Happy Halloween!

May the force be with you.

Upside-down

It started on a Sunday afternoon on the mall with Miss Beverli.... just a few cartwheels for fun. And somehow, I now feel the need to mark any exciting situation or location with a picture of me doing a cartwheel.

The Mall

The Outer Banks

Oregon Coast

Haystack Rock (Hey You Guuuuuyyyyys!)

Abu Dhabi

Niagara Falls

I wonder how long I can keep this up?

Abu Dhabi

The last stop on our tour was in Abu Dhabi. We drove from Dubai strait to another fair at a men's college, which luckily lasted less than six hours. Then we checked into our hotel and set up our next adventure, and this was my favorite thing from the whole trip.

There were eight of us the ended up on the "Desert Safari", and only six fit in a car, so Dino and I got in the car with a German family. Our driver explained that there would be three stops, one at a gas station, one for the camels, and one for the sunset. After the gas station we ended up on a dirt road (not very exciting for a girl that's spent some time with four wheel drive in Moab) and then met a few camels.

The camels were pretty cute, and no one was spit upon.

Then we headed strait into the dunes! I tend to giggle in fun and exciting situations, and I'm sure the Germans, who kept chanting "nein, nein" thought I was crazy. I'm not crazy though, I just have a healthy sense of adventure and driving/flying/sliding over the dunes definitely appeals to me.

Sunset in the desert is also pretty fantastic.

I got the chance to ride a camel for only about 17 seconds. However, I can now confirm that it is a lot easier to ride without a broken leg.

Then we had some dinner and a show.

And yes, I did get up and join the belly dancer.

Dubai

After Istanbul we took a little jaunt to Dubai. I'm a little ashamed to say that I only left the hotel twice. Once for a fair at a men's college, and once to see the Burj Khalif.

Here is my new friend from Western Michigan University talking to some students. Unfortunately that didn't happen all that often as we sat there for a total of SIX hours.

The next time I left the hotel was to head into the city for dinner. If you ask anyone in Dubai how to get somewhere, they will tell you that you have to get a car and that it is much too far to walk. I think this applies to any walk that may take longer than one minute. This may certainly apply in July, but don't believe them if you end up there in October.

On the whole I found Dubai to be very much like Las Vegas, but the one thing that definitely impressed me was the architecture. There were very few buildings that where plain rectangles, and it was exciting to see what some imagination and a boatload of money can accomplish.

Istanbul

Way back in September, (the 26th to be specific) my boss let me know that we had some fairs to attend in Istanbul, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi...... in 8 days. Luckily I have my passport ready in case I need to flee the country.

And so I ended up in Istanbul, which is a beautiful city that I wouldn't mind visiting again.

I actually had a bit of time to look around, and got to see the Blue Mosque and the Haiga Sofia which are both amazing and both built in 7 years.

And then we went to see the palace....

And then we realized that we were in the archeology museum and not the palace....

And then we enjoyed the archeology museum because there was a lot of really cool stuff to see there.

I guess it's good to leave something to see next time right?

White

Today one of my best friends was married. I took a little trip across the country as this was an event not to be missed.

I'm so happy for Kristina. I've known the girl for a dozen years and she deserves the very best.

Navy memorial

It's a shame this sailor is made of bronze.