The mosque Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām in Mecca is the place where all Muslims are expected to visit at least once in their lives.

Unless you are Muslim, this is probably as close as you are going to get to Mecca. While the mosque is an important part of Arab culture, from what we have heard, the police ask travelers to Mecca to recite some basic passages from the Koran in Arabic in order to gain entry. Not the most fool proof security system, however it isn't like it says "Muslim" or "Non-Muslim" on your passport.

In the satellite photo you can see plenty of people around the Kaaba--millions visit this site every year.

Related Stories:
· Masjid al-Haram [maps.google.com]
· Mecca [GoogleSightseeing]
· Masjid al-Haram [Wikipedia]]]> markj 2006-08-10T13:09:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/6/16/112741/171

We blame our Google Earth helipad obsession on Trump.  However, led us to a cool floating heli-pad off Mercer Island, near Seattle.

Guess who it belongs to? Nope, not Bill Gates.  The floating landing barge belongs to Paul Allen, who is rumored to have built the pad because the Mercer Island powers that be wouldn't let him land on his abutting property. Doesn't dude know that seaplanes are the way to go in the Pac Northwest? Sure seaplane insurance policies are few an far between because of the whole plane + water = near certain disaster equation, but if we were Paul Allen we would have gone seaplane.

Floating heli-pad aside, we still think seeing Seattle by seaplane is the decadent way to go.

Related Stories:
· Paul Allen's Heli-pad [maps.google.com]
· NW Seaplanes [Official Site]]]> markj 2006-06-16T11:27:41-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/