in the middle east

South of the Dead Sea, but before one gets the Red Sea, lies a gigantic range of desert land called the Negev which makes up about 1/3 of the entire county. It's a high desert, full of ranging hills and lone trees, not the sandy, dune-like deserts one usually thinks of when you hear the word "desert." Perhaps "wilderness" is a better term, and that is truly what the Negev is. There are, however quite a number of cool things to see there, and after a few months of rainy Jerusalem spring, Jessica and I teamed up with our friends Mike and Kim and took a weekend trip to explore the Negev. Our first destination was a gigantic crater in the desert, many miles long and wide. It was created by some very unique geological forces, and made for great exploring. We also happend upon an ancient desert fortress city built by the same people responsible for Petra in modern Jordan. Last of all went for a hike in a huge canyon-fissure carved out the desert floor by millenia of flash-floods. It's not every weekend one gets to cruise around in a middle-eastern desert, and we were very impressed by the amazing sights to be found there. To see more, Click Here.