The Dhahran Hobby Farm and a Day in Ras Tanura

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Friday was spent at the beach in Ras Tanura (RT to those who are in the know). But first it was a trip to the Hobby Farm. I mentioned this in another blog, but failed to explain what this is. First off, it not just any hobby. For example, this is not a farm for stamp collectors, coin collectors, or even Beanie Baby collectors. Well, truth be known, it’s not even really a farm. It’s a place for horses.

From what I understand, the Hobby Farm is a place where Aramco people (known to everyone as Aramcons) can own and ride horses. Undoubtedly one of you will know why it’s called a Hobby Farm as opposed to perhaps a Horsie Place. Or a stable.

What’s even stranger is that we don’t go to the Hobby farm for a hobby, or to farm, or even to ride horses. We go to the Hobby Farm to eat at the little restaurant there. It’s a nice place to chill. The patio overlooks a nice grassy field (see photos) and there is a horse stable near by. For some reason, there are lots of little birdies to go with the horsies, so it’s all very pleasant, especially for breakfast.

After the Hobby Farm, a group of us took the Aramco bus out to Ras Tanura. This is a good place to go on Fridays because all of the stores are closed, but the beach at RT never closes. It’s located in another Aramco compound about an hour north of Dhahran (where I am staying). It’s located on the Arabian Gulf, which is what we would call the Persian Gulf (there is a border dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran).

I went for a walk on the beach and was headed for the point that is shown in one of the photos. I made it most of the way there, but I got really hot and tired. I found out later that the temperature was 122 degrees F. (50 degrees C.). That’s crazy hot. I had not carried a bottle of water with me and I forgot my snazzy hat (see photos of Tarut and Qatif). You can tell I’m a Minnesotan. The last time it got to 122 in Minnesota was - never! However, to my credit, I did NOT forget to put on SPF 10,000 sun screen.

Wisely I decided to head back and not go to the point. For those of you reading this now in a state of terror as to my fate (how bad could it be, after all, I’m writing this) you needn’t worry. I stopped in the coffee shop and had a mint lemonade (sort of a lemonade Mojito sans alcohol), with a Coke Light chaser. Ahhhhhhhh.

For lunch I had spaghetti, a tabouli salad and pita bread, as well as a large bottle of water. Rehydrated at last.

Today it was back to work. To make life entertaining, Aramco IT has changed the security settings so that the computers the Participants use no longer could access the Internet. Or more accurately, they could access the Internet for a short period of time and then be blown out. As they say in movie reviews, “hilarity ensued.” Fortunately, there is a paper back-up process, so it was onto Plan B.

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