Carter, Captivated

We admit it - we had a hard time coming up with an alliterative title for this post. Carter's cornucopia of cheer? Carter's capers? But we digress - what really matters is that Carter, like Hampton, loved Lebanon.

Three things top the list for Carter:

1) Flowers and plants

Giant, heavy pinecones in the Qadisha Valley.

Fields of wild poppies along our hike.

Visiting the 4,000-year-old cedars in the Chouf.

The joy continued during our jaunt to Cyprus.

2) Friendly people

Carter, as many of you know, can befriend a rock. Lebanese people, like Carter, think that hospitality should be an Olympic sport. These factors - plus Hampton's love of taking pictures of his wife with strangers - have combined to give Carter an album's worth of photos with new friends.

At a Maronite church in Solidere.

With a cafe-owner on our road trip.

With Ronnie, our beloved Beirut walking tour guide, at the Place d'Etoile.

With the matriarch of the impromptu sledding family (see "Hampton's Heaven").

With Charbel, our 3rd-generation Baalbeck guide. Check out his page-long profile in the Lonely Planet guidebook!

With Lebanese expats home for Easter at the Cedars.

Getting flowers from Palestinian children at the hippodrome in Tyre.

Ok, Carter didn't become friends with this old man. But we think she's up for the challenge on her next visit.

3) Overcoming her association of "Lebanon" with "Has their civil war ended yet?"

Political factionalism. Armed extremist groups. Legacy of war and violence. Carter got quite a taste of Lebanon's unique personality during our road trip. It started with the UN tanks in Tyre, the checkpoints that kept turning us away in the south, and the posters of political leaders (and often martyrs) in every town. But now she can't wait to come back - she's ready to give U.S. diplomacy a new face by befriending Hezbollah members and taking them out to pick flowers.

Lebanese Boy Scouts marching with flags of various political parties in Baalbeck.

Carter enjoyed her meal at this cafe in Hermel, which is Hezbollah country in the northern part of the Bekaa Valley. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, kept a watchful gaze on us throughout lunch.

Wade and Hampton play on a tank left over from one of the wars.

Yes, Hezbollah has information billboards about their military campaigns against the Israeli occupation along the roads in the south.

At Beaufort Castle in the south - the only medieval castle that we know of to have been used during a modern war.

View of Beaufort Castle, Hezbollah flag flying high.

Wall of martyrs at a cemetery in Tyre.

Best of all: our drive on a one-lane road through an active minefield. We're really glad that there weren't any cars coming in the other direction.

Carter survived and can't wait to come back!