Approaching the pyramids. 

Christina chose a horse instead. 

The desert beyond the Pyramids. 

My camel. 

Tending to the beast. 

The haziness, even at this distance, is the result of the Black Cloud, which descends upon Cairo when the delta farmers burn their rice fields after the harvest. 

Our guide at the pyramids. He was nice, but prettty useless. 

A dead horse in the desert. The residents of Giza do not have many other options for horse disposal. At least the dogs eat it, and nature takes its course. 

Nice view. 

God bless America. Eating from my former employer in the shadow of one of the oldest human-made structures in the world. 

The famous pyramid at Sakara, the ruins of what used to be Memphis.

The Nile and downtown Cairo by night from the felucca. 

The Nile and downtown Cairo by night from the felucca. 

The Nile and downtown Cairo by night from the felucca. 

El Capitan. 

Trip to Mt. Sinai (Dec. 1-2)

The Sinai terrain from the bus window on our way down to Mt. Sinai.

We met Jimmy at the bus station, who said he would help us arrange transportation to Mt. Sinai and then to Cairo the next day. We rode in the back of a pickup truck to his hotel. I miss my pickup truck. 

We negotiate transportation prices with Jimmy at a restaurant on the beach in Dahab, a town on the Eastern Sinai coast. 

Bored camels wait to be rented. Many people rent them from Bedouins to take them up the camel trail, which is about 90% of the hike. We chose to walk the camel trial. The hike took about 2.5 hours, which was a faster than average time.

It was a long hike up. The summit is 7500 feet above ground. The stragglers (including me) arrived at the summit only to find our posse sleeping. Iman (awake) and Jenna, who came separately to Sinai, met us at the top.

Waking up to watch the sunrise. I did not sleep, as I only arrived at the summit 20 minutes prior. 

The sunrise begins. 

Freezing our butts off as the first colors appeared. 

Almost everyone was up at this point. It was still freezing. 

Sunrise hues.