Seven days.

Hello All,

Seven days.  That is how many days I am projected to be in Bahrain during the month of December.

The month starts off with a trip to Muscat, the capital city of Oman, for a few days.  I have never been there and those who have, say it is pretty nice.

I will be back in Bahrain for the weekend and then off to Abu Dhabi, UAE.  Abu Dhabi and Dubai are said to be the crown jewels of the Middle East.  Factoid...Dubai is home to the world's largest mall.  It has over 1200 shops and 5.4 MILLION sqft of retail space.  I am not going to Dubai so I will not get to see the world's largest mall.  Too bad since it is on my "places to see before I die" list, much like "see the world's tallest steeple" which I did in 2009.  Well, maybe some other trip will take me to Dubai.

Back to Bahrain after UAE.  Do laundry.  Leave for US for two weeks of R&R.  It will be great to be home for Christmas.  Jodi has been working harder then Santa's elves getting the house decorated and i know it will look great.  Both kids will be with us for the week holiday festivities.  It sure is a great time of year.

Three trips in December equals 2 new stamps in my passport.  Not bad.

The travel doesn't stop in January as I will be off to Cairo again during the later part of the month.  Since I have already been to the Great Pyramids of Giza, I will have to find other old stuff to see.

Not much to report here otherwise.  Things are slowing down a bit as they always during during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.  This happens every year all over the Marine Corps and, I assume, will all the military's branches.  Well, I guess that is ok.  Everyone could use a breather.

Hope all is well in whatever part of the world you find yourselves.

Michael