Doin' the Desert!

Continuing the recap of Jake's whirlwind tour of Qatar....On Jake's second full day in Doha (3/11), we booked a desert trek. It was the experience of a lifetime! Three families went out to the dunes together. All of us had college kids in town and felt like a trip to Qatar would just not be complete without a little dune bashing. Of course, we did not do the driving ourselves. (Some brave souls do drive on their own and have never been heard from again!) We hired three Land Cruisers and three oh -so- fun and capable drivers. They were amazing! First thing to do was de-air the tires. Then, we were off! Did some wild and crazy things at high rates of speed! Most of them involved losing my stomach! We did make several stops along our wild ride. Enjoyed wading, shell hunting and dune climbing along the Inland Sea. (hence the oasis in the desert!) The spot where we stopped happened to be just down from the Emir's permanent campsite. Check it out! Another diversion, and my personal favorite, was a camel farm. Wow...those dudes are big! We all took a spin around the place and even partook in a refreshing gulp of camel milk. Okay...not all of us were that into the milk! Our last and most beautiful stop was the top of a dune to watch the sun set. (Okay...so it was sunset in the oasis, not midnight. And I wasn't anyone's bellydancer!) Just the same, it was an incredible end to our incredible day.

P.S. Could not close this post without giving you a glimpse of our drivers and bashing buddies!