The Hadassah Trail - August 31st, 2012

We met at the entrance to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. After everyone arrived and parked we started walking along the Hadassah Trail.

The trail runs along a black trail, the Israel Trail and the Jerusalem Trail. It goes around the hospital, visiting some interesting sites along the way.

We visited Ein Sarig, Ein Chindak and walked along the remains of a roman road.

Unfortunately, we made a wrong turn that cut our walk short.

For a map of our walk, visit Endomondo.

Thanks to everyone who came for a nice, but short, walk.

Stargazing in Makhtesh Ramon - August 16th, 2012

We drove down to the Beerot campground in Makhtesh Ramon.

After a short walk, we spread out for our guided tour of the sky by Ira the Star Man.

We learned about the various constellations, stars, galaxies, and other things we can see in the sky.

The lucky ones saw some shooting stars, part of the Perseid Meteor Shower.

We also had a chance to look through a telescope at objects that are not visible through the naked eye.

We also had the opportunity to hold space rocks in our hands! A 5 kg iron-nickel meteor from Argentina, and a piece of the raw material of the solar system, with microscopic diamonds, Amino acids, and space goulash.

We returned to the camp ground to sleep. Some people saw a fox come in to the tent looking for food. Reports of missing pretzels were filed.

In the morning, we had breakfast, and then made our way back north.

Thanks to Phyllis, for organizing the event, and to Ira, for making the sky come alive.