A Little Wine With The Hertz

Special Israel Edition

I suppose that upon re-reading that title, it doesn’t really make sense…but I will be surprised if most of this post actually does, since it’s pretty late and I’m pretty tired.

There was no posting last night because the computer and I parted ways for two days. Dave, Mary Jo, Ahna, Ezra, and I headed back to the north to spend a night on the shores of the Galilee. We found the same bed and breakfast that Ahna and I experienced the last time that we were here. It is a beautiful spot that sits several hundred feet above the Galilee in a town called Ramot. After we arrived and checked in, we traveled down to the shore…and found a kiteboarding gathering on the beach. Well, we had to join the fun – and by that I mean, go and watch. We later enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a restaurant that is adjacent to the bed and breakfast; and that’s where Ezra met his Israeli girlfriend.

We awoke this morning with plans to head to the Gamla Nature Reserve after breakfast, which was a feast that we shared on the porch of our cabin. We headed to Gamla, and did a short hike to the vulture overlook – where the birds come each summer. As you can see from the pictures, the flowers are in plenty here. After the nature reserve we headed to the Golan Heights Winery, which is in the middle of the Israeli wine country and is the nation’s largest producer. We enjoyed a nice sampling of several wines before settling on a bottle for purchase. And that’s when things got interesting.

It’s not a good feeling when you return to the car on a day where the temperatures were around 100, and find that it won’t start. Compound that with the fact that you are in a foreign nation, where you don’t speak the language, and 2+ hours from anyplace that family is. Long story short, we were able to call the Hertz help line, get a mechanic to come and meet us, and we got back on the road…3 hours later. It did ruin our afternoon plans, but thankfully everything is okay and we made it home just fine. Turns out the battery was dead – and no, we didn’t leave the lights on…it just died. So, a new battery and we are off and running again.

We had to skip out on a planned stop, and pretty much head straight for dinner at Yuval and Sivan’s house. They made us a spread of sushi rolls, fish, pasta, fruit, and desert. Savta came with Rena, Ezra and the kids played the night away, and we had a glorious time.

It’s hard to think that our time here is starting to wind down and that we only have a few days left. Lots to pack in…

Quick Ezra update: he is getting two more teeth in up top, and I think that he has grown in the past week. Hmm.

Ah, I almost forgot to mention this…the picture is of the park map for the Gamla Nature Reserve. It’s something that you don’t see very often on maps…