Heading Down South

As the holidays came to a close, I knew I needed to get out of Tel Aviv now or else I wouldn't have a chance to take a vacation for quite some time. So, my friend, Michelle, had a great idea (also from Dunwoody, friend from high school), and we hopped into a car and drove down to southern Israel.

For those of you not familiar with Israel's geography, it's small, real small. Israel is about the size of New Jersey, but unlike the Garden State, Israel has a wide variety of climates and different topographies. Going south meant we would be leaving the concrete of the big city and discovering the sands of the desert. The whole southern desert in Israel is called the Negev and it is absolutely stunning. I had been there before, but it had been more than 8 years since I went as part of my first trip in Israel. The views were even more breathtaking than I remembered!

We started out on a Wednesday in a rented Subaru. Now that I'm 25 (still scary) I can rent a car! I hadn't driven in about 3 months and miraculously, there wasn't a problem at all... well, not a technical driving problem... keep reading for the other car trouble:) The drive down took us by the Dead Sea and long stretches of road with huge desert mountains rising up on either side. Wow!

We stayed on Kibbutz Ketura, which is about 30 minutes north of Eilat (the southern most city in Israel, located on the Red Sea). We visited with friends of Michelle's, Tova and Nissan and their two adorable kids, Avram and Sivan. That's the picture of the six of us above. We stayed down there for a few nights and it was an extremely relaxing and fun trip. The first day Nissan, myself and another friend hiked up the mountains behind the kibbutz. The second day, Nissan grilled up a huge steak and we sat outside and enjoyed it with some cool beers. Also, we were down there for the end of the holiday Succot and were there to celebrate both Shabbat and Simchat Torah (the annual completion of reading the Torah). I know I need to define what a kibbutz is and these holidays are, but I'll save that for the next post (which will come sooner, I promise:). I would like to send a big THANK YOU to Tova and Nissan. They showed us a great time and were incredible hosts. Toda raba!

Time for the funny story: I have fond memories of rolling down sand dunes in the Negev from my first trip here when I was 16. So, Michelle and I set out to find some dunes. We got some instructions and when we found the road to get there, it looked like it might involve driving on some bumpy terrain. No problem. So we're bumping along this "off-road" and after a few minutes come upon a sign. I say, "Hey, Michelle, what does that sign say?" and she replies "Danger." Well, I guess I didn't put two and two together and kept driving. Fifteen feet later, the front wheels of the car are spinning, filling up with sand and we're stuck! Luckily we saw some camels passing and had them drag us out. Ok, that's not true:) However, we did come across some nice people about 20 minutes later with a Land Rover who towed us out. Modern technology is marvelous though and we weren't really worried, because we'd already phoned in for help. Moral of the story: When driving in the desert, pay attention to signs that say 'Danger!'
hahahahhahaha

Ok, this post is long enough. I apologize for taking so long to write. I will do better!