A Camel, a Fort and a Sea

On Monday night a breeze blew in and out of Jerusalem.  As it blew out, it took with it the dern khamasin.  Which meant we woke up to two great things on Tuesday morning ...

... clear skies and a 14 year old Torrey!  Can you imagine a better place to spend your 14th (or any!) birthday?!  We hit the ground running (are you surprised?!) and headed out of Jerusalem to spend the day in the desert.  

Even in the desert there was beauty.  We were in awe of the vastness of the desert ... and we are Texans who take great pride in the vastness of our state.  Texas has nothing on Israel!

We stopped along the highway for Dean and Torrey to ride the camel.  This guy stands out here every day giving camel rides.  Well worth the 15 shekels!  As you can see, we were currently at Sea Level ... before the end of the day we would be at the lowest place on earth.  And, the bedouin guy ... he lives in the hills behind us ... him and his camel.  We joked that he probably drives a mercedes compliments of crazy tourists who are willing to pay 15 shekels to ride a camel!

Clearly this wasn't his first rodeo because bedouin guy has mad photography skills.  He insisted on taking the picture ... thus ensuring we got our 15 shekels worth!

Then he took the camel (and Dean and Torrey) and posed them in front of the desert.  At this point I was beginning to think we got a steal for the 15 shekels!

And, yes, the Staples Easy button was in every camel picture we took.  Another reason we have to go back ... to get camel pictures without the easy button!  

After taking a bazillion pictures with the camel (and easy button), we jumped in the car and continued to our next destination ... MASADA.  Along the way we stopped the car so I could take a picture of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1967.  For over a thousand years scrolls of the scriptures were protected in giant jars ... only to be discovered by a shepherd boy throwing rocks in caves as he tended his goats.  God says His Word will remain forever.  Forever.

We got to Masada and took a cable car to the top of the mountain.  Masada is a fort that at one time was Herod's summer palace ... yes, THE Herod who wanted to kill baby Jesus.  When the Temple was destroyed (along with Jerusalem), a small group of Jews went to Masada and held it against the Roman Army for over 2 years.  Soldiers in the Israeli army are sworn in at Masada, today.  It is a place of great honor to the Israelis.

From the top you can see to the Dead Sea all the way to the Mountains of Moab.  We were lucky this day ... the mountains were taking on a purple hue.  It was breathtaking.  

Dean and I trekked down a lot of stairs to go to the site of Herod's palace.  It sits in the front of Masada (in the crows nest).  Halfway down I realized that I would have to climb back UP those stairs.  Oh my.  Worth the trip.  The breezes were amazing ... which is why he built the palace there.  And the view ... gorgeous!

We rode the cable car back down.  Next time I am going to take that curvy path down ... it is called the "snake path" ... as we went down we saw many brave souls giving it a shot.  So, count that as another reason we HAVE to go back ... so I can try the snake path!

After eating lunch (yummy falafels!) and stalking Chuck Swindoll, we stopped at the Dead Sea.  So called because of the high content of salt ... nothing can live in the water.

Again ... loving the view!  

Torrey braved the water.  It was warmer here.  We were cracking up at the swimmers who would go "floating" by ... because of the salt you don't sink!  You can see the mountains of Moab right behind Torrey ... that is actually Syria.  A bit too close for comfort.  

It was a pretty spectacular birthday for our girl ... can't believe she is 14!