I just got back from Masada it was a very moving experience. I got up at 4 in the morning to hike up the snake trail. The hike up took about an hour and the view from the top was very rewarding. Because of the snow and rain from the day before there was still cloud cover over parts of the dead sea and Masada, but from the top of Masada I could still see Jordan on the other side.
Masada was my favorite trip so far. I had a lot fun learning about how the Jews lived and died there. My favorite part of the trip was at then end when we stood at the edge of Masada and yelled out into the mountains “שנית! מצדה! לא! תיפל!“(Masada will not fall a second time). This also happens to be what tank commanders yell out when they finish basic training on top of Masada. It has symbolic meaning for the state of Israel. The response that we got was very cool, it sounded like there were thousands of voices yelling back at us. A nice way to think of this was that it was the voices of the dead yelling back at us.
After that I went to the dead sea, it was not as moving as Masada but it was still fun. (Even though my legs hurt a lot when I got out). Here is a pic from Masada and the dead sea…
February 20th, 2008 on 6:41 pm
So . . .was the walk to the beach at the Dead Sea easy or hard? Last we were there, it was all rocky down by the water. No sand at all right there. How about now?
February 20th, 2008 on 9:49 pm
it was actually the same place that we went to before. Not only was it rocky by the water but the rocks all had a layer of salt so they looked white.