DAY NINE OF SAN FRAN IN DUBAI!

April 22, 2013   

Another relaxing morning for SAN FRAN

and then it was time to head

to the largest mall in the world, THE DUBAI MALL!

We saw the AQUARIUM and the

LARGEST CANDY STORE IN THE WORLD

and then ventured over to

SOUK AL BAHAR

for some more shopping!

Ness found some treasures, to be sure!

 

Raffe found some as well!



It was a beautiful afternoon

(but hazy, oh so hazy, darn it!)

as SAN FRAN went up AT THE TOP to tour the

tallest building in the world,

THE BURJ KHALIFA.
 



They made it back down to the ground

in time to meet up with John

and head to Carluccio's to enjoy dinner by

THE DUBAI FOUNTAIN!
 



It certainly didn't take much to put Raffe in his

HAPPY PLACE!
 



It was a delightful evening for

COUSINS to SHARE!
 



An evening spent at the base of the Burj Khalifa

wouldn't be complete without a picture of

SAN FRAN under the BURJ!
 



Ness showed John her newest version of

"Flipping the Bird".....
 



Look closely at the "bird" she was flipping!

(Purchased in Souk Al Bahar!)
 



AND THE FUN CONTINUES!!!
 



 

DAY EIGHT OF SAN FRAN IN DUBAI!

April 21, 2013

What ensures a day of fun in Dubai?

AQUAVENTURE!

 

So we packed up and drove out on

PALM JUMEIRAH

to the

ATLANTIS HOTEL.

 

SAN FRAN looked at a few things in the hotel,

but they were raring to get to

AQUAVENTURE!

 



 

In record time, SAN FRAN was in the water

and floating down the lazy river!

Ooops, there was a big splotch of water on my lens here!

 



And what did SAN FRAN head to straight away?

THE LEAP OF FAITH baby, THE LEAP OF FAITH!

 



And they both conquered it! Here's proof.....



Then off we went, once again floating down the Lazy River

(that isn't always so lazy!),

and zipping down each and every water slide!



 SAN FRAN only got out of the water once,

and that was for a very quick

LUNCH!

 

Then back in the water we all went for the

rest of the day!

 



Ahhhhh, the view from

LEAP OF FAITH

was absolutely wonderful!

 



We were finally water logged and couldn't take any more!

Off we went through the Atlantis once again,

past the Gold ATM (!),

and out to our awaiting car!

 



By the time we made it all the way back to the

Dubai Marina,

we were too tired to make dinner,

we were too tired to go out to dinner,
so we stayed in and ordered some delicious Sushi!

AND THE FUN CONTINUES!!

DAY SEVEN OF SAN FRAN IN DUBAI!

April 20, 2013

It was time for another

ROAD TRIP!

This time we were heading down to the

LIWA OASIS / EMPTY QUARTER!

 

This time Shallie got to ride along with us and

SAN FRAN!

And, as you can see, she was way beyond thrilled!

 

Our first stop was in Abu Dhabi 

at the GRAND MOSQUE.

John went in to tour it with SAN FRAN while I kept 

Shallie company in the car. 

It was simply tooooo hot to leave her with no air on! 

Raffe (or "Kandora Kid" or "Big Noise") 

brought his souk-bought kandora  

while Vanessa wore the traditional mosque supplied abaya!

Ooooolala, they looked oh so fine!

 

And John wore the mosque supplied
puddle jumping kandora!

 

After the tour, they jumped back in the car

and Shallie resumed her position

as "Back Seat Driver"

for the remainder of the trip.
(Except when she was fast asleep on my lap!)

It wasn't long before we were surrounded by

gorgeous mountains of sand!

LOVE.LOVE.LOVE.

 

And, finally, we reached our destination:

MOREEB DUNES.

 

Shallie darn near blended in with the sand!

And, if you remember, she absolutely LOVES the stuff!

So she was in her glory 

running around in it!

 

 

It certainly didn't take long for Ness to hop out and join her!

 

And then Raffe joined in the fun!

All three of them LOVED the never ending sand dunes!

Raffe was bound and determined to make it

to the very top!

And, indeed, he did!

He sure made it down a lot faster 

than he went up!

 

 

 

We passed many a camel farm.....

...and several bedouin(?) camps.

We finally arrived to the third destination of the day:

QASR AL SARAB

desert resort! 

SAN FRAN was spellbound from the moment

we walked through the door!

The resort is surrounded by sand (obviously) and is

absolutely beautiful!

SAN FRAN enjoyed a game of chess

while we waited for our dinner

to be prepared!

By the time our food arrived, we were all starving

and quite happy with it!

Ness fell in love with this Arabic coffee pot,

but decided that it was actually
larger than her biggest suitcase,

so there was no way it could make it back to
San Francisco!

  

We couldn't resist several cousin pictures!

We walked around the gorgeous resort

until it was time to get back to the car and Shallie!
(Don't worry -- we left the air on for her the entire time!)

 

And off we drove back into the desert.

We made one little stop to help a family stuck in the sand!

It ended in success, much to everyone's
(surprise) relief!

 

 

 

AND THE FUN CONTINUES!!