Clean Air.....Clean Water.....am I in heaven?

Today I give you: Jake's First Post. I thought he would be the best qualified to tell you about the trip he took with the 6th Grade. If I were the one writing it, it would read something like, "And here's a picture of some stuff, and here's a picture of some things, and here's a picture of some stuff with some things. Discuss."

And yes, my mother-of-children-primarily-schooled-in-California brain is still reeling that a) they even had a 6th Grade trip, b) that there was a chartered plane and a hotel stay involved, and c) um, Luxor!?!

So anyway, here's Jake:

Last month I went on a school trip to Luxor, Egypt. I have a few (hundred) pictures to show for it, but I'll only show a few of my favorites.

Here's the airport terminal in all it's blue-lightish glory.

This is the most astonishing picture from my trip, taken from behind the hotel dining area. Clean Nile...wow!! I had to get someone to pinch me to confirm I wasn't dead.

This is another Luxor Nile picture.

This is actually an accidental picture, but it turned out to be a guy on a donkey.

These are the two colossus statues of Ramses II. Behind them, there used to be the temple of Ramses II. It was knocked down by an earthquake in Roman times.

This is the temple of the Pharoah Queen Hatshepsut.

And here it is again zoomed out, showing its position in the desert.

The paintings inside Hatshepsut's temple still had paint on them. This scene depicts workers carrying supplies for Hatshepsut's expedition to Ethiopia.

This is the "City of the workers". It's where the people who worked on the tombs lived, away from everyone else, so they wouldn't give away the location of the tombs.

This is the roof of the temple of Ramses III. It depicts holy vultures with sun discs on their heads.

Another time someone had to pinch me. A stoplight? In Egypt? What next?

This is the roof of the temple of Ramses III. It depicts holy vultures with sun discs on their heads.

This is Hatshepsut's obelisk, inside Karnak temple, with a minaret too.(I don't think that ancient Egyptians built that, too.) The Karnak temple was the ancient Egyptians holiest temple, the temple of the sun god, Amun-Re.

Here's a little guy I found at the hotel dining area.

So, yes, I had good time and all that (not like you were wondering or anything). It was really fun and I hope that everyone can go down there to see it themselves. It was a truly remarkable experience.