Jordan 2/15/13-2/18/13

The first thing you see as you cross over the Allenby bridge, from Israel to Jordan, is this sculpture of Jordan's King.

Here we are just relaxing in our Bedouin camp at night.

In Jordan we saw donkeys.......

 camels.......

goats.......

All over the place, more and more, donkeys, camels, and goats.

Jordan left me feeling Rich!  I can't believe how much I have or how lucky I am. I told my Mom when I got home that Jordan made me appreciate Israel and Israel makes me appreciate Utah all the more. Jordan was such a fun place to visit and we definitely want to go back, but the poverty that I saw broke my heart. I wish I could solve all of the worlds problems.

This little boy lives up on top of the mountain at the High place, his home is shown below.

Way to frequently there were homes like this all over Jordan.

Petra day 2 2/17/2013

After the donkeys took us up to the Monastery we took a long ride to the Royal Tombs of the Nabataean dignitaries.

Silk Tomb

Corinthian Tomb

A family picture in front of the Palace Tomb.

Monastery/ Day 2 2/17/13

Day 2 at Petra was a pretty easy going day, first we rode donkeys up to the Monastery. 

The donkeys climbed the 800 some odd stairs for us which we were very grateful for.

You cant see so well in the picture but off to the left is quite an impressive drop off. Most of the time the donkeys weren't being led by anyone. But they are a very sure footed animal and we soon became comfortable that they wouldn't slip and plunge over the edge. 

This is a nice view point from about 5 minutes from the top. At this point we had to wait for Michael and Chris to catch up.  Chris might have permanently lamed two donkeys on the way up to the Monastery, before finally deciding to walk the last 10 minutes.

This is a picture of the Monastery, it shows just how big it is with Chris and the kids standing in front.

A fun family picture in front of the Monastery.

We then took a short 20 minute hike to the 

"END OF THE WORLD" 

view point.

This is the breathtaking view.

Our hike back had another nice view of the Monastery.

Donkey ride 2/17/13

The donkeys were lifesavers on the 2nd day at Petra, as they saved us from a whole lot of walking, our saddle sore bums were a small price to pay for the comfort of an easy trek.

Olivia got very upset if anyone tried to lead her donkey she would tell them that her donkey knew where to go and that she could do it all by herself.

The Donkeys Chris rode earned their keep today!!!

Tristan never stopped saying donkey, donkey, over and over. He loved to lean forward to pet the donkeys hair.

At the end the donkeys took us all of the way up to our car. 

Petra day 1 2/16/13

After our horse back ride up to the High Place we visited the place of sacrifice and then climbed down to see the Treasury and other sites.

This is a picture of the large theater off to the left and the archway that leads to the seating.

We enjoyed a really nice camel ride to the Treasury. 

After getting home we watched "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", so we could show the kids that the places we have seen have even been in movies. Next we will watch Transformers which has the Monastery in it.

The detail on the Treasury was so incredible. Its a wonder that they had the tools to make such beautiful carvings in such a large scale.

The walk through the gorge was really neat, the walls were so huge they made you feel puny.

Along the sides of the gorge is the water system that was built to carry water into the heart of Petra. 

Horseback riding/ up to High place 2/16/13

The first thing that we did at Petra was to go horse back riding up to the High Place. Which is up on top of the mountain above the treasury.

 It had the most amazing view. Candice was very scared in some places because of the sheer drop offs. It was such a fun family experience for us to do together.

Little Petra 2/15/13

After getting to our Bedouin Camp and unloading our stuff we decided to go to Little Petra and hike around. A nice man decide that he wanted to take us around and show us the sites. It was a good warm up for big Petra the next day.