Search
Categories
Archives
Category Archives: Hikes and Travels
Why Visit Israel?
We met in a bomb shelter to say our goodbyes. Only minutes separated us from a knife wielding terrorist who was gunned down a short distance from us. Security checkpoints are too numerous to count. Armed security is required even … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 9: Jerusalem (part 3)
Summary: Today we visited the courtyard of the former and future Jewish temples, roamed the Jewish quarter of the old city, went to the upper room where Jesus celebratee Passover with his disciples shortly before His crucifixion, and stopped at … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 8: Jerusalem (part 2)
Summary: We started on the mount of olives, walked down to the garden of Gethsemane, narrowly avoided a terrorist attack, toured the pools of Bethesda, walked the Via Dolorosa to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, and then passed through … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 7: Jerusalem (part 1)
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 6: The Negev and Foothills
Summary: Today we climbed out of the Jordan Rift Valley, first visiting Beer Sheva in the Negev, next stopping in Lachish, a city that guarded one of the main ascents up to Jerusalem from the West, and Azekah in the … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 5: Masada and the Dead Sea
Summary: Today we spent the morning visiting Masada and had an afternoon to rest and relax at our hotel in the Dead Sea. Masada: Today we took a cable car up from the Dead Sea to a desert fortress called … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 4: Traversing the Jordan Rift
Summary: Today we left the Galilee in the North and headed South thru the Jordan Rift Valley. We went to a traditional baptism spot on the Jordan along the way, stopped at qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 3: Biblical Sites in Northwestern Israel
Today we headed to Caesarea Maratima, Mt Carmel overlooking the Jezreel Valley, ate lunch at a Druze restaurant, and then went to the city of Meggido (think Armageddon from Revelation 16). Caesarea Maratima: We started out by heading West from … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 2: Biblical Sites in Northeastern Israel
Summary: Today we left the Sea of Galilee and headed North for about an hour to get to Hazor, Dan, Caesarea Phillipi, and Mt Bental. The region has two elevations. The lower part is called the Hulah Basin, the valley … Continue reading
Tour Bus Day 1: The Sea of Galilee
Today we joined a bus tour to see some sites. As opposed to the footpath we just travelled where it was all about experiencing the journey, the rest of our trip will be the shotgun approach to seeing a country, … Continue reading
Hiking Day 5: (3.3 mi, 5.3km) Arbel to Magdala and The Miracle of Shiloh
This morning, Alon met up with us and gave us a ride to Arbel so that we could finish the section of the hike that we missed due to rain. Such a kind host, he did not have to do … Continue reading
Hiking Day 4 (10.2 mi, 16.4km) Tabgha to Capernaum
Today we joined the company of Abraham (Gen 19:27), Moses (Ex 34:4), David (Psalm 5:3), and Jesus (Mark 1:35) by waking early enough to spend time with the Lord early in the morning. We started with a sunrise over the … Continue reading
Hiking Day 3: (6.3mi, 10.2km) Magdala to Tabgha
It rained all of last night, forcing closure of the descent down the Arbel cliffs. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the guest house and then rode the taxi along with our bags down to Magdala where we picked the … Continue reading
Hiking Day 2: (11.2mi, 18 km) Ilaniya to Arbel
We woke up with the sun at 6:30 AM but didn’t crawl out of bed until almost 8Am. Surprisingly, legs were a bit soar even though we only walked 10 miles. Thankfully, like yesterday, today is mostly downhill as we … Continue reading
Hiking Day 1: (10.6 mi, 17 km) Nazareth to Ilaniya
Today is “Tu B’Shevat “ in Israel, literally the “new year of the trees.” In religious society, it was the date used for calculating the beginning of the agricultural cycle for the purpose of tithes. In secular Israel, it has … Continue reading
Continent Hopping with a Toddler
The hitched hikers have set out again to wander the earth. This time, instead of traveling to the ends of the earth, we are headed for the center of it, and we are bringing our toddler, “Cheerio”, with. Our travels … Continue reading
Costa Rica
Day 6- San Jose to Houston (3 Mar 2019) This morning, we took the hotel shuttle bus to the airport, quickly cleared the airline queue (Thankyou A list on Southwest!), customs, security, and were immediately surrounded by gift shops. We … Continue reading
Easter Island
Day 6- Santiago rest day (25 Feb 2019): So it may not sound glorious, but after traveling for a month, we are running out of “less dirty” clothes. We headed to the nearest laundry facility today, which happened to be … Continue reading
Posted in Traveling to the Ends of the Earth
1 Comment
Hiking the “O” Circuit in Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile with an 8 Month Old Baby
Day 8 (18 Feb 2019): 18.8 km- Central to Bass de las Torres lookout (i.e. the towers) and back to Puerto Natales 8:48AM Today we complete the O circuit. Baby just wasn’t in the mood for sleep last night, which … Continue reading
Argentina
Sunday, 2/10/19 – El Chalten to Puerto Natales Glamping! Yup. Indescribable beauty. Check. The wind and rain of the last few days were replaced by beautiful blue skies and crisp air. Wow. El Chalten is beautiful when it is not … Continue reading
Brazil
Wednesday, 2/7/19 – São Paulo, day of relaxation at the Airport Porter enjoying a cioccolato latte in the Sau Paulo airport…. After a 7 hour red eye from Panama City, we landed in Sau Paulo. Confession, we don’t actually plan … Continue reading
Panama
Tuesday, 2/5/19- Goodbye Aruba, Hello Panama City! We grabbed another Dutch Pancake from an old world restaurant in Aruba this morning before heading to the airport. One thing that really impressed us during our time on the island was the … Continue reading
Aruba
Sunday, 2/3/19 – From Miami to Aruba This morning we disembarked our cruise ship, enjoyed a nice breakfast with Sherpa’s parents, said our farewell’s and hopped on a plane to Aruba! Why fly to another island after geting off an … Continue reading
Cruising (Part 2)
St Kitts (Wednesday, 1/30/19) Today we took a tour of St Kitts that we had arranged ahead of the trip via recommendations from trip advisor. We booked directly with a local operator ensuring our tour dollars made it into the … Continue reading
8 Months Old Today!
Happy birthday Shiloh Hope! It has been exactly 8 months since you joined us on this grand adventure called life! You are so blessed and you don’t even know it. You have never lacked food. You have always had a … Continue reading
Posted in Traveling to the Ends of the Earth
2 Comments
Cruising (Part 1)
Day at Sea- Sunday 1/27 A sea day doesn’t sound all that exciting at first, but we enjoyed a leisurely day exploring the boat. Here are some helpful tips if you have never taken a cruise: bring towel clips to … Continue reading
Posted in Traveling to the Ends of the Earth
2 Comments
To the ends of the earth!
Today we said goodbye to Texas for some long awaited time off! First stop is a cruise out of Miami with Sherpa’s parents. Since our last blog post, a lot has happened. Most excitingly, we welcomed a little hitch hiker … Continue reading
Posted in Traveling to the Ends of the Earth
1 Comment
