Greetings from Eilat, Israel

Tonight we are in a very nice hotel sitting in the lobby drinking cappuccino after a very long day.  We hiked ALL DAY and it was a blast, but we are exhausted. This morning, we were still in the wilderness for a hike that lasted all morning and we climbed some mountains and searched for all kinds of fossils that date back to early A.D.  We ate lunch at a Bedouin picnic area and then climbed some cliffs this afternoon that was much shorter, but more intense.  We have driven south and we stopped at a lookout place where you could see 4 countries from this one spot (Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia) and overlooking the red sea.  Tomorrow I will not be able to update because we are camping out in  a Bedouin tent.  Tomorrow a.m. we are going snorkeling in the Red Sea and then tomorrow afternoon we are visiting Solomon's mines.  By the way, just a random fact...do you know why the Red Sea is called the Red Sea?  It is blue upon looking at it but the mountains surrounding the Red Sea are a brown and red granite so when it reflects off of them, they tend to have a red glow sometimes.  Our tour guide told us that today.  He is an American Christian but has lived in Israel for 30 years.  He married an Israeli pastor's wife and they have raised their family here (4 kids under the age of 7).  I must say he keeps us on our toes!