Hiking along the Jordan River

On a beautiful Saturday morning we took off with our hiking group  for a  7 mile hike  along a part of the famous Jordan River (Our Eastern Border),due to the “dry” winter the water was low and in some places the river looked like a stream rather than a river, but we took what was offered  enjoying the day  and the company.

It is one of our last hikes this year ,before we take off to collect our Rig and discover Missouri-Arkansas-N.Texas ending the trip in Colorado Springs (See my Previous Posts).

Our  bus collected us along the route starting at 6M dropping us of at the Trek Head at 8:30M, we had to carry the food and water in our backpacks  because  we will not meet the bus till the end of the trek and it will allow us to  have our meal along the way next to the water.

Our guide stopped at places of interest and explained the history of the area , it also gave us the chance to get the load from our feet and dry the sweat that was running down our backs.

At noon it really became hot ,but the fantastic views compensated us and gave us the drive to go on  sometimes uphill path.

          

As we get closer to the summer  we could see how the grey and yellow colors are replacing the green colors and soon it would be like a desert with not a drop of rain till the next winter.

  A very   nice blue flower is seen at this time of the year for a short period adding to the whole ambiance ,even the bees drop by for their last time this year.

                

The Jordan River runs from North to South entering on the way into our ONLY lake –the Kineret,it is very impressive sight and interesting to see the flow into the lake, it is best seen from the view point at the end of the hike  where our driver was waiting for us with hot tee and treats.

                                                                                 

The high hills on the left are the Golan Heights.

Once I asked a friend rv’er from Minnesota “you guys have more than 1600 lakes in you State ,give us ONE –it will double the number of our lakes in the country and you will not feel the difference”

somehow IT DID NOT WORK…..

Holiday Lunch

Some of the kids have in-laws that would also love to have them next to their table during the “Seder” traditional dinner, so our youngest son and his wife with their beautiful 3 months old daughter went through the “Seder” dinner in their place, but we had a “deal” – on the following day ‘lunch at our place with all 3 of our kids and grand kids.

So on top of the 3 kids we invited my brother ,his wife and my 92 year young mother-4 generations at one place…

 

Woow what an event….they all get along and it was all fun…with Ellie (the youngest) as a center piece.

Happy Holidays.

Passover (Pesah) 2014 family dinner

Every year we have the family traditional dinner in our place,we read the Haggada and the kids are participating through the whole evening telling the “story” ,passing the tradition from one generation to the next one.

The kids love this holiday especially due to the fact that they can stay late as long as they like,they sing ,dance and play till the small ones start to fall asleep followed by the elder ones.

 

History
At every Passover seder, Orthodox, Reform and secular Jewish families alike recite the story of their ancestors' dramatic redemption from hundreds of years of collective bondage. The haggadah, which is read and sung throughout the meal, tells the tale of the Hebrew enslavement by Pharaoh, the chutzpah of Moses (backed by God, of course) asking the Egyptian ruler to let his people go (Moses' name is not actually mentioned in the haggadah in deference to the ultimate sovereignty of God), the Ten Plagues that inundated Egypt when Pharaoh refused and, finally, the last-second escape of the Israelites through the miraculously parted Red Sea.

So fast was their exodus, the Hebrews had no time to let their dough rise. Thus, to the chagrin of many young and old Jews, the week-long festival is observed in part by eating unleavened bread, aka matzo.

Traditions
Despite this ubiquitous flat cracker, Passover is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays, perhaps because it is, like Hanukkah, so family- and children-oriented. The youngest person at the seder traditionally ask the Four Questions, highlighting why Passover is such a special time in the year. And toward the end of the meal, children search high and low for the afikomen, a symbolic bit of matzo that brings out the competitive side of even the shyest of kids.

But adults get their fill, too. The commandment to drink four cups of wine (each of which represents one of the times God promised to deliver the slaves into freedom) results in lively, festive banter.

  Happy Holidays

Day trip to Mt.Azmon

In the North part of the country just North West of the Galilee Lake, Mount Azmon was our daily hike in a beautiful March weather.

The Mountain is an elevation standing high above the surrounding area with small summit area, steep slopes and local relief of 300m or more.

Our group bus picked us up at 6:30 AM and we started the hike around 8AM  just after having breakfast at the starting point, it was nice to meet the group again get the late updates, they all are curious about our “crazy” RV trips….”is the trailer yours?”” how do you know where to go?” “where do you leave it?” and so on and on, but we are happy to share our outstanding trips with them and get them “Jealous”…

What seems natural in one place is unheard in another,but if you keep an open mind and think out of the box the world will open and you can experience and learn  interesting things from different cultures.

The beginning point was  from a top of one mountain and crossed a valley climbing to wards the pick of Mt. Azmon, the path took us through beautiful fields and old olive groves,

Some trees are hundred years old , I learned that it is difficult to tell the age of an Olive because when it get’s old the trunk begins to split and no “circles” are created to help guessing the tree age. 

     

The scenery was breath taking, the Spring was all over the place and you could get drunk from the smells,I know –NO waterfalls-Unfortunately…they are waiting for us in Missouri&Arkansas …..

Here are some more pictures from the hike showing our small but beautiful country (Believe it or not but Smaller than the Michigan Lake)….

At the end of the trip we bought ourselves a treat – small local made sweet cookies with honey and nuts…..so good tasty and fattening…. 

I think this might be our last trip before we whit the road to wards our 2014 RV trip in the US.

See you guys,I cant’ wait.

2014 RV summer plan+ need help to find winter storage near Houston TX

 

Dear friends,

As you all know we do  RV trips every summer since 2002, each trip to a new destination and one of our great pleasures is to meet friends  along the way, no matter how long we spent together we feel blessed spending time with fellow RVers.

This year we had a new addition to our family, Ellie was born in Toronto to our youngest son & his wife, she is 2 months old and we still did not see her except on Skype but will be seeing  them in April when they come to visit during the Passover  (Easter) holidays

We also are going through a rough divorce of our eldest daughter that has 3 kids, trying to help her in any way we can.

All this delays our departure from home to N.America , we will start our RV trip till August  instead of June 2014.

Our original plan was to pick our rig in June from Rick & Patt that live next to St. Louis and were very kind to store our rig during the winter, visit Missouri-Arkansas and end the trip in Colorado Springs, but due to the delay we will change the route (because of the weather) and end the trip next to Dallas in November, visiting our Colorado friends in the next summer.

 

The stops you see on our route are picked as  central location where we leave the 5W and do day trips with our TV to hikes,waterfalls,music events and places of interest, we stay as long as we like before moving to our next stop,no reservations are made what keeps us flexible.

I need your help locating a storage from November 2014 till June 2015 near Houston so we can use the international A/P to fly out/in.

Thank you and many happy trails.

Our young Champion.

While some of you are having fun RVing  because you are full-timers or early birds we have to wait for the Spring before we start our travels ,and this is due to 2 main reasons:

One – A staying permit for non residents is only for 6 months , we are RVing since 2002  every year for 4-5 months and   chose to RV in the summers leaving the “hot” States till we decide to switch seasons.

Two- We have family back home that we like to see and spend time with.

The winters in Israel are mild  so the out door activities include hiking,going to the beach ,picnicking ,planning the next RV trip, spending time with the family and attending kids / grand kids events.

I am sure you all enjoy taking a part of your family member on his/her special event like graduation,prom,wedding or any other big or small celebrations,it is specially important because some times we have to chose between being away on a RV trip or making it to the event,it is even more difficult when the family members are scattered around and we can not make it to each and every event.

Saying all that ,we try to attend EVERY event of our family member during our stay in Israel, yesterday was such an event, our 10 year old grand daughter attended an athletics  competition in her area and out of 4 schools (120 girls) she won 2 gold medals and one bronze.

 

                                                                                                          

   

                                                                                     

It was amazing to see all these kids do their drills,how serious they take it and how supportive they are ,things we  see rarely when it comes to grown ups….

We were very happy for her to get this award that come after years of training,but we would be equally happy if she would do her best and not be on the podium…

Way to go Zohar (In Hebrew-“Bright light in the sky “) 

Proud,happy and thrilled, your loving

Grandpa & Grandma

Family Picnic

Since 2002 we found our “balance” ,every summer we travel 5 months with our 5W in North America while from September till the end of May we spend time at home with family and friends.

Actually it was an easy decision as no foreigner can stay more than 6 months in the US except on special occasions such as student visa which we do not have…

During the summers we RV always to new to us destinations storing the rig at the end of each trip and picking it up from there in the Springs to discover new places,in our 12 years we always traveled to places we did not yet visit,we like to get to the mountain and then to see what is beyond it,…

During the winters we hike if the weather permits,visit the grandkids and plan the next summer trip,in some winters we take a short trip abroad to ski or just visit the place.

Last Saturday we gathered the kids and the grandkids for a picnic in the the woods,the weather was reasonable and we all had fun.

Food ,games,recreation and a camp fire kept the grandkids busy and happy even without their smartphones…

We had a special guest ,our eldest Grand Daughter (16) brought her first boy friend to meet the gang, and it went very well.

At around 4PM when the sun beams were getting weak it was the sign for us to pack the things,clean the area and head home just before the traffic picks up at the end of the day .

So just before we left here is the whole gang…the boyfriend is behind the camera.

This is winter in my country,no extreme weather except one week in December when it was snowing in Jerusalem and around it.