I’m glad everyone is still excited about our new bags on Kickstarter! Here’s a new video – the deep dive on the Tote bag.
Daily Photo – Night Shooting in Oman
Two days in a row, two mosques in a row! This is in Muscat. I spent the day here with my family, but at night I went back alone with my driver to really explore this place. What I found most interesting, other than how beautiful it was, was how there was no security at all. Or, there was none as far as I could see. Maybe there were infrared cameras or something and a huge underground bunker of guys ready to jump out if I did something strange… But luckily that never happened! I was on my best mosquey behavior! 🙂
When you travel to strange places, I always advise to go ahead and do the touristy things but then see if you can do anything special to hang out with the locals. It’s not always easy to figure out how to do this and takes a bit of legwork! …but always worth it.
Daily Photo – In the Bedouin Village
When we were in Oman and went out to explore the desert, there was a really interesting stop at a Bedouin’s home. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was invited in and sat down on some carpets. The whole home was open to the air in a way, adorned with many small decorative carpets and pillows along the tented walls. After I sat down, the man of the home offered me some extremely strong coffee, then his whole family with kids sat around me. I pulled out my iPad and shared photos from around the world. The kids loved it and we all laughed together even though we didn’t speak the same language.
I really love my android watch, but it always has the wrong time. This is a silly thing to say, I know. I’m pretty tech savvy, and I just can’t figure out what the hell is going on!
Daily Photo – Last one out
When I was at the Grand Mosque here in Muscat, I asked if I could be the very last tourist to leave. The whole place was very busy, but I wanted to have less people around… I think with just a few people here and there you get a tremendous sense of the scale of the place. You also get an idea of how shiny the floor is!
and… HERE IT IS! 🙂 Enjoy! If you wanna grab all 15 episodes plus extra stuff now, visit the Becoming An Artist page pronto. 🙂
Sonos and Spotify
I love my Sonos system and listening to Spotify, but their integration is absolutely horrific. I don’t understand why I can’t “throw” the music from my Mac right onto the Sonos, unless I am missing something.
Daily Photo – A Beautiful Spa on a Rocky Coastline in Oman
It was a moody and somewhat cool afternoon in Oman, and I was out with my son on a catamaran. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever spelled that word before… I can’t believe it has that many a’s. I was writing it out and fully expected the red squiggly. ANYWAY, while we were on the four-a’d boat, we passed this rock outcopping and saw this scene back on the beach. I didn’t even get a chance to visit this spa. It’s the Six Senses spa there at the Al Bustan Ritz-Carlton and it’s over 33,000 square feet! I think even if I did have a chance to go visit it, I’d only be able to see 10% of it.
Here’s a cool infographic that shows how Aurora HDR is just blowing up… I am glad so many people love it!
Getting into the Details
Remember you can click on these photos and follow through to the Smugmug site where you can then see the ultra-big version as well! 🙂
Daily Photo – Getting Dizzy at the Mosque
What an incredible mosaic! These mosques I’ve visited in the middle east are all over the top and so beautiful. This one was in Muscat, Oman and the craftsmanship was impeccable. Also, thank Allah they let me use a tripod, otherwise a shot that is this detailed would be impossible.
What’s dune bashing? Well, it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You just take a truck and run up and down sand dunes. I found it more stressful than anything, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it!
Daily Photo – The Deserts of Oman
If you go to the Middle East you gotta get a little desert time in, eh? From Muscat, we took a 2-hour car ride out to where the dunes were massive! It had just rained the day before so the sand was pretty dense and easy to walk on. This was the total opposite of when we went to the dunes a few days later in Qatar, where it was bone dry. Those dunes are VERY hard to walk on…
You’ll see a lot of footage of the Al Bustan Palace, the Ritz-Carlton here where we stayed. What a property! We had just come from India and seen how the royal people lived, and now we felt like them! They made amazing suggestions and we got to see everything from incredible souks to picturesque deserts. You’ll see more below and in weeks/months/years to come as I pour through the photos and share them here.
One of the greatest things that happened in here was totally unexpected! Isabella lost her tooth and it seems the Tooth Fairy went crazy and had a party in the room! You’ll see that and more in the video.
Oman Video Recap
Wow…I just watched this again and it makes me want to go back! We were only here for three days… not nearly long enough!
Oman Photos Recap
Here’s the view from the beach of the Ritz-Carton hotel there. I think they have something like a mile of private beach… and it’s mostly empty all the time!
How beautiful is this hotel?
Not too far away is this incredible mosque. I felt lucky to be able to visit it!
And here we are inside the mosque. The girls loved getting dressed up for the big event!
A short drive from the hotel was a great old souk. I found this lamp store and wanted to buy everything but Tina would not let me! 🙁
Here’s the main pool there at the Al Bustan Palace at night. These gentle fountains come on and dance across the water.
Daily Photo – Al Bustan Palace, The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Muscat, Oman
Check out the lobby! We couldn’t believe our eyes when we walked in. The grandeur of the chandelier alone was enough to stagger all of us. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the entire property, but especially the pools and the ocean. We couldn’t get them out of the water!
This was my family’s first trip to the middle east and they were a bit nervous, to be honest! I wasn’t worried one lick, but they were all extremely surprised at how open, warm, and welcoming the Omanese people were. I think everyone felt very safe and happy the entire time, exactly as I suspected!
Probably one of my favorite memories from here was when we took a little family catamaran trip one night… being out on the open ocean and seeing such amazing rock/mountain formations was really mesmerizing.
Al Bustan Palace, The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Muscat, Oman
Day 18 – Adventuring in the deserts and seas of Oman.
Wow, Oman is a secret treasure in the world!
Everyone was warm, kind, and inviting. The landscapes are like nothing I’ve ever seen, from curious canyons to sharp-ridged mountains, to huge epic mountain ranges, and everything in between. Parts are green and other parts are 150km of nonstop desert where it takes 6 days by camel to cross.
We did a ton of stuff just in our short time here… enjoy the video! 🙂
A beautiful sunset.
A beautiful sunset along the beach in Muscat.
About to board two catamarans for a sunset sail.
Hardcore Souk Shopping.
Beautiful colors in the mosque.
Inside the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Al Bustan Palace.
Ladies walking on the beach.
My friend in the desert.
My new friends exchange Instagram information at the mosque.
The family visits the Grand Mosque.
Scarlett is constantly throwing sand for no reason I can discern.
Here’s the chandelier in the Grand Mosque from below.
The Girls Take a Rest after a long walk in the desert.
The end of the Mosque where the colors glowed.
The Grand Mosque around midnight.
Visiting the Bedouin home.
The girls walk through the massive desert — if you look in the middle, you can see a group of people about 5km away.
Oman fun.
Daily Photo – The incredible interior of the Grand Mosque
