There are many times I turn on the radio and and think, hey, that’s a catchy tune. It happened recently for Darius Rucker’s delightful cover of Wagon Wheel. I’ve always liked Mr. Hootie, mostly because he’s right in my wheelhouse as far as his voice range goes, so it’s easy to sing along to his music.
Since moving to NJ, I’ve mainly only listened to the local ESPN talk radio station. I’ve flipped over to that 100 FM station now and then, but most of those songs sound like they’re written by 5 year olds with auto tuners. Recently though, NYC got a country music station. Being from the south, country music has always had a special place in my heart. It makes it easier to enjoy my southern accent when I belt out some acoustic guitar and banjo heavy song.
Anyway… back to Wagon Wheel. Like I said, it’s a catchy tune. When I really like a song, I usually end up going home, finding it on Youtube, then also Googling the lyrics so I can figure out what in the heck the guy is saying. I did this for Wagon Wheel and was simply amazed how easily I could fit the song into my own life. Right time, right place I guess. Since brevity is the soul of wit, I will be brief in describing how it correlates with me, but I’ll post the the song and lyrics if you want to go jam out to it for yourself.
Basically, the song talks about a guy who has had a little trouble in the North, and is now hitchhiking down the east coast to get back to his lover in Raleigh, NC. Its easy for me to sort of insert myself into the song. We took a gamble moving up north, it didn’t pay off and now we’ll be moving back south. Not back to our home state of NC, but a little further. Another continent actually. But I can already picture myself singing this sound for 9 hours as I drive home to NC in early August before flying out days later from Charlotte to Ecuador. It just feels right.
Hello. My name is Rob. I’m a 30 something year old guy living in NJ, about 10 minutes outside the Big Apple that is NYC. I have a lovely wife of 5 years, a beautiful 3 year old boy, and a tiny little baby girl who is due to join us in this world in early August. Everything sounds great, right? Well right now, it is… for the most part. We’re about to change all that though and turn our family’s world upside down. In August, we’ll be moving to Ecuador to start a new chapter in our lives.
Let’s rewind for a moment…
Since 2003, I’ve lived in Concord, NC, Myrtle Beach, SC, outside of Chicago IL, the Middle East, and now I’m in NJ. You could say my family and I get around a lot. I could easily blame my wife for all this… travel. She isn’t much for settling down and gets a bit of an itch for something new every few years. Truth is, I’m pretty much the same way. It’s one of the many reasons I fell in love with her and consider myself such a happily married man.
Things aren’t always peaches and cream…
To put it mildly, since moving to New Jersey in the fall of 2010, the family and I have had a few rough spots. Here’s a quick recap – We moved here in a blizzard in which I crashed the moving truck into the side of our new apartment. There have been 2 Hurricanes, one of which was the devastating Sandy, an earthquake, more blizzards than I can count, a Thanksgiving Day kitchen fire, the loss of our unborn child, oh… and ANOTHER fire in which we lost 75% of everything we owned. Now I know things could have been a lot worse and I am forever thankful for what I have, but you might see how we haven’t quite felt our time in NJ has been well spent.
The house fire was last September and both the wife and I have never quite gotten over it. To be honest, we wanted to run home, to the beach, anywhere other than NJ the day after it happened. We kept our sanity for the most part and put on a brave face. We stuck it out here for as long as we could, which in August will be almost 3 years, a year since the fire.
We did begin actively looking for other options in early 2013. And by other options, I mean anywhere other than New Jersey. I thought at first that I would transfer with my job to one of our southern locations, but nothing really seemed to fit. I LOVE my job, but it does keep me away from my family on nights and weekends. My wife… let’s call her Alanna. It’s her name anyway. Alanna has a teaching resume that the most seasoned educator would be jealous of – she’s a veteran of the classroom both in the states and internationally in Ethiopia and the UAE. I also have bit of experience in teaching and international travel. So Alanna put her smart cap on and soon enough she had found an open position for a teacher matching my skill set in… Ecuador. Most people I’ve talked to don’t even know where the country is. If that’s you, don’t be ashamed, I probably couldn’t have pointed it out on the map before this month either. Ecuador is a lovely South American country on the west coast nestled in between Colombia and Peru. The Equator runs smack dab through the country, and well… that’s where the title of the blog gets its name.
I sent in all my information, resume, cover letter, etc and bingo… I immediately got an interview. The next week I was speaking with officials at the school over Skype and the next week, after a few weeks of intense research, discussions with my wife and hopes and dreams, I accepted the position. So here I am, getting ready to move to Ecuador in 4 months. This blog will serve as a journal of my experiences both leading up to the move, as well as my day to day life in South America. I am in no way a seasoned writer like my wife, but I hope you’ll enjoy the reads now and then.
We’re getting down to the nitty gritty – the last few weeks until our summer break back in the States. I, for one, am getting excited. You know it’s too hot here as I’ve stated quite frequently in my blog. I’m also getting cabin fever because we can’t do too much. So in just 15 short days we’ll be in London… and Nottingham, and Bath, and Stratford-Upon-Avon, oh… and Wales. We’re gonna sneak over there for a little bit too. So excited.
We’ve had something going on pretty much every weekend in June. The first weekend we went to Dubai and made our way up the World’s Tallest Building – The Burj Khalifa. The second weekend was my drama student’s production of Hansel and Gretel. They were smashing. This past weekend we had a quick mini vacation in Sharjah with a MAJOR side of Geocaching thrown in for me. Here is an in depth (Well as much as I feel like writing) review of June so far…
The World’s Tallest Building.
We’ve wanted to do this trip for months. It opened in February, but we wanted to wait a little bit and let the newness wear off first. We made our reservations a week in advance. Yes, you have to make reservations to take an elevator up to an observation deck. It cost us about $60 total( for the two of us), but it’s a once in lifetime experience to say you’ve been in the tallest building on Earth, so we felt it was worth the price. Driving up from Al Ain, you can see the Burj Khalifa a LONG way before you get anywhere close to
Logan takes in the view
Dubai. It almost looks out of place as it is easily twice as tall as any other building around it. The world’s largest mall (by total area), the Dubai Mall, is at the bottom of the Burj, so we got there early to have some lunch and shop around for a bit. We finally made our way over to the building, which you can access without leaving the mall. We handed over our tickets and moved into a waiting room. There were lots of folks standing around taking pictures of a scaled model of the building. We popped a few pics there, then made our way through security – x-ray machines and all just like the airport, and then took a short stroll through some hallways that told us all about how the building was constructed, blah blah blah. We got to the elevator and hopped in. The walls of the elevator are covered in TV screens that show neat little tidbits about the building as you make your way up to the 124th floor (1450 ft) at a blazing speed of 40 mph. My ears popped a few times for sure. The 124th floor is a large round room with windows everywhere so you can have a 360 degree view. The observation deck is also here, which we hit first. I expected it to be hot out there, but no no, the deck has two large AC units that pull air from above and keep the deck nice and cool. The views were amazing. The buildings below looked like tiny models that you could build yourself. It was a VERY impressive sight. We took a ton of pictures so Logan can remember being there. All in all, it was well worth the price and I’m very happy we got to go.
Hansel and Gretel
We had our End of the Year concert on June 10th at the Intercon Hotel. All the students performed from their fields of study, including my drama kids. We were one of the last groups of the day. We had a quick, final rehearsal, then I spent half an hour getting
Last minute direction
them into makeup. Putting kids in makeup is not always fun, I can tell you that. The performance went as well as could be expected. The kids did a great job, the audience loved it, and I came out looking like the greatest children’s director of all time. It’s a pleasure to work with the little rascals. Special thanks goes to my lovely wife Alanna who helped me make the props and masks.
Sharjah
I planned a little two day vacation for us in Sharjah. I would get to Geocache and Alanna would get a nice hotel with a pool and a beach. Works for both of us. Sharjah is the Emirate (think state) above Dubai. It’s only about 15-20 minutes north and a less busy. It also provided a nice starting point North for me to hit a bunch of Geocaches. We stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel. We enjoyed the place. The staff was nice, the room was fine and the breakfast was superb. The pool was nice and refreshing – even a little cold though it was 110 degrees outside. Logan had a fun time splashing around and all of us got a little sun. I left early at 5:30am the next morning for a day of solo Geocaching. Alanna and the little man stayed at the hotel and relaxed the day away. I had planned a total of 20 caches. My goal before leaving the UAE is 75 caches, so I needed 17 to put me there. I figured I’d give myself a few more in case I missed some along the way. The morning started off great. I found my first 10 caches rather easy, really didn’t get lost and visited 3 Emirates in the process. Number 11 screwed me though. It was near a beach and I tried to drive over some stand and… for the 3rd time since we moved here I got the rental stuck in the stand. Thankfully it was only 10am so it wasn’t too hot yet. I hiked back out to the main road and soon a nice Omani man came along and helped me. He even went and bought some rope so he
Inside the hotel - we had breakfast under those trees
could pull me out. I’ll say it again and again – the Omani are an amazingly giving and friendly bunch of people. After getting unstuck, I decided to continue on and not let that little setback discourage me. I continued heading north, almost to the tip of the UAE, then turned around and took a slightly different route back to the hotel so I could grab a few more caches. The day’s totals – 15 caches, which put me at 73 total caches, quite a number of cuts and scrapes, shoes full of sand, 1 car stuck. I had a great time though. It was just as neat to see all of the countryside as it was to find the caches. Now I’m left to find 2 more before I leave for the summer, but I’m already sure I’ll get more than that in the coming weeks. I’m so addicted to Geocaching.
Alrighty folks, be looking for me in the States. I’ll be in NC on July 12th and HOPEFULLY in Chicago around Sept 4th.
More pics…
Logan REALLY likes TPI think he wonOld abandoned plane? Nice spot for a cacheSunset in Sharjah
First and foremost, it has been one year since the birth of my baby boy Logan. He was born one year ago on May 26th, 2009! Time really does fly when you have children. I took the little guy over to have a few hour’s play time with some of the other babies in our complex. He had such a great time and it was so fun to watch him interact with people his size for a change. It honestly feels like yesterday that we took him home from the hospital. That little guy amazes me every day. He is truly a blessing from God.
Happy 1st Birthday, Logan!
I talk about the heat here a LOT, I know, but it keeps getting hotter. It now averages about 111 degrees here each day. At night, it’s still in the 90s. That makes us not want to do anything outside. I can see why the malls are so busy here all the time. People leave their houses and the malls are the only cool place to go hang out. We’ve been hanging out in the malls a lot too. We don’t really buy much other than groceries, but just getting out and walking helps to relieve the boredom. Of course, with the heat, I’ve had to be very selective about which Geocaches I go after. The ones in the desert will just have to stay hidden! I’m at 57 (as of tonight) caches found and I want to be at 75 before I leave on July 8th. Should be doable.
Speaking of malls, we hit up the two biggest ones in Dubai in the last few weeks. The newest one, the Dubai mall, the world’s largest
Dubai Fountain
mall, opened last year and sits at the bottom of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. We’ve been to this mall before but never to the Dubai Fountain. Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water 150 m (490 ft) into the air, accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music. It was built at a cost of AED 800 million (USD 218 million). Yeah, I totally copied and pasted that last line from Wikipedia. It is a really neat fountain though and was fun to watch. 218 Million for a fountain though? Sheesh! Last week we went to the Mall of the Emirates. This mall is about 5 years old, but it’s the famous one with the indoor sky slope inside it. Yeah, they built a ski slope inside a mall. It’s a great idea for people over here I guess. But being an American, I know back home I can drive a few hours and ski on a real mountain. It’s still pretty darn impressive here though.
Ski Dubai
So here’s a little info about our London trip coming up. The Staton family originally came over to England from Normandy in 1066 with William the Conqueror. Back then we were the “Stauntons”. While in England, we were guardians of a tower (which is now named Staunton Tower) in the famous Belvoir Castle. Some of my relatives seem to think we were royalty and owned the castle. While that certainly isn’t true, it’s always been a HUGE goal of mine to go visit “my castle”. With the vacation to London in July coming up, a side trip of an hour and half north to see the castle was a must. Trouble is, the castle is closed to tourist in July. No idea why, but it is. So I did some emailing. The castle is also the residence of the Duke of Rutland. He and his fmaily live in part of the castle; the rest of it and the gardens outside are for tourist. So I
My Castle
emailed the staff and asked if there was ANY way I could come have a tour since I would only be in England for a short time. A very nice lady named SallyAnn emailed me back a few days later and said that she wasn’t sure, but she would ask His Grace if it would be possible. Yeah, I had to get permission from the freggin’ Duke of Rutland. I thanked her over and over and last week she emailed me again and said that His Grace, the Duke of Rutland, would be happy for me to come to my… err… his castle. In fact, they’re giving us a private one and half hour tour of it, and then we’re free to wander the gardens as much as we like. How cool is that? Should I mention that it’s technically my castle and that I’m staying? Probably not.
Play rehearsals are in full swing for my upcoming production of Hansel and Gretel. Directing children can sure be a challenge though. Unlike a classroom environment, I have to work with small groups one at a time, leaving the other kids unsupervised. Thankfully the room is small and I find ample things for the other kids to do – like LEARN THEIR LINES. Get this – I’m the writer, director and narrator of the play. The director part is a given since I’m the teacher. I had to rewrite the play though so it fit with the number of kids I had. And I really didn’t have enough kids to fill the role of narrator, and Alanna said no, so I’m doing that as well. Our performance is June 11th so let’s hope it all comes together!
Now I know I said it’s really too hot to Geocache, but this weekend a group of us are heading to Oman to do just that. There is a cache there that was placed in 2002, and it’s the oldest cache in the area. I wanted to get it before we left for the summer. So a small group of us are heading out bright and early Saturday morning to get it. Yeah, it will be 100 degrees before 10am, but who cares right???
Alrighty folks, I’ll wrap it up here. Take care!
More pics –
Logan is modern art.
He's getting SO big!Logan and his new girlfriend.The crazy one is on the right.Enough SaidNow THAT'S a rat tail!
Do people get tired of reading the same things over and over again? I dunno, but I don’t get tired DOING them.
We’ve been sticking to the plan of trying to do something every weekend. Nothing too crazy or expensive. We just like to get out of the house. I located a nice “American style” bowling alley when I went up to Abu Dhabi for the BJJ tournament. So we left one morning a few weekends ago, grabbed a few geocaches and went to the bowlng alley. We got to the place around 11am. I have
XX, but no turkey
never been bowling that early. There was one other family of expats there, otherwise the place was empty. It was nice to just do something normal for a change, something I took for granted in the States. Logan had a great time shoving the bowling balls around on the ball return, though his mother was ever fearful the balls were going to smush his fingers.
In addition to the bowling alley, we visited the Grand Mosque. It is, to me at least, the best piece of architecture in the UAE. It’s what you picture when you think of Muslim/Arab culture. It is also a big tourist attraction and free to enter. We got there early before it got busy. We had to take our shoes off before going inside, and also all women had to wear the traditional black Muslim abaya and also cover their heads. So Alanna was decked out in black and I just had to dress conservatively. Men have it so much easier here.
Grand Mosque
The mosque sports the largest rug and largest chandelier in the world. So we toured around for awhile, took some pics and videos and then left content to have seen such a sight.
We took another day trip to Dubai last week. We went to a new mall. It had a big Toys-R-Us in it and we were looking for a backpack to carry Logan around while in London. We didn’t find one of course and resorted to Ebay. I hope it gets here in time! The mall was great though. We stepped off an elevator and lo’ and behold, there was an OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE. I love Outback. I mean, LOVE. Who doesn’t though? Anyway, they don’t have any in the UAE. Or at least they didn’t until January when the one In this mall opened. I just didn’t know about it. We ate dinner there, completely alone. Not a single customer around. Someone walked in near the end, but for the most part, no one. Food tastes different here. McDonalds is a little different, Papa Johns is not exactly the same, etc. I am happy to report though that Outback tasted like Outback! The Aussie Cheese Fries were amazing and the Prime Rib was to die for. Now don’t get me wrong. The entire family spent the next few days with stomach problems, but for me it was well worth it. After leaving the mall, I did some quick Geocaching, finding one and DNFing another. Darkness was coming quickly so we headed back to Al Ain.
Speaking of Geocaching, which I seem to do a lot… I went to an “event” last Friday. Events are get togethers where other cachers meet up for coffee, stories, etc. Pretty geeky I know, but fun. Well, Geocaching has been around for 10 years now and the folks in my area scheduled a 10 Year Geocaching Event last week. I’ve only a met a few of the area’s cachers, so I thought it would be fun to meet some more. We headed out Friday morning to Abu Dhabi. I grabbed a few caches along the way, one beside a strange… round… building. Who knows what is was, but that’s the UAE crazy design for ya. The event was held at a nice coffee shop. Alanna
The round building... thing.
was happy because they had a breakfast burrito. It’s the little things that make her happy. About 15 people showed up. We sat around and chatted, ate some decent food, and swapped geocoins and travel bugs. Those little things are trackable items that can be placed in caches for people to find. You find one, log it online, and then move it on to another cache. The trackable’s owner can follow it all over the world. Pretty cool. Or geeky. Anyway, we swapped trackables around. I left with three and have already placed them in caches around Al Ain. We broke up the event after two hours and the family headed home. They were a nice group of people. We swapped numbers, emails, Facebook info, and hopefully we’ll meet up with some of them now and then. All in all a fun but geeky time was had.
Logan is soooooooo close to walking. He can stand up alone now for half a minute at a time. He can walk around the house “assisted” by his parents – meaning, we hold his hands while he stumbles step by step. I’ve let go of him a lot, but he’s yet to take that first step on his own. He’s close though! Its so much fun to be a part of all his little milestones. I’m so thankful NOT to be working all the time. I would have hated myself if I missed all this.
What else? Alanna and I saw Iron Man 2 this week. We dropped Logan off at the babysitter and went to a 5pm movie. Iron Man 2 came out a week earlier here than in the States. Don’t ask me why, but it was cool to see it before everyone else. So yeah, 5pm movie. NO ONE but us in the theater. Well, no one until right before the movie started. At the last minute, a man came in and sat in our row. Yeah. Like there wasn’t another open spot he could have sat in. No no, he chose to sit in our row while the rest of the theater was empty. Weird. To top it off, he had his choice where to sit before he came in. They do things a little different here. You don’t just go in and sit down at the movies. Like going to see a play or concert, you select which seats you want while you buy the tickets outside. Then you are ushered in to YOUR seats. Crazy country! Iron Man 2 was a good sequel though. There were lots of Captain America references which I laughed at and which Alanna looked at me funny for. Although I am more of a DC fan, Marvel has done a great job with this series.
OK, gotta end it here. Logan WAS napping. Not anymore.
Last weekend kept us very busy. On Friday morning, I hiked/climbed up a mountain to a secret bat cave and hanging gardens. Friday evening we had a bonfire out in the desert with friends. Saturday I went to Abu Dhabi to watch the brazilian jiu jitsu world cup and snag a few geocaches. Here is a detailed review…
Friday Morning
I got up bright and early around 7am and was out the door by the bottom of the hour. Alanna was nice enough to stay in bed and watch Logan. I met up with two caching neighbor friends – Darrel and Mimi. We headed out and crossed the border into Oman. The drive out took about 15 minutes. We turned off on a gravel road which continued for another 4kms before we were forced to pull over and park. There was a large mountain in front of us, and near the top of it we spotted our destination – The Bat Cave. No, not the one on the outskirts of Gotham. This one had a Geocache inside. We could tell it was going to be a long hike so we set off immediately. The hike/climb was pretty intense. We scrambled over rocks, sticker bushes and loose sand. A few times we literally
The Bat Cave
had to climb up hand over hand as there was no other way to get where we were going. We made frequent stops to drink water and finally an hour half later, we reached the cave. The views were amazing – inside and out. There was bat quano all over the inside floor of the cave, but the bats themselves seemed to have abandoned the place. We took a good while trying to find the geocache, but it was a fruitless search. Seems to cache was missing from the obvious hole it was placed in. Oh well, the cave itself was well worth the effort.
After a break, we skirted the side of the mountain and climbed down to the hanging gardens. This was another neat spot. There was plants and trees growing out of the side of the mountain, literally “hanging” upside down against the rocks. You could see where water runs down during rainy times to feed to plants. Another hidden gem of Oman. So much more to see there than in the UAE. If you like nature, that is.
Hanging Gardens
We got lost a few times on the hike down, which took another hour and a half. We literally had to dodge falling rocks and help each other down over cliffs. At
Sliding down the mountain
one point, we all had to sit down and slide slowly on our butts because the slope was too steep and slippery. We all made it down safely though, just a few scrapes here and there. I really enjoyed the climb. We drove back home and I took a well deserved shower and nap
Friday Night
After getting reenergized, we prepared for out desert bonfire. Alanna I had organized it with a group of friends after we found a nice spot in the desert that was 10 minutes from where we live. We all met outside at 5:45pm to head over. One small problem though – giant sand storm. The wind was blowing the sand all over the place and visibility was terrible. We decided to at least head out to the desert though in hopes that the storm would die down sooner or later. So our little caravan snaked its way along a sandy road
At the Bonfire
between sand dunes until I decided on a nice spot just off the road. We climbed over a big dune and found a nice little valley behind it. We all sort of waited out the sand storm, covering our faces as best we could. The big dune helped to block the wind and by dark the storm was pretty much done. I worked out a quick fire (newspaper, lighter fluid and really dry wood make that rather easy) and soon enough we were all relaxing and having a good time. Some folks brought food and drinks, full meals to cook as well. It was a fun evening all in all. Some of the folks stayed overnight to camp, but being weary from out last camping adventure, Alanna, Logan and I were very happy to sleep in our comfy beds.
Saturday
Leaving Alanna and Logan behind again, I took off Saturday and headed up to Abu Dhabi to watch the 2010 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Cup. We got there around 5:00pm and stopped off in a very American bowling alley near the sight to eat, then headed over to the outdoor tennis stadium where the fights were being held. The place was pretty packed – Emiratis on one side, everyone else on the other. Oh and of course the women got a special place all by themselves to sit if they wanted. The fights weren’t all that impressive. I guess I was hoping for more UFC type MMA fighting, but this was only
The tourney
straight BJJ. There wasn’t even a single tap out. Everyone won by points. There was however this giant woman – she had to be 6’4”, 250lbs and practically all muscles. She literally dominated the poor woman that she was fighting. I think I saw an adams apple. Someone needs to do some testing on that one. Oh, and Sheikh Mohammed was there was well. And by Sheikh Mohammed I mean
HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces as well as virtually next in line to President of the United Arab Emirates. Yeah, a big wig. 2nd in command of the country. He didn’t even have bodyguards. Well none that I could see anyway. He is a huge BJJ fan and loves MMA.
The Sheikh
I left the event a little early so I could perhaps grab two geocaches on the way home. Just outside the stadium was a part where I found a tiny cache under a park bench. Not more than two blocks away was another tiny cache on the back of a sign in a parking lot. So two quick caches and I was back on my way home.
The Grand Mosque was close by as well. Its probably the coolest looking building here in the UAE. I really want to take a look at it, so the family is going to head up Saturday morning and take a tour. We’re also gonna go bowling at that American-style alley. And we’ll get in some geocaches of course.
Counting down – July 8th – London! July 12th – North Carolina!
The temperature here is over 100 every day now. And it’s April. Lovely. It’s still decently cool in the evenings though so at least I have that on my side. Soon enough though the temps won’t get down under 90 at night either. Crazy, hot, sticky desert.
The weekend was GREAT. Alanna and I had a date night. That means no Logan. I love the little guy and all, but Mommy and Daddy need some time away too. Working in “the arts” has some perks now and then. I scored some free tickets to see a workshop and performance by Wynton Marsalis. I’ll be honest – I knew he was a trumpet player and has a brother named Brandford, that’s about it. I figured it would be an entertaining time nonetheless. Wow. Can I go on record? Best concert ever. The guy was amazing. We got there early. It was a small theatre with a tiny stage. We were in thee 5th row dead center. Show time rolls around and Marsalis along with his band come out on stage. For the first 45 minutes or so, they did this amazing little workshop. Wynton talked about Jazz, the different elements of it such as improve, collective improve, call and reply, etc. As he explained each topic, he would then have the band play if for us. It was so a cool experience to have someone that talented talk and teach so passionately about something he obviously loves. They took a 20 minute break, then came back and played a concert for about an hour. Amazing stuff. New Orleans Jazz music rocks! Wynton Marsalis and his band are amazing. I can now say I am a huge jazz fan.
I found out that there was a new Geocache placed in my area earlier in the week and it hadn’t been found by Friday morning. I was excited. Cachers pride themselves on being FTF – First To Find. So I headed out at 6:30 in the morning all alone (Alanna wimped out and stayed in bed). The cache was over the border in Oman, but only about a 20 minute drive from my place. I took a long winding dirt/gravel road until the wimpy car wouldn’t dare go any further. I had to walk the last 2.5kms, which at 7am wasn’t such a bad thing. I found the cache quickly enough once I got there, did my business and then took some pics. The cache is located next to a lovely, out of the way Wadi.
Wadi – Riverbed in the Middle East, that can be dry or full of running water depending on the season and how much rainfall it gets.
There was a expat family camping at one end of the wadi, so I headed up the other direction, taking some pics of wild flowers, a natural land bridge, and a few other cool nature shots. After a rest break I hiked back to the car and was home before 10am. I normally don’t even like getting out of bed before 10am. Good times though!
Logan has been on and off sick for awhile now AND pulling on his ears so we caved in, thinking it an ear infection, and took him to the doctor. You all know my fears of doctors and hospitals. Today was great though. A very nice doctor saw us immediately, checked Logan out thoroughly, then prescribed some drugs for us and we were on our way. Total time in the hospital – 30 minutes. Total Cost for the visit and the drugs – about 12USD. Nice! Turns out the little guy does NOT have an ear infection, just a nagging cold.
I’ve been working on a short children’s play for my drama kids to present in Mid June. I got an idea from the web and basically rewrote the whole thing. We’re even bringing in the youth choir to sing songs during the play. It will be a blast to put on a full production!
And lastly…
A special thanks to Google Earth. I have this lovely image of a What-A-Burger with cheese and a Sun Drop stuck in my brain. Mmmmm….
