Andyana Jones and the Last Crusade

This week was such an adventure in the land "beyond Jordan" in a country now called Jordan. It was really interesting to see an Arab country other than Egypt. I quite enjoyed my health condition there as well. Jordan is very Americanized especially in Amman, but there is so much that is fundamentally different. For example, they are a "United Kingdom" and therefore have a king. Pictures of this guy are EVERYWHERE but he is a really nice looking guy. I wish I could meet him because his smile (seen on every street and business and building) is very pleasant. Here is a list of places we went and things we did:

Mt. Nebo - hiked to the top (more of a hill than a mountain)

Shobat Castle - an impressive crusader castle

Windy from the top!

I was trying to have fun storming the castle! That's my best "storming the castle" look.

Mariah really didn't want Alex's face to be in the picture.

Savanah, Mariah and Candace

"I blow my nose at you, so-called Ah-thoor Keeng, you and all your

silly English K-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-niggits!"

Shobat Castle!

I don't know how they could have ever captured this fortress, but they did.

Wadi Musa - a city of hotels at the mouth of Petra

Me and some of the other JC kids playing soccer in the streets with some Jordanian kids at night. They beat us way bad, but it was way fun. It brought back the memories of Chile.

Petra - an amazing array of 8000 fascades in sandstone that are thousands of years old where Indiana Jones was filmed.

Jerash - An ancient Roman City. One of the Decapolis and one of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world.

This is one of the most beautiful flowers I have seen. It was just outside of the Hadrian's Arch.

Amman - the former Roman Philadelphia, the largest city in Jordan with 2 million people. All the houses are made of limestone so it is sometimes called "the white city". One of the Decapolis.

The Copper Scroll. This was in the museum on the citadel in the middle of Amman. This is one of Dead Sea Scrolls. It is one of the only evidences of the fact that ancient writers used metal for their records. Pretty awesome.

On top of the Citadel. This is where Uriah was sent in battle by David when he was put into the "hot parts" of the battle.

This was in the Royal Automobile museum. I didn't put any of the cool cars on here, but this was the funnest picture of them all. The King has had some pretty screamin cars. Wow. Youtube "bugatti" and watch it roar.

This is the royal mosque. It was huge and really pretty.

The white city of Amman, Jordan.

Bethabara - at the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. The lowest elevated place on earth.

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

(Matthew 3:16-17)

Here is a timelapse of a deconstruction of a rock stack in Petra.