After a mediocre breakfast buffet at the turtle reserve, we set off to visit Wadi Bani Khalid. It was a 2 hour drive away, and desolate the whole way. It’s too dry and hot for anything to grow, there aren’t many people anywhere, and yet the roads are perfectly maintained 3-lane highways.

As we approached the wadi (which is a word for a valley) we started weaving in and out of the mountains. You can start to spot where the water starts because things start looking lush and green. It’s a strange sight after so much sand and rock.

We took some wrong turns, as we always do, but eventually arrived at the entrance to the wadi. Just like yesterday it was roasting hot as we approached. We first heard the trickle of a stream, and then it opened up into a bright blue body of water.

We took a dip here to cool off. There were signs everywhere telling women to dress modestly so I swam in my long sleeve shirt and shorts, and still felt guilty for tempting all the men around me with my sexy white knees.

We then walked the trail up into the canyon. Every 100 yards or so there was an access point to one of the interconnected pools. At one point we were able to swim up the canyon as well. I didn’t have my phone on me and I’m sure photos wouldn’t do it justice anyway. We were surrounded by undulating sandstone and swimming in deep, jade blue water.

The snorklers snorkled and I tried to tame my anxiety around Nick bringing a 4 year old who just learned how to swim into a deep water surrounded by 50’ walls. She did great. He’s been teaching her scuba diving hand signals so they do the “okay” sign to each other constantly under water.

There were barely any other people there. Just enough to remind us we were in the right place and safe.

We realized it was getting kind of late and decided to hit the road. It was mid afternoon by this point and we were starving. There weren’t any restaurants and the gas stations were not well stocked. We made do on digestive biscuits and weird chips. We drove 3 hours to Jebel Akhdar as the sun set. It was more smooth driving on roads for no one but us.

We drove through some small towns and were fascinated by the architecture of homes here. They are quite large, and very decorated.

Jebel Akhdar is up in the mountains and non-4×4 vehicles are not allowed to access it. The roads are perfectly smooth, but coming down the mountain has such a long decline that non-4×4 cars run the risk of having their breaks overheat and give out. So we organized a driver to pick us up at the bottom of the mountain. He was probably about 14 years old and was borrowing his dad’s Land Cruiser (literally his dad kept calling asking when he’d be home with the car). I’m not sure that it felt much safer but at least we were able to pass the strict police checkpoint. The roads were in fact crazy windy and steep. Switchbacks all the way up.

We arrived after dark so weren’t able to see the views. Millie was beyond exhausted but we needed dinner so we rallied and ate at the hotel restaurant. It was another very late night for her.