Egypt

We just returned from an amazing and exhausting trip to the Middle East with our good friends, the Picketts. It was seriously NON-STOP! We saw Egypt in 2 1/2 days, which, as wonderful as Egypt is, was enough for me. That may have had something to do with the fact that I was hungry the entire 2 1/2 days because I didn't dare eat anything. We did see all the things we learned about Egypt in Elementary school. Here is a brief (only compared to the total pics I have on smugmug) summary of those short days.

The Pyramids

I am pretty sure I sang "Arabian Nights" from Alladin and "Walk like and Egyptian" the entire time I was there. Which is exactly what we were doing below.

Amazing view as we rode camels across sand dune hills.

We did go into one of the pyramids. The pyramids are definitely cooler from the outside, but I am glad I did it. ;)

Pretty cool spot. This was before we really got to know the Sphinx...

This was after...

and, as always, Jeff takes it to a whole new level.

The step pyramid, and as we establish, the oldest building.

We headed down to Luxor to the Valley of the Kings, where King Tut's tomb is and TONS of other king's tombs are as well. King Tut's mummy is actually being kept inside his tomb so we got to see him. Then we went to Queen Hatshepsut's Temple. This was one of my favorite things because of the story behind it, but I won't give you a history lesson. It is pretty cool that the walls of the tombs and the temples still had original painted colors, which is crazy. We are talking like 3500 years ago.

Then at the Temple at Karnak, we became one with the sphinx.

The Luxor Temple

The Citadel and the Mosque. We were able to sit in the famous mosque and ask any questions to our Muslim tour guide. It was really great to hear all about their religion. There are actually a lot of similarities in our religions.

View from the Mosque. If it weren't so hazy you could see the pyramids in the distance.

So Egypt was amazing.