Jerusalem, Rock of Abraham

Abraham was told by God to take his son up on Mt Moriah and sacrifice his son as an offering. Abraham followed gods command and took Issac up on Mt Moriah. But as he was getting ready to kill him, an angel appeared and told him to spare his son for God was pleased that he had obeyed him. The same rock upon which he stood is still here today, persevered inside a Moslem mosque called the Dome of the Rock. Upon this same mountain Solomon built a temple where he kept his greatest treasures. In this temple he kept the Ark of the Covenant safe. But 400 years later Babylonians captured the city and the Ark and all of the other treasures disappeared. Many guesses have been made about the whereabouts of the Ark and the other treasures. One of the most famous theories is that the treasure is hidden underneath the mountain. It is true that the mountain has many caverns and caves. Many people have tried and failed to find the treasure. One entrance to the caverns is through a waterfall in the side of the mountain.

This is a picture of the Dome of Rock

Petra

Petra was a city that was famous for its dreaded robbers ans its beautiful tombs. A legend says that the king of Petra got jealous of all the other tombs so he decided to build the biggest tomb ever. They say he had a magic ring that allowed him to control jinns. He used the jinns and Greek sculptors to make a masterpiece tomb. But some of the nobles did not like this idea and had the king murdered. The jinns who hated the people were set free and they cast an enchantment upon the city. And to this day the city is still enchanted. The city of Petra lies 500 miles to the west of the Red Sea in the country of Jordan. 

We have some friends who went to Petra. Here are some of their photos:

Mecca

Mecca is a sacred Moslem city that only Mohammedans can enter. People who are not Mohammedans can only get within 8 miles of the city. It is located in Saudi Arabia. Back in the year 570 Mohammed was born in the city of Mecca. The city had a sacred cube-shaped granite temple which they believed was built by Abraham. This holy temple was being defiled by the worship of idols. Mohammed preached against this and taught the people about God. The temple is still there today. Every year 200,000,000 people take a dangerous journey to the city where they worship.

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls was discovered by the famous explorer David Livingston in the year 1855. David was exploring the Zambezi river when he heard what the natives called the Smoke that Sounds. David persuaded his native friends to get closer. A few miles ahead David saw something that stunned him. Ahead on the river there rose a curtain of mist so large that the top seemed to mingle with the clouds. From the direction of the mist there came a loud noise. David and his band stopped on an island in the middle of the river. As David crept closer to the sound the ground at his feet seemed to drop off and disappear. As David peered through the mist he saw a giant half-concealed waterfall that stretched for half a mile on either side of the island. The waterfall stretched 340 ft down and sent up a shower of mist. But David could not see where the water went after it poured over the edge. It took him a whole other day to find where the water went. The water went down, down and finally went into a T shaped chasm where it went over the top of the T and went down through the stem. David name this wonder after Victoria, his Queen.

Court of Honor

This past weekend we went on a camp out to Camp Birch. When we came back we had a Court of Honor and I advanced to First Class. My scoutmaster gave us our merit badges ( Swimming, Sports, Indian lore, Leather working and Environmental Science ) and talked about how we did a good job at summer camp. He also talked about how I got the Honor Camper Award and how our troop got the Baden Powell Award. Here are some pictures of the Court of Honor:

 These are all the boys who advanced to First Class.

This is me while my scoutmaster talks about my Honor camper award.

Timbuctoo (Timbuktoo, Timbucktu)

Timbuctoo is located in the middle of the Sahara desert. It is found by the Niger river and is home to 10,000.  Many storks and bats live in and on the houses but most people don't do anything about it. Most people in Timbuctoo are Negros, but there are a few Arabs and few French, for it is a French colony.  The men in Timbuctoo wear white veils around their faces until they die. Their houses are made out of mud and will last quite a few years. Unless it rains. The people belive that their people come back from the dead in the shape of a crow, so they build these houses for crows to sit on.

Our trip to Virginia

This past week we have been in Virginia for a family vacation. We visited lots of historic sites and some other stuff too. We had to drive ten hours in the car, but fortunately we had The Hobbit to listen too.

On day one we went to Historic Williamsburg which is a town recreated to look like it did in the revolutionary war. All the people dress up like they would back then, and there was even shops that they worked in. Here are some pictures of Williamsburg: 

 This is the governors palace.

 This is inside of the palace.

 This is the governors desk.

 This is an old fashion stove.

 This is the palace kitchen with real food!

 This is the gunsmith.

 The stocks is where criminals go......

 This is the tailor making real shoes!

 This is Thomas Jefferson making a speech.

 This is the weaver.

 This is the magazine where they kept all the guns and gunpowder.

 This is the cooper (barrel maker).

This is the local jail.

On day two we went to Historic Jamestown where we saw the real James town ruins. There was archaeologists there and they were uncovering a real stove. After that we went to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. Here are some pictures: 

This is a monument to Jamestown. 

 That is the James river.

 This is the Jamestown colony.

 This is the stove they were digging up.

This is what they think Jamestown looked like.

  This is a statue of Capt. John Smith.

 This is the man who uncovered Jamestown.

 That is the Jamestown church.

 After Jamestown we went to a glass maker.

 This is part of Thomas Jefferson's garden.

 This is Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house. (We were not allowed to take pictures sadly).

 On his front porch there is a wind dial, and a double sided clock.

 Thomas Jefferson's house was one of the first to have a dome.

 Aren't you glad this isn't your toilet?

 This is Thomas Jefferson's grave.

Thomas Jefferson's favorite invention: The Polygraph. 

On day three we went to two civil war battlefields: The battle of Cross Keys and the battle of Piedmont, and then we went to Shenandoah National park and did the skyline drive. Here are some pictures:

 There was a beautiful view.

 We decided to get out of the car and take a hike. While we were hiking we came across the Appalachian trail. It is a trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.

We found an interesting type of pine cone.

On day four we went to The Natural Bridge and Foamhedge 

(Yes FOAMhedge). Here are some pictures:

 The Natural Bridge.

 Legend says that George Washington climbed up twenty-three feet and carved his initials into the rock.

 This an underground stream that no one knows where it goes or where it comes from.

 They had recreated an Indian village to look like it did back then.

 The inside of a Indian hut.

 We went to a butterfly room where there was butterflies everywhere!

 We thought that this one look cool.

 This was the plaque for Foamhedge.

We all thought that it was pretty cool.

My dad especially liked it.

We all really liked the trip and we hope we will have more in the future!