A quick update on our trip to Egypt!

It is so hard to write just a little bit about about what we did. There was so much that we saw I couldn't ever write all about it! We did take a TON of pictures and you can see them
here. Our trip to Egypt was amazing! We were staying on the Red Sea and it was so gorgeous! The color of the water was breathtaking! The weather was awesome, a nice breeze coming off the sea to keep things tolerable. The people in El Gouna were so friendly and in LOVE with Aidan. A lot of people have told us that El Gouna is not the "real" Egypt and they are exactly right. It is this little jewel and I am so glad that we had the opportunity to go. We took 2 day trips, one to Cairo and one to Luxor. On the Cairo day trip we flew to Cairo and were met by a private guide and private driver. Our guide was English speaking so that helped immensely! Flying in over Cairo was crazy! I have never seen anything so big in my entire life. The population of Cairo is 20 million and it is so sprawled out along the Nile River. It just seemed to go on and on forever! When we got to Cairo we drove to the Pyramids of Giza. The ride itself was...let's just say interesting. There are no rules. You have a 3 lane highway...well, they turn it into 6! No Joke! You wouldn't believe the number of accidents we saw on the way. And by accident, I don't mean fender benders. These were some of the worst accidents I have EVER seen in my life and we saw at least a dozen. We managed to get a couple of shots of them and you can see them here. I should also mention that Egyptians do not use headlights in the dark. Don't know why, they just don't use them! We got to the Pyramids and I have to say it is a bit overwhelming. Something you have always read about, one of the Seven Wonders of the World and you are just standing there humbly in front of them. We were able to spend some time at the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Oh.My.God. Is all I can say. You feel so small and you look at what they accomplished, by hand and cannot even begin to imagine how! Our guide was wonderful and we learned so much. JR has always been fascinated with Egyptian history and already knew so much about what we were seeing. I learned a ton. After we finished with the Pyramids we headed to grab some lunch. The food in Egypt was really good. They eat a lot of the same things we do, they are just prepared differently and with different spices, some I have never heard of. We continued our tour to the Egyptian Museum. I could write for hours on this, I could have spent weeks there. It was jaw dropping, and once again our guide was able to really get the history through to us. We saw the mummies of Kings and Queens..Yikes. So well preserved! A little creepy though. You couldn’t take pictures in the museum so I don’t have anything to show you. If you ever get the chance to visit, DO IT! You will not be disappointed.
After we left the museum we had a cruise on the Nile River. It was again a little surreal. I mean we were cruising the Nile. We had a flight to catch so we had to get back to the airport. One day was just not enough…wish we would have had more time but am so glad that we got to see everything we did.
The Luxor trip was a bit more difficult. We were picked up by a private driver and drove 4 hours to Luxor. (Gulp) The landscape was so different and interesting. The first hour was driving along the red sea, the second hour was driving through the mountains (no vegatation…at all) it was like the moon. Jagged rocks and sand. The third hour was through the desert. Sand as far as you can see in any direction and finally the 4th hour was green and lush…right along the Nile. It was very hot in Luxor about 44c (112ish F) and no sea breeze! It was HOT! Very dry as well, not humid at all. We went to the Valley of the Kings where we toured 3 tombs of past kings, walking into these tombs and seeing the walls and ceilings covered in drawings and Hieroglyphics...there are no words. We were able to touch carvings that were carved 5000 years ago. The colors were so bright and there were so many stories being told. Due to the extreme heat we were not able to spend as much time in the tombs as we would have like (it was hard on Aidan…no airflow, very Hot) we visited temples and enjoyed another cruise on the Nile. I can’t do the visit justice with words. I would be writing forever. Please be sure to check our our pictures here… We went out on a boat back in El Gouna called the Black Eye. It was an odd boat that has a huge magnifying glass in the bottom. We were able to cruise over the reefs and actually were able to see a shool of dolphins…playing with us! We could see them under the water and they were so beautiful! The rest of our trip we just kind of hung out, ate great food, sipped a few drinks, did some swimming and just spent time together.