Saturday, December 17, 2011
Taylor's Christmas Gift
Taylor got a new Fender - Squier Classic Vibe 50's Stratocaster... it sounds great!
Here are pics of the guitar:
Here are pics of the guitar:
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Day 11 & 12: Dana Reserve and Dead Sea Highway
Hot, hot, hot!!!
On Day 11 (Friday July 29th) we drove to the community of Dana for our stay at the Dana Biosphere Reserve. It is a small facility built into a cliff overlooking a biosphere/valley way, way, way up in the mountains. It was really fascinating and our rooms provided us with a beautiful view... we took a walk through the terraced gardens in the small 'old' village and ate snacks/junkfood and drank wine for dinner on the balcony with Mark & Sue. It was a really nice experience except for one thing... there was no a/c and no fan in any of the rooms. We sweat through the night, intermittently waking to go cool off on our balcony by a very slight breeze. It was soooo hot... we're told it is unusual for the temperature to be so high that far north of Aqaba!
On Day 12 we drove back to Amman via the mountains and the Dead Sea Highway... it takes a bit longer, but it was worth it. The mountain drive was amazing.
Here are the pictures... enjoy.
On Day 11 (Friday July 29th) we drove to the community of Dana for our stay at the Dana Biosphere Reserve. It is a small facility built into a cliff overlooking a biosphere/valley way, way, way up in the mountains. It was really fascinating and our rooms provided us with a beautiful view... we took a walk through the terraced gardens in the small 'old' village and ate snacks/junkfood and drank wine for dinner on the balcony with Mark & Sue. It was a really nice experience except for one thing... there was no a/c and no fan in any of the rooms. We sweat through the night, intermittently waking to go cool off on our balcony by a very slight breeze. It was soooo hot... we're told it is unusual for the temperature to be so high that far north of Aqaba!
On Day 12 we drove back to Amman via the mountains and the Dead Sea Highway... it takes a bit longer, but it was worth it. The mountain drive was amazing.
Here are the pictures... enjoy.
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| Dana Guesthouse and Research Centre |
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| Guesthouse common room |
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| Dana "old" village |
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| Old village door |
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| The view from our balcony |
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| Taken as we were leaving Dana - old village and Guesthouse to the left, valley to the right |
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| Collecting Dead Sea sample for "Allan the Water Guy" |
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| Our last experience with the Dead Sea! |
Friday, July 29, 2011
Day 10.5: The Intercontinental
For some reason I had difficulty adding pictures to the previous post... here are a few shots taken around our hotel - The Intercontinental Aqaba.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Day 10: Wadi Rum
Just when we thought things couldn't get any better....in comes Wadi Rum. We got up at around 9:00 am this morning only to roll out of bed and onto chaise lounges on the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea). Deed and I spent about 2 hours watching tankers fill up with oil at the Saudi Arabian port, soaking up the sun and swimming in the sea. At 2:30 pm we headed out with Sue and Mark to take on Wadi Rum...Lawrence of Arabia's desert!!! We arrived in the town of Rum shortly after 4 pm where we met up with our guide Mohammed. He took us out in his Jeep on an adventure of a lifetime...enjoy today's pics!!! By the way, a new heat record was attained...54C....that's right 5-4 degrees Celsius!!!!
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| Wadi Rum Visitor Centre |
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| Tom and our guide/driver Mohammed |
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| Sue, Deed & Mark at the canyon at the beginning of the tour |
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| Lizard on the colourful rocks |
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| GIRL POWER!!! Deed & Sue climbed the rock bridge |
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| Bedouin camp |
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| This is called Lawrence House because Lawrence of Arabia came through this area |
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| Sand dune climb... GNO bootcamp did me well!! |
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| Behind the smile, Mark's lungs have imploded!! :) |
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| More dune |
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| Sunset dinner high upon rock cliff |
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| Tom's best Sears pose |
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| Who doesn't love Bugles?!? |
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| Watching the sunset in Wadi Rum!! |
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Day 9: Petra
Another big day today!
We boarded a bus at 6:15am for Petra... it broke down in the middle of the desert, but luckily another bus was following that we were able to board immediately. We arrived at the "Visitor Centre" in Petra at 10:40am. We bought our ticket and began our hike. It is a very long and very hot walk to the first part of Petra... it took almost 1 hour before we got to the Treasury. Fortunately, the last 30 minutes of that walk is through the siq, which is like the walls of the Grand Canyon (without water). Once inside the Petra site it is very hot but quite breath-taking. You'll see a small selection of the pictures below... we hope it serves it justice. We walked to the end, then decided to take a camel back to the Treasury before exiting. We asked our camel owner what the temperature was and he confirmed that it was 37.5 degrees... kind of normal, but under the searing sun it felt hotter.
Sue and Mark drove to Petra to pick us up (4pm) and continue our journey to Aqaba. We drove along the upper rim of the Wadi Rum desert on the King's Highway. It took approximately 1h 45min to arrive to the Intercontinental in Aqaba. The temperature at 6pm was 51 degrees... yup, 51, 5-1 DEGREES!!!!! It feels like walking past an open oven door... but you never get past it!! The resort is beautiful and beaches on the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba). From the beach (at night) we can see the lights from - Saudi Arabia, Egypt & Israel. No pictures from the resort yet... they will follow.
Tomorrow will be a lazy day until ~3pm, then we're off to Wadi Rum for a desert hike and to see a beautiful sunset!
Petra - Architecture of Assyrian, Egyptian, Hellenistic and Roman influence but made by the Nabataean people in the early 1st century AD (http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/petra_map.html)
We boarded a bus at 6:15am for Petra... it broke down in the middle of the desert, but luckily another bus was following that we were able to board immediately. We arrived at the "Visitor Centre" in Petra at 10:40am. We bought our ticket and began our hike. It is a very long and very hot walk to the first part of Petra... it took almost 1 hour before we got to the Treasury. Fortunately, the last 30 minutes of that walk is through the siq, which is like the walls of the Grand Canyon (without water). Once inside the Petra site it is very hot but quite breath-taking. You'll see a small selection of the pictures below... we hope it serves it justice. We walked to the end, then decided to take a camel back to the Treasury before exiting. We asked our camel owner what the temperature was and he confirmed that it was 37.5 degrees... kind of normal, but under the searing sun it felt hotter.
Sue and Mark drove to Petra to pick us up (4pm) and continue our journey to Aqaba. We drove along the upper rim of the Wadi Rum desert on the King's Highway. It took approximately 1h 45min to arrive to the Intercontinental in Aqaba. The temperature at 6pm was 51 degrees... yup, 51, 5-1 DEGREES!!!!! It feels like walking past an open oven door... but you never get past it!! The resort is beautiful and beaches on the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba). From the beach (at night) we can see the lights from - Saudi Arabia, Egypt & Israel. No pictures from the resort yet... they will follow.
Tomorrow will be a lazy day until ~3pm, then we're off to Wadi Rum for a desert hike and to see a beautiful sunset!
Petra - Architecture of Assyrian, Egyptian, Hellenistic and Roman influence but made by the Nabataean people in the early 1st century AD (http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/petra_map.html)
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| Siq into Petra |
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| Our first glimpse of The Treasury |
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| The Treasury |
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| "The Street of Facades" - |
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| Silk Tomb |
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| Lower Basin - outside the Crowne Plaza restaurant inside Petra (not the hotel, just the small restaurant) |
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| Donkeys in Lower Basin - donkeys can be VERY loud! |
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| facades |
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| Really cool rock colours inside a cave |
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| Tom & Deed on camels!! :) |
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Day 8: Ajlun Castle and Jerash (Roman Province)
Big day today! We were up early and had a driver take us to Ajlun and Jerash.
It was unbelievably hot with little or no shade... we were told it was 41 degrees @ noon.
Enjoy the picutres!
Ajlun - here's some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajlun_Castle
Jerash - here are a few details http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/jerash_map.html
It was unbelievably hot with little or no shade... we were told it was 41 degrees @ noon.
Enjoy the picutres!
Ajlun - here's some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajlun_Castle
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| Tom and his new friends (who did NOT want me in the picture!) |
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| A view from the top of the castle |
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| Inside the Ajlun castle |
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| Full view of the Ajlun castle |
Jerash - here are a few details http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/jerash_map.html
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| Sand art... can't wait to show the boys what we got them |
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| Hadrian's Arch |
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| Inside the Hippodrome |
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| The city's original gate |
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| Don't we look like we're in love?!? |
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| It's us again... in love... with Zeus' Temple in the background |
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| Oh... here we are again, in love, with some arches in the back |
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| ... and here is our Bedouin photographer (camera hijacker)... who certainly knew his way around a D300!! |
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| "The Cardo" - Colonnaded Street |
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| Temple of Artemis (Zeus' daughter) |
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| Amphitheater "South Theater", 90-92 AD |
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| Another view of the Hippodrome |
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