Masada, Israel

Masada is where almost 1,000 Jews fled after Rome had destroyed Jerusalem.

They lived here for 3 years at 1,300 feet up before they decided rather than be conquered themselves, they would commit suicide.

View from the tram.

One of the many giant store rooms.

The remains of Harod's palace at Masada. He has built the complex during his reign. It was about 75 years after his death that the Jews used it to protect themselves from the Romans.

Aaron climbing the path of Harod's palace.

Qumran, Israel

Our first day and first stop in Israel was Qumran.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found here in 1947.

Looking over the Dead Sea.

One of the caves where they were found.

I'm at it with the umbrella again. This place was HOT!

Me and my "Asian Umbrella Twin". They're the only ones who think smart, like me.

Aaron exploring around Qumran with some friends on the group.

Welcome to Israel

What should have taken us MAX an hour, (about 30 miles) took about 4 hours.
Israel isn't the easiest.

Warning: People dressed casually will be carrying large guns. I guess it was "casual Friday."

We're M.I.A.

We've been in Israel for 2 days now.
Another week to go.

We appreciate you're patience, posting will be postponed.

Let's get one thing straight, people.

We were in Aqaba, not...












Agrabah.

Two tickets to Paradise

I was more than a little heart broken when we decided that unemployed people shouldn't stay at luxury resorts.

We decided to hangout, beach, eat and swim there all weekend instead.

It was so sad to say goodbye to the Intercontinental.
We'll be back.

Ridin' Dirty

Leo was kind enough to show Aaron and I around his factory where he makes armored cars, that's right, bullet proof, grenade proof, indestructible, armored cars.

Leo's company, makes regular cars bullet-proof, so no one will know that you are indestructible.

On the left is the bullet proof windshield. On the right is regular windshield.
I know which one I want!
click to to enlarge this one, you'll want to see the difference.

Aaron's demonstrating how you load groceries the bullet proof way.

Out and About in Aqaba

We took our host, Leo, out to dinner one night at Captain's.
Welcome Aboard.

View of the harbor, just after sunset.

Dinner on the harbor.

It's not everyday you're walking down the street and see a camel tied to a tree, eating.

Snorkeling @ Royal Diving Club

We escaped down to Aqaba for the weekend for some R and R.

It's kind of like the 4 corners of the Middle East.
You can see Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

We had such a great time soaking up the sun, eating, swimming, and snorkeling.

The snorkeling was the best I've ever seen!

Coral reefs line the shore, all you do is walkout on the dock and there were fish everywhere!

Signing off.

We're out for the weekend.
Trying to escape the heat and noise in Aqaba.

Posting will resume on Sunday.

June

It's is going to be one crazy month for us.

First...

Aqaba, Jordan

Then...

Israel

Lastly...

Petra


I think we'll be away more than we will be home.

Home Sweet Home

Our House. We're on the ground floor. That's our gate to the left.
We get to buzz people in and everything!

Front patio with little garden.

View from the front door.

to the left- 3rd bedroom, small bath and kitchen
to the right-living room, full bath and master bedroom (our room)
straight ahead-exit to back patio, roommate's bedroom

Living room. Notice the couch, loveseat, and 3 armchairs.
You need lots of seating because strict Muslims will sit only by their spouse or by themselves.
I caught my roommate, Brooke, reading.

This is a pretty regular thing here to have a shower head coming out from the wall. All the floors have drains. Luckily, this is our second bath so we never use this shower.

Our kitchen. We have fruits and veggies scattered everywhere drying. It's a process to have everything washed the right way so we can can eat it.

* we have these blinds in all our rooms. They are FANTASTIC, when you roll them all the way down they block out all light. I wonder where I can find them back home?

Full bathroom. Notice the Sponge Bob Square Pants bathmat? It's the most decent one we could find.

Our room. Just off the full bath. "Pretty dang exciting, hu?"