Family Trip to Oukaimeden

Last weekend the whole family took a day trip to Oukaimden.

The car ride took about an hour. It was relatively uneventful except for watching Karim rock out to Sara's I-pod.

This was Karim's face when he realized I was taking pictures of his car dancing.

But, he didn't let it faze him, and he went back to enjoying the music.

At one point during the ride, Loubna, Sara, and I were all listening to our I-pods. We switched earphones so that I was listening to one of mine and one of Loubna's. Loubna was listening to one of hers and one of Sara's. Sara was listening to one of hers and one of mine. It is kind of trippy to listen to different songs at the same time. We thought it was pretty funny and laughed a lot. Pretty much your basic family road trip (minus the fighting and frequent threats to "turn this car around and go back home").

According to my Lonely Planet book, Oukaimden is home to Africa's highest ski lift. That's right, you can ski in Morocco. Due to an extremely unfortunate incident trying to ski in Girdwood a couple of years ago, I didn't really feel like trying my hand (feet?) at African downhill skiing, but Loubna and I rode up the ski lift anyway.

This is Brahim watching us go up. He was hollering at Loubna to put her hat on (dads are the same the world over).

This is Loubna not wearing her hat (daughters are also the same the world over).

This is me. I didn't have a hat, but I wore my hood most of the way up. I just took it off for the picture. (Hey Loubna! Thanks for taking the picture!)

The Oukaimden ski lift is substantially less scary than many other ski lifts because it has a bar that can be pulled down in front of you. Nice to have because Brahim made me promise not to let his daughter fall out of the lift chair. It also let us relax and enjoy the scenery.

This is what greeted us when we got to the top. It was gorgeous. Incidentally, it may have produced the most stunning picture I have ever taken.

I took a picture of Loubna in front of the gorgeousness, even though she didn't want me to.

Then she took a picture of me...

and another one....

and another one...

I used this opportunity to act like my usual dramatic self and pose in front of the camera.

In order to establish a history of myself as the ultimate cheeseball and poser, I dug this old picture out. This picture was taken when I was about ten years old. It is a picture of my Grandma Slaughter with many (but not all) of her grandchildren. Our family had just experienced a baby burst (thanks in large part to my twin brothers). I am the oldest child in the picture.

Several interesting things are happening in this picture. Mandy is wearing tie-dyed stretch pants (Hey Mandy! Was it the nineties or something?). The baby on my lap is screaming. The next baby is throwing up. Joe (the baby in the middle) is about to fall off of Grandma's lap and is probably beginning to cry or at least grunt loudly. Baby Tom loooks like he either died or fell asleep.

As you can tell from the photo, I am oblivious to ALL OF THIS. I am posing and smiling for the camera despite the screaming, vomit, and babies in potentially dangerous situations. It's a talent I've had all my life. So, when you think about mocking me for my fake smiles and poses, consider that there is a lot of history to this behavior, and it's not something I'm going to be able to kick overnight. Thank you.

The ride down offered similarly stunning views.

It was about at this point in the ride that Loubna said, "Pleeeeeaaaaaaase stop taking pictures." So I did. For a few minutes.

We returned safely to the ground to find Brahim and Karim enjoying a donkey ride.

We also got to walk past these cute little mud houses by a creek on a hill!

I convinced the family to stand together for a picture. Unfortunately, The snow in the back got totally overexposed. Oops. I would have taken another shot, but Brahim decided he had enough of picture taking. ~~Shrug~~

We stopped at a little outdoor restaurant and shared a tajine.

And headed home into a beautiful sunset..

that just kept getting better. (Hey Loubna and Sara! Thanks for letting me lay across you in the car to take this picture out of the car window!)

It was a perfect family trip.

Weak Sauce Attempts at Sunset Pictures

It would be cool if the title of this post could be something romantic like "Sunset Over the Sahara" or "Desert Nights." Unfortunately, despite having the arguably BEST view in all of Southern Morocco, I was unable to produce any photos worthy of those titles. I blame it on not owning a tripod and overwhelming incompetence (please do not judge the quality of my beautiful Nikon camera based on these shots). Anyway, here are a few of my attempts...

Here it is. Gorgeous sunset, picturesque traditionalesque mud building, and only a mediocre combination of the two. Oh well...

This one is not so bad. I especially liked the rays coming from the sun. I also like the fact that I'm not blind, despite pointing my lens directly at the sun.

What's so incredibly painful about this particular picture (and yes, I know this is technically not a "sunset picture" being as it is a picture of the moon, so spare me the smarmy comments) is remembering the intense gorgeousness of the original scene. I'd never dreamt of the moon rising over sand dunes, but now that I've seen it, I will permeate my dreams forever.

It is obvious by the oblong shape of the moon that I was not using a tripod. I did attempt to prop my camera up on a table on the patio. But, that wasn't tall enough. I stacked a stool on top of the table, and that was better, but I couldn't see the viewfinder. Also, the stool drooped in the middle, causing crookedness. So, I was forced to do a handheld shot at a slow shutter speed. :(

It was captivating. Seriously. You probably don't believe me because of the poor quality of the above picture, but you're just going to have to take my word for it...

The Drive to the Desert

We had a few days off from school for Moroccan Independence Day. Brahim, Ahmed, and I met up with a couple of other Fulbright teachers to travel to Southern Morocco.

The drive was stunning. It took us through the High Atlas Mountains, canyons, and eventually the desert. There were lots of little villages tucked on the side of the mountains.

We saw a lot of this striking red color.

I took a lot of pictures through the window of our moving car, resulting in many shots like this. Stupid truck. Get out of the way.

Eventually Brahim started pulling over so that I could take pictures while standing still. (Thanks Brahim!!!) I love this shot of the mud houses with the terraces in the background.

Another Moroccan village.

Fall in Morocco. It makes me laugh that I had to go all the way to Africa to see leaves change color. Shishmaref is completely treeless.

Close up of the terraces because I think they deserve one.

There were occasionally little stores on the side of the room. We stopped at this one to get a drink and take a little walk.

I got to see a donkey!!!

There were also random restaurants along the route. We stopped at this one for breakfast...

and enjoyed this view.

This is the Dades Gorge.

This is my Fulbright partner Brahim and me in the Dades Gorge. One of these days I will post a normalish picture of Brahim. You know, one where he isn't making any silly faces or acting like a goofball.

This is my favorite picture from the drive. The reddish color makes me feel warm inside. Also, notice that the moon is in the sky.

It was a gorgeous drive. Unfortunately, it was also the first drive of my life during which I got carsick. The windy roads were simply too much for me to handle. Thankfully, a combination of dramamine, sitting in the front, and a few well-timed stops prevented any major spewage.