The laughing camel and other desert tales

In addition to marveling at pyramids themselves, I spent some time on the Giza plateau looking for interesting images. I wanted something to capture a bit of how I felt being there. Because, if you looked towards the pyramids, you saw, in addition to the wonder itself, the crowds of tourists and hucksters and the trash they leave behind. But look the other direction, and a vast, empty space opened out before you. This picture, and the layout I created for it, is my attempt to capture that vastness:

I noticed after I had everything glued down that I managed to get the whole thing a bit crooked, but I wasn't going to rip it up and start over, so I'm stuck with it. I used papers from the Hello Luscious line of Basic Grey, and the rest is all Prima product. I left a lot of empty space, because it didn't feel right to fill the page up with 'stuff'.

So I think I hinted in my last post that I was going to talk about riding camels. Yes, riding a camel is something that I was specifically looking forward to as a part of my Egyptian experience. I warned Alton that we would have the chance to take a camel ride while we were at the pyramids. He pointed out that you could ride a camel at the state fair, if you really wanted to. I rolled my eyes and said it wasn't the same thing (and it's not). Anyway, as we stopped at each pyramid, I looked around to see if this was the place where we would get the chance to ride a camel. Finally, finally, some distance away from the 3rd pyramid, heading out into the desert, we had our chance. In this first layout, I used a picture Alton took of the camel that I rode:

I used all Websters Pages products on this layout (except the foundation cardstock and the prima screen). The journaling reads "I'm pretty sure that camel is laughing at me. I'd been looking forward to the camel rides all morning. When the time came, Alton passed, but I was ready to go. What an experience. The transition from sitting to standing was somewhat terrifying, and the gait was odd. But oh, what fun! We walked a ways into the desert and back. My camel was in the lead, and I guided him without help from our guide for part of the way. Such a thrilling thing, to gaze at the oceans of sand, and then the pyramids, from atop that beast. But man, what an incredible stink, too!"

Yeah, the camels were really smelly. And when they stand up, they straighten their back feet first, and then raise their front legs. It's rather disconcerting. But I absolutely loved the experience. And once you get used to their gait, it's pretty comfortable. I tried to capture the bright colors of the saddle and blankets the camels were all wearing in this layout.

This final layout is a double page layout, and includes photos of the actual camel ride. Alton was snapping away as I started, and then my guide took a couple of photos once we were out in the desert. I decided to write little captions on the photos. Each caption shares the thoughts running through my head as the whole event unrolled. I don't usually use this method, but it seemed to fit with this set of pictures.

Most of this layout was made using PinkPaislee product. I used the pom pom trim on both this layout and the one before to echo the tassles that the camel was wearing. The title comes from the fact that camels are referred to as the ships of the desert.

I leave you with a closeup of the three funniest pictures either of us took during our entire vacation. Alton used the rapid shot feature on his camera to catch the expression on my face as my camel stood up. It's a little embarassing, but too funny not to share. It was a freakin' crazy experience:

And by the way, if you want to get a really good view of my funny expressions, or a better look at the double spread, just click on the picture to get to the enlarged version.