JORDAN

After Christmas, Russell and I went to Jordan to visit a couple friends. When Russell and I told our coworkers why we were taking some vacation days to travel, many of them asked, "Jordan? As in the country?...Why?" I guess if you're living in America and tell people you are going to visit a country in the Middle East, a lot of them see it as an uncommon and even dangerous decision. I had a couple people tell me to be careful. To be honest, I started to worry as well but if you hang around Russell long enough, his everything-will-be-fine attitude kind of rubs on you.

Overall, I am thankful, even blessed, that we were able to go to Jordan. It wasn't dangerous; I think it's an American misconception that the Middle East is scary because of our media, the war we have going on, and a combination of these things. I actually saw quite a few European tourists. The country is beautiful and learning about the culture was insightful. Not only that, but we got to celebrate Jonathan and Erin's engagement!

Below are summaries of the different sites we saw. Warning, there are lots of pictures so loading time might take awhile.