Uncle Paul and Aunt Laura are celebrating the wedding of a nephew over the next few days, so we decided to go away for two nights to give them some space. It’s not an easy thing to host four additional humans in your house for five weeks and we are grateful. The bus ride to Ein Gedi was surprisingly easy and it was fun to watch the terrain change out the window.
The hotel is on a kibbutz, but the accommodations are nicer than the hotels we typically stay in. For most of the afternoon Adena worked in the room, diligently getting her hours in for the day.
I took the girls to the pool and we stayed there for over two hours. There were people there from all over: Los Angeles, Paris, Hungary.
The second photo is of them looking east toward the Dead Sea, which is billed as the lowest place on Earth. It really does feel like an oasis here and the place is surrounded by rocky, dry hills like this.
In addition to being hyper salty, the Dead Sea contains minerals that are believed to improve skin (see Ahava cosmetics) and contribute to the strange color of the water.
After dinner I took a short walk and snapped a few photos. The one below shows the moon above the Dead Sea, but doesn’t fully capture the effect due to the haze in the distance and reflection of the hills on the Jordanian side in the water.
On the way back to the room the wind was blowing and the smell of sulphur was strong in the air. We’ll get up really early tomorrow so Adena can join us for an activity here before her work day starts.
Keeping It Israel 