we're back!

Our vacation was, without a doubt, spectacular, and it ended with us meeting Alison's family in the airport in Beijing and forcing them to stay awake all afternoon via neighborhood tours and a long dinner. Alison and I took about 500 pictures and are going to spend a while sorting through them to let you see the cream of the crop. For now, we wanted to give you a taste of what we did and saw in a place that was less Chinese and more Middle Eastern...

...that had daily bazaars (markets) in different villages that sold everything from fruit to kitchen appliances to live animals... ...and that had the most starkly beautiful scenery I've ever seen.

The icing on the cake? We got to ride camels ;)
More details later, featuring Alison's impressive photography, but just wanted to let you know that we're back, we're happy, and we're ready for more adventures, this time with Courtney and Stacy.