Red Sea Snorkeling & the Cow Kibbutz!

BEST. FREE DAY. EVER.
Yesterday was a 16-hour adventure down to Eilat, a little Israeli-style resort town on the north end of the Red Sea, right on the Egyptian border where we were a couple of weeks ago!
Basically... it was fantastic.  Driving 3 or 4 hours one way just for a day trip is kind of a lot, but definitely worth it, and the carsickness on the way there!

The water in the Red Sea is SO salty... didn't see that coming!  But the coral reefs along the coast there are amazing.  I was only a couple dozen feet away from the shore and was snorkeling with the most gorgeous fish I've ever seen!  Seriously, it was incredible--some parrot fish, don't know what the rest were, but there were 2-foot-long rainbow or shimmery turquoise and purple fish staring me in the face just inches from my nose!  I'd never done any snorkeling before, but I was just blown away.  Wish I'd had an underwater camera!
(Here's with Megan, Ally, Miriam, and Tahna as we're getting ready to leave!) 

The sea itself is gorgeous. The part we were at is actually called the Gulf of Aqaba (Lawrence of Arabia-- ring a bell?) From where I was standing on the Israeli side, I could look straight across and see Jordan (those are actually the mountains in the background of this picture!)  And if you look just to the right, southeast, there's Saudi Arabia.  And walking distance directly south? You're in Egypt. :) SO cool!It's kind of like Four Corners in the US... but way better ;)

(Oh, craziest part of yesterday?  I forgot to put sunscreen on my back and I hardly even got burned! Sadly, however, the sun had zero effect on my obviously-still-white legs. Sigh.)

Ok, maybe it's hard to see in the picture, but those mountains in Jordan are closer than they look... and there go the scuba divers into the water!  Apparently the snorkeling along this coast is a big deal :)

After the beach, we spent a little while just perusing the little mall and the shops along the shore.  It was kind of fun to see a couple American-ish stores in this part of the world!  One thing I've noticed, by the way, is how many shoe stores there are around here!  Wonder why.
Also--we found a few super creepy mannequins. 
Exhibit A...

When we were done in Eilat we were definitely needing some chow.  We drove about an hour back into Israel to the kibbutz where we actually stopped for dinner on the way back from Egypt!  No one can really remember what it's called, but there are these cow statues everywhere...  I think their dairy is across the road with the rest of the actual kibbutz.  And, second time around, this place still holds the title for having the best ice cream I've tasted in Israel.  Cookies & cream?  Oh, yes!!

Three more hours of driving, and we're back at the Center.  I slept pretty well last night ;) Such a fantastic day!