Jordan Day 7 - Dead Sea

Itinerary Day 24:  Wadi Rum/ Dead Sea (330 Km)

"Breakfast. Transfer to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of earth, for a swim in its warm salty water. Free time at leisure. Overnight at hotel"

 Back to a room with a view. 

Journal: 
Quite a contrast. This morning we awoke in an unheated Bedouin Camp in the desert. We arose with the light, had breakfast on the carpet covered floor of the dining tent, said farewell to our hosts...

...then rendezvoused with Alaa in the van for the drive to the Dead Sea. Today, we are at the Kempinski Resort Hotel/Spa on the shores of the Dead Sea.

Only one afternoon and night here. We have a great view and a spectacular room overlooking the infinity pool and Dead Sea. And another birthday cake waiting in the room. For anyone keeping count, this is number 6:

At this point, we were over two weeks past my birthday, so I told Sigrid I thought it was getting a little ridiculous. She said she never notified the hotel. Then we read the note. The cake wasn't for me. It was mistakenly delivered to our room. Oh well.

As the trip winds down, I would have been happy to spend a couple days here and take advantage of the spa services to relax after three weeks of non-stop touring. But we only have this afternoon and tonight before heading back to Amman in the morning. No time to waste. After cleaning off the desert sand, we head down to the poolside cafe for lunch:

It's warmer here than the rest of Jordan, but by late afternoon the temperature was starting to drop. But you cannot travel to the Dead Sea without floating in the Dead Sea. So down to the beach for the full Dead Sea treatment, which apparently also includes Dead Sea mud:

Sundowners on the balcony.

I definitely could have stayed another day.

Editors Note: I intend to pre-load and schedule automated blog posts with the daily itinerary for our Egypt and Jordan adventure. For those interested, this may be an easy way to follow along. Internet access is always a crapshoot. My hope is that by pre-loading the itinerary it will be easier to add some pics and journal commentary as time and the internet permits. If there are no pics or commentary, you'll just have to wait until we get back. Further!

Egypt Day 11 - Balloons and Boats

Itinerary Day 11:  Luxor - Esna

"In the early morning you have balloon trip over Luxor. After breakfast our Car and guide will pick you up from your hotel and start our journey to Esna, crew will welcome you on board and have your bags taken to your cabins. We will then set sail on your voyage to Aswan. Overnight close to El Hegz Island"

 Sunrise over the Nile in Luxor 

Journal: 
As instructed, we were in the lobby by 6:00 AM, along with a few other hotel guests intent on a balloon ride over Lexor. Our ride didn't get there until almost 6:30. We were shuffled onto a crowded tourist van, transported to a Nile river taxi to get us over the river, then another tourist van to the launch site. The sun was well up in the sky by the time our balloon was inflated.

Mohammed and Akhbar were coordinating logistics on the ground. One of the guests said she expected a sunrise ride. Mohammed explained that early fog this time of year meant there would not be a visible sunrise.  I showed Mohammed the picture I took as we cleared the river (see above). He shrugged. I asked how many passengers would be in each basket - thinking it would be 5 or 6 like our prior balloon experience. He said 30-35.  He then gave us a 30 second safety demonstration on how to prepare for a hard landing. I was beginning to have doubts about the whole deal.

Mohammed and Akhbar in charge.

Once we were off the ground, all misgivings melted away. It was magical...

Back to the Sofitel Winter Palace by 9 AM, said our fond farewells and checked out.

Sigrid says she is never leaving. She wants to live in this hotel. Good to know in case we feel we need to make a major lifestyle change with our newly elected president.

Ismael picks us up and we are off to Esna, where we will meet the dahabiya, crew, and fellow passengers who will accompany us for a 5 day cruise up the Nile to Aswan. But before we get there, I request one stop. I wasn't sure of the drinking arrangements on this cruise, so I asked to stop at Liquor store to pick up an emergency bottle of whiskey for medicinal purposes. Ismael found a store along the way.

You won't believe the deal I got on this "Johnny Walker Black Label" or "Jani Water Black Labl" as translated into Egyptian.  I just hope it doesn't blind me when I drink it.

Finally we meet the Amoura - our home for the next five days.

Think of a dahabiya as sailing barge. No engine, with large triangular sails on the bow and aft, it can only sail before the wind. It's accompanied by a towboat, which pulls the boat upwind or when there is no wind.

I am accustomed to great trip planning from my wife, but she outdid herself this time. We have the aft suite with our own private deck. Since the boat is always towed from the front, we enjoy nothing but quiet while we drift down the Nile.

As the sun set, the Amoura was under sail. So a few of us climbed aboard the towboat to take picture of the boat under sail.

Sigrid may want to live in the Luxor Winter Palace, but I am going to move to the Amoura Dahabiya.

WORK IN PROGRESS - BLOG POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION - MORE PICS COMING

Editors Note: I intend to pre-load and schedule automated blog posts with the daily itinerary for our Egypt and Jordan adventure. For those interested, this may be an easy way to follow along. Internet access is always a crapshoot. My hope is that by pre-loading the itinerary it will be easier to add some pics and journal commentary as time and the internet permits. If there are no pics or commentary, you'll just have to wait until we get back. Further!

Yooper Autumn

Frosty Sunrise

We arrived to a warmish sunset on the 28th, but the temperature dropped throughout the night. By morning sunrise, things were quite frosty. The wood stove kept us toasty in the lake house.

Warmish Sunset

 Awoke to frost on the dock in the morning.

 Apparently, no one ever wonders about the lack of returning footprints.

Color change is underway.

Forecast indicates this will this will be the weather pattern this trip - highs in the fifties, lows in the thirties.

Northern Michigan in the fall is always great.