I have now seen the "line in the sand"

I imagine that I will probably never make it to Mars. I mean I'd like to go but logisitically...getting time off...who will feed my fish...there's just a lot to consider.

But I made it to the next best thing...the Wadi Rum desert of Jordan. In fact it actually was the Mars set for the Val Kilmer movie "Red Planet" (which recieved horrific reviews but not because of the set).

In order to get energized for the day, we stopped for an arabic coffee complete with carmadon and grounds in the bottom. It's an acquired taste to say the least. Then we piled back into the SUV driven my Muhammad (yes another Muhammad) and headed a few kilometres down the road before he simply veered off the road and into a sandy abyss.

We bumped along for a while past bizarre rock formations and the occasional camel before stopping to start climbing. Do you remember being a child and the satisfaction that you took from scaling a giant jungle gym? So despite cricity old joints I managed to make it to the top of several rock structures in my flip flops (damn toe still inflammed). Muhammad wow'd us with his driving ability and would approach the tops of the rock bridges in his 4x4.

After a delicious lunch cooked out in the open desert (I was too ill to enjoy most of it by Carrie swears it was the best salad that she has ever had), we had a chance to see my personal highlight. Sand dunes. My whole life I have wanted to see massive, wind-rippled sand dunes. I have seen large piles of sand, and giant plateaus of sand but none of these have satisfied the photo that I have in my head of a true sand dune.

That dream came true today as we stood on the edge of a massive golden sand dune, covered in ripples gazing into Saudi Arabia. While it killed me to be so close to another country and not visit I took solice in the setting - it really was a unique and gorgeous place. And, as I had suspected since childhood, sand is indeed fun. We took turns running down, rolling down and susbequently falling down the dunes.

Muhammad then took us to an area that blew my mind...a spot where the different colour sands meet but never mix. There is clear line in the desert - one side is red sand and one is gold...AND THEY NEVER MIX. Winds will whip the sand into a frenzy but the sand remains firmly planted on it's side of this proverbial "line in the sand".

And at the end of the day we discovered sand in places where sand should never be... but to put a check mark on another bucket list item...well worth it.