Wadi Rum

I'm going to be back in Zanzibar in less than two months, which is both exciting and also stressful. The trip is under control, and as magical as it was two years ago we've upped the level dramatically (to something akin to a Spinal Tap 11).  Still, there's lot of final details to fret over, which means my usual intentional 5:30 a.m. wake-up time will transition to an unintentional 4:00 a.m.  Despite all that, I'm also excited about March's student trip to Jordan as part of my COR 270 (Heroines and Heroes) course.  My good friend and colleague Cyndi Brandenburg and I will be bringing seventeen students to Jordan over spring break.  We'll be visiting so many wonderful locations: Amman, Jerash, the Dead Sea, Mt. Nebo, Sherbok Castle, Petra. etc.  However, I know that Cyndi and are crazy excited about bringing the students to the Wadi Rum Desert, this time for two whole days.  Last time we ended up staying for less than one day, but it was still unforgettable.  Having more time to just soak up the experience, and to go on a camel ride, will be sensory overload.  Here are some pictures I tracked down from our last trip.

It's difficult to describe the transcendent beauty of the Wadi Rum.  It's like being magically placed inside of John Ford's The Searchers, but with less John Wayne-induced pressure to track down Natalie Wood.

Here we are after stumbling out of a jeep (I do think I posted a picture a couple years ago of the jeep getting stuck on top of a sand dune) and heading towards a rock formation, which had hidden treasures.

Here's the narrow little, almost hidden, chasm that we explored.  As you can tell from the coats and sweatshirts, it may have been the desert, but it was still early March and there was a chill in the air - and at night it was downright cold.

And another hidden treasure, centuries-old carvings in the stone, probably messages from one traveler to another.