A Trip in the Desert . . . Actually Two

A couple of weeks ago, we had an off-site meeting for the management team in the Middle East. We went to a resort in a city called Al Ain. Al Ain is at the foot of the "mountians" in Dubai. For all you from the Rockies or Alps area - they are really just high hills, but to use they are mountains. The resort is at the top of the mountain. Here is a day time photo. I tried to get some night time shots, but the were too blurry. If you look into the distance, you can see the city of Al Ain below. The evening temps were around 25 C (80 F) and dinner was served on the terrace overlooking the city below - it was beautiful.

Here's a shot heading up the winding road to the resort. For some reason, the city of Al Ain has found it necessary to irrigate and water the lower levels of the foothills leading into the mountains. Actually, the whole city is green - it's a bit off-putting after being in brown scenery for so many weeks.

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This past weekend, we were itching to get our car out into the desert. So, we took a trip to a popular nearby oasis called Hatta Pools. They say the route is passable in 2-wheel drive, but I would never want to take a normal car on these roads. Certainly the ground clearance is more than a regular car would handle - and the roads are pretty steep in many areas. Boy! did we have some fun - mostly me because I got to drive. Russell had yet to get his UAE drivers licenses, so he wasn't legal with the new car. But he got it today! Nothing like a having to let your wife have all the driving fun to get you motivated for the new license!

Here are a few shots of the scenery.

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You'll have to click to enlarge this picture, but it is a mosque tower sticking up in the middle of this beautiful oasis.

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Here's a picture of what the "roads" looked like that we were driving on. Actually, at this time we were driving along a wadi (arroyo or dry river bed) which is pretty flat. There are also some areas where the road runs up and down some hills and that is really fun!

On the way to Hatta, we passed a sand dune area called Big Red. They were renting quad bikes to run up and down this huge sand dune. This is also where you can go for sand boarding.