At the top

Ah. . . . Table Mountain!

Here is our starting point for this blog. This is a great view of the "Mountain" at dusk. This looks like it was taken on an island looking back at land, but actually this is the other side of the bay. Table Mountain faces west almost directly, but there is this little neck of land that juts out opposite it that makes it possible to take this picture.

I can't really explain the fascination that people who live here have with this mountain, but it does kind of impose itself into your life. It is that constant landmark that you look to in order to know where you are. You check the weather by it because it is just so awesome to see what it will look like each day. I don't think I know a person who hasn't basically fallen in love with the mountain if they have stayed here very long. All visitors are captivated. Even Elder Herbert (who has not shared my love of mountains throughout our lives together) is constantly taking pictures of the mountain and commenting about how it looks.

Well, today is the day that we get to go to the top of Table Mountain. I feel like Moses going up to get the stone tablets. I am so excited about what I will see there. Tonight there is a "Sunset Special" which takes place the last two weeks of February - kind of in the middle of the summer. (I know---it has taken forever to find the time to get this on my blog-sorry! But I'm writing it just like I felt that day because it will be more fun that way. For me anyway---and hopefully for you! ) The tickets are half price today - a steal and Grampa isn't about to miss this great deal. The tickets are usually 150 rand (a little more than $20) per person, but tonight they are 79 rand---whoo hoo ten bucks to see a very thrilling sight. Our dear friends, the Harms, wanted to go see the sunset on Table Mountain, so they invited us to go along. We packed a little dinner, so we could eat and watch the sunset. We're having cheese sandwiches (courtesy of Sister Harms - grated cheese, green chilies, mayo, etc--they were very yummy) and grapes and chips and carrot sticks and homemade cookies. I brought the cookies, because I had a Relief Society meeting that day and we did scrapbooking.

This picture was taken as we were waiting in line to get on the tram that carries you to the top. You can see downtown Cape Town and the wharf and, of course, the bay with the white boats which look very tiny, but are really very large. This is only a very small part of Cape Town. It is about 6 pm. on the last Saturday in February, 2010.

Here we are while we are waiting in line - very anxious to get going. We have only walked up a few stairs from the parking area. So we are just getting started. There are homes and buildings like this all the way around the mountain except to the south. Doesn't it look like a beautiful warm day to go to the top of a mountain?

Here is the gondola we will ride on - looks kinda small, huh. There are probably about 30 people in there. The neat thing is that it turns continuously while you are ascending, so you get to see all the different views around. We were lucky enough to be right on the outside so we had a great view.

No! Amazingly we did not take any pictures on the way up. I think we were too excited or worried that we would drop the camera. The trip up the mountain was awesome and we finally made it to the top. There were no close calls or anything, just a nice, safe, quick ride to the top.
Of course there is lots of room to wander around up there and we couldn't move fast enough because we knew the sun would set soon! So we walked around for a while. We saw this cute little museum house that is built on the top of the mountain. The little "steeple" on the end is the chimney and they usually have one on each end of the house. There are lots of little houses with this achitechural design all around Cape Town, but they are usually whitewashed stucco. People tell us it is Dutch influence from the late 1600s.

This picture below shows Sister Harms waving us over because she has found a great place to eat our dinner. It has a little bench and everything. My shadow waving back looks like Indian paintings on the rocks.
The sun is still a little while from setting, so we are looking around but we have walked up to the place where Sister Harms is. We have to check to see how long we have until the sun will set. Ah, it looks like we still have a few minutes, but people are starting to gather to enjoy it.

If we look to our left, we can see the mountain range behind Table Mountain expanding to the south. Looks a little like the Grand Canyon, but really reminds me of the sunset over the Rocky Mountains we saw on the west side of Denver - actually at Boulder. And, yes, that is the ocean you see way back there but with a cloud bank extending all around it. Somewhere around the bend on those mountains is a place where there are 12 special shapes all in a row kind of like you see these three formations right here. They are named the 12 Apostles of course, because this is a very Christian nation. Or at least it was until lots of Muslims, Indians, Thai, Chinese, etc. came here.

Here we are eating our dinner---I am busy scarfing down grapes and Sister Harms is putting some tomatoes or oranges or something on her plate. Elder Herbert took the pictures at this point so you don't get to see him with his mouth full.


This is the beginning of the sunset. Not exactly impressive after the stunning shots we had at Chapman's peak. One thing is very interesting though and I hope you can see it. There are clouds out there on the ocean. As far as you can see there are clouds out there about half as high as the mountain. I don't know how high they were above the water, but it looks like it is raining out there under them or at least there is a very thick mist! There is a wall out there where they begin (or would you say end?), and then you can see the ocean where it comes in to the land. We thought the storm would slowly move in on us, but it never did. So again the sun is going down behind a bank of clouds and not really into the ocean!!

And shoosh! it is gone! (It wasn't really that fast - we gazed at it for quite a while.) But it isn't really dark yet! This is that beautiful time we call dusk that we seldom appreciate at home, because we are rushing to get somewhere by 6 or 7.

If we turn a little to our right, we can see some more of Cape Town as the lights start to come on. Now you can see the other side of the bay where we took that beautiful picture of Table Mountain at dusk on another outing - we did not take that first picture today. You can't see it very well, but the clouds on this side are floating high above the buildings. It shows a little better in one of the next pictures.

And now you can see the sleeping lion - you could just see his rump in the last picture. The pointy part is the lion's head. The part that sticks up is his mane or his ears and you can make out his sillouette---it is amazing, in this light I can see it - I have never really seen the correct angle before I guess. He is resting there in front of Table Mountain. With a tiny sailboat right by his mane.

We could see the clouds beginning to sneak through that little crevice in the mountain and it reminded us all of the Ten Commandments when the mist went through Egypt! It was very enjoyable to watch it move. You can also see the bank of clouds behind the mountain and the lights of the city under it. That little point of mountain out there is the back of the mountain we take pictures of all the time at the office.

This picture gives a little better view of the clouds and the city. Our Mission Office where we work every day is over by where the clouds start and our home is back under the clouds about 3 or 4 miles.(But five or six kilometers!) It feels almost like you are in an airplane looking down at everything.

Now it is getting just a little too dark and the warning bell starts to ring that the last trips down the mountain in the gondola are starting. So unless we want to spend the night out here on the mountain, we have to go get in line. It looks pretty peaceful, as you can only see the outlines of people scrambling off the rocks, but I can still see that bank of clouds out there---it is just amazing.

Another day - another adventure for the lucky Herbert missionaries who are trying their best to do some good in Cape Town! Hope you are trying your best too! We love you all! Bye!