Christmas in Mordor

We ended up spending our Christmas in Mordor, the land of Sauron. It was Annie's idea; she wanted to get out of the bitter, freezing cold of the Sacramento Valley and go someplace warm. Well, she got her wish. This is a picture of the girls posed in front of Mount Doom (that's the volcano in the background between Kate and Julia).


The place was teeming with orcs and goblins. I began to feel like we should get going, so we only stayed two days. At one point I took a wrong turn and got completely lost. Luckily, there were these two very nice fellows who helped us out. They were very short, and I suspect that they weren't orcs at all. They directed us to a narrow tunnel, which they claimed was a shortcut back to 'the realm of men.' Trying to get down the road from the tunnel was sketchy. My Ford Aerostar has never handled steep staircases very well.
Though the girls really enjoyed the magma and the park near Cirith Ungol, I think that for next year we might try someplace new.

This photo is courtesy Ian Tillman.