Whew - what a day! And we've only just begun....

Once I discovered the peanut butter at breakfast I was set to go for the day! We had several stops along the way, the pictures here are just a few of our first stop.  I will post more tomorrow once we get them all downloaded!  I hope one day you all have a chance to come here - I already know the pictures will do it no justice!

Mount of Beatitudes "Sermon on the Mount"

The crew is here ~

Well, they all made it!  Quite a bit tired as you can imagine but we are all here together at last!  We reached our hotel around 6 p.m. Israel time.  My sister and I are lucky enough to have a suite and are definitely excited about the days that lie ahead of us.  After gorging on fresh fruits, veggies, pita bread and hummus we have full bellies and are ready to rest up for tomorrows adventure....our guide tells us that even though we are a day behind there should be nothing that we miss!

Our room is right on the Sea of Galilee, which I will have to post pictures of in the morning....the sun comes up here at 5:45 am so perhaps a good sunrise?  Late Saturday the cold weather and rain should clear out and leave us with some beautiful weather for the majority of our trip.

More tomorrow!

Snow...in Jerusalem?!?!

Jerusalem  hasn't seen snow since 2006 - until this morning!  Yes, that's right...Mother Nature strikes again and yes...snow in the Holy Land!  So many of you (Jillian, espescially) should appreciate my ability to take snow wherever I go -- weren't we just talking about this last week?!? 

Someone was crafty enough to build a snowman right outside our hotel entrance today - see the attached photo!

More later - the rest of the family should be arriving in about an hour! 

Patiently waiting....still....

Well, I arrived on time with no snags in travel!  I even slept on the plane for a bit, with the help of a double-dose of a motion sickness drug that shall remain nameless.

The other 4 members of my family, not so lucky...they will be arriving safely tomorrow afternoon after some weather delays and re-route through Luxemborg. (Did I spell that right?!?)  So all of that I said yesterday about their luck in not having to sit in airports all day - I take it allll back...sorry mom!

Quite the shock when I landed...it was raining, foggy and C-O-L-D!  And they are predicting snow...kinda makes me want to do a public apolgy to the entire country of Israel.  Everywhere I go, the bad weather follows...the rain is the most they have had in 45 years.

I promise pictures tomorrow...

After an hour wait at Passport Control we made it to the hotel and checked in around 6:00...The food was fabulous for dinner...some different flavors but nothing looks new or "weird"...but I am still curious how they made that ice cream with no dairy products!

Right now it's time for a hot shower and a self-guided tutorial on how to use this fancy looking tea pot in my room...

Patiently waiting.....

Well, here I am in the good ol' MB airport...bag is checked...backpack (yes, backpacked) is filled with snacks, socks, my fully charged kindle & netbook, camera, and various other necessities that I may or may not need over the next 24 hours....might I add that I was sure to include a pillow, ear plugs and a mask.  I am travelling in a small space with lots of people for a VERY long flight.

While my family enjoys a leisurely day of packing, lunch at home and a easy flight to Philadelphia I will be spending my entire day in airports...yes that is right..pluralize the airport, the first of which I arrived to at 10:15 a.m.  A small small price to pay for what will be the most magnificent trip to date for this gal.  Spending the past few days with a group of wonderful group of Louisiana folks who have visited the Holy Land many times only fueled my excitement for this trip!  

Our scheduled arrival in Tel Aviv is 3:05 p.m. tomorrow afternoon (8:00 a.m. Eastern) so I am hoping to connect and have a report of safe landing before most of you log on tomorrow!  For those of you who continue to offer concern for our safety I spoke with someone who just returned from a pilgrimage last week and he said that all is well and safe in Israel.

Happy Valentine's Day!

These shoes were made for running...all over Israel!  I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!  15 days and 28 minutes until take off #1.....

See, I'm posting already!

Forgot to let everyone know the dates....we are leaving on February 29th and will be getting back stateside on March 10th...sorry I missed that little detail in the beginning!