Trip to Eilat

During Chanukah, we went to Eilat, way in the South of Israel (our hotel was so near the end of Eilat that we followed the signs that directed us towards Egypt!).

The drive there is through a lot of empty land.  I loved the "beware of camels" signs

B''H, we had SUCH a nice time.  We stopped on the way down at Mitzpe Ramon, one of the Grand Canyon-like places in Israel.  

ibex abound

Our Eilat trip was through Rabbi Beryl Wein's Destiny Foundation.  Rabbi Wein spoke every night, as did Rabbi Zev Leff.  The talks were really wonderful.  It was nice to be with a group as there were lots of English-speakers around and we met some other nice people who also live in our town, but, overall, we were on our own (the tours from the group started at ten each morning and there is no way our kids would have been ready to leave by then.  It's vacation, after all!).

We went snorkeling right off the beach, which was pretty amazing, even for me (as a poor swimmer, I stayed close enough to shore to be able to see people's feet.  And they were standing...., but even I got to see some pretty fish).  Trip highlight was going to the Underwater Observatory .  I actually remember being here as a teenager with USY Pilgrimage (Hi, Cousin Mark!), and I figured that anything that stayed in my memory as "awesome" for 30 years was worth a re-visit.  Yup, didn't disappoint.  It was incredible to be underwater with the fish and coral all around.  And yet we were dry and I wasn't worried about drowning :).

view from the top of the observatory.  You can see coral in the water to the left, before the beach

Looking at the rocky mountains so near the beaches, I had to wonder who first had the idea, "hey, gang--let's make a fabulous resort city right here!".  As you can see, the mountains are RIGHT nearby

  I'll leave you with

--a photo of "boy, the things they have to say on the hotel info in the Middle East!"

--a beautiful sunset photo

and wish you