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Foley & Lardner associates sacrifice relaxation for adventure

By: Jane Pribek//December 19, 2012//

Foley & Lardner associates sacrifice relaxation for adventure

By: Jane Pribek//December 19, 2012//

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Dan Manna (left) and Jennifer Devitt pose at the camp before the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. (Photos courtesy of Jennifer Devitt)

A vacation with Jennifer Devitt and Dan Manna would leave many people yearning for a vacation.

The associates with Foley & Lardner’s Milwaukee office could go to a beach, but they would prefer if it was in a remote location such as Zanzibar City in Tanzania, East Africa. They might go on a nature walk, but would rather do it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Devitt and Manna met at work about three years ago. Early in their relationship, they discovered a mutual fascination with adventure travel, and that led them to the top of Kilimanjaro after a 21-hour flight and a four-day climb.

“It was a pretty easy hike until summit day, which was very difficult,” Devitt said. “Although neither one of us suffered from altitude sickness, my muscles did feel very lethargic and tired.”

Summit day began the night before. They went to bed at 7 p.m., rose at 10:30 p.m. and started hiking at midnight in 20-degree weather, she said. They reached the peak in time for sunrise at about 7 a.m. before turning around and starting their two-day descent.

Then they went on a safari before relaxing in Zanzibar, a city with a population that is 98 percent Muslim and not entirely comfortable with western visitors. Devitt said she was careful to dress respectfully, covering her shoulders, legs and feet in public.

When they were in public, she said, the locals constantly asked them if they wanted to charter a fishing boat, try a restaurant or buy something.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Devitt said. “It was kind of hard for us because we like to get off the beaten path. It just wasn’t possible this trip.”

Dan Manna (left) and Jennifer Devitt pose at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Previous trips for the couple have included a four-day hike in 2010 of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. And, in 2011, they climbed Half Dome, an 18-hour hike in Yosemite National Park that required the use of cables to reach the summit.

Next up in 2013 is either kayaking the Apostle Islands or road biking the Natchez Trace from Nashville to New Orleans. Then in 2014, Devitt and Manna either will climb Aconcagua in Argentina or kayak the glacial lakes in Iceland, she said.

That kind of vacation planning is a lot of work, particularly because it means making sure everything in the office is on schedule and organized.

“We all have back burners,” Devitt said. “But you don’t want that to creep up on someone who’s covering for you. So it’s really a good way to force yourself to do not only the work you have to get done and think about what’s coming up, but also that back-burner stuff.

“It forces you to clean some things up.”

Devitt, who acknowledged that it would be easy for her to close her office door and work all day, said planning for trips around the world also spur her to pay better attention to those who are just a few steps away.

“This forces you to get out of your office,” she said, “and talk with people and get out of your own little world.”

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