Getting Ready for Petra

Horse Valley - Petra, Jordan. Beginning of the day... Fred Woehl 

I've taken many years off from my travel blog posts (remember New Zealand?), but feel my 8-week work assignment at Petra Archaeological Park in Jordan is just the ticket to reacquaint myself with this venue.
Those of you familar with my Facebook page have seen the photo of me in National Park Service dress jacket wearing the Young family tartan in front of Stirling Castle at International Ranger Federation World Congress- I'm looking out over the landscape wondering what William Wallace was thinking before the Battle of Stirling Bridge. That was then, today I wonder how we can help preserve Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site: http://www.petrapark.com/
"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..." It has been a long time ('75) since that young warrior seeking his path did a sun dance near the Little Bighorn River... time for another trip along-the-trail...

11 MAR 2011: The big bird to O'Hare (then Amman) awaits, and I've been asked by family, friends & collegaues what I'll be doing for 8-weeks in Petra. I'll be humbly helping, as I can, using my knowledge, skills & abilities to help with heritage preservation, visitor use, and through that of course economic development. Whether at fires (like Yellowstone in '88), post-Katrina "Nawlins" or this assignment this Burbank HS Bulldog and Humboldt State Lumberjack has ALL of you to thank for bits-n-pieces of the journey, and of course Meme for the big-chunks of patience she has afforded me over the decades. Amigos, talk to you from Petra.

"Don't touch my bags if you please Mr. Custom's Man..." 1st impressions often stick and Jordan seems like a civil and reasonable country: 1st- probably due to transporting farrier tools in I got to have a longer-than-normal conversation at Customs; noticed I had the book HERO (about T.E. Lawrence) and we both agreed that he was British & dead. They questioned my having two pair of binoculars and were bout to have Security Officers involved when some paperwork showing the items were for Petra Archaeological Park (PAP) did the trick and saved-the-night. 2nd- many public restrooms here still have attendants.

13 MAR 2011 Sunrise over Wadi Masu ("Valley of Moses") was somewhat after the call-to-prayer: both gorgeous. My trusty ol' laptop is unable to boot-up (kinda like me sometimes) and hopefully I'll be able to continue these updates... inshallah (God willing)... scheduled to meet with Director of PAP at noon.