This past week has been a whirlwind!  After seeing some sights around Cairo with Ryan, my parents arrived and we left for Luxor.  We arrived in Luxor around midday and decided to check out Luxor Temple in the afternoon sunlight.  It was incredible.  The city of Luxor creeps right up to the edges of these ancient sites, making the experience very surreal.

Here is Ryan and Dad in front of the temple.

Then the sun began to go down and the temple was flooded with beautiful golden sunlight.

We all had to take advantage of that beautiful photo op!

And then only Brandon felt the need to take advantage of this photo op…

Yep, that’s my husband alright.  That’s the man I married.

Anyhow, after visiting Luxor Temple we went out to dinner at the Jewel of the Nile, a delicious little restaurant off the beaten path that we first visited when Robin and Betty were here.  After a great meal, we caught a taxi back to the hotel.   Brandon and I shared the front seat and discussed Arabic pop music with the driver who gladly obliged us all by blaring his favorite cds as loud as possible (sorry, Mom!).

The next day we woke up early and headed out to the West Bank to see Deir Al Bahari or the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.  We used an excellent guide book by Kent Weeks that my mom brought. It was a wonderful source of information and it brought the sites to life!

Just missing little Meredith.

According to Lonely Planet, Deir Al-Bahari is one of the hottest places on Earth.  I was really glad I read that right before we got there.  in June.  when it was already beyond hot.  But ya know what? We survived the scorching heat and enjoyed reading what Dr. Weeks had to say about the temple and its fascinating reliefs.  Good thing we visited this site early before the real heat of the day.

After we explored the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir Al-Bahari, we piled back in the van and headed to a site called Medinat Habu.

Medinat Habu was also incredible.  We were probably one of only two groups of people there.  It was a strange experience being close to alone there.

Again Dr. Weeks came to the rescue in Luxor Valley of the Kings.  His detailed descriptions of each scene carved in relief in the temple walls kept me going in the hot sun.  I think we have quite a few photos of me buried in the book.

We had a lot of fun exploring Medinat Habu in the absence of hordes of tourists.  It was really incredible to essentially have the place to ourselves.

We then visited Deir Al Medina, an ancient city where all of the foundations of little houses were still visible.  We were literally the only people there, aside from a few men trying to sell us some stone pyramids and scarabs.  The temple at Deir Al Medina was beautiful too.

Next on the itinerary of sites recommended by Dr. Weeks were the tombs of Roy and Shuroy at Dra Abul Naga.

They were this way, and that way.  Although these tombs were very small, they were beautifully intact with interesting scenes in vivid color.  No photos were allowed inside the tombs.

After we returned to the East Bank and the rejuvinating waters of the pool, we were ready to continue our sightseeing adventure.  Everyone recommended the sound and light show at Karnak Temple.  While it seemed a little outdated, and the spooky sounds of prerecorded barking dogs and fluttering bat wings may have given me heart palpitations as we stood among the forest of ancient columns in the pitch dark night, it was really beautiful seeing Karnak lit up at night.

The next day’s itinerary featured the Valley of the Kings.  No photos were allowed there, but we did stop and make lots of photos during our drive through Luxor.  My mom was in love with all of the sites of the Egyptian countryside: the donkeys, the emerald green farmlands, the clotheslines and camels.

Look at that camel!  It looked so sweet and cute.  And then, as camels always do, it reared its ugly head and made its horrible camel noises.  Nonetheless, my mom went ahead and got up close to the disgruntled baby camel who is looking a little bit stubborn in this next photo.

We also walked along the road and admired the shade of the canals.

And of course we stopped at the Colosi of Memnon.  There were quite a few people there, so we thought it would be a good time to ask someone to make a picture of the whole gang.  Naturally we asked the person with the biggest, most professional looking camera.  I like to think he was a National Geographic photographer, and I think the photo turned out quite nicely!

And after a long day in the sun, it was nice to relax and watch the sunset over the Nile.

You know, I’m not even really that afraid of the Nile anymore.

On our last morning in Luxor, we returned to Karnak in the daylight.

We may have been in the sun a little too long, but we had a great time.

This next photo was missing something…

Even the ancient Egyptians knew we weren’t complete without Meredith.

As we exited Karnak, we passed the avenue of majestic Rams headed sphinxes.  Well, mostly majestic.  This next one appears to be missing its nose.

And come to think of it, it reminds me of someone else who was missing…

I think we all see the resemblance.

P.S. As you may have guessed by the fact that I appear in many of these photos, I didn’t take them all.  Thanks to Mom, Dad, Ryan, Brandon, and the guy at the Colossi of Memnon for sharing all of your photographic skills.