Welcome Aboard, B. Hippo!

M and I are in Atlanta together this weekend, along with M's mother, who is visiting an old high school friend. This friend and her husband have visited every continent and have been on over 25 cruises. We spent all afternoon paging through a few of their many scrapbooks, and drilling them with questions about their travels. Incidentally, they have a small stuffed hippo that "travels" with them, meets the captain, has his picture taken all over, etc. Think of the gnome in Amelie.

While at first this seems quite strange, it was really awesome to see the photos of B. Hippo all over the world, especially with real hippos in Africa (which are quite dangerous animals, if you did not know). Anyway, our conversation inevitably turned to our upcoming Appalachian Trail hike, and we decided to take B. Hippo along with us (well actually a small photo of B. Hippo, to avoid permanent damage to him, as we will be spending a lot of time in the rain. Welcome aboard, B. Hippo! Stay tuned for an upcoming post containing an actual photo of B. Hippo.