Masada

So, its over a month since we returned from Israel, but I am still reflecting on the experiences we had over there. I'm still on Day 6, and for some reason this day is taking a long time to work through... there was so much.

After a quick dip in the Dead Sea, our crew made its way to Masada, just before the cable car stopped running. Gerry and Mark had been looking forward to coming here all day. As you can see, there is a trail of switchbacks about 2.5 miles long up towards the top of the mountain... several of us ran it!

Congrats Scott for getting to the top first.

It was hard for me to just book it up the trail because there were too many amazing views all around me. Periodically I would look up from my shoes out towards the Sea with the desert in the back ground and the dusk becoming sky overhead. These are truly awe-inspiring moments.

Don't we have a beautiful world?

Well, the story of Masada is a bit less than beautiful to me, but still something that makes you think. Check it out if you are interested in a more detailed version, but basically the Israelite's chose to kill themselves instead of facing assurance of death by the Roman Army. They killed themselves before the Romans stormed their fort because they new they would be forced to worship their gods and didn't want to face that temptation.

Now this is the site where they commission new Israeli soldiers.

There have been battles in this land for thousands of years!