So we flew to Israel out of LAX. We got back to California on a Monday and were planning on flying home Thursday on stand-by. Well Thursday changed and looked bad so we switched to Friday. Friday morning we checked the loads and it changed yet again and we would have gotten stuck in Denver for possibly two days so we then decided to wait until Sunday. So we had been staying at my dad and ems for six days and decided to try for Sunday, Easter day! Which was a huge bummer but it was our only option. We made our first flight out of LAX to Denver. We ended up getting bumped off four flights and staying in the airport for ten hours trying to fly anywhere to get to Kalispell. We looked into taking a greyhound bus from Denver to Kalispell –bad idea. It would have taken 20 hours and cost $200. We searched about fourteen airports and our only option at 10pm at night was to fly to Idaho Falls. We made the flight and landed in Idaho at midnight. We had to find a hotel and I kept calling several to try and get the best deal. They had to pick us up because the rental company wanted $260 to rent a car for one day and we booked ours online for $112 but had to wait until the next day to get it. Thankfully, the hotel was nice and clean. But neither of us got a good nights rest, because I was sick. And doing all this when you have the head cold is not fun at all. So we get to our hotel very late, stay the night and the next morning they take us back to the airport to get a one-day rental car and drive 7 hours to Kaispell. Crazy, huh? The trip ended up being 9 hours, because we had to go to the Kalispell airport to get our bags, grocery shop and get Mary’s car. It was such a LONG two days and it made me not want to fly stand-by for a while, or at least never again on a holiday. I recommend to NEVER fly stand-by on any major holidays. Or else you might end up with a story like ours. But in the end we made it home, even though it took us two days and cost a lot more. And we’re healthy, alive and together!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Israel….The Trip of A Lifetime
Chet and I had the privilege to go to Israel with my family: Dad, Em, Court, Nick, Christian and Lexi. It was a 12 day trip and we loved every minute of it. The two flights totaled in about seventeen hours and it took about a full day to get there with getting to the airport and our layover. We flew into Tel-Aviv and stayed one night. There was two buses and about 80 people or so on the trip. The second day we drove to the Dead Sea region and spent the next three nights there. The Dead Sea is 38% salt compared to the Pacific Ocean only 7%. It was so awesome floating in the water. One day we drove further down to the southern tip of Israel to Eilat, the Red Sea. We took a long boat ride, swam in the sea, had lunch and got to see the area where Moses parted the red sea. Another day we went to the biggest air force base in Israel. It was awesome! We also went to Masad, En-Gedi and Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and re-written.
Then we journeyed on over to the Jerusalem region for the next three days and it was amazing! All of our hotels were great! We went everywhere in Jerusalem: Mount Zion, temple mount, mount of olives, the pathway of Passover Sunday, Garden of Gethsemane, southern steps, western wall, through tunnels underneath the city, pool of Bezetha, Via Del Aroso, city of David, Church of all Nations, Holy Sepulcher Church, Garden Tomb, Mt Moriah, and on our last day in Jerusalem we went to the exact spot on the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
Lastly we went further north into the Sea of Galilee region and stayed in Tiberias. 2/3 of Jesus’ ministry was spent in Sea of Galilee. We went to Bet-Shien. Here we took a boat ride and saw how Jesus would have fished, saw a two thousand year old boat they found and restored, went to Caesarea Philippi (temple of pan), saw a gorgeous waterfall, Capernaum, mount of beatitudes, Golan Heights, Mount precipice, Megiddo, Jezreal Valley, Mount Carmel, and Caesarea.
Going to Israel has opened my eyes. It has caused me to read the Bible differently and understand it so much more. It feels like the Bible is alive.