Thoughts On [insert religious topic(s) here]

With the help of my GPS, today was an exciting day exploring the Golan Heights. We had a buffet breakfast at Shlomi and started driving through the mountains towards Tel Hai in the north of the Golan. Once we got out of Shlomi, Jac’line let me drive through the mountains. The roads in northern Israel are pretty bumpy, so it’s hard to get over 80 kph, approximately 50 mph.

Looking on the GPS, we noticed that there were a few scenic stop-offs on the way that offered views down into the Golan and the Galilee. We stopped at one in Goren Park about an hour out of Shlomi. Standing on the stage of an amphitheatre, we looked out into the valley below. I’ll say it again, this land is stunning. Mountain after mountain stretch before you everywhere you look.

As we neared Tel Hai, coming through Qiryat Shmona, Jac’line noticed a set of stones uplifted on pillars off to the side of the road. Looking at the GPS I saw a tiny road leading back to the stones which were in the middle of an olive tree grove. We walked back to the stones, took pictures and watched out for vipers.

On the way back to the car, Jac’line noticed that she had been to this place before. There was a circle of large stones and a standing stone that she recognized. Standing stones are frequent around Israel, signifying a place that God acted in the life of an individual or community.

Standing Stone in Tel Hai

It wasn’t even noon yet when we arrived at our hostel in Tel Hai. Thankfully the receptionist allowed us to check in early and even helped us book a night in Eilat at another youth hostel. As we were looking at a map of youth hostels around Israel, Jac’line and I began thinking about how we could put together an affordable youth trip to Israel. We would stay at the Israeli Youth Hostels located in the major regions. All the hostels offer a free breakfast and a discounted dinner. The more we talked about it throughout the day, the more excited we both became. The wheels are definitely turning in our heads.

We left the hostel after moving in and headed down to Kfar Blum, about 15 minutes south to go kayaking on the Jordan river. We got our tickets, headed up to the put-in and got ready to relax for a few hours. At the put-in, they mentioned a few things on the river, namely a waterfall, which made us both decide to get a larger boat that was safer, instead of the smaller kayak for two. We were also told that the trip would last about an hour and half, with five different segments of river. Knowing this, we headed down the river.

Since the boat was made for four, the person sitting in the front had a hard time reaching their paddle to both sides of the boat. Jac’line was in the back so she did most of the paddling and steering. After 15 minutes, we switched it up and I got an opportunity to maneuver the boat. It had been awhile but it was so relaxing to be able to just focus on the river around me. I was just starting to get a really good feel for the boat and the river when we were at the exit. Apparently the river is a long trip only if you stop along the bank like most people did to have lunch or rest under the trees. I’ll have to remember that for the next time.

Before we left the rafting place, we asked the girl at the ticket counter for a recommendation on a place for lunch. She sent us over to a café in Qiryat Shmona, Segafredo. The restaurant had huge sandwiches and wonderful cups of coffee. I got to have the huge roast beef sandwich that I’d been craving since Jerusalem and Jac’line had a chicken sandwich. It is great not having to deal with Kosher foods like we had to in Israel. We noticed that the place had ice cream, so we’ll be back later in the evening for dessert.

We started heading back to Tel Hai but both of us didn’t want to go back to the hostel yet. We checked the GPS and saw that Mount Hermon, the place of the transfiguration was not far away. We headed east and started trekking up the 2224 meters to the top of the mountain. According to the GPS, there was an obvious road that headed to the top of the mount. We navigated towards it, but saw this sign:

Sign warning us not to cross into a military base

So, we took a picture and turned around. I’m thinking that the mountain is heavily guarded because of its proximity to Syria, a hostile nation to the north. We headed up the mountain from the other side, a longer route, but one that proved more fruitful. We still couldn’t make it to the top-there was another military gate blocking our way-but we did pull off near a ridge and slipped under some barbed wire to get right on the edge of the mountain. We looked down into a valley and took time reflecting n the magnitude of the transfiguration story, as well as the distance that the disciples had to travel with Jesus to reach this point. Even though we didn’t get to the top of the mountain, we were transformed by the experience.

Looking down from Mount Hermon

As the sun was setting over the Golan, we drove back down the mountain, towards Tel Hai and the hostel. I should mention that I got to drive this part of the journey back down the mountain. It was a rush to see the road coming at you as you drove down the steep switchbacks of the mountain.

When we got to the hostel we did our laundry. Actually, I should say that Jac’line did our laundry. We hung it all around the room, waiting for it to dry in the morning, We quickly figured out that our synthetic pants and shirts dried amazingly fast so we’ll probably just wear those most days now and quickly wash them in the evenings.

Clothes hanging in our room to dry

We went to Segafredo for dessert which was wonderful. We had ice cream and chocolate mousse cake. Both of us enjoyed relaxing on the patio of the restaurant, sipping coffee and enjoying each other’s company.

After dessert, it was back to the hostel and off to bed.

Shalom,

Mat