Eilat

On the way to Eilat we stopped at many of the major and some of the minor stops. First we wanted to check out the Israeli Air Force museum on the outskirts of Beer Sheva. Lots of airplanes, and some that you can climb into. I think the kids had most fun at the playground there, though I found it interesting to look at the evoltion of the Israeli airforce from single engine propeller planes that were shipped in pieces to Israel and assembled here, to the latest jet fighters (from America).

After the airforce base we stopped at Sde Boker to see David Ben Gurion's bungalo, and stop by his grave site. There we practically ran into several families of ibex. They were so close it felt like you were at a petting zoo. From there to Maktesh Ramon, where we watched amatuers rapel off the cliff, and then a long drive through the dessert to Eilat.

Eilat in January is a little chilly - perhaps 65 degrees. Perfect weather for sightseeing, and just a little chilly for swimming. Despite my feelings, the children have been well trained by the waters of Maine and saw absolutely no reason not to swim. So swim we did in a pool with sand -- a beach simulation.



Our first day in Eilat we visited the aquarium/underwater observatory. It has great views of the fish and coral reef, and then we took a glass bottom boat ride to see even more. It would have been perfect except Dani got eaten by a shark. I wish we knew how dangerous it is in the Red Sea.







On Shabbat we visited Timna. Dena and Dani ran off for a tough 3-hour hike, while I drove around the site with Nusha and the girls, seeing the "Mushroom", the "Screw", the "Arch" and many other natural formations. We met up later to see Solomon's pillars.

Margalit Makes Challah

Margalit had an assignment to bake Challah. As you can see she really enjoyed getting her hands dirty, and the entire family enjoyed the result.

Biking the Golan (take two)

Woke up at 6:15am this morning for my second biking trip to the Golan. Danny Reiter picked me up at 6:30 and we were off on the 2 hours drive to Arik in the Southern Golan. Perched some 500meters above the Kinneret, the surround cliffs have great views of the farms along the eastern shore. It was from this area that the Syrians used to lob bombs on to the Israeli farmers below before 1967. Some of the guns were left for us to see. The understated description of the ride said there would be some ups and downs, including some scarey downhill sections.

We started off and after riding past the refet (cow shed) and the cow dung, we very quickly hit out first downhill. It was rather steep, and the it was rather muddy. Of course after enjoying a 150m of descent, payback time was just around the corner -- 150 of ascent. Well, this went on and off for most of the ride. Terrifying descents, followed by steep ascents. I kid you not when I say each up-down cycle was worse (better depending on your perspective) than the previous.

By the end there were several segments that were either too steep, or too muddy to be biked. (I suppose that's a matter of opinion, but I wasn't the only walker to say the least -- and even when I was walking, the bikers could barely keep up.) The mud was so think that at one point while walking the bike the my front wheel locked up from all the muddy clay stuck on brakes.

Some of the downhills were so steep and so long that my hands and arms hurt by the time I reached the bottom from squeezing the brakes for so long. Its always a delicate balance between going fast enough to be stable, avoiding the puddles and fellows riders, and enjoying the thrill of speed. Of course on one downhill two brilliant kids decided to race one another. Just as I was closely following somebody the two of them decide to pass us -- one on the left, and one on the right. The guy on the left ended up driving through some shrubbery and than almost knocked the guy in front of me off his bike. The two kids then regained control and sped off to the bottom off the hill. When I finally got to the bottom I overheard the one bragging to the other about how he drove right through the bushes. I think he'll soon be a candidate for a darwin award.