We're in Jordan

Tonite we are in Jordan. We left Israel early this morning, had an experience going across the border.... nothing too exciting just the usual border crossing stuff. Show your passports,get off the bus, change buses, go through customs, get on another bus, get your luggage, sit in a room while they do the visas, fill out a form saying we don't have H1N1, and have no symptons, claim our luggage, go to the bus and leave.This whole procedure took over an hour but seemed to go quite quickly.
We travelled to Jaresh, a restored Roman city, had lunch then quickly travelled to the site where they believed Jesus was baptised by John. From there we climbed from below sea level to Mt Nebo which I'm sorry I don't remember what the elevation is. It was already dusk so we weren't able to see as much as we would have if we had had more daylight. Most of us were able to get through the gate to climb the few extra feet but even though a few were lagging behind, the guard locked the gate and wouldn't let them through. We find that Jordan has a different perspective towards tourism or least this particular guard did. Anyway, we then continued on -with a short bathroom break - because again they wouldn't open up the bathrooms on Mt. Nebo. I guess it was at the end of the day and they couldn't be bothered. So we continued on to Petra where we will be spending the night before we return to Israel tomorrow night. Anyone that is following our itinerary will notice that we are not spending the next night at the Dead Sea Spa but instead we are returning back to Israel. It is a long story on why we had to make the change but the quick version is because we found out yesterday that it is a Muslim holiday on Friday and the border that we were going to cross is now going to be closed so we would have had to spend 6 hrs driving to the next border. This way we will be closer to the border we want and not waste a day which would mean we might not have been able to see Masada or swim in the dead sea. Now we will for sure swim in the dead sea and cover ourselves in the black mud it will be on the Israel side and not the Jordan side.
So again it is time for bed. Tomorrow we have lots of walking as we will explore Petra and see the treasury. The pictures will be unbelievable.
Everyone is healthy - so far no colds or flus. As we get to know each other we are learning all about your families so by the end of the tour we will all feel like we know all of you.
For those of you who were concerned about the safetly coming to Israel; I asked a few people over the last couple of days if they have felt unsafe and everyone said I feel no different here than I do anywhere else. So if you think we are in danger - no need to worry.
No pictures tonite as it is already after 11pm so I'm off to bed.
Ed and Alice Peters asked me to say hi to their kids,and I know talking to others on the tour, we all miss our family and friends back home,but we will have lots to share with you when we see you.
We have been receiving the different hockey and football scores, and check your weather on a regular basis and are happy that we are in the mid 20's while you are much colder.
It is hard to believe that a month from today is Christmas as we don't see any signs of it here. And with the warmer temperatures it is hard to think that when we come home Christmas will be right around the corner.
Well goodnight everyone. Remember to send any comments and I will pass them on.
Glenda