a Geographer's Place

Ruins. One word that always seems to make me giddy. I’ve always liked ruins – especially the ones you can climb on/around/over/under/in and explore. That’s how it’s been ever since I was a little kid and my parents took my brother and me to Mesa Verde’s Anasazi ruins. Jordan has lots of ruins. Like a lot a lot. People have been inhabiting this region of the world for a long time, so the ruins span millennia. Yes, there are the well-known ruins like Petra and Jerash , and lesser-known places like Kerak and Umm Quaiys. But the Kingdom also hosts numerous others, some of which barely have a name, and others that are literally in the middle of nowhere. These forgotten fortresses have been a big component of my research here. Qasr az-Zahib . As I was taking pictures, a little Bedouin kid who was out herding sheep and goats came over with tea. We chatted a bit. He showed me a nearby cemetery, a still-functioning well, and another set of presumed Crusader ruins that I can't fin...

Dixie in her natural habitat: outdoors. Here in Southern Utah, 1993 When I was a little kid, Dixie (my mom) was into Native American (Indian) things. Actually, she was always interested in them. And because she was, and we spent a lot of time together, I became interested in Indian things too. We spent time discussing ancient native cultures, her (some would say wild) theories about them, and the more spiritual/mystical aspects often tied to the rich cultural heritage. She also liked “glyphs”, as she called them, and I soon became aware that these glyphs – rock art – were found in almost every culture around the world. Fast forward to my PhD work where, by luck really, I ended up studying rock art (though not in the traditional archeological sense) – and in the Desert Southwest US, no less. I learned there are four main types of rock art: petroglyphs (those carved or pecked into the rock), pictographs (paintings on rocks), intaglios (scraping away of a surface to reveal ligh...

As I’ve noted elsewhere, I believe ardently that a tourist sees what they came to see, but a Traveler sees what they see . Though I work hard to be a Traveler instead of a tourist when visiting places, tourism—and tourists themselves—play an important economic role for many countries. Indeed, some countries depend heavily on tourists for their livelihood. What tourists see and explore when they visit a place depends on any number of factors. For example, one tourist might visit a place for its cuisine and wine. Another for the location’s outstanding geology. Still others may visit for historical or religious reasons. Wherever a tourist goes, however, there remain specific sites that most everyone sees when visiting a specific locale. Staying in Paris for a bit? The Eiffel Tower is on your list. Going to New York, then make sure to stop at Times Square in Manhattan. Fancy wine and designer clothes in Italy? Well, the Colosseum is just around the corner. Exploring the Inca trail in...