Chapter 30 Thurs. May 18th last day

I forgot to mention in chapter 29 that the hotel manager had red and white wine sent to each of our tables for dinner to make up for last nights fiasco. Truth be told, today was such a spectacular day that most of the hurt feelings and pain had faded to the point where we could laugh about it. i hope that was true for all of us.

Ah-h-h! No wake up call this morning for the first time in 2 weeks. After a leisurely breakfast, we take a dip in the Red Sea Red Sea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  and then lounge by the pool for an hour before having to go back to our rooms to finish packing and check-out. The beach is very pebbly and not very wide but we didn't see the sea part. One of the things I notice is that the Red Sea must be Glatt Kosher. There are no shells anywhere to be found. The water is crystal clear and blue/green (I didn't bring my camera with me this morning - sorry). We walked part of the beach and the water came up to the 12" sea wall similar to St. Augustine Beach at high tide.

We still have a full day ahead of us before the ride to the airport.

Our first side trip is to Timna Park to see King Solomon's copper mines. The ground and rocks are certainly the color of copper.

There are some interesting rock formations with kitschy Egyptian signs telling us what they're supposed to look like.

There is an enormous rock formation called Solomon's Pillars.

We also see signs for a national bike trail but this looks like some pretty rugged country to be riding a mountain bike in.

I guess this is part of the trail.

It's very reminiscent of parts of the US southwest.
We then travel to a rest stop to have a nosh & bathroom break and some of us create decorative sand bottles with different colored sand, supposedly from the ground nearby.

We then drive back towards Eilat and pull into this parking lot where I see this sign.

Apparently, Ronit thinks we still have a few Shekels in our possession. We actually go into the building next door called Eilat Stone where we are treated to a stone polishing demonstration and stand-up routine. Oh yes, it's also a shopping opportunity. I would have preferred to lounge by the pool the entire day but oh well.
 We have our very last meal together at a Mediterranean Restaurant with a price fixed menu that was an absolute bargain. It was such a bargain that the proprietor thought better of it and tried to extract a few shekels more but Ronit would have none of that.

Each of us took turns stating what the trip had meant to them and by the end of dinner, there was not a dry eye in the house.