Day 4-5: Israel!

We’re in Israel!!!!

Wow. This is unbelievable. We got to Tel Aviv at 3pm on Tuesday, safely and with all our luggage! Jet lag sure is fun. We were taken by bus past Joppa to Tel Aviv where we spent the first night. It was beautiful there. The hotel was right on the Mediterranean and the weather was like Hawaii. We sure slept well.

This morning we boarded the bus at 8am and headed for Caesarea. Here we saw the ruins of a roman theatre, the 1,000 foot long Hippodome for chariot races and an inscription bearing Pontius Pilate's name. This was the major center of activity (rather than Jerusalem) because of its location as a strategic port. Caesarea is the site of many Old and New Testament events.

• Philip's miraculous transport to, and evangelization of, the Ethiopian eunuch took place near here
• Paul's plea to Felix, the Roman Procurate (Acts 24)
• Home of Pontius Pilate
• Paul was imprisoned here (Acts 23:22-26, 26:32)

Then we headed to Meggido - unbelievable. Not only are there 25 layers of civilizations that were established, destroyed and built on top of, this is the sight where the battle of Armeggedon will be fought (Revelation 16:16).

We had lunch and drove through Nazareth (we didn't stop as it is not as safe right now). We saw the hill on which many think existed the temple in Luke 4:16-30 where crowds attempted to throw Jesus off of for claiming to be the Messiah. The weather started to get cold and rainy and we headed to our new hotel in Tiberias right on the Sea of Galilee. Tomorrow we are scheduled to go on a boat out on the Sea and be baptized in the Jordan (weather permitting - please pray!)

There are 4 buses of us in total, each with a guide. Our guide, Ronnie, is a Jewish archeologist, and therefore he brings a great knowledge of the history of all we are seeing. We have met some awesome people so far, and are truly enjoying ourselves. Chuck Missler and his wife rode on our bus today, and taught at each location (in addition to the guides) which has made for a very rich learning experience. Thank you Heritage, for sending us on this amazing journey!

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days:

Uh, well we just discovered that we don't have enough bandwidth on this free wifi to upload pictures right now. We'll get that figured out tomorrow for you. Right now we are going to bed.
Until next time!

Just Kidding! Thanks Chad for helping us shrink them! Here they are!

Come on. Nogger? That's just fun. Especially in Frankfurt.

This is the theatre in Caesarea with Chuck teaching.

Bodie and I riding the fine animals in the Hippodrome. We will beat that Masala!

Alright. This picture is especially for the Martins, Jahrs and Frickles. You know why. I feel right at home!!!

Bodie and I on the top of Meggido overlooking the Valley of Jezreel. It was beautiful.

This is the hill in Nazareth the they believe they tried to throw Jesus off of for claiming to be the Messiah.

Caption Contest #1 Winners - SHARON SZOLOMAYER & DAN ORRIS

Although we strategically posed with Abe, conspicuously absent were his comments on our day. Nobody put what he was thinking! Therefore, we enlighten you. Abe was wondering when Britney's new album was coming out. Sorry Abe, not for awhile.

FUNNIEST ENTRY - SHARON SZOLOMAYER

Sharon said:

Bodie's thinking: "Right now I could really go for a banana..."

Heidi's thinking: "How come I always carry the backpack?"


Your post made us laugh the loudest!

MOST ACCURATE - DAN ORRIS

Dan recieves this award for this post for capturing exactly what we were thinking (blasted Dan for knowing us so well!)

"I wonder what outlandish thing Kenton will come up with when we tell him about this new caption game we are developing for our blog."
-Dano

Right-o Dano


BTW, Kenton's entry was quite good as well, FYI

"That's no moon........

That's a space station"

You get Alec Guiness points, Kent. Good man.

Day 2-4: Quick tours, long flights

Wow, you guys are funny! I like your captions so far. Get those captions in folks, we will announce the winner and start a new contest in 1 day!

On Sunday, Bodie, Ajja and I set out early for a day of 8 hours of walking! We started with the International Spy Museum and each assumed a secret identity. We saw all kinds of crazy stuff, but you never saw us there, of course!

Then we headed out on the mall, past the Washington Monument and saw the Vietnam War, Lincoln, Korean War, FDR and Jefferson Monuments. All the while taking silly pictures for your enjoyment.

We were exhausted when we got back to the hotel and stayed in and watched the Oscars. Overall, a great day.

Sunday we got up early again and met our new friend Frank Scardena who works in DC for breakfast at a cool place called Bread & Chocolate. Come on, those are like two of my favorite things in the world! He then led us on a quick tour of where he works and does really important government stuff. We were really impressed.

We took our final metro rides back to the hotel, packed up and waited for the shuttle back to the airport. We are now in Frankfurt airport in Germany. And...speaking of chocolate....those Germans really know how to make it! We will soon fly to our final destination and we are excited, yet tired. We love you guys!

Here's some pics of our experiences:

You don't know these people. You have never seen them before!












Can you decipher the not so hidden, hidden message? It's tougher than the Da Vinci Code!












Aren't we cute?


















Sorry Mom, no cherry blossoms at this time of year!


















Bodie and Ajja taking their spy identities seriously in front of the Jefferson Monument

Caption Contest #1

Can you read our minds?

This is what we blogging travelers want to know. Every couple of days we will post a picture and you get to answer the all-important question, "What are they thinking about?

The best response will be chosen after a couple of days of fun from your posts.

This first one is of the trio, Me, Heidi and Abe Lincoln. What are we thinking about?

Enlighten us...

Day #1 - DC. Heidi's first blog post!

Ok, we're finally on our way! We took a red eye friday night to Washington DC and got to our hotel at 6:30 am on Saturday morning. We slept until noon and then went out for our first day of sightseeing in our nation's capitol. It's a lot colder and windier here than in OC!

After successfully navigating the Metro, (we even changed lines and everything!) we arrived to the National Mall and went into the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Then we made the treck by the Washington Memorial on the way to the Lincoln Memorial. Well, we made it half way past the reflection pool and realized we didn't have time to get there, and besides, we were frozen! So we headed back to the hotel where we met up with our awesome friend Ajja who drove into the city from Philidelphia. Our other fantastic friends Corban and Marcy from West Virginia also met us at the hotel and we all headed into Georgetown for some dinner. What a blessed evening of fun and fellowship! We bid farewell to Corban and Marcy, but Ajja will be staying with us until Monday.

Check out some of our fun experiences:



This is us on the metro trying to navigate our way
















Bodie with the Capitol building in the background. Isn't he handsome?





Hey, where else are you going to find a big blue ball to hug?














Me and Ray in the American History Museum



























Bodie and Corban in front of the hotel Ajja discovering that traditional methods of typing to not apply to the Treo


Until next time!
-Heidi

Our Schedule

Here is our day by day schedule including the hotels we will be staying at in case of emergency or something.

One Week Away

We are getting quite excited for the upcoming trip. Thanks to all of the cool and silly people who left comments. This will be all the more fun when we are en route. Now I am just writing to give my baby blog some love.

We have a blog and therefore we are cool...welcome

We have set up this blog as an easy way to Chronicle our trip to Israel from March 6-17. Every time we will be able to get online, we will do our best to post what we have done so that you can be there with us, well kind of.

If you are curious about the trip itself, go here:

http://compass.org/tours/detail.php?id=2

It is coming up...