Masada and Ein Gedi

On Randy's last day in Israel we hiked Masada and watched Randy float in the Dead Sea. We left our house around 9 am and got to Masada by 11:30 am. It took us awhile to gather our stuff together, but we were ready to hike the mountain by noon. We climbed the mountain in 1 hour 28 minutes ~ with all 5 of us hiking. While we took the backpack for Sheridan, she ended up walking the whole way! She complained a bit about being too tired, but she was a real trooper and continued to climb. While Randy took an audio tour at the top, we took a few photos of the girls, and then we all headed down the mountain.

Our next stop was the Dead Sea. We found a small beach area where Randy was able to strip down and float for a few. He said he could have stayed there for several more hours.

On our trip back home we stopped in Jerusalem to have dinner with our cousin Katie. She wasn't able to break away for Thanksgiving, so we had to fit in a quick visit with Randy before he left. We ate dinner at her Kibbutz and spent an hour + with her, though we were all so crocked from the day that I'm not sure anything we said was coherent.

We just got back and are preparing for Randy's departure EARLY tomorrow morning. He crammed a heck of a lot into his 10 day trip and I think it was very successful. Lucky for us, we'll see him again when we head out to California in two short weeks.