Masada and the Dead Sea!

This past Sunday we went on our field trip to Masada, the Dead Sea, En Gedi, and Qumran (Where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found). Here are some pictures and high lights:

I think I've seen this once. Supposedly it's about 7 hours long, so I'm sure I didn't see the whole thing, but I remember it. But then again, who wouldn't be able to remember 1,000 Zealot Jews committing suicide while 15,000 Roman Soldiers were bringing down their fortress?

Mighty Masada

We had to take a tram up to the top. It kind of reminded me of the tram at snowbird. It was super high up!

Me and the view of the Dead Sea from the top of Masada. You can't really tell from the picture but it really was pretty in a red sand deserty kind of way.

Who knew that Masada has the largest cistern in Israel???? Well, it does! We were stoked to see yet ANOTHER cistern. Look at that excitement.

You can find this picture (or one very similar to it) on the Masada brochure.

And now on to the DEAD SEA!

Here we have it. The Dead Sea. Yes, you really do float. It's so crazy! You can be completely "standing" in the water without touching the ground. A group of us even played a game of go fish in the water. The Dead Sea was so fun, it rocked my world.

This is Steve floating in the Dead Sea. And just to clear everything up, yes, he is wearing a swimsuit.

And of course we had to play with the Dead Sea mud.....

The black mud compared to my extremely white skin is almost alarming! Good thing summer is just around the corner.



After the Dead Sea we went to En Gev which is a nature preserve with lots of waterfalls. It was really pretty, we hiked around a bit. Unfortunately I have no pictures of it due to my camera getting killed by the Dead Sea. But this site was where David had the chance to kill Saul while he was "sleeping" (but in all reality, I've learned, Saul was actually going to the bathroom in the cave, not sleeping). We then went to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, which was kind of interesting.......if it weren't after a very long day and I didn't smell like sulfur and have other issues, it probably would have been great. But at that point I don't think I have ever been more disinterested in something. EXCEPT for I learned a cool connection between Joseph Smith and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Apparently the Scrolls use a name for Moses that doesn't appear in ancient scripture until Joseph Smith translates the book of Moses. That's pretty awesome! I love learning about connections like that.

So, the Dead Sea....CHECK! Masada....CHECK! Good day and a fun field trip.