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back in Cairoback in Cairo Everyone has been asking me if things feel or look any different here in Cairo after the revolution.  When I left, there were tanks in my neighborhood, a curfew, lots of gunfire, there was no internet, and Mubarak was still president.  Now, Mubarak is gone, the police are back on the streets, the tanks have rolled out,...

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from ancient to medieval in Cairofrom ancient to medieval in Cairo On Tuesday we started our day with a cab ride to Tahrir to see the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. We spent a few hours enjoying the Tutahnkamun exhibit, Akhenaten collection, and other ancient art and artifacts of Egypt. We then took a taxi to the Citadel. The views of the city were stunning. We...

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weddles in luxorweddles in luxor This past week has been a whirlwind!  After seeing some sights around Cairo with Ryan, my parents arrived and we left for Luxor.  We arrived in Luxor around midday and decided to check out Luxor Temple in the afternoon sunlight.  It was incredible.  The city of Luxor creeps right up to the edges of these ancient sites,...

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Mount SinaiMount Sinai Last weekend we went on a faculty trip to Mount Sinai.  After a 9 hour bus ride through barren, empty, desert, along the eastern coast of Egypt and across the Sinai Peninsula, we made it to Dahab where the best thing about our hotel was the coral reef meters from our room.  Another 2 hour bus ride through a forbidding...

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Unfinished ObeliskUnfinished Obelisk Once we got to Aswan and after a crazy taxi experience that entailed some serious driver rivalry, keys stolen from the ignition, a chase involving a tire iron, and a group of tourists, ahem, us, quietly unloading our luggage and finding another cab... (yeah, I know, OH EGYPT!) Anyhow once we got to Aswan, we decided...

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Camping in Texas

6

Category : in America and Elsewhere, Travel & Sightseeing, Uncategorized

I know it’s been ages since I last posted. Long story short, we’ve moved to Texas, ya’ll. To be honest, I still get homesick for Cairo every now and then, but we are really enjoying life in our little town. When we moved to Texas in August, everything was dead and brown. Now that spring is here, I am amazed at how beautiful this place has become. Since the wildflowers are in full bloom and it’s not oppressively hot yet, we decided to go camping this weekend at Lake Georgetown.

The hike was beautiful. The terrain changed from sharp volcanic rock with scrubby little trees to fields of wildflowers and prickly pear.

We saw two or three small cacti with absolutely brilliant pink flowers and vowed to stop and take pictures on the hike back. But when we returned, the flowers were gone.

We saw tons of butterflies and even more caterpillars. I even tracked a wild boar for all of one footstep. Ha.

We decided to camp at Sawyer Hollow. After a 7 mile hike, this sign was a welcome sight (despite its grizzly story).

Our tent was very cozy…

…and very attractive to caterpillars.

We made our own blend of awesome trail mix with almonds, raisins, peanuts, dried cranberries, shredded coconut, sunflower seeds, and banana chips. And because I didn’t want to be “that guy,” we decided to forgo the campfire and instead had fireless-fireside veggie dogs and tortillas with avocado and pico de gallo. I had forgotten how much I love veggie dogs.  Yum!

The views from the campground were really nice. We were right by the lake, and the sounds of the water and chorus of chirping frogs, crickets, and birds were awesome. I don’t know whether it was the time of year or the copious amounts of Burt’s Bees bug repellant I used, but the bugs, despite their great numbers, pretty much left us alone.

The full moon made the night sky pretty bright. We couldn’t see many stars, but the reflection of the moon as it rose above the lake was quite a sight. It first appeared huge and orange, but by the time we got the camera and tripod it had already risen over the edge of the lake.

These next two shots are long exposures of the full moon.

This was the first time I’ve ever camped without the luxury of the car nearby (oh, memories…), and therefore may be the first time I have ever had to carry so much weight on my back. I felt a little ridiculous and a little bit tiny with my huge backpack, but it was a great experience!

Comments (6)

I love all the pictures. Thanks for sharing with us!! :)

Awesome! We’ll have to join you for a backpack. Which trailhead did you go in on? For some reason I thought the Sawyer Hollow camp was only like 3.5 miles in.

I also meant to say, 7 miles is fantastic and you should be totally proud of yourself! I keep looking at backpacks around Austin, and I’m hoping we can come visit you guys soon.

Okay, LAST COMMENT I PROMISE. (Can you tell I am bored at work?) Does Brandon always wear his Dead Moon shirt when you sleep in a tent? He’s got in on in the car camping pic link, too. It can be his thing!

We started at Cedar Breaks, I think. We got a late start around 2 p.m. on Friday and hiked 7 miles to Sawyer Hollow, so 14 miles in total! I can safely say I have never hiked that far nor roughed it that roughly before. ;) But I can’t wait to go camping again!

I noticed that too when I linked to the old post. There’s a long story about that Dead Moon shirt – he actually has two, so it was just the luck of the draw. Haha.

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