To airport via Mitzpe Ramon and other Negev Sights

Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Tel Aviv, Israel
It's Tuesday, which means we won't see a bed for two days. Got up at 6:30 AM for our 8:45 AM final luggage check. Left promptly at 9 AM for our drive through the Negev (Desert). Our first stop was at King Solomon's Pillars in Timna Park. We hiked up to various areas around the pillars and viewed some ancient petroglyphs on the rocks (older than those in Red Rock Canyon, NV). The stop wouldn't be complete without a concert by Yossi in the shadow of the pillars. We continued our drive through the Negev to Mitzpe Ramon, a Russian Jewish settlement area to view the Makhtesh Ramon Crater (not really a crater, but a geological formation unique to the area). We walked along the edge of the cliff (no guard rail most of the way) for some spectacular views. There were Ibex, part of the ram family, in the park. They are normally a wild animal, but have been semi-domesticated by the population of the area. Went to a food complex for our last lunch on the road. Had our cheese sandwiches and a Mc Donald's sundae. What more could you ask for. Next stop was the grave site of David Ben Gurion at Kibbutz Sde Boker This is the area he retired to enjoying his 6 mile walks every day to view the wilderness of Zin (aka desert). Yossi played one of Ben Gurion's favorite pieces for our final "concert."  On the way to dinner in Beer Sheva, capital of the Negev, we passed an Army training exercise on the side of the road extending into the foothills. We had our farewell dinner at a local Israeli restaurant with more food and wine than we could consume. One of the local company managers was in attendance and we all were asked to speak regarding the good and/or bad on the trip. We were told before the discussion that the hotel in Jerusalem was going to be changed on future tours. We all had basically the same comments.   After dinner we had about a one hour ride to the airport. Arrived about 4 hours early for our 1 AM flight which was just about enough time to get through all the checkpoints as follows: 1. Security interview and passport check, 2. X-ray of luggage, 3. Extra screening of luggage due to Dead Sea salt on my water shoes, 4. boarding pass line and luggage forwarding (we lucked out and checked through to Las Vegas and got our boarding passes because we had a great lady helping us), 5. Passport exit control check, 6. Carry on luggage screening and passport check (shoes stay on), 7. Final passport check at boarding. Also took time to change clothes before boarding.


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