Down to the Dead Sea

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After breakfast we drove east and south the to lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. On the way we stopped in the Judan hills at sea level where most of us rode a camel. I felt sorry for the camel when I got on. He was obviously used to small Arabs. The camel master asked me “How many kilo do you weigh?” We then drove into the wilderness area associated with John the Baptist via the Oasis of Ein Gedi to Masada.
At this great mountain fort were the Jews fought the Romans, we took the cable car up to the summit where we visited the excavations and heard the story about the Zealots and how they choose suicide over slavery in the war against the Romans. It was a beautiful vista looking over to the Dead Sea about 2800 ft. in elevation below the summit.

Continued on to the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Saw the cave where the first scrolls were discovered. We explored the other ruins there including the area where many of the scrolls were written, homes, ritual baths, etc. At Qumran we had lunch with about a thousand other people....no exaggeration!

Then we went to the beach at the Dead Sea where many in the group swam - "floated" in the Dead Sea. You can not swim in the sea because it is 30+ salt. The mud from the Dead Sea is “mined” for minerals and is also famous for its cosmetic value...mud packs , etc. We returned to Jerusalem at sunset (got a lovely picture included in this post). We had dinner and group meeting to prepare for tomorrow....our final day.
Tomorrow we will visit four different museums and have communion at the Garden Tomb, before having supper and leaving for the airport in Tel Aviv. We will leave Israel at 1 am Thursday morning (Israel time) and arrive in New York at 6:00 am Thursday Eastern Standard Time.

I will catch a plane in NY for Washington D.C., on to Houston, and finally back to Tulsa about 5:30 pm. Therefore, I will not have a blog tomorrow since I will be en route. However, I will put the final day on the blog when I get home and have a long sleep in my own bed.

This has been an experience of a life-time. More than I even imagined. Thank you for your prayers and for sharing this journey with me on this blog and Facebook.
Shalom and good night from Jerusalem.

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