Going to Galilee

We were very late leaving Jerusalem (because of the bags) ... we had planned to go to the Golan Heights, but couldn't because of the time constraints.  Next trip.

We had a two hour drive to Galilee ... so should have taken pictures of that journey.  In those two hours, you drive through deserts, mountains,  and valleys until you get to the Sea of Galilee.  God certainly delighted when He created Israel!

There are several checkpoints in Israel.  Usually they are near some spot near and dear to Israeli's hearts (Masada, Jerusalem) or they are close to the border of a neighboring country (Jordan).  Usually you will be waved through.  Sometimes they stop you to ask where you are going and why.  On our trip to Galilee we had such a stop and had to hand over our passports.  The soldier must have asked us 6 or 7 times how we were all related.  We decided that Dean looked arabic and that was the problem ... it couldn't possibly be that Mom forgot her passport.  HA!  Not sure if we answered him correctly or if he got sick of hearing us explain who we were and how we were related, but he finally let us pass.  Lesson learned ... always bring your passport!

We made a quick stop at the guest house we were staying at (Beit Bracha) ... there was a lovely view from the deck of the Sea of Galilee.  It wasn't very clear so I made the executive decision to wait until the next day to take pictures.  Should have taken them the first day ... a khamasin had blown in.  I'll wait while you google khamasin ... it is an Egyptian dust storm.  

After we checked in at the guest house, we made a quick stop at the Jesus Boat.

This boat was discovered in the mud of the Sea of Galilee by a pair of brothers.  Well, what they actually discovered was this ...

a few nails in the mud.  They dug some more and found the boat and knew they had something amazing.  This boat was dated to the time of Christ ... hence the name "Jesus Boat".  It took over 5 years to dig the boat from the mud and to figure out a way to preserve the wood once they got it out of the mud.  After many years, they decided to surround it in the spray that is used to seal windows during the building process.

 It is amazing to think that this could have been the boat that Jesus was in when He said, "Peace.  Be still."  or, could it have been the boat that the disciples were in when Jesus walked on the water?  or, could it have been the boat that Simon Peter was fishing from when Jesus said, "Come.  Follow me."  Who knows ... we do know it would have been a boat like this.

And, clearly this boat wasn't very big.  We loved going to see the boat.  Torrey loved that Texas A&M students helped dig out the boat (whoop!) and Dean loved the quiet ... we were the only ones in there.

After seeing the boat, we met my parents outside and enjoyed being right on the Sea of Galilee.  

This is ONE picture of Torrey on a rock ... there were about 50 more taken that day!  The Sea of Galilee is right behind her .... hard to see with dusk approaching and the khamasin heading our way.  Dern.

Again, the Sea of Galilee is RIGHT behind them and you can hardly see it.  Love this picture ... would have loved to have seen the Sea of Galilee.

Guess we'll have to go back to have a picture re-do!  

After we saw the Jesus Boat, we headed to dinner and then back to the guest house.  Our next day was full from morning until we got back to the garden in the early evening ... a full fun day!  Can't wait to share it with you!