Going to Jordan was definitely a highlight of the whole trip. After taking us to the border and expediting us through the Israeli side, we walked across no man's land to meet our guide. The paved road lined with a barbed-wire fence bridged the gap between the Israeli guard post and the Jordanian. As we walked cross, we felt like prisoners in a prisoner-exchange scene in some type of war movie, being sent across the wide open space to whatever awaited us on the other side. Our guide, Mohammad, was excellent - funny and full of knowledge about the places, modern and ancient, that we were going. He had grown up as a Bedouin there, had worked as a guide for King Hussein, and was getting his masters in the historical geography of the area. And there was a lot of history to be told. Our first stop was Petra and, after riding horses down to the Siq, we began the walk into the stone city. It was incredible! We were only able to scratch the surface of what was there, but what we saw was quite impressive. After walking all the way down into the city and eating lunch, we decided to ride camels back up (so that Kait could check off one of the "100 things I want to do before I die" from her list). Riding back up the hill was definitely the way to go!

After our whirlwind tour of Petra, we climbed back into the van and headed for Wadi Rum, the wilderness headquarters of Lawrence of Arabia. The desert there is beyond description. Huge, sandstone cliffs jut up into the sky from the soft sandy ground. We sat in the back of a Bedouin's pickup truck and drove all over the desert, climbing sand dunes, visiting the place were Lawrence had his tea each day, and stopping by a Bedouin tent for tea. Mohammad dressed us all up in Bedouin clothes, while our driver lounged on the other side of the tent, giving us the thumbs up sign. The sun set too quickly that evening and before we knew it, it was time to go back to the border. Safely back across no man's land and into Israel.