MerrinDonahue.com

After a long lapse in our story, things have finally slowed down around here long enough for me to continue with the next installment. Thanks for your patience!

I think it’s safe to say that we had an incredibly overwhelming day, and we were ready for a little decompression. We headed back to our rooms to grab a shower and change for dinner (yes, I totally had a bath in the crocodile tub). Little did Nic know that we had a surprise in store for him; we had all decided that we would wear our kikois to dinner! Sure, we had given him a hard time, but the truth is we really loved them (Kevin loves his so much, in fact, that he packed it to take with him to Baltimore. I have a feeling he’s wearing around the hotel as he watches football today).

We gathered around a HUGE fireplace, and Andrew went above and beyond by fixing us spectacular cocktails and manning the grill to cook up some yummy appetizers. He had his very own version of a churrascaria going on, which means that it was a big ol’ meat fest. We started with some AWESOME grilled beef, the most delicious sausage I’ve ever had (made in house!), and followed it up with mutton chops and assorted sides. The meat was definitely the star, though, and I’ve never been so happy to be a carnivore. 😉

Following tradition, we had a game after dinner. Andrew had a super-sized version of Jenga (which, by the way, beat the hell out of Bobby’s over-complicated dice game). We switched from cocktails to Tusker (and yes, I am now a Tusker convert), threw the iPod on the speakers (I never would have guessed that Andrew is such a huge Country fan!), and proceeded to make absolute fools out of ourselves. Don’t take my word for it, though, since a picture is worth a thousand words:

Nic and Andrew kept adding silly rules, and pretty soon we were all working the catwalk and doing little dances as we successfully removed piece after piece. One of the most priceless images from the trip is of Dad sporting his kikoi and doing a little boogie while backing away from the tower…..as it toppled straight to the ground. Dana and I came out as the champions that night; we were the only ones who managed to never knock the thing over (and maybe Nic, took, but then again, I’m fairly certain he cheated). Our group started to disband around 11:00, and by midnight, Kevin and I called it quits. I had lost count of how many Tuskers we had put away, but I know it was a lot, and besides, we had a 6:30 wakeup call and a hike in the morning. None of that stopped Nic and Andrew for staying up till the wee small hours and polishing off a bottle of whiskey, though (or so the story goes. I was out about 3 seconds after my head hit the pillow).

This had been an incredible day, and as I fell asleep that night, I knew that even though I may have been in full-on sensory overload, it was destined to be one of the most memorable days of my life. We started the day with a roller coaster of a flight, experienced the Samburu culture in a way that few people get a chance to, and finished it off with an awesome little party in the best company anyone could ask for. And for the record? While I’m super glad we got lots of video earlier in the day, I’m more than relieved that no video exists of the evening (at least not that will ever see the light of day).