The Laughlins

This weekend we went on a trip with the university to Masada, Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, and the Dead Sea. It was a fun trip, but Mark and I want to go back by ourselves so that we can have more time there and explore many more areas as well. We started our weekend by going to a theater in Talpiot and seeing Pirates of the Caribbean II (one theater picture below). It was pretty good, but not as good as the first, and obvioudly there is going to be a third one as well. We ended up waiting for a bus that never came, walking a long ways, and eventually taking a taxi home rather late. We got two hours of sleep, and then woke up at 1:30am, because we had to meet the bus at 2:30am. We drove to Masada, and because of some bad planning (apparently this happened last year as well), we arrived a too late to actually see the sun rise from the top of Masada; we saw it come up right after we got off the bus. Anyways, we climbed to the top via the Roman's siege ramp on the western side, so it only took about 10-15 minutes to get to the top. On the eastern side of Masada is the snake path, which was originally the only way to reach the top of Masada, and therefore the fortress of Masada was very easy to protect (until the Romans built the ramp). Once we reached the top, we wandered around on our own for a while, but unfortunately (because this was a school-planned "guided tour"), we were rounded up and forced to stay with our group, only visiting certain sections of the mountain. (The whole time-limit and "guided" experience made things a bit frustrating at times, but it was fun to go to these locations nonetheless.) Masada has some pretty amazing features, including the remnants of Herod's palace, saunas which had a raised floor, heating below, and vents above, food storage building, bath houses, a HUGE cistern (see picture of people in large pit below) and the oldest synagogue they have excavated. After our tour of the top, we took a cable car down the eastern slope and took the bus to Ein Gedi Nature Reserve. We were only there for about 30-45 minutes. We hiked up to the lower (and smaller) waterfall in the park, and saw MANY rock hyraxes/coneys (in Hebrew they are called "rock rabbits). They are very funny-looking animals that are quite fast and agile for their size and shape. I was hoping to see an ibex or two (mountain goats of Israel with two horns), but there weren't any around that day. We had a quick lunch and drove across the way to the Dead Sea. Unfortunately, my camera got switched to a different setting there, so when one of my friends tried to take pictures of Mark and I floating around on the water, none of them turned out at all. That's OK though...we'll go back again and post pictures then. There are a couple of pictures of the umbrellas and beach though. The Dead Sea was fun, but you have to stay within a very small public beach area, you aren't allowed to go out more than 8-15 meters, and you have to stay on your back so that you don't get water in your mouth or eyes. It really works your stomach muscles, because you hold your head up out of the water the whole time. I was a little sore on Saturday :) We drove home that afternoon, and I slept about 13 hours that evening/night because I was wiped out. There are a couple of random pictures from our neighborhood too - I especially liked the one of the Orthodox Jewish man and son with the Blockbuster behind them and another man on a cell phone next to them. I could do an extensive theme here is Israel with my pictures: the new and the old. This country really is a huge intergration of new buildings/technology and very olf history and traditions. It makes it a very unique place to live!