Shock and Awe

Yes, we sang the IJ theme song
over and over on the walk in

Last week I crossed something off the list.  I went to Jordan (yeah, the country, not the place in Utah) and saw Petra.  Petra, as in the second wonder of the modern world.  I spent the first hour nearly speechless.  I felt like gasping and spinning in circles.  Quite a few of the sites we've seen have been reduced to "piles of rocks" in my memory, and that's what I expected from Petra.  I didn't know what I was getting into until I walked out of the valley and saw the Indiana Jones famous treasury.

And if that wasn't cool enough, the sites became increasingly spectacular as I kept walking.  In America, nothing is older than four or five hundred years.  In Petra, nothing is younger than a thousand years. 

For a wanderer like me, free standing ruins were like a birthday present come early.  They were just open to anyone, free for clambering and exploring.  Obviously I had a blast.

Mom, dad, it's pretend jail.  I promise.

So. Many. Jumping pictures.

Making new friends...

...all sorts of new friends (young and old, human and camel...)

I consider this a successful cross off.  I've never seen anything so beautiful.  It was easy to see the hand of God to the right and left as I walked through and marveled at the landscape and scenery.  When I was up there, I felt like I could accomplish just about anything.  It was incredible, inspiring, and entirely unforgettable.  Am I the luckiest, or what?