Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum is one of Jordan's best known national parks. It is a three-hour drive from Amman. We took advantage of the three-day Memorial Day weekend to visit the park with our friends the Sanford family.

We stayed at a place called "Bait Ali" which means house of Ali. It was a little oasis in the middle of the desert. It had it's own pool, restaurant, tents, and adobe rooms. We chose to stay in the adobe structures because they had a private bathroom. Big mistake! These little rooms had one small window and no a/c or ventilation. We nearly died from the heat! We felt like we were sleeping in an adobe oven! Other than the awful night with the heat and mosquitos, we really enjoyed exploring Wadi Rum. It looks a lot like Southern Utah.

The two days we were in Wadi Rum the wind was blowing and the sand was in the air. We have had sandstorms in Amman as well. The visibility was not very good, but the views were still impressive. The kids had fun hiking the hills around where we stayed.

On a side note, this shirt I am wearing above is my sister Natalie's shirt. She gave it to me in high school! Alex has threatened to throw it out several times through the years, but I keep wearing it to tease him and my sister. She rolls her eyes every time I wear it. I think I should make a post of all the pictures I have of me in this shirt! It's a keeper, looks like new still!

At night we ate dinner under a large beduin tent. They fed us local salads, hummus, pita, rice, and chicken and beef kabobs. Throw in some Arabic music and a little hubbly-bubbly and you have a very memorable meal.

Gaby and her best buddy Mackenzie. This was another neat area at Bait Ali where you could eat or just sit and relax. The locals are always offering you a little tea, all hours of the day. They love their local tea.

The adobe oven!

We were happy to have survived and moved on to Wadi Rum the next morning.

We rented a jeep for the morning. Our driver Mohammed took us to three different sites in Wadi Rum. We went to Lawrence's Spring (Lawrence of Arabia), a canyon, and some sand dunes.

Everyone enjoyed the jeep ride. It was quite the adventure. We were all too busy climbing and sliding down the sand dunes to get any pictures. Andrew was first to get to the top. He is quite the hiker and outdoorsman.