The Lost City of the Nabateans-Petra

The second part of this Ken McFarland tour was a visit to Jordan and the ancient lost city of Petra. What a fantastic place! The sandstone has been carved into beautiful shapes and colors by the various elements over time, and the Nabateans who lived here carved temples, graves, and homes into that sandstone. These are "monolithic" carvings out of the solid rock, and boggle the mind with their beauty and variety. We drove to the south of Jordan to visit Wadi Rum, an area of arid beauty, with large outcroppings of stone like this. Reminiscent of areas of Utah. The film, "Lawrence of Arabia" was parially filmed here. We toured the ancient city of Jerash, reportedly the best preserved Roman city anywhere. Located along the major north-south trade route, it was very large and a key city in its time. Before leaving for the States we had to bob for awhile in the Dead Sea, the world's lowest point below sea-level.

The Jordanians are a lovely people, friendly and welcoming to their country. To answer one question you might have: in Egypt and Jordan we never had reason to fear for our safety.

Thanks for sharing our travels. Wish you were here!

Roger and Meg

A Dream Cruise on the Nile

In March we were able to realize a life-long dream of a trip to Egypt! As long as we can remember dreaming anything, it has been to see the pyramids and the temples and the Nile! We flew to Cairo and then on to Aswan, where we boarded the SS Karim. Built in 1917 for then-King Fuad, she is the last steam paddlewheeler on the Nile. We traveled for a week in real luxury, reminiscent of that seen in the 1978 Peter Ustinov movie, "Death on the Nile," filmed on a similar ship. We docked in Luxor (ancient Thebes), Edfu, and Kom Ombo before returning to Aswan. Luxor is famed for its temples of Luxor and Karnak, with their incredible halls of columns. The Temple of Luxor by night.

We sailed "down the Nile" (south toward the Mediterranean) and then back "up the Nile" (south or down on our maps) You'd be surprised how confusing that can be!

The Nile is surprisingly clear and blue and very charming. Here's a lovely little village on its banks, looking probably as it has for centuries

The beautiful ancient art adorning the walls at Abydos, the colors unretouched for thousands of years! Back in Aswan area we visited this beautiful Temple of Isis on the small island of Philae in the Nile.
Our last night aboard the Karim we had a costume party, with all dressing up in their Egyptian garb bought after patient haggling with the local merchants. Lots of fun! Everyone was totally surprised when two of us, both named "Roger", walked in dressed in identical "galabeas"! (We didn't realize the color difference until looking through our pictures the next day.)

Before leaving Aswan we flew to Abu Simbel to visit this large temple of Ramses II. It was wonderful! We spent our last few days in Cairo itself, visiting the bazaar, the Great Pyramids and Sphynx.

One cannot realize the enormity of these structures from pictures; simply impossible. Really wish you could have been here with us.

Unsolicited ad:

We nearly always travel on our own, but this trip was arranged by Ken McFarland, who specializes in special (one might say "boutique") tours that typically are small in number and cater to individuals who enjoy walking and seeing the out-of-the-way spots of the world. He tries very hard to give his clients top value for their money, and we recommend him highly and without reservation (though you'll need reservations; he sells out quickly.) That was a joke!

Family and Good Times in Florida

We left California and traveled to the Texas Hill Country, staying there for a week. This gave us opportunity to spend good time with Abey, Sunny, Lydia and Christian, as well as with Meg's folks, Carl and Marilyn, before proceeding on to Florida. We had some good Ethiopian food in Austin (new restaurant there!)


We spent a night in a Texas rest area near the Louisiana border (Beaumont,) a night in Biloxi, MS at a military family camp, the last night in a Florida rest area near Tallahassee, then on to Stacey's the next day. We did go a little out of our way for a great lunch in Foley, AL at Lambert's Cafe, the home of the "throwed roll." We learned of these restaurants while visiting Springfield, where Sabrina spent her college years at Southwest Missouri State. Great places to eat! Fun too! Stop in if you're ever in Sikeston or Ozark, Missouri or Foley, Alabama at mealtime.


When Stacey and Darren built their new home here in Florida in 2006 we invested the extra money for them to put RV hookups behind the house for us. It has been a wonderful blessing to be able to visit them and be "next-door neighbors." We parked the motorhome here for our Egypt and Petra trips.

When we returned home the kids had a week out of school. So, we packed up the motorhome and drove to Fort Myers Beach, FL for the week. We stayed in a pleasant campground, ate out a lot, and visited the beach, a renaissance fair, and the Edison-Ford Winter Estates. The grounds are a botanical garden, with trees from all over the world. The highlight is the large banyan tree near the entrance, which covers almost an acre of ground!


We took a day to drive to the Everglades National Park, and see some 'gators. This was close enough for Ashley!

The family attends a lovely Baptist church in Inverness where the Bible is preached and Jesus is lifted up. In April we were privileged to be there for Ashley's baptism, as she gave testimony to her faith in Christ. A wonderful shared moment with our family!

A Major Perk of Our Lifestyle

One of the joys of our great country is its size and diversity, but therein lies also one of its major challenges: our families are so spread out across this land that visiting with each other can be very difficult. And that's one of the best parts of our lifestyle: living in our motorhome allows us to not only see the sights but to meet and visit with relatives and friends whom we otherwise would not see. So, on this trip to California we were able to spend a wonderful day with Meg's cousins Leota and her Daughter Sherry whom she had never met before. We visited over a great seafood lunch, then discussed family history until dark.
It was lots of fun and we look forward to the next time.

There's always time for more geocaching and there are many caches in the Southern California area near SabrinaMeg's searching out one near our campsite at San Dimas' Puddingstone Lake.


A license plate we spotted that could have been on Sabrina's car:


Sometime after my Mother and Father (he was always known as "Bruce") were divorced (I was six years old at the time) he married Virginia (Ginny.) They lived in Southern California for many years, and we've had the opportunity to meet there several times and get acquainted with them. Bruce died this past December at age 89. We visited with Ginny in February. We had a lovely lunch together and spent the day reminiscing about my Father and their life together, and she passed on to me several of his personal items that I cared about. Thanks, Ginny, for taking such good care of Bruce through his life.