Great city and desert day

Big day planned for today. We left the apartment after breakfast and headed out to walk to the Burj Khalifa. Once we found out the entrance was in the Dubai Mall we jumped in line. We had heard that the lines were long to get in, and were also told that this “was not a busy day” for them. 2 hours later we were in an elevator. 125 floors in 77 seconds. Total height is the building is 2722ft, nearly twice as tall as the sears/willis tower. Super crazy to be up that high. There was an outdoor observation deck and obviously views everywhere. Very special building that Emeratis are very proud of.

We thought we had planned plenty of time between BK and the desert safari that we had signed up for mid-afternoon, but the driver we hired was very cool about picking us up a bit later and met us at the mall. He drove us about an hour out of town into the desert to our first stop at an adventure center. Though we were initially not going to do it, the kids and I flipped quickly and convinced Tige to ride ATVs. They fitted us with headscarves for the sand and Huddy and I drove together and the big kids each had one (Tige also). Super fun time driving around a sand field with very small sand dunes. Our driver let the air out of his tires and we went dune bashing. The cars are all luxury SUVs with roll cages inside. Mostly fun, a bit scary, but H and I hung in there in the 3rd row. We stopped for some pics and the kids and Tige did some sand sliding before we headed back to the center.

Next we did a very short camel 🐪 ride. They actually sell camel milk in the grocery store, but we are not that brave lol.

After camels we jumped back in the SUV (with full air in tires again) and headed took us to the camp where dinner and shows would take place. It was sort of like an Arabian Luau. We sat at a low table on bean bags and ate bbq’d kebabs, veggies and hummus, several different lentil dishes, samosas and dessert. They had fire and belly dancers and 2 guys from Egypt who did a performance where they spun skirts- very unusual, but they were talented for sure. We left the camp and our driver drove us back and we de-sanded and in for the night. Earlier start tomorrow, so need some sleep!Read more