King's Highway

After finishing up Petra this morning, we showered, packed our bags, ate lunch and headed up the King's Highway to Madaba. (We rented a car in Aqaba, which was relatively cheap and has really allowed us to maximize our time here.) We stopped off at Shoback Castle--a crusader castle built in 1189 AD. We drove by the Wadi Araba desert and took some cool photos out of the car window. We also drove down to a scenic viewpoint over Dana Nature Reserve. And tried to stop at Karnak Castle, but it closed early for Ramadan, so we just took a few photos outside. We then passed over the Wadi Mujib, aptly called the Grand Canyon of Jordan. We were there for sunset and the views were just spectacular. We then drove on to Madaba where we settled at the Salome hotel where we'll stay for three nights before our flight to Istanbul on the 15th. From here we plan to explore the ruins at Jerash, float on the Dead Sea, and perhaps visit some hot springs.

Right now we are sitting at a bar in the basement of our hotel enjoying a couple beers (hard to come by in Jordan) and watching Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade, which was filmed, in part, in Petra. Reid is (basically) in heaven.