Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Birthday (to me).

Day 12, we were again on the move. Our first stop was at a village carpet factory.

T_24_0700 A lot of beautiful carpets, but for us, they were too pricey, and also difficult to transport.

T_24_0693 Is this a metaphor about Kodak?

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Storks had built a nest atop the local mosque's minaret.

T_24_0702 And then we were back on the road. This new highway was the main road between Marrakesh and the Sahara.

This highway took us over the Tizi n'Tichka Pass, through the central High Atlas Mountains (2260m).

The views from the highway summit were spectacular.

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T_24_0720 T_24_0716 T_24_0722 This was probably the most scenic and interesting part of our road voyage.

That afternoon we visited Hamid's sister Hafida and her three sons in the village of Tahnaout.

T_24_0729Hamid's sister and sons

Hafida made us a dinner of local specialties, and then poured the national drink, green tea.

T_24_0728Hamid's sister and sons

Then we continued into the High Atlas Mountains.

The road began to climb above the plains, eventually reaching the village of  Imlil.

T_24_0732 But our ultimate destination was beyond Imlil, higher up.

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This was the road to Toubkal, a small hamlet at the base of its namesake mountain.

T_24_0733 This was our view of Mount Toubkal from our lodgings. Toubkal is the second highest mountain in Africa.

Our room for the night was quite comfortable. Great to breathe mountain air.

After dinner we watched the local inhabitants on their evening strolls.

T_24_0739 The next day we would be driving to Marrakesh.