Karen and Crew: Burj Khalifa

The first friends we made in Dubai moved after just a few months. The Princes. They came back to visit for the week of Thanksgiving to more properly say good-bye to people and places and let their girls have some closure. Matt was working Tuesday, but we ditched school and went to Wild Wadi with them. Yes, we went to an outdoor water park the week of Thanksgiving and the weather was glorious!

We went once before in the spring, but they now have a new slide. The slide alone is not alarming, but the build up IS. You climb up and up and up. Finally you get to the top and watch people get locked into these clear tube chambers. It's very like one of the launch things they have on Wipeout. You stand upright with your arms and legs crossed. You hear a voice count, "3, 2, 1" and then the floor drops out and you zoom down. From the ground, it looks like we have been on steeper slides elsewhere, but none was quite as scary as this one. Matt made Makenna promise to try it once. I talked Jess into trying it once too. Having the Prince girls there helped them follow through. Before we left, we went once more. Not quite as scary the second time. Brian and Hilary definitely need to come back. We all think Wild Wadi is more fun than Atlantis' Aquadventure. I think they would also love the tube rides that shoot you UP ramps. Very fun.

A lay out of the park, taken from the web. Just to the left, you would see the Burj Al Arab, the sailboat building--my favorite.

This is the end of Jessica's favorite ride. She calls is Traffic because the first funnel is tilted out toward Beach Road and it feels like you could pop out and land in the traffic. All these are taken from the web. You don't really see that many guys wearing Dish Dash around the park.

Three in our family also took turns on the beginner Flow Rider. The two life guards/instructors were very patient and helpful. The line moves slower than the one at Lindon Pool, but only because they are giving each person longer to get a feel for it. We all got much better. Isaac was on one knee, one foot! Makenna chose not to try, being worn out by then, but I will insist she try next time we go. She picks up physical skills like this quickly.

We left the park as it started to get dark. We drove back to our respective homes/hotels to change for church activities. I was running the Activity Days for the girls, as I lost my leader to YW, recently. Isaac and the rest of the youth (Prince girls too) were meeting at the church then going to Adventure HQ for the ropes course and rock climbing. After it was all over, we packed 6 kids in our car and made two drop offs on the way home. Fun, full day.

The next morning we woke up early to meet the Princes at the Dubai Mall. We were going up the Burj Khalifa. Our time slot was for 9:30 and you better not be late. You have to buy tickets online several weeks in advance. The elevator went up 124 floor in about a minute. Our ears popped 4 times on the way up.

The girls are standing next to a model. On the back wall you can the the height in comparison to other famous buildings.

Bulls eye on the tip top as seen from ground level.

Now we are near the top, looking down. That's where the fountains perform each night.

This is looking up from the observation deck. We are obviously not at the top.

We lost Isaac for a bit, he was wandering about with the Prince girls. We took one family shot without him. Pretty bright outside.

There are the missing kids.

This was a neat device. You could move it around and use it to zoom in, like a telescope. Or you could select "past" and see what the area looked like 20 years ago.

That square tan building is one of many HUGE A/C providers we could see from the top. They provide cool air for a collection of buildings.

If you can see past the reflection, you can see the former camel racecourse that is now a bike track. If you know where to look, you can see the 4, 6, and 8km routes. The lights have solar panels to recharge each day.

Looking down at part of the fountain show.

Matt said hello to some visiting Germans in the lobby. They hunted him down again at the top to ask about best things to do, directions, US politics.... I think they really enjoyed finding someone with whom to sprecht.

One of "The Address" buildings. I thought it was a rather clever name, until I found out there were three in Dubai. I think they need to change the definite article to an indefinite one.

One of the Sheik neighborhoods.

One of 3 Guinness plaques we have seen. Two at the Khalifa, one at the aquarium in the mall.

Speaking of the mall, here it is from the top. 4 floors.

This picture is not capturing the cool architecture like I wanted. There are some neat buildings in this town.

Can you see the sailboat building to the left in the far distance? It's about 13 miles away. The Dubai marathon starts at the Burj Khalifa and goes almost to the Burj Al Arab and back.

Kerri-Ann, Ashley, James, Brittany. They have one son starting a mission in Ogden and one finishing in Japan. We miss having piano lessons, carpooling, and hanging out with them!

The golden spaceship-ish thing in the middle is a metro stop. It's the stop for the Dubai Mall, but it's another mile to actually get there. So there is a looooong series of covered moving sidewalks connecting them. Ha ha.