Travel Tales: Sweetman and the Hula River, and Hiking

Saturday, September 10, 2011

On this particular morning, we got up early because today we’re going kayaking on the Hula River (Sorry no pics. Cameras and cell phones weren’t aloud). I caught the sun rising over the mountain.

Before we went kayaking, we had a traditional Israeli breakfast. Three egg omelet with mushrooms, green onions, and herbs. Salad with chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. A big basket of bread (they’ve got the best bread ever). Dates. Figs. Goat cheese. Olives. Kefir. Tuna (sometimes salmon or mackerel). Fresh squeezed orange, carrot, or pomegranate juice or mix them together. Cappuccino. OMG. The Israelis know how to serve a fabulous breakfast.

So after this feast we headed to the Hula River.

Daniella: Do you want to take the family trip or the challenging trip?

Me: Sweetman would never make it on  the challenging one. Let’s do the family.

Daniella: Are you sure? The challenging one is longer and more fun.

Sweetman: I’ll do whatever you two want.

Me: We’ll do the family. I’m telling you he won’t survive the challenging one.

Daniella: Okay then.

We bought our tickets for the family one and headed out to find the bus traveling to the Hula.

Once there, we were instructed to pick a life jacket. Sweetman picked up a child-size one and put it on.

Sweetman: It doesn’t fit.

Me: Because it’s for a child.

He proceeded to try and button it across his Fluffy. It didn’t work. He grunted and groaned.

Me: It’s for a child and it will never fit around your pumpkin-sized belly.

Reluctantly, he removed the vest and mozzied around another row of them and fingered through them. He looked helpless so one of the workers helped him find the right size.

Once fitted properly, we got our kayak and ores .

Sweetman: You sit in the front.

Me: Why?

Sweetman: Because I’ve never down this before.

Yup. I pretty much figured that one out.

Daniella got in the back.

For the entire ride he sat with his arms crossed in front of his chest hanging onto his life vest for dear life. Every now and then I’d looked over my shoulder at him. Either he had the widest smile across his face or his eyes were squeezed shut.

Me: Daniella he’s got the life. Two women doing all the work battling the rapids.

She chuckled.

Me: Wonder Woman, Super Girl, and the Wimp. Wow! You’ve got it made, Sweetman. Good thing you’ve got me to protect you.

Sweetman: But I told you, I’ve never done this before.

Me: We got that.

The journey on the Hula River took us two hours.

Later that day, Sweetman and me went hiking through Galilee. Below are some of the sights we saw.

We came across avocado, apple, and peach trees. The kibbutz grows them. Below is an avocado tree.

 

 

Apple trees.

We came across an old army look out tower along with some other stuff. Sweetman says it was from the Seven Day War, in 1967.

 

 

Below is a memorial set up for it.

Below are more pics of what we saw on our adventure.

The sky was beautiful that day.

 

More avocado trees.

We saw a lot of these holes along the way. Some creatures residence I suppose.

We made it back to the kibbutz safe and sound. We walked around there for a while.

An old olive tree

Edible cactus.

We ended our evening at Focaccia, a near-by restaurant. It serves some to the finest Israeli gourmet.

Sweetman and me had the Lamb Kabob. Absolutely to die for. Total yum.

Daniella had a Chicken Lentil dish.

 

Before we went to bed, we hung out on the porch and I got a great picture of the full moon.

 

I’ll be back with more. My work schedule has been insane.

Have a great day folks!

Happy blogging, reading, and writing!

See you all later in the ink,

Shelly

Travel Tales: Day 6: Sweetman’s Grandparents, and Traveling to Ocre, Part One

Today, September 8, 2011

This morning our friend, Daniella, picked us up. She lives in Galilee but before we went all the way there Sweetman went to pay respects to his grandparents from his father’s side. He never knew them.

Sweetman was born in a little town called, Pet a Tikva. It’s twenty minutes north of Tel Aviv going toward Galilee. This is where they rest.

The story of his father’s parents is a sad one and has been somewhat a mystery since him and his family moved to the states when he was seven. Even though Sweetman does have extended family in Israel, they’re not real close. One time we went to visit an aunt of his, two times. She refused to open her door. Oh well…

Luckily, we had Daniella with us and she was able to read their tombstones. Sweetman speaks Hebrew fluently along with several other languages but can’t read it except for a few words.

 

When Sweetman’s father was four months old his father suddenly died, at the age of thirty-two. The man was studying to be a rabbi. The word used for this is ‘shiva’.

 

When Sweetman’s father was four years old, his grandmother died at the age of twenty-eight. She was a doctor on her way to Beirut and got a cut. The cut became a full blown staph infection and took her life. So Sweetman’s dad was raised by his grandmothers. We also found out that he has an aunt somewhere. Now we’ll begin the search for her with the help of our friend.

After, we made our way to Galilee with plans to visit Haifa. But we ended up taking a different way and I got great pictures of the city standing high up somewhere off the side of a road. Our friend decided to go to Ocre instead.

Eucalyptus trees were everywhere. At first, I thought I was smelling basil but Sweetman corrected me. As you go further North, the scent of these trees get stronger. In fact, I’m standing in front of them to get this picture of Haifa below.

After, we made our way around winding roads to get to Ocre. It’s a friendly Arab city. Also, the Crusaders’ fortress still stands there. Wished we could’ve visited this. It’s fascinating. You would’ve loved the pics, especially Sir Wills. Maybe next time.

 

Below, I don’t know if you can see this but that’s some Israeli military  up there.

That’s all for now folks! Tomorrow I’ll share the sights of Ocre, one of my favorite cities.

Have a great day blogging, writing, and reading!

Shelly

Today, I’m driving down to see my grandson, Ho-Ho, and my daughters.