One of the great things about travelling with Dad (check his blog for all things Biblical or Archaelogical) or my sister (She reports on all things beautiful) is that I actually appear in pictures as they are both far superior photogs than I. In this I am considering Israel’s ‘Grand Canyon,’ the Machtesh Ramon. It is a crater that was formed when volcanic pressure caused the bed rock to buckle upwards till it cracked then the space between the cracks eroded away. Coming from the South across the Negev (via the Wilderness of Paran for the OT geeks) you are gradually eased into as the prevailing winds have worn down the S. Rim to a greater degree. I, however, am standing on the North Rim. Coming from Beer Sheva the whole thing is simply preposterous. One moment you are just noodling across the desert the next moment the desert is 3000 feet below you.