The Lowest Point on Earth

Today we drove back north. The day was the coldest yet of our entire journey, and the wind was blowing hard. It felt like we were back in Massachusetts. We traveled over curvy mountain roads, alternating from mountain tops to valleys. Needless to say, when we were at high altitudes it was the coldest. Where we stopped for lunch, we were freezing, and the owner of the restaurant brought us a tableside heater. The scenery was magnificent, but I have taken so many pictures of mountains that today I was not as inspired.

We drove through craggy canyons, pastoral hills, and then we descended, and descended, until we reached the Dead Sea, which is not only the saltiest body of water anywhere, but also the lowest place on earth.

The temperature soared by about 20 degrees F. when we reached the seashore. Salt deposits along the coast were colorful. I would have loved to swim and feel the buoyancy of the salty water, but we still had a long drive ahead of us.

We are now in the city of Madaba, on the outskirts of Amman, and just had dinner at our hotel, which was A1.

This is our second blog of the day. If you haven’t seen the previous one, you may want to look at it. Petra was all you would expect, and then some.