Our Long & Winding Road

The aptly named Joyful Journey Springs Spa in Moffatt, CO, is our current home, and we recommend it highly.  We came in last night in time to set up The Turtle (our pop-up) before heading to the dining hall for a delicious vegan meal.  The woman who runs the kitchen is SO very proud of the chef she's been mentoring and encouraging over the last 10 months, and his food speaks for itself.  Then we headed to the pools - the hottest of the 3 first, and WOW did that feel good!  Everything in my body seems to melt a bit and let out an audible, "Ahhh."  NOTE: One must be careful walking along the wooden decks as wet footprints quickly freeze into flat slicks. This morning when we awoke, it was 13 degrees inside The Turtle.  The bathing suits we wore last night in the hot springs and laid out in The Turtle to dry were frozen solid.  This despite the fact that we had our electric heater running full steam ahead all night.  The hot shower, delicious breakfa...

  We experienced southern hospitality at its best staying with, Amy my college friend & fellow Dandelion (there's a story there...), in Savannah, GA.  She and her family welcomed us into their beautiful home with warmth and love.  They engaged us in wonderful conversation, gave us the inside scoop on the city, and included us a feast with extended family and another visiting adventurer.  We, in turn, wowed them with the magic of not only our pop-up camper but also our personal toilet with a tent for modesty.  Everyone was happy!  :) Savannah itself is gorgeous.  There is so much history packed into 2 square miles!  Forsyth Square sported one of the city's many fountains with green water in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  Rali took me to high tea at Gryphon, a very cool tea house that was once an apothecary/pharmacy and then a bookstore before being purchased and renovated by the Savannah College of Art and Design.  SCAD is super cool an...

This past Friday-Tuesday were the first few days of our cross-country adventure!  First stop = Quakertown, PA, where we enjoyed wonderful time with lots of family and friends.  PA feels more and more like home  each time we visit . . . perhaps something we should pay attention to!  Special shoutout to my brother Keith who cooked up a yummy dinner and let 17 family  members  invade his house and flop around on his new couch.  We will, for sure, seek out his services again.  Five stars!  We even saw some of our VT lake neighbors in their PA habitat!  :) Yesterday, we headed south.  After locating the house in which Rali and her family lived for a few of her elementary school years, we stopped at the Valley Forge National Park.  Rali remembers going there at the age of 8 or 9!  It was blustery cold as the wind whipped over the hill, and this deepened our reflection and appreciation of what it must have been like for the ...

On our way out of the Teaching Steps/Steps of Learning outside the southern retaining wall or the Western Wall area - I forget which - a large stream of IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers were coming in. A few things struck me. (1) They are so very young.  (2) They are all Israeli Jews. Israeli Arabs do not have compulsory service; in fact, they are not allowed to serve even if they want to. And Orthodox Jews are exempt. As a result, it's quite likely that there is a strong single narrative rather than a blend of narratives among IDF soldiers and officers.  (3) Some of these young soldiers carried their automatic weapons with the tip pointing out rather than down. It was a bit alarming for me to see into the barrel of an assault weapon; I can only imagine what it is like for Arabs - not only Palestinians but Israeli Arabs, too.  When our tour guide, a Christian Israeli Arab, saw these soldiers heading toward the al Aqsa mosque with guns at the ready, a fellow trav...

Today has been a great day. Before I reflect on what we did, saw, heard, learned, etc., I want to lay down some history for context. THIS is a really helpful timeline of Jerusalem. (Check it out if you want to geek out on it as I just did before deleting a few lines that attempted to summarize thousands of years of history - you're welcome.) Here in Israel, we keep seeing physical evidence of the Herodian (37BCE-70CE), the Roman (70-324CE), the Byzantine (324-638CE), the early Muslim Dynasties (638-934) that preceded the Crusades (1099-1187CE), and the Muslim Dynasties that followed the crusades, namely the Mamluks (1250-1517CE) and the Ottomans (1517-1918CE). Most churches we have seen, for example, are modern churches built by some European country in the 1920's or 30's or 50's - on top of Ottoman or Mamluk ruins that are on top of Byzantine ruins that are on top of Herodian ruins. What I'm calling ruins are not all scraps and rubble. Rather, conquer...

Our entire day was spent around the Sea of Galilee. I can't get over how much history this small place holds! It was part of a major pathway in the time of Jesus; in fact, it was the only way to get from Nazareth (see Mt Precipice circled on map below) to Magdala (Migdil on the map), which was the next closest Jewish town, and onto Capernaum, the center of Jesus' ministry. We saw the Valley of the Doves and saw Mount Arbel, where Jews tried to hide in caves from King Herod and his troops. We went on a boat ride in the Sea of Gailee, the site of quite a few of Jesus' miracles - calming of the seas, walking on water, etc. In fact, we got to see the wreckage of a 1st century boat that was recovered only 15 years ago. Fascinating. While we can't know if Jesus or Peter or their crew sailed on this particular boat, it's not impossible as they existed in the same place at the same time. Capernaum was quite a bustling place in its time! It's an archaeologists...

Yesterday was our first full day in Israel. We visited Caesarea, built by King Herod to demonstrate not only his strength and wealth but also his new allegiance to the Romans. Like all Roman cities of the time, it included a theater, a hippodrome, and a temple. I hadn't realized that it was the Romans who coined the phrase "bread and circus" - they understood well that if you keep your people fed and entertained, they are highly unlikely to take issue with their government. Herod created a sort of concrete made with volcanic ash that he used to create new land in the sea. Most of what was built on this Herod-made land has been eroded over time and is visible only to SCUBA divers - how incredible would that be?!? - but you can see some parts that are still above the water. Here, for instance, is what remained of a palace replete with a swimming pool in the center. Nearby was an incredible example of a Roman aqueduct, which was necessary in Israel, 60% of which is ...