Maria and her two friends, Michelle and Megan planned a girls night camping in the Empty Quarter for our good friend Allison who is moving back to Australia. Unfortunately, Allison's entire family ended up with a nasty stomach virus so we had to make the trek without her.
We drove as far south in the UAE as you can get-- about 40 km from the Saudi boarder. Why we chose to camp at the end of May, none of us will ever understand. . . . but it has made for some good stories. It was 113 degrees under burning sun and huge sand dunes- some 300 meters high. Megan braved the dunes and learned to 'dune bash', getting stuck and needing to be dug out only once. (I ended up with a heat blister on my hand from pushing her car out). Our guide made us a yummy BBQ dinner and as we waited for our tents to be staked, we realized our communication error. He thought we were driving back to Dubai (4 hr drive) after sunset! Our only options at that point was to either sleep under the stars or see if we could find a local hotel. We opted for the stars and as we continued to relax and sip our wine, things in the desert came alive. It was the appearance of the (above) camel spider that finally drove us to sleep in the back of our cars. Needless to say, very little sleep was had and we left as soon as the sun rose. Anna and Kate were taken by my stories of the monstrous spiders and are hoping that I could take them for this same camping adventure when we get back in the fall! Regardless of the heat and bugs, the Empty Quarter is still one of the most stunning places I have ever seen. I will definitely go back-- camel spiders and all.
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