Egypt Day 6: Abu Simbel, the High Dam, and Philae Temple!

Work is busy which is great, the news is nausea-inducing, which is not, and 2/3 of my children were sick for most of last week, which despite having Monday off felt 865 days long. Let's go back to Egypt!

On Day 6 (Dec. 26), our alarms went off at 3:15 am which is just absurdly early. One thing to note about this trip is that it is very much an adventure/activity trip. Until we got to the beach at the end, I don't think we ever had an alarm set for a time after 7 a.m. and most days they were set far earlier than that.

Our boat generally opened the breakfast buffet one hour before anyone was heading out on their personal excursion, but for that morning they just had bags packed for us with fruit, pastries, yogurt, juice, and water. It was great because I definitely can't eat that early in the morning but I was starving a few hours later when it was all of 6 a.m. and lunch was still very far away

But back to our journey. We would be driving to the grand temples of Abu Simbel, 175 miles south through the Saharan Desert, almost to the border of Sudan. They open the road at 5 am and our guide said you want to be in line far earlier so as not to be trapped behind all the buses. Sure enough we found ourselves in a line of vehicles at 4 a.m. and it felt very Mad Max-like as we drove south for 3 hours with a hundred other vans once the road opened just before 5. Watching the sun rise over the desert was beautiful and a new landscape for us.

A quick note on the kids. I cannot overemphasize, and at the time could not believe, how amazing they were with the crazy wakeup times, travel delays, VERY informational tours, no international data service (that's a purely parental privilege), less than ideal sleeping arrangements (we were supposed to have 2 singles + a couch or rollaway in each hotel, but that only ended up happening on the boat), new/different food, language barriers, and SERIOUSLY crazy wakeup times. They were incredible. Flexible, open, interested, go with the flow, and obsessed with the temple cats. Cora, daily conquering her nerves and fears, to pantomine what she wanted in her omelette with the sweet and non-English-speaking chef at the boat breakfast buffet. Claire, handling changes in schedule, which can be so hard for her, and not spiraling even though I never, ever knew the answer to daily-Claire-required-questions like "how long will this tour last?" and "what are we doing next?". Landon, trying all the new foods, getting very creative with his swim workouts and not complaining that I made him miss holiday training at home, waking up before the sun to do something that is not swimming, and indulging his dad's need to know everything about ancient anything.

I am so, so glad we got to take this trip with them. It was by far our most complex, most different-from-home, most flexibility-required trip, and it became the most exemplary of why we travel. Their world expanded, their comfort with discomfort grew, the opportunity to watch in real time as James and I handle all the hiccups (some big, most small) that come with 12 days far from home. I think 11 is the youngest age I'd do this trip, and even then only if your 11-year-old is a Cora who is a third-baby-oldest-child who loves museums, history, and sleeping when sleep is available. It was a really special, fascinating, educational, and joyful adventure and I treasure the memories of the five of us exploring the ancient world together very tightly in my heart.

Back to Abu Simbel. Three hours of driving into the Saharan desert later, we arrived!

It's an incredible architectural and engineering wonder, both ancient and modern.

It’s actually two temples, one for Ramses II, and one for his favorite wife Nefertari, both built in the 13th century BC.

Through a global initiative in 1960, both temples were moved about 200 yards so they wouldn’t be destroyed by flooding when the High Dam of the River Nile was complete. The story of how they did it is extraordinary and it’s a bonus that the Swedes saved the dayint a crucial engineering moment.

As I do in museums, I try for the most part to put my phone away, listen to our guide, and just be physically and mentally present in these extraordinary ancient wonders. Pictures can't possibly capture them, so I want enough to spark memories and joy for me later, but not so many that they get in the way of just being there. Because we were there! I couldn't get over it then and still can't now.

Nefertari's temple was really neat to explore because all the carvings and statues were so distinctly feminine.

After spending our time walking through both temples and the surrounding area, we headed back towards the parking lot and cafe, noting that the parking lot was now VERY full, and ordering some food because it may have been 8 a.m. but we had been awake for a very long time.

On our long drive back through the desert towards Aswan, we rested and saw mirages on the horizon of the sand.

We stopped at the High Dam, which we'd learned about on our drive to Abu Simbel, and now got to see in person.

Another engineering marvel, this time in conjunction with the Soviet Union in the 1960’s, that finally stopped the annual destructive flooding by the Nile in upper Egypt. When it was built, the High Dam created enough electricity to power all of Egypt.

After lunch on the boat (if you can call the meal you eat 11 hours after waking “lunch”) we took a boat to Philae Temple, located on an island in Lake Aswan.

Originally built for the Goddess Isis, smaller temples were added to many other gods and goddesses over time.

One thing I enjoyed in every temple was how the bodies were always shown as lean and a little soft. Exactly how I think mine would be if I didn't sit at a desk all day for my job, but also not like I'm adding crunches just for fun. We also enjoyed the very prominent belly buttons. Some were carved SO deep. It seemed very important to show that everyone had one. Even the gods and goddesses had soft bellies. I found it comforting.

The kids main takeaway from Philae are all the cats and kittens who rule the tiny island, protect the temples, and get fed by the local fishermen.

The whole complex was really cool. We let the kids roam (i.e., pet all the cats) while James and I walked with our guide to learn more about some of the smaller temples surrounding the main one.

The short boat ride back was beautiful as the sun set around us.

We were back on the big boat by 7 pm, ate dinner at 7:05, and were in bed at 8.

What a day, what a trip! And on Day 6, we were only halfway done.

Speed-Date Photo-Filled Check-In Post

This post is brought to you by a federal holiday, a burgeoning email inbox I'm ignoring for 20 minutes, and weather that is too cold to go take a walk without putting on layers I don't feel like adding to my cozy blob of an outfit.

I still very much want to finish my Egypt posts. It was a magical trip, I feel so so lucky that we were able to go and see and experience all that we did, and it already feels a lifetime away even though the calendar says we've only been back for 2.2 weeks. That can't be right.

When we first returned we all slept a lot, unpacked, and braced for an ice storm that hit just as everyone was supposed to go back to school. Also, the cats clearly missed us because even our skittish Mr. Moose CLIMBED ON MY LAP and acted like a normal cat for more than 30 minutes and it was amazing. I can't wait for our next long trip so he'll do it again.

We got multiples of inches of snow and everything shut down for a few days. I am so glad I have big kids now; I remember when that would have just blown up anything I had planned in my professional life and instead I just plowed forward from my study and almost wished someone would come bother me just so I could have company. (I got my wish later and it was honestly pretty lovely. Big kids are the best.)

I did get to watch Cora and a friend attempt a snowball fight with the boy who lives down the street and his friend. There was a lot of squealing and giggling. It was adorable.

My parents and brother, sister-in-law, and twin niece and nephew drove over from Houston that weekend so we could celebrate our third and final round of Christmas!

Our housekeeper canceled her visit on our normal day because of ice on the roads, so the kids got to do some extra house work on their day off school to prep for the family visit. It was nice to hear the vacuum noises coming from all around the house beyond my office door so I could mentally track what was done. James did all the food shopping, I did much working, and we were ready!

It was so wonderful to have them. We played at all the awesome parks near our house, heated up the hot tub for a swim, opened presents, ate great food, and just enjoyed each other.

The kids (and Maggie!) adore their toddler cousins and loved having them in the house for a weekend.

Milo does not and enjoyed very much when they were gone. (Moose, obviously, could not be found until everyone left.)

Speaking of Milo, when Landon got up for his 6 a.m. morning practice on Monday he heard Milo running down the stairs as he got ready. When he made it down the stairs himself, this is how he found Milo, presenting himself to be petted farewell. I adore this cat.

(Also that elephant is one of my very favorite things in our house. It was my Grandma and Grandpa's and I remember them so vividly in their house, always flanking their couch, and then in their retirement center apartment. My other grandparents also had two in their home, so it's a super special item that brings back the warmest and fuzziest of memories. Also, how handsome is he?)

Landon is also handsome (transition sentence!), but at the moment I'm deeply amused by how he "sits" in every room, "on" every bed or couch, anywhere It cracks me up. I have about 20 pictures like this taken throughout our house and hotels in Egypt.

Last week I flew to Baltimore for work for a night and then came home in time to see Come from Away with my friend Shelly! I saw this play for the first time when the Fort Worth theater reopened in 2021 and it delighted me to my very core. It is deeply poignant, heartwarming, sad, clever, funny, and just wonderful. I laughed and cried so much the first time and I did it all again this time too. We had incredible seats that let you really see the facial expressions of the actors and I felt all the feelings through every song.

And crazy enough, THE Captain Beverly Bass (first female Captain at American Airlines!) was in the audience with us!! I got a picture with her as we were walking out and started crying telling her how much the story meant to me. She's seen it 185 times, all around the world.

On Saturday Landon and Claire had two different high school swim meets at different pools in Fort Worth that started at the same time, so we divided parental efforts for that while Cora hung out with a friend. Then, on Sunday morning, since it was REALLY a Saturday morning with today off, I decided to make pumpkin pancakes. I never cook or bake anymore, so it was an adventure to find out we were out of nutmeg, brown sugar, and milk as I hit those steps along the way! Luckily I have a 17-year-old who was very excited about pumpkin pancakes and didn't seem to mind a quick dash to the store to make sure they happened.

The pumpkin pancakes were really my only accomplishment yesterday. The high was below freezing, so we hunkered down by the fire all day, watching movies and cooking shows. At one point when we were all gathered we watched Apollo 13 together and it really holds up! The kids loved it.

And now it's time for me to go back to work, so I will close with my favorite outfits from the past two weeks. Getting dressed based on my shared photo album is the best and keeps me from clicking on any clothing sale emails.

The bottom-right outfit was for a date night with James last night and it was the perfect "it's-25-degrees-out-but-we-need-to-leave-this-house-and-our-children" ensemble!

Back to the grind.

Egypt Day 5: Edfu & Kom Ombo on the Nile River

On Christmas Day we got to wake up at 6:45 which felt luxuriously late after the day before.

(I always bring a bag full of my own tea when I travel and every hotel room we stayed in had an electric kettle so my day started right no matter what time it was!)

After breakfast on the ship (a buffet in which Landon ate 4 omelettes and 8 pieces of banana bread), we disembarked for a 15 minute very crowded horse and buggy ride to Edfu Temple, the largest Pharaonic temple in Egypt.

Dedicated to the God Horus (hawk), Edfu is HUGE, complex, and unbelievably well preserved.

We were in awe as we explored.

(Not actually touching the walls, but I know with absolute certainty that as his hand hovered over the ancient stone he was thinking "Can you just imagine what these walls have seen?"")

Our guide told us lots of stories about the various aspects of the structure and the meanings behind some of the heiroglyphs.

Like this one, which shows the test they did to see if someone had too much wine to drink to be able to enter the temple. Stand on one foot and wave your arms. If you falter, you can't come in.

Also the first WiFi signal!

Truly one of my favorite temples of the trip. The structure is so enormous- you can't see it in pictures, but all the rooms and hallways and outer rooms... it was so cool to explore. And every inch is covered in glyphs. The detail is just incredible.

We took our same horse and carriage back, though there was a bit of a horse and buggy traffic jam for a while.

Once back on the boat we enjoyed a bbq lunch on the upper boat deck, followed by massages for James and me (we've never done that on vacation before and it was GREAT), and much lounging and napping in the sun as we sailed to Kom Ombo. It was a perfect afternoon. I took zero pictures. We did partake in another attempt at tea time and Landon could almost drink it without a face.

We docked again about 5 pm and walked a short way to Kom Ombo, a unique double temple originally dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile-headed God.

But the people didn’t like worshipping Sobek because he ate their animals and people, so the Pharaohs decided to make it a double temple and added one to Haroeris, God of the Sky. However both gods shared a single altar in the center of the temple entryway so all sacrifices counted for both.

The interior is covered in hieroglyphs, including original images of surgical tools, medicine, calendars, and more.

The sun set while we were there and it was so beautiful.

We saw a deep well built into the ground with steps that allowed the ancient Egyptians to measure the height of the Nile through a tunnel that led to the river. By seeing where the water hit the stairs the Egyptians could tell whether it was going to be a fruitful harvest or not and therefore what level of taxes they might expect that Spring.

On the way out we walked through the crocodile museum with dozens of mummified crocodiles and other artifacts. The Egyptians may not have liked Sobek but they clearly tried to keep him happy!

We ate a tasty dinner back on the boat and slept as we sailed to Aswan, alarms set for 3:30 am and Abu Simbel in the morning!