Happy, Tired and Dirty. Mission accomplished.

Israelis know how to do breakfast, that's for sure. Our Zimmer is Kosher, but only Mehadrin upon request, but our host Yossi showed us everything that we could eat. http://www.this-is-galilee.com/kibbutz-moran.html The kibbutz even has a mehadrin bakery on premises so the warm fresh from the oven multi grain bread was first thing on the menu. They had an Elite coffee/hot cocoa machine which we enjoyed all morning long. As much fun as it was to sit around the kibbutz dining hall tasting everything, there was a big day planned ahead of us.

Our first stop was nearby Meron with the resting place of the infamous Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (think Lag B'Omer). We parked right at the top of the hill and did our now familiar grave site routine. We tried to go to Hillel's site, and went down a path that I vaguely recalled. There was one un-marked cave that we stopped at briefly, but I couldn't promise anyone that it was the right spot. Down the hill we went and up to the Golan for our next adventure.

Along the way to Kfar Blum for kayaking/rafting down the Jordan river we passed MANY MANY kevarim. We didn't pull over to stop, but we got into a lot of who is who discussions and quizzed the boys on some of their men of the mishna and people of the gemarah. In Hollywood you might do a tour of the stars homes, here you do a tour of the tzadikim's final resting places.
We got to the rafting location. I knew that Bailey would not be allowed to get on a raft (5 and up only), but she insisted that she put on her bathing suit like everyone else. They have signs and ads for Baby Kayaking and Baby Fun, but apparently its only open on Shabbos.... One lady said the kfar has a swimming pool, but I didn't feel like venturing out to find it. Bailey was happy playing in the sink (a normally frowned upon activity), eating Popsicles, playing with a balloon, people watching and playing in the dirt. Levi took the boys on a bus to the starting point and went rafting for about an hour, hour and half. They said it was very nice, not that wild, and full of crazy Israelis (lots of Arabs too.) I think they liked it, but it wasn't the "OMG" experience I thought they would have. It was more relaxing than thrilling. There is some one who sits on the banks and takes pictures, but the Solomon raft was blocked by one of those Crazy Israeli groups. :(    You can check out the Kfar Blum Kayaking experience at www.kayaks.co.il

We were very close to the Tel Dan Nature reserve. (www.parks.org.il ) I had never done this hike, but I had read it was very family friendly and there is a wading area that kids can splash around in unlike the Banyas hike which does not have any water play. The Tel Dan also has a route that takes you to the "Winnie the Pooh" Tree. I had no pictures of reference for this but I thought it would probably be cute so we chose to go that way. The beginning of the hike is wheelchair accessible. You cross of raging streams. Most of the way is shaded by tunnel like trees. It is beautiful, cool, easy yet interesting enough for everyone. I brought the carrier for Bailey just in case, but she did most of it on her own. The Pooh tree ended up being a hollowed out tree that reminds you of the story of Pooh Bear getting caught in Rabbits house. At first it looked rather lame, but our adventurous Mendel decided to see what was in there. The kids climbed and poked through holes in the tree until we decided we needed to keep moving. We made it to the Wading area. The littler 3 couldn't get enough of the icy water. The boys were prepared, but Bailey just went in her T-Shirt and Diaper. I am not a fan of swim diapers since they are pretty much useless, but the way the regular one swelled was comical. Fortunately we could change her before we moved on.

The last stop planned for the day was the Holy City of Tzefat. I had previously spent a YEAR there and for some reason wanted to go back. Our GPS (getting crazy I know!) lead us down a poorly paved mountain road, past a landfill, winding around for a while until out of nowhere it told us to "Turn around when possible". Levi had decided he had enough of that so we went back to start and found a full fledged highway that took us straight there. He then brought out his inner Israeli as he passed an insanely slow driver/road hog while honking his horn.

First on theTzefat list was the Old Cemetary. We paid our respects to numerous tzaddikim, namely The ARI. Meir, Mendel and Levi braved the chilly waters of the mikvah, Dovie and Eli refused.The kids went into Chana and her 7 son's cave and passed the Navi Hoshea's kever. Since I had been there last, they now have proper stairs and platforms around all of the major grave sites. Kind of funny to know how they have improved a graveyard, but that's basically all there is to do in Tzefat. We the drove up to the main drag Rechov Yerushalaim in search of something to eat. There was a new park where the Davidka used to be and many more stores. I passed the Post office and photo developing stores, two of my most frequented places back in the day. We split up and ate something on the Midracov, passed Machon Alte and decided we had time for one last stop. I was curious to see if I could navigate us up to my old Seminary on Har Canaan Bet.
The old Pisgah hotel that was my school and dorm for the year in 1995. We made it. It was already dark by then, so I took one picture on the same steps to the building and pointed out my room from the parking lot. It is now a boys' school, so we didn't hang around too long. I don't know how much the kids got out of it, but for me it was a trip down memory lane.