Sunset, New Year's Eve

Not bad!

Waikiki Beach

These shots are from the roof of Brian and Nicole's Condo.

Palm Trees

North Shore

Yeah... there's someone in that wave!

Waikane

Kauloa Point

Hanauma Bay

One of our first stops on a drive around Oahu.

Change Made!

After an 8 hour flight... this is the view from our hotel room. It is about 80 degrees outside!

Time for a Warm Change

So... this is what we woke up to this morning.

Iced In - Day 4

I'm glad I'm watching this traffic from the comfort of my living room and not out in it!

Iced In - Day 3

That's solid ice, not snow. At least it looks peaceful.

At last... a ray of hope.

Iced In - Day 2

This is day two of our being iced in. We are about the only people in the neighborhood getting out in this stuff, but only to play with the dogs and take a few photos. The cars remain unused and coated in ice.

Iced In

It started sleeting yesterday and we left work early, Today we are iced in and the dogs are loving it.

Ice

On my way home today, I noticed that ice was forming on the trees.  I took this photo from my patio after playing outside with the dogs in the freezing rain.

50 Years Ago Today

Photograph of a telegram received by a Dallas blood bank on November 22, 1963 following the assassination of the president.

Two Tickets to Paradise

The Proposal

Before leaving for Hawaii, Brian pops the question. The answer from Nicole was "yes".

Hummingbirds

We didn't have many hummingbirds this summer, but all of a sudden, a lot of them showed up.

Spider vs Bee

Looks like the spider won.

Salt Water Aquarium

One of the more colorful creatures in Brian's aquarium.

Jordan Artist

We alway keep an I out for local artist when traveling.  However, we didn't find much of interest until we were walking through the shops on our way out of Jerash.  We met the artist that did these paintings and decided that we had room for a couple of last minute souvenirs.

Welcome Home!

Soon after boarding my flight home in Frankfurt, I checked out the news channel.  The first thing I saw was a bombing in Boston.  I didn't know if this was really happening or was a preview for a new movie, but it quickly became apparent that I was watching breaking news.

It's interesting that several people thought I was crazy for going to the Middle East, but the entire time I felt perfectly safe.  After watching the news though,  I was a little afraid to return to the USA.

Touchdown!

How's that for live blogging?

Sunrise

The first hint of daylight on my flight out of Queen Ali International Airport in Amman that began at 2:55am.  The female passenger in the window seat is literally "shrouded in mystery".

Ma'a salama (Goodbye)

No, I didn't learn any Arabic while here. I had to look that up.

We have had a good time here, seen a lot of amazing places and met many great people. I now need to go meet my ride to the airport.

Ila al-liqa'a

Temple of Artemis

The original Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is located near the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey. It has been reduced to a few ruins.  This temple is fairly well preserved.

Poppie

North Theater

Flower Amid Ruins

The Cardo

This is the Cardo (Colonnaded Street) which is the main road in the city of Jerash, or Gerasa as it was know as when it was founded around 170 BC.  If you look closely, you can see the wagon ruts in the paving stone.

At Last... Popcorn!

After two weeks without, Jeff finally gets popcorn! When Jim went out to pick up his laundry, he found this bag in the local market labeled "Gourmet Popcorn".



Sure enough, it's the real thing!

Calm Water

Calm water in a troubled land.  View while driving along the Dead Sea road from Aqaba to Madaba.  The mountains on the other side of the Dead Sea are in the West Bank.

Salt

Every trip we try to find a way to get "off the grid", someplace where there are no tourist. Here we are at the southern most area of the Dead Sea.  We definitely had this place all to ourselves.  We thought these salt formations along the shore were very photogenic.

Stairway to...

Not sure where these stairs lead to, but they are all over the walls to the siq (gorge) that is Little Petra.  One of the bedouins we met there tried to get us to go up one of the staircases with him, but we declined the offer.

Temple, Little Petra

We made another trip to Little Petra to see what it looked like in morning light.

Iconic Image

Well this is it, the shot everyone comes to Jordan to get.  Walk down the siq (a narrow gorge) until it opens to a larger canyon.  Carved into the solid rock opposite the entrance to the canyon is "The Treasury".  Note that we got an earlier start today so no people in our shot.  Even the camels haven't arrived yet.

Bedouin Playing Flute

Later in the day we checked out another area known as Little Petra.  This bedouin was there playing his flute.

They Look Cute....

... but don't ever, ever get on one of these guys, especially if you want to go up a steep mountain trail on the edge of a cliff.

The Monastery

This is the Monastery in Petra. It's quite a walk to this place including a climb up 800 steps along a narrow canyon with steep drop-offs.  Jim didn't want to go but suggested I hire a guide to take me up there and back on a donkey.  We hadn't gone 100 yards before I was regretting the whole thing.  Hearing my brothers laughter didn't help.

The donkey had a mind of his own and would veer off the trail in defiance of his master (did I mention that there were steep drop-offs next to the trail).  I noticed that no one was riding any of the donkeys coming down (did I mention that it was steep in places).  I felt lucky to have survived the trip up hill, but the sight of the Monastery made it all worth it.  After all, when am I ever going to have another opportunity to experience this?

No problem going down hill on a donkey.  Don't know why others pass on that.

Colorful Rock

Bedouin at Urn Tomb

This is our first of two days in Petra and we didn't get an early start this morning so we had to put up with more tourist than we wanted to.

Sunset, Petra

Today we traveled from Madaba to Petra on the King's Highway. The King's Highway is like taking the backroads.  It winds around going though every small town along the way.  It took us all day and I don't think we saw any tourist until we arrived in Wadi Musa, the town that has grown up around the entrance to Petra. Along the way we stopped to tour the crusader castle at Karak.

Shobak Castle

Also along the King's Highway, is this crusader castle.  Shobak is not as well preserved as Karak,  but it is definitely worth checking out.  We need to get on to Wadi Musa, but plan on returning here in a few days.

Bedouin Home

Driving from Madaba to Wadi Musa along the King's Highway.  There are a lot of people in this country living in tents.