Umm Qais - Jordan is twice as nice the second time!

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I would ever go to Jordan I would have said no.  It just wasn't on my radar.  Now, I've been blessed to have been able to go 2 times in the past 2 years and I love Jordan.  I can't believe it wasn't on my list of places to see and I'm so glad I've gotten the chance to explore the country and meet some new friends. 

This trip was a work related trip so there wasn't a ton of time to explore but our hosts were so gracious to spend time, share their culture, heritage and open their hearts to us as visitors.  Yes, I had a ton of hummus and falafel.  I love the food from that region.  My co-workers even nicknamed me the Falafel Queen.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!  And of course, I rode a camel in Petra again.  It's such a novel thing to do!

One of my unique experiences this time was to travel to the northwestern corner of Jordan to a little, but very significant ancient ruins site called Umm Qais.  Umm Qais was anciently called Gadara and one of the Greco-Roman Decapolis cities.  In fact this is the supposed city where Jesus cast the demons out of the swine (Matthew 8:28-34).  While it only takes an hour or so to tour this area there are some really cool things to see detailed below:

1.  The View - Golan Heights & Sea of Galilee

From one area you can stand and look out across the Sea of Galilee and realize how massive of a lake it is. You can also see the rolling hills of the Golan Heights.  Looking across to Israel (Palestine) and Syria is kind of a neat thing - especially as you image the history that has taken place in that area. And no, I saw no war activity - that's really far away.

What a view into Lake Tiberius (Sea of Galilee)

2.  The Restaurant

It's no secret that I love Jordanian food so it is not surprising one made the list.  The restaurant at the ancient dwelling is really cool in that it has an amazing vista (see #1 above) and also some pretty decent Jordanian food.  Its fun to be able to sit and soak in the view and history while eating tabbouleh, hummus, salads and the like.  My only mistake was that the first table full of food was only the appetizers and not the full meal.  After I had seconds of all the appetizers they then brought out the main course and I knew I was in trouble.  Eeeck!  I was glad my hotel had a nice workout room after that (and all the other) meals.

The restaurant is up there!

3.  The Decumanus Maximus - main road

The ancient ruins are quite impressive as they are mostly basalt.  The main road travels for 1.7 kilometers with sweeping views of the area, ancient store fronts and a nymphaeum.

The store fronts along the road

 

That's a long road!  And you can still see wheel ruts in the rock as well.

4.  The Theatre

As an engineer I love that acoustics were built into the system!

The Theatre

I'm glad I don't have to sit in those seats!

 

You can find these pictures and more from my trip posted in the NEW gallery until my next post.  After that, you can find them under their respective "location" or "type" gallery.  If you are interested in ordering prints then please go to the tab "Ordering Information."

The People of Abraham

One of the things which fascinates me when travelling around the world is that the pulse of the country is in the people.  I love meeting and interacting with "the locals."  It allows me to more truly experience the culture.  In many regards we are all very similar.  We love, we laugh, we play, we work, we struggle, we fight, we succeed - and the cycle continues. 

I'm reminded of the Depeche Mode song from the 80's (yes, I'm an 80's child) which goes:
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
So we're different colours
And we're different creeds
And different people have different needs

I don't have any solutions to any of the world's problems but I can certainly say that everyone and every culture has redeeming qualities that I hope to incorporate into my own life.  As I've visited Jordan and Israel I realize that we are different...and yet the same.  We are young:

We are workers:

We are old (okay, I'm not old - but others are!):

And really, while we are all different, people are people!:

I'd say fall is in the air but that's too cliché

These past few weeks in Utah have just been beautiful to say the least.  I love the fact that its still above 70 because that means my hands and feet aren't freezing all the time just yet.  There's really only two things I don't like about fall, or autumn, or harvest (depending on how old you are or where you are from).
1.  It gets darker earlier - which means less play time outside.
2.  It gets colder and snow is on its way - I hate being cold!
Other than that I love the fact that there's football and volleyball to watch, the garden is still producing yummy foods, hiking is less crowded, I can still wear my shorts and the changing of the colors give a whole array of scenic views that you only get for a few weeks a year. 

To celebrate the fall season I thought I would highlight a few pictures that I took up in Little Cottonwood and Big Cottonwood Canyons.  Enjoy!

 You can look at other pictures from around Utah in the Photo Gallery By Location.  You can also view all my photo albums on my Public Gallery.

1500 miles around Canyon De Chelly area

Yikes!  Sometimes road trips become a lot more road than you realize once you get done with it all.  Recently, a group of my friends headed on a grand loop adventure which encompassed locations such as Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, Canyon De Chelly and Zion National Park.  While it was a lot of driving we saw some spectacular scenery.  Below are some of the highlights:

Goblin Valley, Moki Dugway, Natural Bridges, Gooseneck State Park and Mexican Hat (ya, that was all one day!)
Goblin Valley is so aptly named with the hoodoo type formations making it look very alien  like (aka Galaxy Quest)

The Moki Dugway is an 11% grade which has an amazing vista out to the Valley of the Gods.

Natural Bridges has 3 different bridges which can be seen from a short loop drive or you can hike to each of them (or all of them).  The shortest hike is to Owachomo. 

Gooseneck State Park puts Deadhorse State Park to shame in my opinion.  It has lots more switchbacks and a 1000ft drop!

 

There are 3 of these in a row!  Where's the helicopter when you need one to get the full view?

Monument Valley, 4 Corners and Hovenweep
Monument Valley is just amazing. Sadly, it was rainy almost the whole time we were there so you couldn't really grasp the entire grandeur.  But, it was still stunning to see (the lightening show was incredible the first night).  And, the Navajo Taco's were pretty decent too.

 It was really pretty prior to the rain!

 How nice of this Navajo Indian to pose for me... or the tour group he was talking too.

 Here comes the rain again.

Yes, it was still raining in the morning. 

 

4 Corners was, should we say...REALLY wet.  A torrential downpour hit.   The good news is that there wasn't a line to get to the marker.  The bad news...we sorta got wet!

No chance of doing a "lets lay on the ground spread eagle" picture. 

Hovenweep is a small, little known national park with 3 different main sites of ancient rock structures from about AD1200.  I was really impressed with it.  The walk around the Square Tower Group is definitely worth it (but go clockwise!).  There aren't a lot of people that visit these sites and its one of the few national parks with no fee!

Mesa Verde, Shiprock and Canyon de Chelly
At Mesa Verde we hit the Spruce Tree House and toured the Cliff Palace prior to rain starting again.  We just couldn't escape it!  We then drove around Shiprock and down to the northeastern corner of Canyon de Chelly. 

Spruce Tree requires no tickets to go and wander around

The view down inside a Kiva

The Cliff Palace

Here's where it really got fun (or not?!).  After our second look out we noticed some black clouds rolling in seriously fast.  Yes, seriously fast!  Before we knew it there was marble size hail and blinding rain.  After that subsided all we could do was be in awe at the flashfloods.  We headed out to a lookout and saw an amazing display of waterfalls falling down the Canyon de Chelly walls of 1000ft! 

Storms a brewing

Its getting closer! (Do you see the theme of this trip?)

Storm has arrived

Canyon de Chelly is truly a cool place to visit with ancient Indian history, cliff dwellings and natural beauty.  Sadly, with the flash floods our tour in the bottom of the canyon was cancelled.  Maybe next time?  We were able to hike to the White House Ruins (the only self guided hike allowed)

Spider Rock, a cool pinnacle rock on the south rim

The White House

Panoramic view.  The White House ruins are to the left against the back wall.

The washed out river bottom near Canyon de Chelly canyon entrance.

Zion's
Since we were driving right by it and one of my friends hadn't been to Zion's we figured we might as well swing by for a visit. We did a quick sight seeing loop and also hit Kolob Canyon before heading home.

The Patriarchs

Kolob Canyon

The Gang

Phew!  The sights were incredible and although the weather wasn't great (I didn't even get into the frog migration or trying to dry out after being stuck in the storm - a few times) it was fun. 

You can find these pictures and more from my trip posted in the NEW gallery until my next post.  After that, you can find them under their respective "location" or "type" gallery.