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?! 









Christmas Part II

The next few weeks will be giving me lots of things to blog about.  This weekend we are venturing out in search of the famous Saudi Baboons.  Should be interesting.  The weekend after Cameron will be playing in a soccer tournament at the British International School, the week after that I get to go to Budapest for professional development, and then the most exciting weekend will be Grandma Jolene arriving and spending three weeks with us! 

 

So I need to get the Christmas stuff finished.  The pictures in this blog are from one of my favorite days in Germany.  I put it on facebook but now need to add it to the blog. 

 

Every morning the boys and I would watch hikers pulling sleds past our hotel room.  We were very curious about where they were going so one morning we followed the sled tracks.  We hiked up and up for about 45 minutes.  It was tough to see an end to our hill.  Once we crested the hill we found the most amazing field of snow, views of the valley, and the cutest restaurant.  We loved this place so much that the next day we brought some friends and came equipped with good wooden sleds.  I love the sleds in Europe.  They would make a great souvenir.  The idea is to hike this hill and then sled all the way back down.  It is quite the ride down!  Some of the best sledding we have ever done!    

 

 

The beginning of the hike was flat so the kids were pulled.

It was so fun watching these horses play in the snow.  They were obviously trained very well with voice commands.  However, they choose not to go back in the bard when they were supposed to go.

This church is at the top of the hill.

Kyle and Caroline trying to meet the longest distance.  I think the succeeded but only held the record for a few minutes.

Bryan racing from the top.  It was probably a 10 minute sled ride.  We hiked back up to the 1/2 way point 2 more times! 

Huge snowball fight to finish our fun day.

 

I have many more photos but they just won't upload this evening.  Technology....

 

Life is good here.  I just saw the temp. is now 81F.  Brrrrr.  Actually, it feels perfect.  The weather has been amazing here for months.  It feels like the perfect early summer day back home.  Hopefully I can keep up on my blogs over the next month.  So much fun stuff coming up!

Camping Saudi Style

I really should finish blogging about Christmas, but I don't want to forget this great memory.  This past weekend we did our first Saudi camping trip.  We do a lot of camping back home and have been missing it so much.  We camped about 75 minutes north of our home in a place called Rabigh.  Rabigh is known for its Oil Refineries.  You can see lots of them as you drive past the town.  Once in Rabigh you follow the main road to the beach and then you drive on the sand for quite awhile. 

You will see the occasional fisherman and sometimes the Coast Guard is driving around but usually no one else can be seen.  I was able to take off my Abaya and camp the way we do at home.  Now, I get a lot of Abaya questions when I am home.  Remember, I only wear the Abaya if I leave our bubble (compound).  I probably only wear it once a month.

I don't know if we could get much better camping conditions.  The weather is perfect right now.  We slept in our tent with the rain fly off so we could star gaze.  Jupiter hung in the sky above us most of the night and it was so peaceful listening to the waves.  In the morning the water was so flat.  Not a ripple anywhere.  We put on our snorkel gear and headed out to the reef.  This reef is incredible.  You swim along in the shallow water and then you hit the wall.  You can see the bottom but it is deep!  So many different things to see!  I just loved every moment of it.  However, we live in one of the hottest places in the world but right now the water is cold!  I wish I new the temp but it takes awhile to get in.  I think I might need to wear my wetsuit next time.  Maybe I am acclimating, or a wimp, or it is just plain cold!  Who knows but I was freezing!

This type of car is common on the sides of the road.  I am sure it still runs. 

This is the back roads of Rabigh.  Probably not the nicest part of town but the only way to get to the beach.

Each Mosque has speakers so everyone can hear the Call to Prayer.

We were racing the sun to get to our camp spot. 

Our tent is the first one in the line up.  We must have had about 10 tents.  It was great to camp with so many friends.

It was a little chilly when we woke up.  We don't often wear this type of clothing in Saudi.  Go Hawks!

We finally got to use our grill!  We have had it for about 2 years.  It worked well!  Bryan is making pancakes.

Cameron is usually a snorkeling machine, but the water was just a little too cold.

Can you find the Lion Fish?  Very dangerous!

We tried to do a family picture.  Carter stayed on the shore and played with hermit crabs.  He just doesn't like cold things anymore.

I love these blue clams!  The can get quite large.  If you look closely you can see the feeding hole.

This reef is full of these types of passages.  I really wish I had my scuba tank. 

The kids worked on this huge hermit crab fortress.  It had a hospital, restaurant, and of course a time out room.  What is with that?  Most of the crabs were in time out.  The kids must of played for a few hours. 

Our friend Sam built a toilet.  He dug a huge hole and gave it a nice view of the water.  I loved the toilet!  It was quite relaxing looking out to the see while you sat.

 

Now, I will always remember where I was when 911 happened, when Princess Diana died, when the Space Shuttle blew up, and now I will remember when King Abduallah died.  We were snorkeling on the reef when we heard this news.  It is a pretty big deal for us since we work at one of his biggest creations.  Our place is named after him and it was his vision to have a university with the top minds of the world working on ways to sustain life in the future.  There are some pretty amazing things happening here.  We feel so lucky to be given this opportunity to work here and may King Abdullah rest in peace.