Day 97

Masada

Actual wall art

Whitney and I in Masada

The siege ramp

Masada

See that path? That would be what grandpa walked all the way up.

The Dead Sea

Andy and I just floating around.

The Dead Sea

Ein Gedi

Ein Gedi

Katie and I walking Ein Gedi.

Pretty much holding Ben up by myself. Ein Gedi.

Ein Gedi.

Katie and I are pretty strong.

The Qumran Caves

Cave number 11(it might have been 4, we were having a bit of a debate),
where most of the scrolls were found.

Awkward tourist photo with Lauren.

Mikvah, it was ruined by an earth quake. 

Sunday. The 4th of December.

Another field trip day! This morning we had breakfast at six, so I had to get up nice and early to shower. Our first stop of the day was at Masada! The entire time I just kept thinking about grandpa and how he walked up, we didn't have time so we all took the tram. But the walk up is pretty long, I was impressed that grandpa did it. I didn't want to walk it. In our field trip manual says that it is an impregnable fortress, which is a bit ironic because it actually was conquered. Although it took years for it to be taken, because it is in such an inaccessible spot. The Romans, who took it, had to build a giant siege ramp. Huntsman toured us around for a little while, then we got to wander by ourselves. I walked around alone and searched for pottery shards and just explored the whole area. Masada was a pretty fascinating site. We got back on the bus and drove to the Dead Sea! We each had to pay two shekels to get into the bathroom, which was lame. Because it took forever for all sixty of us girls to get through and changed. And we were only allowed one hour on there. When I finally got through the line I walked with the little Ludlow girls down to the beach, okay it wasn't a beach. It was a rocky shore line where the waves were crashing into the shore. But the rocks were crystalized by all the salt, making everything super pointy and sharp. So everything hurt to walk on. And once you managed to walk on the awful rocks and didn't get pushed over by the huge waves you could actually float! It was super fun, you literally just sit there and do nothing and just float! It was a weird feeling. But after being splashed by the big waves and feeling all of my skin stinging from the poisonous water, I successfully got out with out dying. There was a handful of people who got pushed into the crystalized rocks by the waves and got cut up pretty badly. I had to pay two more shekels to use the showers and change back to my clothes. So floating was fun, but I don't think I would ever do it again. A fun once in a life time experience. But my skin hurt from the salt, my feet were about to fall off from the pointy rocks, and I got some of the disgusting water in my mouth. We then drove across the street to Ein Gedi Nature Reserve. It was where Solomon chased David. It had a bunch of little waterfalls and some little animals. It was a pretty area to walk around. Our last stop was at Qumran. Which is were the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, a community of Essenese Jews lived here as well. It is thought that perhaps they wrote the scrolls and hid them up in the caves of the mountain, where the scrolls were found. The site is full of mikvaot, ritual baths that the Essenese purified themselves in at least twice a day. I asked Huntsman today what the difference between mikvah and mikvaot was. Obviously mikvaot is the masculine form, the suffix -ot makes it plural. Whereas mikvah is the feminine singular form. We then ended our day and went back to the center, a short thirty minute drive. I then showered for the third time today and finally got all of the salt off. We had chocolate cakes at dinner, they were delicious. After dinner I watched the Sound of Music and Jack Frost with Leslie and Kaitlyn. Fun day! Were on our last page of the calendar, only twelve days left.