June 27th, 2012 
Emily 
After getting lost, off-roading in our minivan, and being asked for a bribe, we eventually made it to Mt. Longonot. It just took three times longer than we expected. At least after being cramped in an overcrowded mini van for more than three hours, we were all ready to hike.
Mt. Longonot is actually a stratovolcano, which meant that we hiked not to a peak, but to the edge of a crater. The hike was very steep and dusty, but the views were awesome.
The view from Mt. Longonot
Then our group decided to hike around the crater. As a practical/lazy person, I voiced the opinion that perhaps it wouldn’t be worth it to hike around the crater. Half of it was obscured by thick fog, therefore my cost/benefit analysis indicated that we would be doing a lot of hiking for nothing. But my husband silenced my dissenting voice and we started walking around the crater.
The path around the rim of the crater.
For a while, it was a flat and easy walk and I was happy. Then things got nasty. The trail was steep and slippery, to the point of being dangerous. There were no scenic views to appreciate.
I was not happy, but I tried to keep my complaints to a minimum so that my new friends would not ostracize me or leave me behind on this godforsaken crater rim. My husband took pictures of my misery (see below).
At least you don’t have to see my misery up close.
Finally we made it around the rim of the crater. We ate lunch and chatted about how awesome we were because we had just walked around the rim of the crater. Then we saw a Kenyan school group heading cheerfully around the crater and we felt a little less awesome.
Kenyan school children hiking around Mt. Longonot. Some of them were even wearing flip-flops.
The descent was fast because it was steep and slippery. We slid our way back down Mt. Longonot, pausing only so that a group of Kenyans could take pictures with us. (I am still befuddled by this.) For me, the highlight was that a Kenyan woman, who had someone scaled Mt. Longonot while wearing wedge heels, posed with my disgustingly sweaty husband for a photo. Unfortunately, I forgot to document the moment, so she has the only copy of this photo.
Back at the bottom of the mountain, we got cold drinks from the canteen and then piled back into our minivan for the [much shorter] ride home.
Well, it would have been much shorter if we hadn’t gotten a flat tire.
I wasn’t joking. We seriously got a flat tire on the way home.
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Emily, at least you kept your sense of humor. And you were brave. Very brave. I’m enjoying this documentation of your new life!
Knowing that I would write about it for the blog helped me keep my sense of humor!
So, are you going to brave Mt Kilimanjaro next?
Haha, doubtful…
I was saddened by your misery, if that helps. But I was lifted out of sadness by the arrival of the Kenyan children, hiking merrily along. That is awesome.
The flat tire would have been the end of me. The end.
When we got the flat tire, I started laughing uncontrollably like a lunatic. So I think it was kind of the end of me.