We are supposed to be spending a long weekend in the mountains in a town called Ta’if. But in between Jeddah & Ta’if lies Mecca. If non-Muslims are found in Mecca they can be executed. We decided that didn’t sound fun so we opted to use the non-Muslim bypass to get around. This route doubles the travel time since it adds an additional 70 miles to the trip. We got about 8 miles from our hotel and the road was closed so we literally had to turn around and go home because there is no other road up the mountain. Quite frustrating but we didn’t let it get us down and enjoyed seeing a truer picture of Saudi Arabia outside of the city! Which means lots of camels, sand, & tents…

water park built into the mountains.

thousands of buses to take pilgrims into Mecca.

the Koran held up by machine guns.