Jordan: Parting Shots

Yeah, so, I was in Jordan.

I haven't written too much about the trip here because I figured my photos would do the job of conveying what an awesome time it was. Plus, I just published a feature article at Matador Trips called 7 things I didn't expect to find in Jordan. Check it out, and look for more next month.

My trip was organized and largely paid for by the good folks at the Jordan Tourism Board. Many thanks go out to them for the opportunity to get to a know a country that's pretty misunderstood by a lot of people. I know it surprised me.

This post is the last I'll publish here about Jordan. In parting, I'll share three more pics that demonstrate three very different experiences of the country:

 The ruins of Qasr al Abd, a fortress built ~200 BC in the Iraq Al-Amir area just outside Amman. Apparently, Hyrcanus of Jerusalem got a little too cozy with the Ptolemy brass in Alexandria, and his noble Ammonite brothers decided to dispatch him. He built this fortress to fend them off, but didn't have time to finish it. They got him.

Sunset from Wadi Feynan. Behind me, the road leads to Feynan Ecolodge, my favorite of the many fine accommodations we enjoyed on the trip. Read more about it in 7 things I didn't expect to find in Jordan.

Dusk falls over the Dead Sea, as viewed from the infinity pool at the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea. Directly after taking this picture, Carey and I sat down on some cushions and smoked watermelon-mint shisha. Luxury.

Wadi Rum: 7 Images

 

View from the visitor center, noontime and toasty. Just to the left of this frame is TE Lawrence's "7 Pillars of Wisdom" rock formation.

 

Most tours of Wadi Rum are run in 4x. Cool kids get to ride in the bed.

Bedouin camps within Wadi Rum can arrange camel rides.

The sun sets quickly and dramatically in this desert.

Our hosts at Captain's private camp.

The next day's first light hits the high rock.

Early sun shadows.

Petra: 7 More Images

Even the walk into Petra is gorgeous. You pass through the Siq, or Gorge, which is quite narrow at spots but opens up in others.

This tourist stepped in front of my camera while I was on the ground, turning what would have been just another low-angle shot of the Treasury into something unique.

Similarly, this random guy in a white thawb gives the Great Tomb

some much-needed scale.

Looking back past one of the many groups of riding camels towards the Great Tomb.

Standing before the Monastery, at the top of "900 steps" carved into the sandstone.

Carey and Smena 8M and tombs.

The Monastery. The city on the hill in the background is where the Bedouins, forced out of their Petra caves when the site achieved UNESCO status in 1985, relocated to.

Petra: First Look

Taken after the final turn of the Siq, when the first sliver of the Treasury appears.

Liquid Sun in the Dead Sea

And Jerusalem beyond. Taken from the Dead Sea Panoramic Complex.

How I Learned that Downhill/Freestyle Mountain Biking Is Cool

Over the last weekend in July, I was hosted at Winter Park Resort through the Winter Park-Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce. The visit coincided with the fifth-annual Crankworx Colorado, "one of the largest gravity-fueled mountain bike festivals in the United States." I camped out for a couple hours on a steep, sunny hill by the Slopestyle course and got the shots above and below.

Better yet, I got to strap on the body armor, throw a multi-thousand-dollar downhill rental onto the special bike-ready chairlift (which I failed at, by the way--they had to stop the lift--felt very "bunny slope"), and ride up for a 3-hour lesson with Winter Park lead instructor David Deveny.

The pic below was taken during our first run on a trail called Greenworld (bike trails being labeled by difficulty using roughly the same system as ski runs). On my second run, we were rolling down 10ft rock features and hucking off wedge jumps. I looked so dumb, yet I felt so cool.