Oh Jerusalem!

Day 1:

After a 20 hour trip we landed in Tel Aviv. It is the Mediterranean and lovely. The plants remind me of southern California. While driving from the airport to the hotel we heard a song in the taxi by the band Fun and there were big billboards of Katie Holmes. It is strange to be so far away and still see and hear American culture. The world is getting smaller. Our hotel was right on the Mediterranean sea. The sand was fine and soft with areas of clam shells that clatter in the waves. We stayed in a business area and there were lots of young attractive business people hanging out in hip, trendy, and fresh restaurants.

We had interesting conversations with local people about the history here. Our Jewish taxi driver told us the dramatic changes his country has experienced in his 56 year old life.

I felt safe. And very tired.

Day 2:
I was experiencing jet lag so I slept until noon while Roland worked. I walked around the area near our hotel and sat in the shade on the beach and slept more! That evening we went out with Roland's associates to a restaurant in Jaffa. It is one of the oldest ports in the world. Lots of stone buildings and all the roads were stone. It was beautiful. We ate a tapas style meal, lots of appetizers shared by everyone.

Dinner in the Old Jaffa Port

There were cats everyplace. They are wild so don't pet them. But there were no mice/rats to be seen.

Day 3:
Israeli breakfast was more like what we serve for lunch and the hummus is so creamy - richer and smoother than the stuff in the states. I was obessed with it and brought some fancy tahini home to make my own.

Traveled from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by taxi. For most of the drive our driver was yelling in Hebrew on his cell phone and it was comical. Coming into Jerusalem is beautiful. The city is made of limestone so the buildings are shades of creamy white. It is a large city and in the center is the old city.

Steadman, Vered, Chuck, Keren, Dave, Roland

We were with Roland's work associates: Vered and Steadman knew Hannah from Ethiopia. Keren and Vared are both Israeli, Steadman lives in Ethiopia, Dave lives in Brussells and Chuck lives in the good ol' USA.  We went to the beautiful Hebrew University first and then the city market which was similar in layout to the market in Mazatlan except clean and maybe slightly fancier and it smelled wonderful because of all the spices.

I didn't see many other Americans. Most everyone spoke Hebrew. We ate lunch in a hole in the wall resturant and had a falafel sandwich, perfectly delicious. I had 3 falafel sandwiches and at LEAST 6 orders of hummus on this trip (pronounced "whomus" with a gutteral accent on "Who"). All of the food was fresh and healthy tasting. Did I mention how crazy I was about the hummus?

We took a train to the old city.

Walking into the old city was nothing short of thrilling for me. The markets are again similar to Mexico but all made of stone that has been polished to a gleam because of centuries of use, and people speak Hebrew, and its cleaner. We went through the market to get to the western wall, the Wailing Wall.

The western wall of the temple was crowded with Orthodox Jews praying and rocking and hugging the wall. This image is one you have probably seen as it is such a profound image and one unique to the the western/wailing wall, men on the left, women on the right, heads covered and dressed modestly.

You can see recent excavation in the bottom of the photo. Chana said that in Israel people are afraid to dig because you always find something and it turns into a big deal.

We each wrote a prayer on a small piece of paper.  When I got to the wall I observed the other women. One was singing to herself, eyes closed and smiling, many others were mouthing prayers silently, or reading prayers and rocking back and forth. Some were crying. Many were leaning their faces onto the wall as they prayed. Women would touch the wall and kiss their fingers. Some people fast and spend the day there, praying. I quietly made my way to the wall and and pushed my prayer into a small crack where many other prayers had been shoved. Then I stepped back and was ready to leave when I suddenly decided to turn back and leaned in to touch the wall. Reaching around and between praying women, I placed my full palm on the wall and left it there for a while. I could feel the devotion and earnest prayers of those faith filled women. Had I stayed much longer I would have been moved to tears, I could feel it coming.

It was a powerful experience. For me, it epitomizes Jerusalem, a place of religious devotion so significant to three major religions; Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  Roland and I went back two more times to experience it again.

We walked up the Mount of Olives. There were no tourists. It was peaceful and easy to imagine Jesus there as it would have been in the Garden of Gethsemane.

From the top of the Mount of Olives.

We took a taxi to the fancy Mamilla Hotel and mall area to cool off (it was quite hot) and finally we said goodbye to our friends and checked into our hotel. People encouraged us to stay in a fancy hotel for American tourists but we opted to stay in a little hotel in the old city, The Gloria. It was run by people who were Greek Orthodox, it was clean, charming, filled with original art, and right in the old city. I highly recommend it.

 The view from our hotel room. David's Tower is on the right.

Day 4
We hired a guide named Chana, pronounced like Hannah with a guttural "Ch", and she has a degree in archeology and is also Jewish and was overflowing with information.  She was smart and talked nonstop about the history of Jerusalem and the Jews.  We walked around the old town, going where she told us to go, and listening to history. Sometimes we had to tune her out...just too much information and then she would ask us a question about what she had said and Roland and I would look at her all glassy eyed. It made us laugh. We are so glad we hired a guide because we saw and learned things would would have never known on our own.

The Jewish Quarter. Chana is on the left with the lanyard.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is owned by 5 difference churches. It houses what they say is:

the burial site of Adam and Eve

the place where Christ was crucified

the slab where Jesus's body was prepared (the Unction Stone)

the center of earth

the tomb where Jesus was buried

and lots of other stuff

Pilgrims kissing the Unction Stone in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

It was big church iconic done the right way. There were lines of people waiting to touch/kiss the relics and pray. It really brought my own faith into focus and dear to my heart. I am thankful for my religious upbringing.

Chana refused to take us to the Arab quarter of the old city, saying it wasn't safe. I think she was sincerely frightened of them and our other Israeli friends were too. She advised us not to go there but of course we did. The Arab Quarter was fine for us. It was much noisier, wilder, and dirtier than the Jewish, Armenian, and Christian quarters. A fun place to be.

 The Arab Quarter of Old Jerusalem

I will always remember how it felt the first time I heard the Muslim call to prayer blasting over loud speakers in the market. Beautiful, exciting, and scary. I try not to associate that sound with terrorism.

 Hezekiah's Tunnels

After climbing through the water tunnels of the City of David we said a cheerful goodbye to Chana and went to the garden tomb, a beautiful peaceful place where it is easy to imagine Mary seeing Christ after being resurrected.

The Garden Tomb

We walked by the wailing wall again and then walked through the Jewish Quarter on our way to an Armenian dinner. Our poor legs. So many miles, so many stairs! All on stone!

Day 5, ROLAND'S BIRTHDAY!!! And our 29th anniversary. Woohoo!

It is mandatory for students to serve for 2 years. We saw them everyplace with big guns.

Our last day, started very early with Chana. We drove through the West Bank which, as you probably know, is a dangerous war ridden place on the news but seemed just like a desert to us, with lots of barbed wire and yellow warning signs about land mines. We saw Bedouin people herding their sheep and living in their tents. I saw a woman walking very fast in black robes from one tent to another and it looked like something from a movie set.

I rode a camel. I was tricked into it. I thought the camel was fake until I got up close. They said just sit on it for a picture. Then they said, "let the camel stand up" and I said, "only if it doesn't walk" and then it stood up and it walked off, with me on it, and I squealed like a girly girl. I couldn't stop myself.

We drove along the Jordan river in the Jordan Valley, and could see over into Jordan.  Chana took us to a tourist place that claims to be the spot where Jesus was baptized. It looked just like the church videos. There was a church, of course, there always is. Most of the places we went claimed to be the place where Jesus did something but we felt that they only represent a possibility of where Jesus could have done something. So we go and see and imagine what it would have been like then.

The Sea of Galilee as seen from the Mount of Beatitudes.

We drove to the Sea of Galilee where Jesus ministered and did many great works. Roland and Chana were having subtle power struggles at this point. She was fairly controlling and a huge know it all, constantly correcting me. Except she knows about as much about Christianity as I do about Judaism. It afforded Roland and I many opportunities to smile and roll our eyes at each other.

The Mount of Beatitudes, where the Sermon on the Mount was given is actually the spot it happened. Well, not the actual spot, but it was on that mountain, or one nearby. That was cool and Roland shooed Chana off so we could read the beatitudes on our own under a shade tree. I felt for a moment how Jesus's message of comfort and love must have been so sweet to people who were suffering. The beatitudes are comforting and full of hope. It was a tender moment for me. Then we went to a big fancy church to commemorate the loaves and fishes.

Maybe my favorite place was Capharnaum, right on the Sea of Galilee. Archaeologists have unearthed the actual city and we know Jesus really lived and worked there.  We walked around the ruins and studied the ancient synagogue. The sites in basalt are from Jesus's time as are many of the stones in the synagogue and all the carved stones from the frieze.

The Synagogue in Capharnaum

Stones from the Capharnaum Synagogue Frieze:

Can you see the Arch of the Covenant carved into this frieze stone?

Lunch in Tiberius and then on to mount Tibor. This may have been the place where Jesus fasted for 40 days and was tempted by Satan and then transfigured. Then, finally, home to the Old City of Jerusalem. Whew! Such a day. We said a happy Goodbye to Chana and were on our own again.

We had a romantic anniversary/birthday dinner overlooking the Old City. We watched a fantastic light show about the history of Jerusalem on the tower of David and then walked down to the Wailing Wall one more time. It was midnight and still so many people there praying and fasting and meditating. Such devotion. We walked back to our hotel in the dark quiet streets of Old Jerusalem on the cobblestone allies that gleamed in the moonlight, polished by centuries of footprints from faithful pilgrims.

Jerusalem pulls at your heart. Rich with history and a study in contrasts. It feels like the Holy Land should feel. 

I can't wait to go back.

Day 6: Going home :(

We got to sit in first class for the second leg (4 hours) of our trip. The chairs lay completely flat. I wanted this this for 12 hour leg of the trip! This is what first class looks like:

 It was grand.

I want to go back in 5 years. Next time we will hire a Christian guide, or rent our own car and do it ourselves.  Most tourists seemed to go in big buses, and just thinking about traveling by tourist bus makes me want to stay home and watch Honey BooBoo, but we could totally do this ourselves.

Wanna come with us?

Alaska!

Sweet Baby Liberty

This is Liberty, beautiful daughter of our niece Tara. 

Before we went to Alaska we loved on this precious baby. 

Kissy kissy.

ALASKA!

Who knew? 

I wasn't prepared for how much I would love Alaska. Let's go every year, ok?

 The Alaska railroad is a must do.
We splurged on the first class car and that was such a 

great decision. We practically had the whole car to ourselves. 

A waiter brought us free drinks and snacks when ever we wanted.

 We spent 13 hours on this relaxing, beautiful train. 

We played cards, read books, and napped but mostly we just stared out the windows of our domed car (the ceiling was made of glass) at the stunning countryside.
We had a fairly stressful time getting to Alaska. We tried to board the wrong plane, missed our real flight, and ended up stranded in Denver for 24 hours,

turning our entire trip upsidedown so the peaceful, quiet, gently rocking train was a perfect de-stressor.

We ate in the fancy dining cart where we had a delicious lunch and dinner. 

 I think those are olives. Sometimes you get silly on a train.

We traveled by train from Fairbanks to Anchorage we saw caribou, moose, eagles, bear, lots of birds, snow covered peaks, and glacial valleys. All along the way (and in fact on the entire trip)  Ike would point at something, a totum, a river, a mountain, and say in an excited whisper, "Look!" 

and we would look, hoping to see a grizzly bear, and then he would say, with great reverence and awe,
"Sarah Palin!"

At first it was funny. 

We took a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords. We saw humpback whales and a super pod of orcas (killer whales) a super pod is at least 9 whales. They were all in a big group sunning themselves. Roland calls it a National Geographic Moment. 

When we are 80 we will say, "remember that time we saw the orca super pod?" and we will get all nostalgic. 

This is the great northwestern glacier. We saw 3 large glaciers. 

We got nice and close to the glacier.
When the ice would fall it would rock the boat. 

There were otters floating around on ice blocks just like you see in cartoons. 

Oh, are you wondering what animals we saw on the Fjords tour?
Harlequin Duck
Mew Gull
Glaucous-Winged Gull
Artic Tern
Rhinoceros Auklet
Parakeet Auklet
Thick-Billed Murre
Peregrine Falcon
Eagle
Dall's Porposes
Steller Sea Lions
Sea Otters
Harbor Seals
Cormorant
Common Murre
Horned Puffin
Tufted Puffin
4 Humpback Whales and a baby
Super Pod of Orca Whales
and lots and lots of Jelly Fish

We also saw these fish that someone else caught:

So far the entire trip has been outstanding and we are super impressed that it never really
gets dark. Its strange to be driving around in daylight when everything is closed.
Everything.
Then it got even better when we went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. 

They say only 15% of tourists are able to see Denali (Mt McKinley) because of the clouds,
but we saw it the entire way up to Denali National Park. Mt McKinley used to be called
Denali (the great one) by native people and there is a movement to take it back to it's orginal name.
Denali is 20,320 feet above sea level.
It is stunning. In this picture you can see it in the center of the picture above the clouds.
It kinda looks like a cloud.
You really wouldn't believe how excited we were to see Denali.

Hannah, our sweet sweet daughter, spent the summer working at Denali National Park. Her crew loved her.
We spent a very entertaining evening as they performed a talent show for us. It was exciting!

(brag moment)
It was very satisfying to see Hannah in her element.
She is such a natural born leader. We watched her motive her team to do a difficult job.
We are proud.
We traveled to their worksite and spent the morning hiking Savage River while Ike joined them building the Savage Alpine Trail. We saw a huge caribou.

We never did see a grizzly bear (that means we get to go back!) but on the way to the aiport Ike suddenly yelled, "Dad! go back! go back! I think I saw one!"
so Roland rushes into reverse and we back track about 2 minutes and then sit and stare at the area Ike is pointing at.
We can't see the grizzly.
We are completely silent, hardly breathing, as we strain our eyes.

Then Ike says, "Look! Right there! Its Sarah Palin!"

Roland was ticked.

You didn't ask for it but here is my advice for doing Alaska the right way:
Fly into Fairbanks. Take the train to Denali (splurge on first class), stay the night, go to all the presentations, see the dog sled team, tour Denali  - you don't need a car.
Take train to Anchorage.
Rent the F150 camper in Anchorage and you can sleep anyplace you like! Yay!
Check out Palmer.
Go to the Native Heritage Museum.
Do the Fjords Tour.
Explore all the other places that look cool to you.
Fly out of Anchorage.

Call me and tell me ALL ABOUT IT!