We spent a week at a job fair in NYC. We combined the trip with our 17th anniversary.
No pictures yet, but Lady Liberty looks good!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Mada'in Saleh
We spent a long weekend (6-8 February) visiting one of the historical sites in Saudi Arabia. The area is known as Mada’in Saleh (it is a Nabateean site) and the trip was run by the Saudi 
Arabian Natural History Society. We flew to Medinah (second holiest site in Islam) and then rode a bus for six hours to the town.
This is the setting for the town and hotel. The Bedouin tents belong to the hotel and you can rent them and stay in them (if you want!). Look closely and you will see the built-in air conditioner! The sandstone escarpment hangs all around the town.
This is what we went to see. The tombs! The people at the base and standing on top will give you an idea of the size of the rocks. Notice the honeycomb effect where the sandstone has been worn away. They weren’t carving granite!
This is Jim’s favorite shot. The coloring just came out looking really cool. This is the single largest tomb. Don’t be fooled, though. The rock is really large, but the interior is one, unfinished, very small room.
This is Train Station No. 21. The Turks used to run the area and ran a train from Istanbul to Riyadh (current capital of Saudi Arabia). During WWI, Lawrence of Arabia managed to wreck the tracks (watch the movie!). This is where the train came through and the wrecked train is still out in the desert. We didn’t get to go visit it, but hear it has been picked clean by souvenir hunters.
This is the actual station. The light poles are new, but the rest of the place is original from the Turks. Apparently, someone wanted to do some tourism, but got no further than some light poles! Saudi Arabia still only issues about 500 tourist visas per year for the country.
This is THE industry around Mada’in Saleh. Date palms. Except for a (very) few tourists, there is nothing else here.
In the foreground, you can see the original old town. Yes, it is mud, logs and palm leaves. Between 30 and 40 years ago, the Saudi government built an entire new city for the inhabitants and they abandoned the old town. Forty years of neglect and the mud is still standing. Not a lot of rain. Along the new city, you can see why the date palms grow here. Fog brings in a significant amount of moisture. You can’t see it, but along the bases of the date palms is evidence of actual water on the surface. The city actually has some serious storm ditches. When it rains, they get some real gully washers thundering down from the hills.
Great shot of Alonda down in the middle of the old town. Part of it is being renovated with an eye to tourism in the future.
“The Bowling Pin” gives you an idea of how the sandstone can be worn away into just about any shape you can imagine. 
“Elephant Rock” takes little imagination. Notice our bus and the car. A LOT of sandstone has been worn away in this area.
Our guide managed to look good no matter where he was standing. The “campfire” represented about 15 minutes of fuel gathering. Not a lot grows out there.
Sunset. The next day we rode the bus for four hours and flew home.
Arabian Natural History Society. We flew to Medinah (second holiest site in Islam) and then rode a bus for six hours to the town. This is the setting for the town and hotel. The Bedouin tents belong to the hotel and you can rent them and stay in them (if you want!). Look closely and you will see the built-in air conditioner! The sandstone escarpment hangs all around the town. This is what we went to see. The tombs! The people at the base and standing on top will give you an idea of the size of the rocks. Notice the honeycomb effect where the sandstone has been worn away. They weren’t carving granite! This is Jim’s favorite shot. The coloring just came out looking really cool. This is the single largest tomb. Don’t be fooled, though. The rock is really large, but the interior is one, unfinished, very small room. This is Train Station No. 21. The Turks used to run the area and ran a train from Istanbul to Riyadh (current capital of Saudi Arabia). During WWI, Lawrence of Arabia managed to wreck the tracks (watch the movie!). This is where the train came through and the wrecked train is still out in the desert. We didn’t get to go visit it, but hear it has been picked clean by souvenir hunters. This is the actual station. The light poles are new, but the rest of the place is original from the Turks. Apparently, someone wanted to do some tourism, but got no further than some light poles! Saudi Arabia still only issues about 500 tourist visas per year for the country. This is THE industry around Mada’in Saleh. Date palms. Except for a (very) few tourists, there is nothing else here. In the foreground, you can see the original old town. Yes, it is mud, logs and palm leaves. Between 30 and 40 years ago, the Saudi government built an entire new city for the inhabitants and they abandoned the old town. Forty years of neglect and the mud is still standing. Not a lot of rain. Along the new city, you can see why the date palms grow here. Fog brings in a significant amount of moisture. You can’t see it, but along the bases of the date palms is evidence of actual water on the surface. The city actually has some serious storm ditches. When it rains, they get some real gully washers thundering down from the hills. Great shot of Alonda down in the middle of the old town. Part of it is being renovated with an eye to tourism in the future. “The Bowling Pin” gives you an idea of how the sandstone can be worn away into just about any shape you can imagine. “Elephant Rock” takes little imagination. Notice our bus and the car. A LOT of sandstone has been worn away in this area. Our guide managed to look good no matter where he was standing. The “campfire” represented about 15 minutes of fuel gathering. Not a lot grows out there. Sunset. The next day we rode the bus for four hours and flew home.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
White Christmas
We actually had snow for Christmas!
We did some wandering around in Seattle and Bremerton, visited some friends and played handbells at our church for the Christmas Eve service. We hope you have enjoyed the holidays. We are flying back to work on Tuesday.
We wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Frankfurt Christmas Market
On our way home for Christmas, we spent two days in Frankfurt am Main visiting the city and the Christmas Market.
We had a good time drinking Gluehwein and eating Bratwurst.
Alonda has wanted to visit one of the Christmas Markets for years. She missed out on the one in Munich last time through Germany. We arrived just in time for it to be closed.
We went on a city tour. It is an easy way to get a good overview of a city.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We are flying home for the holidays. First stop is Frankfurt am Main in Germany to see the Kristkindlmarkt and then to Chicago to visit one of Alonda's sisters.
We will be home until January 1. We fly back to Jeddah and school starts on 5 January. Yes, we have three weeks off.
We will going to New York for a job fair February 14-20. We hope to have a new job for the new school year. If we don't find anything outside the US, we will be job hunting around Bremerton.
Our US cell is 206-369-9258
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Kenya Safari
We are back from our 8-day Kenya Safari. We had an absolutely wonderful time in Kenya. It is a beautiful country with friendly people. If you get a chance to go, don’t miss it!
One of the goals most people have for a safari is to see the so-called “Big 5.” The list can change, but is generally accepted to be: elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino. We saw all of them and much, much more. We will be posting more photos (we took about 950), but for right now, here are the Big 5.
Our first stop on safari was at “The Tree Hotel”. It is a hotel designed around the water hole it is built next to. It looks like the “Ark”. We saw a lot of elephants there. The picture shows two of them standing in the water near sunset. Elephants were relatively common throughout our trip. Elephants were being hunted to extinction for their tusks, but in Kenya, no big game hunting is allowed.
Leopards are not as common as the elephant. They are actually considered relatively rare since they generally hide during the day. We were lucky to see one that had gotten stuck too close to the river.
One of the goals most people have for a safari is to see the so-called “Big 5.” The list can change, but is generally accepted to be: elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino. We saw all of them and much, much more. We will be posting more photos (we took about 950), but for right now, here are the Big 5.
Our first stop on safari was at “The Tree Hotel”. It is a hotel designed around the water hole it is built next to. It looks like the “Ark”. We saw a lot of elephants there. The picture shows two of them standing in the water near sunset. Elephants were relatively common throughout our trip. Elephants were being hunted to extinction for their tusks, but in Kenya, no big game hunting is allowed.
Leopards are not as common as the elephant. They are actually considered relatively rare since they generally hide during the day. We were lucky to see one that had gotten stuck too close to the river. We saw a lot of lions. We think we saw three different males on different days, but aren’t sure.
We saw a lot more of the lionesses. Look at the male lion’s belly! He is obviously stuffed to the gills. At Masai Mara (Serengetti Plain), the wildebeest were getting ready to migrate and the predators were tripping over all the food. Even the vultures weren’t interested in anything! 
We saw a lot more of the lionesses. Look at the male lion’s belly! He is obviously stuffed to the gills. At Masai Mara (Serengetti Plain), the wildebeest were getting ready to migrate and the predators were tripping over all the food. Even the vultures weren’t interested in anything! 
The little white vans were everywhere. It is the most common tourist vehicle in Kenya. We 
were lucky and had a group of four (Graham and Alison Haywood from our school) and one driver/guide (Boniface). The vans hold eight passengers and one driver and have a radio.
were lucky and had a group of four (Graham and Alison Haywood from our school) and one driver/guide (Boniface). The vans hold eight passengers and one driver and have a radio. We were lucky to see both black and white rhino.
The black rhino is very shy and hard to see. The white rhino isn’t exactly friendly, but isn’t shy. The white rhino is not “white.” They were called that because the early explorers called them the “weid” (wide) rhino since their snouts are broader than the black rhino. The black rhino is darker, but isn’t “black” either. 
The African Buffalo were relatively common. Try imagining carrying those horns around on your head …
The black rhino is very shy and hard to see. The white rhino isn’t exactly friendly, but isn’t shy. The white rhino is not “white.” They were called that because the early explorers called them the “weid” (wide) rhino since their snouts are broader than the black rhino. The black rhino is darker, but isn’t “black” either. 
The African Buffalo were relatively common. Try imagining carrying those horns around on your head …We will be publishing more pictures and comments later. That's all for today ...
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Bike, Bus, Ferry Boat and Walk!
We are coming up on the end of our first summer in our condo in Bremerton. The weather has been cool and cloudy. This is probably because we bought an air conditioner! The temperature hit 99° F for one day only.
"Pigcasso" is one of the 92 "Pigs on Parade" in Seattle. Local businesses buy a pig, decorate and display it for a year and then all pigs are auctioned for charity.
One of the reasons we bought this particular condo in this particular location was because we thought we could live here without having to own a car. This has turned out to be true. The bus stop is two blocks away and downtown Bremerton is 2.5 miles (almost all downhill). The grocery store, movie theater, restaurants, hardware store, coffee shop, library and post office are all within walking distance. We like going into Seattle and over to Port Orchard on the ferries. Sometimes we take our bikes and sometimes we just walk on.
If you haven’t already done it, please think about reducing your own impact on the environment. We rented a car twice (one day each time) during this summer. It was a lot cheaper than owning one!
We went out biking on one of our favorite routes along Rich Passage to Manchester State Park. It was one of the old defense works for the Bremerton Shipyard left over from the last century and is now a very nice park. On the route, we felt right at home. There was a camel in the field next to the road!
This has been a very relaxing summer. We visited friends and family and did some painting and fix-up in the condo. We went to a concert by the Bremerton Symphony and to some harborside concerts sponsored by the Downtown Association. One of the groups was the local salsa group. We went to several movies, since we can’t go in Jeddah. The county Historical Museum sponsored a walking tour of downtown Bremerton, too.
One of the reasons we bought this particular condo in this particular location was because we thought we could live here without having to own a car. This has turned out to be true. The bus stop is two blocks away and downtown Bremerton is 2.5 miles (almost all downhill). The grocery store, movie theater, restaurants, hardware store, coffee shop, library and post office are all within walking distance. We like going into Seattle and over to Port Orchard on the ferries. Sometimes we take our bikes and sometimes we just walk on.If you haven’t already done it, please think about reducing your own impact on the environment. We rented a car twice (one day each time) during this summer. It was a lot cheaper than owning one!
We went out biking on one of our favorite routes along Rich Passage to Manchester State Park. It was one of the old defense works for the Bremerton Shipyard left over from the last century and is now a very nice park. On the route, we felt right at home. There was a camel in the field next to the road!
This has been a very relaxing summer. We visited friends and family and did some painting and fix-up in the condo. We went to a concert by the Bremerton Symphony and to some harborside concerts sponsored by the Downtown Association. One of the groups was the local salsa group. We went to several movies, since we can’t go in Jeddah. The county Historical Museum sponsored a walking tour of downtown Bremerton, too. 
We did some shopping in Seattle, too. Just walking around the city can be colorful. 
Alonda had the Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators (NAME) convention in Astoria, OR. Jim’s sister and her husband came up to visit Astoria, too. 
We are planning on going on safari in Kenya in October. (If you have sound advice or nice tips for us, please send them!) We bought a new camera. Our 35mm was a fine camera, but it was getting old and film is actually getting a little difficult to find. We have been searching for a year and found the new Sony Alpha. It fits our zoom lens so we don’t have to buy new lenses. The battery is good for about 700 pictures and we take a spare battery. The memory card is good for 960 pictures. It has 10 mega pixels so the quality is good. 35mm film is better, but getting hard to manage.
We go back to Jeddah August 16 for our final year in Saudi Arabia. School starts August 26. We will go out to Bangkok in January for the International Schools' job fair and see what adventure we will have next!
We are planning on going on safari in Kenya in October. (If you have sound advice or nice tips for us, please send them!) We bought a new camera. Our 35mm was a fine camera, but it was getting old and film is actually getting a little difficult to find. We have been searching for a year and found the new Sony Alpha. It fits our zoom lens so we don’t have to buy new lenses. The battery is good for about 700 pictures and we take a spare battery. The memory card is good for 960 pictures. It has 10 mega pixels so the quality is good. 35mm film is better, but getting hard to manage.
We go back to Jeddah August 16 for our final year in Saudi Arabia. School starts August 26. We will go out to Bangkok in January for the International Schools' job fair and see what adventure we will have next!
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