Addis Ababa at 11AM and landed in London around 6PM for an overnight lay-over. Jon's cousin Abby and her husband Matt met us at the airport and we were able to hang out at our motel and eat dinner. We had a fantastic time together. We flew out early Tuesday morning and landed in Chicago close to 10AM, glad to be home, but our hearts already aching for our next trip back.

 Dinner with Matt and Abby in London