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halothenthehorns · 3 years

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All in the Family

Chapter 6 Diagon Alley

Below is finally the real start to that wolfstar I mentioned...though I doubt this came as a surprise considering how much I've been building up to it lately.

HPHPHP

Even being prepared for the soul wrenching yank through time and space could not give one the preparation needed to slam back down in a small, dingy, poorly lit pub. The staircase on the far back wall, they all knew, led to rooms that while cheap, were not accustomed to more than one night stays and so shanty at best with only a dozen total. The tables spaced out, while clean of grime, held age old stains Tom had never quite managed to scrub out, the chairs were mismatched and several of them had been repaired though the magic no longer showed it.

The bar was by far the most noticeable feature, covering the length of the room and most highly polished with squashy cushions on the stools with many butt impressions still warm to the touch, though lacking its usual tenants and keep, leaving the drinks, both in bottles and left along the counter, to almost glow without any proper lighting.

"Well, I'll take this as a sign," James said, wincing slightly as he got himself to his feet and made his way directly there.

"What do you think you're doing Potter?" Lily demanded, askance at once as he brazenly stepped behind the counter.

"What does it look like? Spritzer anyone? Bet I can invent a new flavor before we get out of here." He asked pleasantly as he browsed through the shelves.

"Get your arse out of there," she snapped, taking an automatic step back as she said it. She hadn't lifted a finger to stop them at such a dastardly place as Number Four, but Tom nor anyone had deserved these boys messing with this place. "This is private property, we've no right to be here!"

"Clearly the universe decided differently," Sirius snorted as he stepped up with him. "Pass me a mixer will you Prongs."

James tossed one over his shoulder without looking while Sirius slid the book along the counter to catch it instead.

Regulus let it slide right past him as he sat himself on a stool and asked, "mind mixing me up whatever it is Father has on his holidays?"

"Bleh," Sirius made a face at his brother even as he let his fingers catch on the neck of choice. "Do you not value your taste buds?"

"Can't handle the strong stuff then?" Regulus challenged back with a smirk.

"I drank you under the table Christmas of 69'," Sirius said right back with a huff as he set down a brown tinted, ice clinking beverage.

"Please tell me you two didn't actually get drunk at the age of ten, or younger," Frank said with honest worry.

He was ignored.

When Pettigrew opted to second whatever Potter had thrown together in his glass and even Lupin began nursing something, the other three just turned away dismissively from them, Frank feeling obligated at this point to pick up the book and say, "honestly, I'm just hoping to get zapped out of here now before they get a chance to finish."

Alice tried both the front and back door without much hope, she even tried several of the rooms upstairs in the vain attempt of another window, but no one was much surprised when she came back downstairs shaking her head and sat next to Frank at the door closest to the back, pretending for a moment it was just the two of them studying again as he began.

Lily perched uneasily near the front door, still seeming the only one to struggle taking all of this in but smiling a bit as the chapter title promised some good to come. It was indeed adorable hearing of Harry's naivety shining through more than ever as he started spending time with Hagrid. She remembered once being that innocent and smiling around at everything magical, there were still times where she was, though they grew less and less as the years went on and it was kind of nice to hear it being played out again.

"You do have to love the first time you can enter the magical world is through a pub." Lily grumbled as an awkward silence hung over the whole bar in here as well when Frank finally gave them all such a huge example of Harry's fame in his time, and it was truly boggling to the lot of them what this kid must represent to the magical world. They'd hardly given it much time to consider, the idea was still too fantastical to really settle in their minds of a time without You-Know-Who, let alone a baby being the one to do it. It wasn't hard to imagine all of them acting the exact same way as these guests at something even more otherworldly than a celebrity.

Quirrell was passed by without much enthusiasm, the lot of them had far too much experience with the absurdity of a new teacher every year for that class, but the journey inside Gringotts garnered some all around fascination.

The speculation was wild, and ridiculous, from those apparently trying to get sloshed and guessing what that little package could be.

Lily's disdain for their drinking grew when Hagrid joined in and abandoned his charge, but to her surprise, the group in here seemed done with whatever had prompted this to begin with, at least none made back for behind the counter but instead were listening with honest interest as details kept pouring in of Harry and Hagrid's time, though likely they were just listening for more clues of what Hagrid could have been up to. She wasn't strictly paying attention to their every word, but she did notice tension building in the little group again that the alcohol had blurred for a time, Lupin certainly slammed his drink down hard enough to crack the glass when Sirius muttered something next.

Regulus seemed to try breaking the uneasy tension, but while Pettigrew gave an honest laugh Black shot him an annoyed look and instead got up and left the table, glancing around and catching her eyes for a second. She blushed upon realizing she was still watching them, far more than she'd ever done in her time where she actively avoided looking at them instead, and put all of her attention into grinding her teeth together at such an obnoxious, obviously pureblood kid acting like Potter far more than Harry had been so far there in Madam Malkin's.

James wasn't even getting the joy of noticing Evans' attention, sighing deeply when his crack about Hagrid being too good at keeping secrets backfired and only reminded his mates why they'd gone so long without speaking. At least he could admire Regulus trying to keep in their good graces with his little remark of this blond kid having the right idea about smuggling brooms into the school, seemed Sirius' kid brother could actually be smart when he wasn't being such a prick around his precious Slytherin friends back in school.

Things only got worse as Hagrid took Harry through the rest of the day without much more distraction, only the inside of Ollivander's cut off the thickening cord growing in the room.

"Bloody hell, what even is Harry?" Peter yelped in surprise.

"Parselmouth, and now having a brother wand of the Dark Lord," Regulus agreed with a raised brow. "I'm beginning to wonder if Potter adopted their kid."

James threw him such a filthy look, Regulus couldn't help but cringe away from the table, feeling extremely exposed now that Sirius was dithering behind the bar and still only seeming to have anxious eyes for his friend who wouldn't even look at him. Instead, without any kind of backup against someone honestly much older and more experienced, Regulus strode off to another table, forcing himself to shake off the idea he could actually mingle with a bunch of Gryffindor idiots. Clearly whatever they could agree on couldn't last when those Muggles weren't around to be detested.

Alice and Frank exchanged an uneasy look when they neared the end and Hagrid was about to take Harry back to the Muggles. They somehow had even more questions than when this all began, and it was hard to even talk about that when it felt like at any moment the place was going to explode considering every room they'd been in you could cut the tension with a knife.

Remus took a careful breath as he watched Sirius slip into the room behind the bar, as if looking for even a moment away from them, and finally finding a door that would open. He downed the rest of his drink, savoring the burn while it lasted and ignored James and Peter's uneasy looks as he stalked back into the room as well, honestly hoping for just one second of peace before they were forced into yet another new place. If James was going to keep pulling them together then Remus couldn't stand it anymore, it was high time he let Sirius know exactly why this wasn't going to work. If the two couldn't work things out now than they weren't going to, and he ignored the painful clench of his innards at the idea as he went in behind him.

Seems it was Tom's room, a simple bed in the corner with a few dressers along the back wall and a mirror on their right that Sirius was grumbling into. He tensed up upon Remus' entrance, twirled on the spot, and tried to say something, but Remus came here for a reason and wasn't in the mood to hear whatever it was Sirius had come back here for.

Slamming the door hard behind him so to block an audience, one look at those dark gray eyes, finally seeing the color again tore out of him, "I trusted you!" He got right in his face, jabbing him in the chest with every word. "I trusted you with the biggest secret of my life,* and at first I thought, he really doesn't care that I'm a monster. Turns out I was wrong, you just didn't care about me at all!"

"I don't care?" Sirius echoed in a faint whisper, before his eyes blazed with anger. "I don't care! How dare you! I spent the past three years illegally turning into an animagus so I'd never have to see you so close to death again! Coming back from the full moon looking the way you did, it's a miracle you've lived to your age! How dare you tell me how I care," and he shoved him as far away from him as he could.

Remus stumbled back, all the anger he'd been holding in finally released and now doubled back on him as if the words themselves had been a weapon.

Sirius had done what he always did, he'd taken whatever was given to him and gone beyond the limit with it. He'd kept pushing at Remus so that they were right up against the wall now, still breathing into each others faces. Both had said the words they'd been clinging to for the past three weeks. Every angry word pouring out and now hanging in the air around them all at once, but leaving nothing left between them but electrical energy. Their chests heaving against each other, Sirius seemed to realize just how thoroughly he was pinning Remus to the wall at the same time Remus glanced down and realized he wasn't just feeling the weight of this on the inside.

Then Sirius kissed him.

*The idea for this argument was one I think about a lot. Most everyone seems to just assume the Marauders figured out Moony's secret, and I do agree that's more than likely the truth, but honestly I do wonder if Remus didn't want to tell them at a certain point and that's what went on here. I didn't run with this originally because it doesn't fit his character all that well, he really is too insecure to think anyone would accept him, but as I said in the beginning, I'm playing around a bit more, going fast and loose by taking a few key things and moving them around, hence also how I got them together.

#Wolfstar #Harry Potter #fanfiction #Marauders #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Regulus Black #James Potter #Peter Pettigrew #Alice Smith #Frank Longbottom #reading the books

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healy-dealy · 5 years

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Pranks for Nothing

I love April Fools, but didn’t have anything lined up for today, so I decided to republish one of my old fics, written roughly a bajillion years ago (about late 2017).

Length: 1506 words Summary: Stan’s pranks go too far for Dipper and Mabel. Rating: G

It was an average early summer morning in Gravity Falls: the sun was shining, the air was fresh and sweet, and the Mystery Twins were settling into a long day of lazing around the Shack. Mabel hung off the side of her bed, reading an issue of “Boy Crazy!” magazine, while Dipper frantically paced their bedroom, looking this way and that. “Mabel, have you seen my watch?” he finally asked.

“Nah,” answered Mabel. “Have you tried looking in the drawer?”

Dipper scratched the back of his neck. “Well, it’s worth a shot.” He pulled open the drawer, only to be greeted by the sight of a horrifying monster, its fangs bloody and sharp. He screamed in terror. “Aaaugh! Ugh, Mabel!”

Mabel sat up. “What is it, bro? Did you get overwhelmed by your own stink?”

Dipper roughly yanked the drawer out of the dresser. “Don’t play innocent with me! I know you put this here!” He took out the photo of the scary monster from the drawer and angrily waved it in front of Mabel.

“Don’t blame me!” said Mabel. She snatched the picture from Dipper and took a closer look at it. “I wouldn’t go anywhere near your smelly—oh. Oh.”

“What?”

“Look at the back.”

Dipper took back the photo. “AHAHAHAHA GOTCHA!” read the back. “SERVES YOU RIGHT, FOR LEAVING YOUR NERD JUNK ALL OVER THE SHACK. LOVE, STAN. P.S. DO SOME LAUNDRY. YOUR CLOTHES STINK!!”

“Man, I wish people would stop pointing that out,” said Dipper. “Even if it is true.”

“Do you think maybe Stan is going too far with his pranks?” asked Mabel.

“Eh.” Dipper shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about it, unless it becomes a thing.”

One day not long after, Mabel was having a tea party with her dolls in her bedroom. “Oh, Mrs. Cloudie, your rainbow looks lovely positively stunning today! Did you do something special with it?” She poured some tea into a stuffed horse’s cup. “More crumpets, Lady Fluffington?”

“She can’t eat them, she’s a stuffed animal!” said Dipper, who barely looked up from his book.

“Quiet, you!” hushed Mabel. “Hmm. I think we’re running low on cream. Be back in a bit!” She scooted out of her chair and opened the door… and was hit by a torrent of water from a bucket perched above the doorframe. It soaked her clean to the bone. “Bleh!”

Dipper shut his book. “Wasn’t me,” he said. “You know I can’t reach that high.”

“Ugh,” Mabel groaned, wringing out her hair. “I bet it was Stan again.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because he signed the bucket ‘From Grunkle Stan’,” answered Mabel.

“Oh. Well, uh…” Dipper scratched his head. “As long as he doesn’t make a habit out of it.”

“As long as he doesn’t make a habit out of it,” Mabel repeated grimly, before whisking herself to the bathroom to dry off.

After that, Stan’s pranks around the Shack grew more and more frequent. Not a day went by without an electric handbuzzer handshake, or a can of snakes, or a whoopee cushion laid on a chair for the unwary to sit on.

“Ugh, that’s another one of my notebooks Stan’s ruined,” Dipper grumbled, as he and Mabel stomped upstairs to their room. “I don’t know why he’s so fond of exploding pens.”

“Hey, I don’t know about you, bro,” Mabel replied, “but I am loving this ham, turkey, and vanilla pudding sandwich.” She took a big bite out of it. “Mmm! Still kinda wish that was really mayo, though.”

“Well, whatever,” said Dipper. “I suppose I should be glad I didn’t spray ink all over the Journal. Let’s just take a nap and put all these dumb pranks behind us.” The twins reached the attic. Dipper opened the door to their room to find that it had been completely filled up with balloons while they were gone.

“Huh,” he said, mildly surprised. “That’s a lot more effort than Stan usually puts in these pranks.”

“Actually, he got me to do it, dudes!” called a familiar voice from inside. “Made me blow up all these balloons and everything.”

“Soos? Are you okay?” asked Mabel.

“Eh, don’t worry about me, dudes,” said Soos. “I’m doing just fine! Although I am kinda lightheaded from blowing up balloons. In fact, I think I might be kind of suffocating? Just a little, though.”

“Hang on,” said Mabel. She took a pin out of her hair and started popping balloons with it. “This may take a while. You did a good job with these balloons, Soos!”

“Haha, thanks!”

“Soooo…” Dipper rubbed his arm. “Guess I’m not taking that nap after all. Great.”

“You can sleep on the couch downstairs!” Mabel offered.

“Fine, fine,” Dipper grumbled, and he trudged down the steps to the living room.

Late that afternoon, Dipper was awoken by Stan calling for him. “Dipper! Mabel! It’s time for supper!”

Dipper rubbed his eyes and stretched. “Oh man, that could not have been good for my back.”

“C’mon, kids!” Stan yelled. “You don’t want a cold meal, do you?”

“Coming!” Dipper called out. He sleepily trudged into the kitchen. The table already had forks and plates set out, which was a first for Stan, and a covered platter lay at the center. Dipper sat down and drummed his fingers on the table. “So, what are we having?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise,” answered Stan.

Mabel bounded into the kitchen, nearly knocking over a pot on the counter. “Mmm! Can’t wait to dig in!” She leaned across the table and lifted the dome off the platter. But there was nothing underneath. “Uhh…” She looked over at Stan, who suddenly broke out into a fit of wild laughter.

“Psyche!” he screamed. “I didn’t make nothing!”

Both Dipper and Mabel shot him a piercing glare. “Seriously?” said Dipper. “That’s not a prank, that’s just being lazy.”

“Yeah, you kids are on your own for dinner,” Stan said. “Go make yourself sandwiches or whatever. I got a date with the late night movie!” With that, he walked out to the living room.

“Don’t worry, Dipper.” Mabel pat her brother on the shoulder. “The ham-and-turkey-and-pudding sandwiches are on me!”

“Ugh, I can’t believe this. Now he’s just using his pranks as an excuse to do less work. We have to put a stop to this!”

“But how?” asked Mabel, as she dipped her knife into what used to be the mayo jar. “It’s not like we can tell our parents. They’ll just tell us he’s going senile, like all the other times we complain about him!”

“Hmmm.” Dipper watched the vanilla pudding drip from Mabel’s knife. “I think I might have an idea.”

The next day, Stan was sitting on the porch, taking a break between tours, when he saw Dipper rush towards the Shack with a box of donuts. “Mabel!” cried Dipper. “Oh, Mabel!”

“Hey,” said Stan, “where’d you get those?”

“Soos heard you didn’t actually make us any dinner last night, so out of the goodness of his heart he drove to the donut shop and got us a box of jelly donuts to eat,” answered Dipper. “I already ate my fill of delicious jelly donuts, so now I’m looking for my dear sister Mabel, so she, too, may feast on jelly donuts.”

“Okay, two questions,” said Stan. “One, why are you talking like that. Two, can I have one?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper replied. “These jelly donuts, filled with real, delicious jelly, were meant for my sister and me. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if you took just one jelly donut.”

“Haha, score!” Stan opened the box and rifled through it.

“One donut, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper emphasized.

“Yeah, yeah yeah.” Stan picked out a donut, took a big bite, and immediately spat it back out. “Bleh! Ugh! Oh man, that tastes nasty!”

“Hah!” Dipper triumphantly slammed the box shut. “See how you like the taste of your own medicine, old man!”

“Yeah!” yelled Mabel, who was hiding behind the couch. “See how you like them donuts!”

Stan gagged. “Eww, what did you even put in these things!”

“Dentamint™ Sparkling Bubblegum-and-Mint toothpaste,” answered Dipper. “Me and Soos spent almost a whole hour setting this up.”

“It’s your own fault for pranking us so much, Grunkle Stan!” said Mabel.

“From now on don’t ever prank us again!” Dipper added. “Especially if it’s just an excuse to get out of feeding us.”

For a minute or two, Stan refused to answer the twins, just standing and scowling. “Fine,” he said at last. “If it bothers you kids that much, I won’t do it anymore. Sheesh! I don’t remember being like this with ou—with my old man.” He stomped into the Shack, leaving Dipper and Mabel alone outside.

“Well!” Dipper set the box on the couch. “I’m glad that’s settled.”

“Wait, hold on,” said Mabel. “Did you just say those donuts were filled with sparkly toothpaste?” She reached for a donut and took a big bite. “Mmm! This tastes delicious!”

“Mabel, eww!”

#Gravity Falls #Dipper Pines #Mabel Pines #Stanley Pines #Gravity Falls Fanfiction #April Fools Day #I would've posted this earlier but I got distracted #fanfic by Healy

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pinkguacamole · 7 years

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Choose Your Own Adventure: The Garden Route, South Africa

Another Wrong-Side-of-the-Road-Trip

When I left Afrikaburn, I did not have anything planned. I’d been in the desert for 11 days with no internet. I did not even know when I would be leaving Afrikaburn because the car I’d come in had a bit of a mishap and my friends and I were waiting for a new rental car to arrive. I figured I’d somehow find a place to stay in Capetown when the time was right.

The car arrived late Sunday evening, and on Monday morning, my South African friends Ryan, J, and Monica, and I piled in, sore and dusty, finally leaving the Tankwa Karoo and 11 incredible days behind us.

On our way back to the “default world,” the dusty road soon became majestic rocky mountains and cell phone reception eventually returned. We ate a gluttonous meal at a very racist restaurant called Spurs. (The theme is Native American -WTF? It is a chain all over South Africa). We just wanted warm food and cold drinks desperately. During the meal, one of my friends, Monica, talked to her dad who has a house in the beach town of Hermanus and he invited us to come to his home and decompress!

All of us were euphoric to accept the offer. A nice house! With warm showers! A home cooked meal! A beautiful beach town! It was exactly what we needed.

When we arrived at Monica’s family home, we all took time to clean up and relax. Her father loved Jazz and played standards from his iPad all night, urging me to sing along. We ate a traditional South African Braai- a barbecue of many meats and thankfully many vegetarian options as well. After a night of singing and the color coming back to our chalky cheeks, we all had a nice, hard sleep.

The next day I did laundry using the family’s washer and dryer (it’s the small victories!) and then Monica’s father drove us around Hermanus, showing us the gorgeous beach scenes from down below, and up above on one of the rocky mountains. It was a perfect day.

That afternoon, my South African friends had to leave to fly back to Johannesburg and I needed to find a place to stay in Capetown. As I was researching where to go, my Canadian friend Sam, whom I spent a lot of time hanging out with at Afrikaburn, messaged me and asked if I wanted to join her and her friend Josh on a road trip on the Garden Route for a few days. I said I couldn’t be back in Capetown in time. She asked where I was and it turns out Hermanus was on the way! So once my South African friends departed, I waited by the beach for my Canadian friends to scoop me up. Talk about serendipity!

That evening our team of North Americans drove to a quiet beach town near Agulhas National Park where the Southern-Most tip of Africa is located. We stayed at a sweet Airbnb and attempted to cook canned-food in the microwave. Not too bad.

The next morning, we walked through Agulhas National Park, along the coast. The pebbled-shore was glowing nicely in the morning light. There was a lighthouse looking out over the point and it shone brightly against a misty view. We found the southern-most tip of Africa and the accompanying landmark, climbed on the rocks, and took some photos.

Then we drove for a really long time. We saw some elephants along the road at one point! We listened to music that was popular before 2011, because Josh’s phone deleted everything current. There was some One Direction in the mix. It was your typical road trip music…

By late afternoon we made it to Wilderness, South Africa. Yes, that is the name of the town. It wasn’t as abandoned as it sounds, but it was surrounded by gorgeous beaches and dense forest. The afternoon was foggy and we frolicked on the cold and misty beach. It looked so much like my foggy coastal Californian home; it almost made me homesick.

That evening when we went out for dinner, we met a cool South African guy who was looking to move to Canada. My Canadian friends gave him all the tips he needed and he in turn told us all about Wilderness.

The next day we entered Garden Route National park. We rented some kayaks and paddled down the Touwsrivier to the waterfall at the end of Giant King Fisher Trail. I was double kayaking with Sam and as we were mostly in-sync, she encouraged me to sing Pocahontas songs while we rolled through the morning haze. My life has pretty much become the musical I always hoped it would be. No complaints.

We hiked through the damp forest at the end of the river and climbed to the waterfall. Everything was beautiful. And everything still reminded me of California. This all looked like Pescadero State Park where I spent my childhood at Girl Scout Camp.

After we made it back to our starting point and returned the kayaks, we stopped in town for a nice meal and to see our South African friend again. Then we drove off, back west towards the Cape of Good Hope. We continued to gawk at the views along the way. It was sunny now and the beach had a whole new persona. On the way, we had passed through Mitchell’s Plain, which is apparently one of the most dangerous townships in South Africa. It was dark and a bit eerie, but we were fine.

That evening we arrived in a small town called Glencairn. The name sounds Scottish and the town resembled a northern Scottish fishing village. We were staying at an old hotel that was apparently haunted. Despite the ghosts, it was well-priced and a clean, spacious retreat. There was live music at the bar one night and the guy who ran the place took a special interest in us because we were from out of town. He gave us free drinks as he tried to discuss Donald Trump and America with me. I was so burnt out of this damn conversation and my Canadian friends did a great job defending me. It was bleh. But hey, free drinks…

On our second to last day of the trip we took it slow. We had a leisurely breakfast at a local cafe and then drove a few minutes into Simon’s Town to see… PENGUINS at Boulders Beach. The penguins were so cute and silly as they waddled around, posing for zillions of photos as hoards of tourists packed along the beach with selfie sticks and DSLRs.

After we got our fill of adorableness, we continued down the coast to The Cape of Good Hope in Table Mountain National Park. After paying another entrance fee, we drove to the Cape as the weather turned windy and rainy.

At the Cape, we climbed up on some cliffs but the rocks were slippery and the wind was insane. Then we went back to the bottom to wait as buses of tourists funneled out of the area so we could get a photo with the “Cape of Good Hope” sign. All the important things.

Then Josh and Sam took a tram up into the mist for some more views as I sat on the edge of the world with some pizza. I was craving melted cheese. So were some of the birds nearby. Not once, but twice, did two birds flap by and grab some pizza right out of my hand. They are pros. I felt like the fat guy from Lilo and Stitch who is always dropping his ice cream. Let’s be real, I am that fat guy.

Once we left the bottom of the world, we stopped in Simon’s Town for a sweet cafe meal and then drove to Long Beach Kommetjie. This was a little beach town covered in white cottages. The beach was spectacular, resting under the glorious mountains of Chapman’s Peak. By this point, we were all becoming over stimulated by the ridiculous amount of INCREDIBLE scenery we had seen in the past few days. We were surrounded by “neature” as the Canadians say. We hopped around taking photos. We were joined for a while by two cute little terrier dogs running on the beach. They were so excited and it was hard to not feel my heart exploding. We left the beach in a satisfied daze.

The next morning we were to return to Capetown, via the Chapman’s Peak road. And my goodness, the views just got prettier from there. The mountains epically sloped into the ocean as a layer of mist hugged each peak. I have hundreds of photos; it was impossible to select 10 for this post. We stopped the car every few feet to take more photos and drink in the majesty. It was absurd.

We ended our trip with a charming breakfast and Mimosa Toast next to Hout’s Bay.

That afternoon, I split with the Canadians and moved into a hostel in Capetown in an attempt to process my fantastic and fast-paced month in South Africa and prepare for my travels in Namibia and onward. I organized some photos and ran some errands. I even explored a bit. Luckily I had a hostel dorm all to myself! My solitude didn’t last long, though. Two of my brothers from Peace Corps Madagascar were in Capetown and I went out with them a few times, then on my last day in South Africa, I met an American girl and we visited Table Mountain, one of the prime attractions in Capetown. We took a tram to the top of the windy mountain and spent an hour walking around the top doing my new standard activity of “gawking at grandiose views.”

Once we’d thoroughly appreciated the glory of Table Mountain and the view of rocky hills, the sea, and the city below, we decided to walk back down. The path was steep and long and rocky, and I was in flip flops… but I am a” super human” -according to many people we passed along the way- (I would have just gone with “stupid and under-prepared…”) But I made it down without any issues!

After some more chill time with some friends, old and new, I packed up my bag to head into the next leg of my trip: Namibia.

My time in South Africa was nothing short of phenomenal. I was completely surrounded by amazing people and scenery every step of the way. It was the perfect “choose your own adventure story” but I learned that I could literally not make any wrong moves in South Africa. Everywhere I went was breath-taking and fantastic.

Oddly enough though, I felt like I was in a bubble. Traveling in rental cars for days at a time is not how I normally travel. I saw a lot but I felt like I was on “vacation” and I could feel my wallet groaning. I am happy to be on my own, out of South Africa, so I can travel more simply -by taking public transportation and camping and meeting locals along the way.

South Africa has left me feeling revitalized and so excited for the adventures to come. I am feeling completely free and completely in my element. Thank you SA and thank you to all of my wonderful friends that I spent the last month exploring with!

#travel #southafrica #garden route #nature #scenery #road trip #adventures #neature #travelafrica

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