We finished the year by getting out of the house and out of the city. Camping overnight is pretty easy these days as we have a big cube shaped bag that holds the tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, dishes, kettle, flashlights, and all the other odds and ends we need to keep us comfortable. Then when we decide to go, we put the the bag in the car, grab the grill and ice chest, some firewood and GO. Oh and swing by the baqala (cold store) for a 5 gallon jug of water on the way out of town.
We went with several families this time, but only knew one of them before we went. Friends who used to live across the street from us in 29 Palms when Caleb was a baby — 16 years ago. Now they live here and the husband is doing the job Josh used to do. The Marine Corps is a small world and a few years ago when when my friend Rachel saw Abu Dhabi as an option for orders she messaged and said, “should we do it?” Um, YES. 100% YES.
Last time we went camping Camille spent the entire time following Star around because she was afraid she would wander off and get lost. This time she was a little less anxious and only followed her 1/3 of the time.
We climbed to the top of a very tall, very steep dune to watch the sunset. I thought I was in good shape, but climbing up the vertical hill of sand was a reality check. Of course the dogs and Caleb fly up it like it’s nothing. (everyone else struggled though so I wasn’t alone in my heavy breathing.)
If it weren’t for the power lines, this view would be so much better. But I’m sure I’d rather have an obscured sunset and cell service, A/C, and all the other modern comforts that those lines bring to me every day.
The last time we went camping and it was a full moon, the brightness kept us awake half the night, as if someone was shining a flashlight in our faces. Thankfully the light didn’t keep me from sleeping this time. Credit for that goes to the people partying somewhere nearby who had their Arabic music turned up to 11, the military aircraft taking off at 4am and the Bollywood discotheque that started up at 6 am on the dune that overlooked our tents. That’s the cost of camping close to home over a holiday (rather than driving 2 hours into the desert, we lazy camped 40 minutes from home on a hard packed path right off the paved road).
Campfire while we wait for the midnight fireworks. You can see the super steep dune behind Caleb.
This doesn’t give a good perspective on the height, but look how tiny our tent is down below . . . we hiked to the top of the largest dune again at midnight to watch the fireworks from the Sheik Zayed Festival. They were attempting to set a Guinness World Record for the Longest Firework Display (35 minutes) AND the Longest Straight Line of Fireworks. Everything here is “the best” or “the biggest” or “the first” or “the highest rated.”
You can barely see the fireworks in the distance, but they were more visible in person. And they were looong. The world record setting time of 35 minutes is way too long for a fireworks show — I think 12 minutes is just right. Yes they were huge and over the top and would have been even better in person, but it was worth it to not be stuck in a 3 hour traffic jam trying to get out of the area after it was over. We just climbed down the sand dune, went to our tents and then listened to party music all night long as we tried to sleep.
The next morning we lit another fire, made breakfast over the coals (scrambled eggs and sausage), and then packed up and headed home around 10:30am. Camille was trying to finish the water from the jug, but almost poured it all over herself before her dad gave her a hand.
A fun start to a new year. Tomorrow all the Christmas decorations come down and we put the house back to normal. Welcome to January 2021. I’m not even going to try to guess what this year will bring . . .