Exploring The Desert

Just like home, if we drive east we will find Mountains.  That is exactly what we did.  We were on the search for Desert Baboons, no luck, but discovered so many fun places on our journey. Yesterday the weather was perfect and we had lots of clouds!  Clouds are not seen very often around here so it was exciting. 

Sometimes the view wasn't very clear because we were also battling a dust storm.

I think the background looks fake!


 
Here are some sights from the road.

This large one marks the freeway exit.  We see this often and cannot figure out what it could be.

The road to the mountains.

The town we drove through.

Fire Department

Kids playing in their pajamas.

Watch for camels!

Donkeys too!

Entrance to the town.

Grocery Store.

Police Station

 

We could tell on google maps that we were close to water.  So we decided to just follow the map.

 

This is what we found after taking the bumpy road. A Wadi!

The plants in the desert are built for survival.  This one has huge thorns but that does not keep the camels away.

A picnic!

Frogs in the desert!

Fish and Tadpoles too!

Dragonflies!

 

The boys can never give up an opportunity to throw rocks!

 

Here was the road to the wadi.

Here was a house on the way.  It had one bed inside the shack.  A goat herder lived here.

 

The best part of our adventure were these clay  houses we found.  We wish we could learn the history and hope to do some investigating.  It was very difficult to tell the age of this abandoned villages.  We found several and explored many of the sites.  We could tell they were made from clay, rocks, and palm trees.  Very simple small houses built with things on the land.

 

 

Our journey couldn't come to end until the boys (Bryan and Sam) got a chance to race their cars. 

 

 

Being able to explore this country is such an amazing opportunity.  I often I have to tell myself: "You are in the Middle East!"  I feel very lucky that our family is getting to experience adventures that not many will ever get to do.  So far, I haven't experienced the Middle East that is reported on the news.  That seems to be isolated in such a small area and is an area we will not be exploring.  Hey, there is a rumor that visitor visas are going to be issued soon!  Who would like to come and visit?!