Biking & Back to Jordan We Go!

Saturday we woke up and decided to bike along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  This was the first time that Dad pulled our youngest in a tag along and she thought this was a great upgrade.  It was a beautiful ride and we all enjoyed having some much needed space and exercise.  We happened to stop at a sweet little restaurant in a courtyard area for lunch and then rode a bit further to a chocolate shop for some ice-cream.

Biking Crew

Tag-a-long rider

Afterwards we drove to Safed, which is supposed to be one of the more authentic Jewish cities in Israel, but because it was shabbat everything was closed.  We enjoyed walking around this unusual city high up with amazing views.  Then we headed back into town, where we had a hard time finding a place to eat and decided skipping dinner might be the best solution for some of the behavioral problems we were experiencing, so we headed  back to our accommodations on empty stomachs and called it a day.

Empty street in Safed

Mom forgot that on shabbat cameras are not allowed and got in trouble by these
children out for a walk with their lamb

Our upcoming week was supposed to be spent working with Syrian Refuges, but the plans fell apart at the last minute and this left us scrambling to plan a week on the fly. We debated staying in Israel longer and maybe heading over to Tel Aviv, but that would require us to drive all the way back south to cross the border and then drive back north on the Jordanian side. You are not allowed the take and Israeli car across the border so figuring out how to drop one car, cross the border, rent another car gets taxing to say the least, as larger cars are hard to come by (and expensive) here. We spent a significant amount of time distracted by trying to figure this out, while adding up the various costs of things, and ultimately decided to head across the border as planned knowing we still had several holes in our itinerary.

We woke up Sunday morning, returned our Israeli car to Hertz ,and walked to the bus station only to see the bus we needed pull away as we approached. The next bus wasn't for an hour and a half so we opted to grab a taxi and head to the border crossing, which went surprisingly smoothly except the driver trying to make us pay more money than we agreed. Once on the Jordan side, we literally had no idea how we were getting to our accommodations, which were roughly 45 minutes away - or so we thought.  Our best guess was a cab and we joked as we walked into Jordan how crazy this would seem to so many Americans.  We literally had no real idea but just figured we could cobble something together.  It turns out there was a rental place at the border crossing and we crammed into a Hyundai Elantra because the seat-belt laws here are not like Israel and we can pull it off by bribing the kids with a good lunch in 45 minutes when we are supposed to arrive at our lodging.  The car had little gas, which seems to be typical of rentals here, so we stopped quick and bought some snacks and used the bathroom.

The cleanest gas station bathroom in Jordan!

Trying to find our new place proved challenging as the pin location on Google took us completely to a different part of the country - literally - and Waze did not know the place.  After being stuck over a half an hour in a valley of uncertain roads with crazy steep hills in our questionable vehicle, and where the only other people we saw were shepherds, who we were fairly certain didn't speak any English, we ultimately got the employees of our accommodations involved.  What should have been a 45-60 minutes drive took us 4 hours, all crammed in a car that was too small. With the kids fit to be tied as the previous night's dinner was skipped and this morning was rushed, the meal we'd promised them on arrival and as a bribe for being squished in the car was delayed 4 hours... we arrived at a beautiful forest reserve which was quiet and peaceful.  All things considered this was a pretty successful day considering what all we accomplished :).

It was crazy to say the least but in the end we found ourselves at what has proved to be some of our favorite type of places -in a remote setting amid the forest and moutains.  Dad was again hailed down because of his YoungLife hat, and we enjoyed visiting with some Americans who were working in Amman and had parents visiting.  It ended up we were the only people staying in this place, and we were very content spreading out a bit and having a quiet night.

Our Mountain Accommodation

View of Aljoun Forest Reserve