Dubai or not to Dubai?

FYI..pictures load at random & I am not able to put descriptions on photos.

We are off on our first mini adventure, a 3 day weekend to Dubai. We chose to take the bus, which did not work out quite like we hoped, a 3 day weekend for everyone else too! 1 1/2 hours in the outdoor bus line waiting, sweating, waiting, sweating...you get the point. 2 hour bus ride later and we are zipping right past where we will be staying...a little homework would have shown me we were a long cab ride from the bus depot. We stayed at the Sheridan Jumeirah beach resort, a lovely small property dwarfed by all the mega complexes, the staff was wonderful and very attentive. Spent some quality time at the beach and pool for some much needed R & R, where the Arabia Sea is a refreshing 95+ degrees and extremely salty! Woke up Friday to a sand storm so fine that it looks like a very dense fog, so not great visibility as the photos show. On a walkabout, found the Dubai ferry by accident & hopped on for a 2 hours ride to Al Seef-the other side of Dubai. What a great trip, through the canal, out in the Arabian Sea-very choppy-through the Palm Island and past the Atlantis Hotel, by the Burj Al Arab hotel (the sail hotel) then into the Dubai creek. We paid for 1st class seats, which allowed us cushy leather seats, cold air-conditioning & we could go out on the bow (where we rode most of the time). All and all a really great time, sure wish we could see better. Took the metro to the mall of the Emirates for a peak at the Ski Dubai slope and a bite to eat. What an amazing mall with over 520 shops, 2 hotels, 85 restaurants and coffee shops, 14-screen cinema and of course the Dubai Ski experience-35 acres of real snow, lots of people having a great time. We met a really great cab driver and took a cab back home, well worth the extra.

There is so much to see and do in Dubai, that we barley scratched the surface, so this will not be our only trip, but I will do a little more planning and stay on the other side of town.

I hope you all enjoy the random pictures, I'm here and I still love looking at them, and the building just continues.......bigger, better, taller. Til next blog