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| Herod's palace way up there on the face of the Masada hill can be imagined pretty well with the ruins that are excavated. |
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| This display shows how the adjacent hills were engineered to bring rainwater to the Masada cisterns. You could pour a pitcher of water over the display and the water channeled down those paths along the hillside into the little cistern. Amazing. |
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| I kept taking photos of "nothing" because it was so barren and rocky. |
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| Tourists walking around the top of the mountain |
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| We walked down many steps to get to the bottom of this huge cistern. |
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| Taking a break part way up - it was very hot and very steep! |
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| Finally at the top - ruins of lots of buildings. Amazing to have had so many people living up here. |
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| A lovely view of the Dead Sea |
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| You can see the dirt ramp coming up to the back of Masada, that the Romans built and used to finally defeat the Jews. |
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| We had 4 adult baptisms today! Here's Nick |
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| ...and his wife Robin |
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| ...Dustin... |
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| ...and Freddie! |
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| The baptismal gate only gets hung on the wall during baptisms |
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| We were all overjoyed today - such a blessing |
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| Jim Townsend mopping up the extra water. |
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| Praise God! |
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| We are especially blessed to have Roy and Marilyn, our missionaries to Burkina Faso, here with us today. |
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| We left the city to head to the Dead Sea area. I want you to note how different this landscape is from what we saw up north. |
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| The dead sea - a little odd to see no vegetation near the water |
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| Now and then we drive by a little oasis |
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| Nearing Masada |
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| We are now starting the long climb up the hill. We only saw a few other folks going up. Quite a few rode the cable car to the top, and some younger ones walked down from the top. |
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| As we walk we realize how effective this defense is! |
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| Beth looking out at Dad and Bill Watson discussing how to proceed to alleviate our flooding basements problems. Everyone has been having to deal with too much rain in our area. |
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| At the end of the walk we've come around to the north of the dome |
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| Shannon - a lovely traveling companion |
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| This was the other thing we saw a lot of in Israel - cats! They were everywhere. |
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| Ruins of the pool of Bethesda |
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| St Ann's Basilica, the church that had incredible acoustics. That's Charlie over there. |
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| Another fun time together |
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| Midsummer night - I see my first firefly of the year. I clearly don't know how to photograph one though! |
