We enjoyed our visit to Hazor and had a wonderful opportunity to explore the area since we were the only people on the popular site at the time. Several of the guys looked for pottery shards while Steve and Debbie posed at the lookout.
Leaving Hazor, we travelled to the northernmost tip of Israel to a town called Metula, which is located on the border with Lebanon. On the way we passed the tel of Abel Beth Maacah. Work on archaeological digs at this tel have only just begun. II Samuel 20 is the reference for this location. It is where the head of Sheba was thrown over the city's wall. In Metula we drove to an overlook that should have been impossible to drive a bus to...but Fawzie made it with ease. From the lookout we could see into Lebanon, which looked much like Israel. This picture is of Jean and her grandson, Brett, with Lebanon in the background.
Our next stop was Dan...where Jeroboam set up the golden calf. Shirley and Lucy posed by the sign.
Today was Lavaughn and Melissa's twenty-eighth anniversary, so we tried to document the event with a picture of them standing on the high place at Dan.
The area is very interesting, but by the time our group arrived there, we were more than a little distracted because Petie had fallen while walking over rocks on the way to Dan. (She had to be taken for medical attention and stitches at a local hospital, but you will have to ask Petie for the details. It was quite an interesting exerience, and if you know Petie, you know that she smiled and joked during the whole process.)
So, at this point we were up three group members from yesterday, but we were down one (Petie) due to injury. (Actually, we were down two because of course Buddy accompanied her to the hospital.) Our next stop was at Banias, which is better known to Bible students as Caesarea Philippi of the Bible. At this point the group was very thankful to sit down and listen to a little information about the BIblical history of the site.
The lunch stop was at a restaurant located beside an ancient volcano. Those who ate lunch were interested in watching the lady prepare their bread. Greg, Pam, Ethan, Isaiah, Olen and I had devoured snacks on the bus, so we used the lunchtime by walking to a local outdoor market and purchasing nuts, fresh cherries and other consumables.
It was not easy to stay awake on the drive back to the hotel, but everyone woke up when the bus stopped to give us an opportunity to walk across a bridge to get close-up photos of the Jordan River just north of the Sea of Galilee.
Since the Sabbath begins at sundown today, most sites we wanted to visit closed early. The decision was made to return to the hotel and give everyone a couple of hours of down-time before dinner. Several members of our group took late afternoon naps. Some of us walked around the hotel grounds next to the Sea of Galilee, and eventually a group congregated outside beside the sea in swings and chairs to relax and visit. Ethan and Isaiah decided to go swimming in the Sea of Galilee but changed their minds when they saw how slick and slimy the steps were leading down to the water. Eventually Mckenna and Austin got as far as dipping their feet in the water.
Eventually Petie and Buddy joined the group. She was able to sit in the swing and prop her foot up while she related her special adventure of the day to the rest of us.
She has to return to a medical center tomorrow for rebandaging, but with Petie's "making lemonate out of lemons" attitude, she plans to do that AFTER she has had her much-anticipated boat ride on the Sea of Galilee in the morning.
Who knows what adventures might be ahead for tomorrow!
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