Brody Family Visit

After being back in Amman for a little over 24 hours, Aaron’s intrepid family (Mom, Dad, and brother Dave) arrived in Jordan. Exploring locally, we went to the Amman citadel and Archaeology Museum (where Noah forced Grandma to read to him) on their first day in the country. The beautiful weather accentuated the ruins. That evening ACOR fellow Geoff Clark gave a riveting lecture on the origins of early man. A reception followed and we (Aaron and I) ended the evening happily chatted with ACOR fellows and visiting fellows from the sister institution in Jerusalem.
The next day Aaron and family went to Iraq al Amir while I got to catch up with dig buddies. Ahhhh. Girl time.
Jerash was on the docket for the following day. While Aaron worked, the Brodys and I headed for the classical ruins.
Having visited some of Amman’s (and environs) sites, we headed south in a rental van with Aaron at the helm. Our first stop was Umm er Rasas with its rock “Omestic” houses and fantastic mosaics. The public presentation of the site is well done and just about finished. Our favorite was the “car bark”. Thank goodness that it was “disabled”. Continuing south, we stopped at Shobak – a beautiful desert castle perched on a steep hill. The main excitement occurred when we tried to leave via the one, narrow, hillside road that leads to and from the castle. There was a stand-off (our van going down, three cars coming up and our van could not back up) that resulted in some negotiation and our pulling as close to the mountain as possible so that the cars could eek by us. The rest of the way down the mountain, I ran – Rocky-style – in front of the van so as to head off oncoming traffic. Not quite sure what we would have done if we had encountered any. We rolled into the hotel in Wadi Musa later in the afternoon and enjoyed a drink while watching the sun set over the mountains of Petra. One of the hotel cats jumped into Aaron’s lap, curled up, and went to sleep. Very sweet. The next morning we headed into Petra. After Mom and Dad departed in their chariot (very brave of them), Aaron, Noah, Dave, and I hiked into the site. Even with a million tourists (or so it seemed), Petra is remarkable. Still breathing normally by the time we reached the museum, we decided to hike up to the Monastery. I should mention that Noah had been riding on my back for the walk in – except for a brief period when he chased Uncle Dave. We did actually make it up to the Monastery, which is in fact not a monastery but a spectacular Nabatean tomb. The view was worth the climb even with an extra 35 lbs on your back (40 lbs if you count the rocks that Noah undoubtedly had stashed in his pockets). The walk out of the siq seems so much longer after hiking to the Monastery, but we met up with Aaron’s folks at the hotel swimming pool (ahhh) in the later afternoon.
After a great night’s sleep, we left the next morning for Aqaba, taking a drive through a paved part of Wadi Rum on the way.
While Aqaba has developed substantially in the ten years since I worked there, the mountains, sun, and sea remain the same. We stayed at a beautiful hotel and – after visiting the sites where I excavated – we all just relaxed and enjoyed the hotel and the beach. Noah – who had been bugging us for months to go to the beach – FINALLY got to play in the sand. The next morning our beach time was tempered by the near-drowning of a German tourist, but thankfully Three Feet of Fun was oblivious.
We headed back to Amman via the Dead Sea and marveled at the scenery around the Wadi Mujib. We stayed around ACOR the following day, while the day after Aaron’s family headed out to see the desert castles in eastern Jordan. Dave left the next morning and the final few days with Aaron’s parents included outings to the Mall (where we found a good French restaurant – who knew?), to the Royal Automobile Museum and Children’s Museums, and to Madaba and Mount Nebo (where Moses is said to have looked on the ‘Promised Land’). Wow. Aaron and I had never been to Nebo before and we were floored by the view. Noah summed it up, “isn’t this a gweat view, Mama?” Since the departure of Aaron’s folks, we’ve been laying low: Aaron’s looking at collections (having finally secured the necessary permissions) and I’m working on revising an article and honing my soccer skills (so that a three year old doesn’t beat the pants off me).
April 1 was Barbara Porter’s three year anniversary as Director of ACOR and there were a couple of celebrations – a party hosted by our West Point neighbors on March 31 and a pastry and coffee celebration on the day of the anniversary. Here’s to many more years, Barbara.