Jordan (2/3): Petra

A real highlight of our trip was to Petra.  Petra is a very old ancient city that most of you will recognize pictures from even if you haven't been there.  We walked through a very narrow opening in the cliff (called the siq) to get to the more open main part of the city.  There was a carved out trough which is how they got water to the city - the kids loved hiking down the trough.

We took horses in for the first part of the hike in (trying to conserve our little ones' energy for the more strenuous hiking and climbing to come).  Jane and Anna were quite nervous about the horse ride but they both ended up really loving it.

We walked, hiked, climbed all day long.  I knew we planned to spend all morning and into the afternoon there but had no idea that we would manage to be out there for about eight hours.  Anna (2) rallied so well without her nap and Meredith (5) doesn't tend to have tons of stamina and she did great, too.  Regan and Jane had energy left to spare.

We had a guide for the first two hours.  I think Jake got more of his story than I did as I felt like I was ferrying Anna around, tying shoes and just generally motivating the girls to keep up.  So I really didn't learn a whole ton about Petra other than what I had read about in the guide books!  I'm not sure Jake really heard too much either as he was busy with the girls, too.

I was *really* nervous that it was not going to be a good day - after about 20 minutes of walking, Meredith started with her, "I'm tired and I'm tired of walking.  My legs hurt."  Oy!  But once we got into the more interesting parts of Petra, she got motivated to climb and explore and never looked back.

Mid-morning we stopped at a little rest area with picnic tables and got hot tea and drinks for a little break. There were two more restaurants further up and we had lunch at one.  We managed a few rest stops in caves and on ledges with nice views.  Anna walked some but was mainly in the Ergo being carried by me - great exercise for me to lug her around for hours at a time!

The temperature was pretty cool - all the kids had long sleeves and two layered sweaters.  Regan took my coat for a while as she was cold but they warmed up after we got a little more active.  I think it would be brutal to be there in summer heat so we were glad to have a nice, cool, cloudy day.

Entering Petra through the siq

Regan riding into Petra

Meredith was so thrilled about her horse ride

Anna was not excited about the horse ride but definitely got into it
right away.  She kept proclaiming, "The horse not bite me!"  Our horse's
name was Emily and a boy around 10 years old led her

Jane did not want to ride a horse but you can see from her smile
that she quickly decided that it was pretty fun after all

More smiles from the reluctant rider

The girls and I and Ali - our guide. This is about 20 minutes in and
Meredith is already saying, "I'm too tired to walk anymore.  My legs
hurt!"  Luckily she got a burst of energy and decided
Petra was pretty fun after all!

In front of the Treasury

A cave with a short roof - the kids decided this must have
been the kids' bedroom

We hiked in for an hour through a narrow passageway and then
saw a police car - clearly there was a faster way in!

The high court (or something like that) is in the upper right - we hiked
up to that at the end of the day

Taking a 2-year old who had only been potty-trained for two weeks
on an all day hike had its own challenges.
Thankfully Anna thought "potty rocks"were a neat idea

The little ones and I loaded up on a couple of donkeys at the end
of the day.  It had been a long day and our legs needed
a bit of a break.  The girls loved it and so many people took our
pictures as we road by - I think we are in a lot of random people's
Petra scrapbooks!

Regan hiking up the water trough which was how they got
more water to Petra