A Day in the Desert

On Monday I made a "quick" trip down to Timna Park, near Eilat, to do some end-of-the-year things for the Tabernacle (which I am slowly beginning to become involved in, administratively-speaking). I was hoping to take my lovely wife and bundles of pure joy with me this time, but a nasty round of high fevers set in the day before and scuttled my best-laid plans. Oh well, maybe next time.

Anyway, I packed my car full of water and snacks for my 3.5 hour trip through the desert and headed on out. Traffic was unusually heavy, but this is a holiday week and it is not officially a holiday unless you sit in patience-trying Israeli traffic.

About half-way down I stopped at the Ramon crater to stretch my legs.

At the edge of the Ramon crater looking southward

The sign says that it is "forbidden" (the large red word) to feed the gazalles. For some people (like this guy), it is merely a suggestion.

As I continued I passed one of several army firing ranges. No action today but one tank was spotted (I hope it wasn't "forbidden" to take this picture).

A typical view of Timna Park from the road

A bird's eye view of Timna Park

Here it is - the (ahem) Tabernacle

How the Shekinah sees the Tabernacle

The distant mountains of Jordan (looking eastward)

Timna Park's "Solomon's Pillars" (which, unfortunately are neither pillars nor have they anything to do with King Solomon)

Although the trip took much longer than I hoped, I made it back to put the kids to bed. Not bad for one day.