Desert Camping Trip

It came to pass that a few weeks after our picnic in the desert the same crew agreed to go camping in the desert in the direction of Liwa. And so began the sweet building glow of anticipation that surrounds a weekend away with friends and family. Rooting around in our storage closet for our camping gear only served to heighten our excitement and got us in the proper mood for adventure.

We set off in a convoy of three SUVs and covered ground at a rapid pace over a sandblown E11 heading out into the great emptiness. After a bit of searching down the wrong road we got on track and found the entry point to the patch of desert we were looking for. We pulled off the road and deflated our tires - this is essential as fully inflated tires readily dig deep into the sand and lead promptly to getting stuck.

Here we are at our campsite with snack preparation well under way.

Helen guarding our tent...and looking good doing it.

Campsite buzzing with activity...sort of. See the big red dune in the distance - remember for future reference.

Fashionable fellow campers.

Hannah and Mackenzie and friends having a boring time, can you tell?

Sunset. Later that night we made s'mores. Then we took a blanket away from the campfire and laid on our backs to watch the night sky. A beautiful carpet of stars, a couple of satellites and some shooting stars put on a good show.

The kids hiked over to the big red dune and the adults eventually followed in cars.

Ode to Pajero and big red dune. Those tiny black specks at the ridge of the dune are folks from our party. It was an exhausting climb but we all made it to the top!

Here we are! Again, black specks on the dune face are people...and Helen.

The specks in front are people climbing the dune. The speck in middle is the car. We camped in the dunes at the far end of the flat valley.

 Adrienne and Helen at the top.

View from the top.

Another view from the top.

We returned to our campsite and found camels wandering around nearby. Mom and baby.

 Go figure...camels in the desert.

 Turns out when we got back to camp we noticed the wind starting to pick up and a very dark bank of clouds moving in from the direction of big red. All of the sudden the wind increased and tents were pushed flat and camp detritus was blown with the wind. We all scrambled and shouted to each other to break camp as fast as possible. Just as we were packing the last of our gear the rain swept in and we all hopped in our cars and made the journey back to the road. Two other campsites were doing the same and we departed in a massive convoy. Adrienne took this picture about 15 minutes after we left the camp area. All the kids switched cars and we ended up with these troopers. Note the wet road out the back window, a rare sight in these parts. Helen was also beat after the climb up the dune and she was happy to hang with the exhausted boys. A few hours later we were back in Abu Dhabi, ready for another week.

Camel Milking and Other Abu Dhabi Activities

For the last few months we have been busy with all kinds of activities around Abu Dhabi. We saw Australian car races at the new Yas Island Marina Circuit, right next to Ferrari World. We suited up and went Go-Karting there too, inside the fancy circuit. John won. The girls rented funky four wheeled bikes and pedaled around the Corniche for Mackenzie's birthday. I took pictures of that, but the digital images mysteriously disappeared. Probably the most fun we had in the last few months was a day in the desert. Fortunately, we have plenty of pictures from that day, so here they are.

We drove east of Abu Dhabi about an hour with two other families from the girls' school. One of the families has lived here for several years and knew of a good place for dune bashing and a desert picnic. We deflated our tires before we got off the desert road for better traction. Then we headed into the dunes and set up camp.

Our camera ended up with sand in the shutter which created some interesting shots.

Even our dog Helen came with us. She had a blast running around the dunes, but mostly liked the shade.

We were happy with a little shade too.

Sand dunes for as far as the eye could see.

The view above our site.

 

Up...

and over.

It's like a big sand box for big kids.

M. in the sand.

H. in the sand.

Friends in the sand.

No dark clouds, just sand in the shutter.

A desert lizard.

There was kite flying...

...a game of American football...

....a water gun fight...

 

and standing around, taking in the view. 

Somewhere in there we also played a bunch of frisbee and drove all over the dunes. Dune bashing feels like a cross between cross country skiing, down hill skiing and a roller coaster. It was a ton of fun, but difficult to capture in a photo. Even the girls got a chance to drive on flatter ground.

Then our day got even better. There was a camel station at the bottom of the dunes that we had driven by on the way in. After we had been having fun for a few hours, a truck drove up from the station and started talking in Arabic to one of the few people in our group that is a native Arabic speaker. At first we were thinking the guy wanted us to get off of his sand dunes, but in fact he was inviting us to come down to his camel farm, help with the camel milking, and try some fresh milk. This was way too good an opportunity to pass up.

The camel station.

The handsome leader of the pack.

The babies got milk first. There were three babies and two moms.

Even baby camels get milk blister lips.

The camel handler got things set up.

Someone got creative with the photos due to the broken shutter.

More milking.

Close up detail. Let's hope the baby camels got enough of the milk for themselves. 

(I think they did.)

Must get that shutter fixed.

The kids filled up several big bowls like this.

And then we got to taste is, as fresh as it gets. The milk was frothy and white and tasted sweet and delicious. Apparently it's more nutritional than cow's milk and lactose free. We're all talking about opening up a coffee shop with camel lattes, camelcinnos, and camel milk shakes. Hope to see you there!

Things Automotive (by John of course)

Abu Dhabi is a land rich in things of automotive interest. Lots of money in the region makes for an interesting mix of cars on the roads and Yas Marina Circuit offers a wide variety of recreational activities related to racing of which we have participated in two. The first was part of the 'Arrive and Drive' session at the Kartzone at the circuit. The Winner family showed up at the kart track after a leisurely brunch at the Yas Hotel. We shared the track with a dad and his daughter so we were only 6 karts total - not a very big field. The girls had a good time although Mackenzie's lap times fell a bit after a pretty good job of trying to drive through a barrier along the track. Before taking the track there is a safety briefing where we were told no bumping or unsafe driving and the other dad (English nationality) made a comment  about "This is not like NASCAR". I retorted that let's hope it is not like F1 or there will be no passing. We got out on the track and I passed that guy twice. NASCAR - 1, Formula 1 - 0.
The following weekend we went to the circuit for an Australian series called V8 Supercars. The closest thing we have to that is Nascar. There were lots of activities including a skate boarding exhibition. The girls got a chance to meet the number one skate boarder Tony Hawk and get his autograph. They were heavily fired up about that. Before the race we had the chance to walk down pit lane and meet the drivers. The girls got as many autographs as possibible - even though we have no idea who they are. Even so, it was very nice to have that kind of access to drivers and check out the pit garages close up. The race was incredibly loud and it was a good thing we had ear plugs. We did not stick around for the Eric Clapton show that was held at Ferrari World after the race.
I occasionally go for a jog around 5:30am in the morning along the corniche. This is not a particularly active time on the streets but a few times I get an interesting vehicular encounter. More than once I have seen these two cars racing up and down the corniche - a Lamborgini Gallardo and a modified Dodge Challenger. Great sounding cars at wide open throttle and dang fast. I have also seen (really more hear than see) a Jeep SRT-8  and a BMW X5 M racing at this time of day. Both have gorgeous sounding V8s and are burning in to triple digit speeds between the traffic signals.  I, of course, love it.
For Mackenzie's birthday we went to a plaza along the corniche so the kids could rent little three wheel bikes and race around. In a matter of about 10 minutes I saw a Ferrari 458 Italia, a Lamborgini Gallardo, a Jeep SRT-8 and a sweet Harley. All except the Harley gave it full throttle when leaving the light! 10 minutes!
We have two Shisha bars very close to the apartment. These cater to the local population and here are a few cars I have seen in the parking lot - Lamborgini Murcialago and Gallardo, Mercedes SLS (the new gullwing), Ferrari 360, 458 and 599, Audi R8 V8's and V10's, Corvette ZR-1, about all the AMG Benz products and M products from BMW. There is also a small contingent of custom choppers that show up. It is always a nice display of cars down there.
I also get a good automotive aural experience while sitting on my balcony. The folks with the fancy cars  frequently accelerate away from the stop light at full throttle. The Italian V8's, V10's and V12's all have a great  higher pitched wail while the german V8 and V12 ground pounders have a deep bellow. American iron is also well represented - Corvettes, Camaro's, Mustangs (GT's and GT500's) Challengers, Jeep SRT-8's, CTS-V's all have a good old yankee sound. And many of the cars get additional modifications so they sound even better. The loud cars bug Adrienne but I love it.
We also had a Ferrari/Maserati dealer open up a block away. I go over and peer through the window about once a week. About three weeks ago a blue Ferrari California appeared on the showroom floor. A few days later it showed up in the parking garage downstairs. Yikes - that's what I call a transporation allowance.
Here are two radical cars seen on the streets of Abu Dhabi. A Bugatti Veyron and a KTM X-Bow. Look them up if you don't know what they are. One is radical in terms of price the other in terms of extreme design - both in terms of exclusivity.
My own cool automotive experience occured yesterday. We went on a picnic about an hour away in the desert. This was my first opportunity to fully utilize my 4-wheel drive for some dune bashing on the way back to the picnic spot. We even let the girls have a go in the e
Abu Dhabi is certainly a car lovers paradise.

Editor's Note: My favorite Abu Dhabi car image is a fancy orange Lamborgini (John says it was a LP-640) being driven by a woman in a full abaya and burka. The image of the car is saying "look at me" while the woman in the abaya is saying "don't look at me".

December in Abu Dhabi

December in Abu Dhabi has been amazing. The weather is absolutely perfect: sunny and in the 70s all day. It's almost embarassing to talk about wearing flip flops to holiday parties, but this makes up for the harsh days of August. This is the time of year to do all kinds of outdoor activities.

December 2nd is National Day, like the 4th of July in the States. Our balcony has a great view, so we decided to have a National Day party to watch the fireworks. Here you can see five barges in the background loaded with fireworks. Best seats in all of Abu Dhabi! 

This is the view from our apartment of the Emirates Palace Hotel. Festive lights cover the big buildings and main streets of Abu Dhabi in the days leading up to National Day. The national colors are red and green which is a nice segue into the Christmas season. In fact, Abu Dhabi embraces Christmas too. Lots of Christmas displays in stores and parties at the tourist hotels.

The Emirati love to decorate their cars for National Day. Then they all cause grid-lock on the Corniche Road, honk, and make their engines backfire by hitting the brakes and the gas at the same time. Constant noise all weekend, but it's all in good fun and, as far as I know, just one weekend out of the year. The UAE turned 39 this year. I wonder if it's going to be an even bigger deal when the country turns 40.

Breakfast on the balcony for the kids that slept over after the National Day party.

Typical waterfront activity for this time of year. You can just see the tail end of a helicopter that was also passing by on the right side of the photo. The Heritage Village is on the breakwater in the background.

Boats on the other side of the Marina Mall breakwater.

Hannah at Hiltonia.

Mackenzie at Hiltonia.

Waiting for lunch at the water's edge. Marina Mall is in the distance.

Here's a picture taken at the Heritage Village. Our building is the low long one just to the right of Hannah.

I was going to bribe the camel handler to take the camel around the buildings and onto the beach so that we could get the perfect shot of camel, girls, and our apartment in the distance. But then I lost my courage. Maybe next year.
Happy Holidays to all!