I know I have taken an extremely long time off from blogging.  There is really no excuse other than I was burned out.  I am ready to get back on the laptop and letting people know what I am thinking and doing.  It will be interesting to see how people react to my blog now [...]

                      Pictured: The Temple of Kom Ombo.
Part of my trip through Egypt included a three day Nile Cruise. A friend of mine from college, Katie Armstrong, found me on Facebook and mentioned that she always wanted to go Egypt so I told her to organize a trip and I would join her.  Another of my [...]

 
I had taken the bus from Amman to the town of Wadi Musa, a few kilometers from Petra.  The night before I ventured to Petra, we watched the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at my hostel.  Petra is featured in the movie, near the end.  It was my favorite of the Indiana Jones [...]

Flat Mallory's Last Stand
As I was finishing up my tour of Syria, I had an e-mail discussion with Mallory's father, Steve, about getting Flat Mallory home.  Mallory's project was due on April 30 and Flat Mallory needed to be back in Owosso for the festivities.  I was initially thinking that I would send Flat Mallory [...]

We stop this blog to give you a perspective on the Pope's visit to Jerusalem since it is in the news right now.
Media ReactionI decided to stay in Jerusalem a few extra days so I could get a sense of the historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  There was [...]

The Quick Tour                       Pictured:The Qala'at ibn Maan castle overlooking the Temple of Ba'al-Shamin.
After spending a few days in Damascus, I made a quick tour of three historic areas in other parts of Syria.  My first stop was the ancient city of Palmyra. 
Palmyra (Arabic: تدمر Tadmor‎) was in ancient times an important city of central [...]

I was at a cafe in Damascus having lunch when an older German women said something to me in German.  I understood the gist of what she was asking but I responded in English.  She looked at my with a puzzled look and asked me where I was from and I told her, "the USA."  She said [...]

A reader recently asked me about the coverage of the swine flu epidemic in Egypt.  I had begun to hear about the epidemic when I arrived to the country from Jordan.  There hadn't been much local perspective because there hadn't been any cases found in the Middle East at that point.  Most of the [...]

Syria was next on my list. I wanted to go to the country but everything I was reading was making me doubtful that I would be able to obtain a visa.   My Lonely Planet Guide mentioned that Americans and British were required to get their visas from the Syrian Embassy in their home country.  I [...]

                                                Pictured: Fullbright Fellow and Women's Marathon winner, Maya Buchanan, celebrating with Flat Mallory. She finished the full Marathon three minutes after I finished the 1/2 Marathon.  At least I didn't get lapped!
It took me thirty plus hours to get to Amman, Jordan from Detroit, Michigan with layovers in Amsterdam and Paris.  I arrived in Amman [...]