Up and Down and Up and Down

Up we woke at 5 a.m.to walk
down town to Abraham hostel where the power was suddenly out.  Hmmmm, we thought, something might be
up, but it was fine. Until, however, Dave walked
down the hall to use the WC and had to light
up the room with his cell phone so he wouldn’t fall
down in the dark.  We also met
up with Amy,  a Christian girl from Medford,
down south from where we live.  She had been
up in Serbia for a month with missionary friends.
Down from Jerusalem we rode in a bus — A BUS! — and
Up to Masada which is way, way out in the desert.
Down came the price of the entrance with a coupon from Abraham tours, which was only 130 NIS.  Next we rode

Up to the tippy-top of the mountain in a cable car, waving
down to Amy and the young hostel kids walking
up the snakey trail.  At the top we strolled
Down steep steps to see Herod’s northern palace and gaze at the dead sea and Jordan beyond.

Below us were the remnants of a Roman seige ramp leading
up to the mountain. Farther

down below lay ruins of where those Romans camped. Soon it was time to walk
Up again to board the cable car and ride
down to the parking lot to catch our bus.

Up the road for a half hour we arrived
Down in En Gedi, meaning “spring of the goat.”  This is where David and his army hid
Up in really cool caves because he was

down in the dumps. He probably wrote Psalm 121 here, which mentions how he lifted his eyes
up to the hills, where his help comes from. Not feeling at all
down or dumpy today, we’re glad we hiked
up to the waterfall to put our hot feet

down in the cool spring. Looking out for coonies in the crannies, we grannies didn’t see any, nor Ibex neither
up on the mountain. Then we sauntered
down the trail to buy iced coffees because we needed some
uplifting after that hot hike.

Down then to the dead sea, a place not
up above sea level, for sure.  We changed into our swim suits and walked
down to the water where our feet floated
up!  In fact, it was really hard to get them back
down, probably because we were wearing sandals.  Jim and Dave decided to go
up to where Tim was guarding our stuff, but we ladies scooped
down under the salty, salty water for mud to rub all over ourselves.  You’d probably like to see those pics, but Tim has them
up in his camera and I’ll get them tomorrow.  Maybe.  Lastly, we rode the bus back

UP TO JERUSALEM and sat
down for dinner before going
up to bed.