Sights around Dead Sea

While at the Dead Sea we took a day to visit a few of the historical sights since this is the birth place of Christianity. First stop was Jesus' baptism site. Not much to look at but it was a nice walk to get there and was the first time we were able to use the backpack for Jaydon on the trip. We also went down to the Jordan River which denotes the border between Israel and Jordon. The river is really small, really more of a creek but in the dessert if it has water all year then it's a river. That's Israel in the background there. Grandma also did some water playing of her own in the holy water at the river. Next stop was lunch. Our driver took us to a local restaurant which ended up being catered for the tourists so we got a picture of Jaydon at the tourist table. Next stop was Mount Nebo. The day had turned to cloudy for us to view the 'promise land' but it was a beautiful drive up the mountain (though a little too curvy for those us who get car sick). We also got to see some very old mosaics dating back to the time of the bible. Jaydon was a trooper for all the sights and had the most fun playing in the dirt and rocks.



After we left the Dead Sea we drove down to Petra. The route we choose was the scenic route so we got to see the length of the Dead Sea and stopped in a little mountain town to see Karak Castle. It was a very beautiful site with amazing views. It was a little chilly up in the mountains so I happy to have the extra heater on my back. After we left the castle we had the most difficult part of the trip - the long drive to Petra. Jaydon hates any car ride longer than about 30 minutes and he screamed for a majority of the drive. It was nerve racking for everyone, especially our poor driver who had quite smoking about 3 weeks earlier and used to smoke almost 2 packs a day. When he dropped us off at the hotel in Petra we were sure that he was off to have a smoke. Hell, after that drive I even needed a smoke :) Oh yeah, and did I mention that Jaydon threw up in the lobby of the Kempenski while we checked out from the Dead Sea and just before getting in the car. He also threw up that night at dinner - the joys of traveling with a baby...