Yom Ha'atzmaut

Yom Ha'atzmaut fell on a Thursday this year. Because the weekends in Israel are Friday-Saturday, this meant a three-day weekend, and Adam and I wanted to make the most it. So, after celebrating Israel's 60th in downtown Jerusalem on Wednesday night with food, music and Israeli dancing, we got up Thursday morning and headed north for a real Israeli weekend. Together with four friends, we rented a "tzimmer," a little guest house, at Moshav Amirim in the Galilee.

It was the first weekend in May, and everything was blooming and beautiful up north. This was our front porch...

...and this was the view from the porch. That's the Sea of Galilee in the background.

These next photos were taken during our Friday morning hike at Nachal Yehudiya in the Golan Heights. We climbed down the ravine to the foot of the waterfall, and Adam and Doron went swimming.

Other weekend activities included soaking in the outdoor hot tub with glasses of wine, barbecuing (and eating) enormous quantities of meat, singing, playing Taboo and generally enjoying each other's company. This photo was taken right before Shabbat: Adam, Doron (with Rosa, a local puppy who befriended us), Avi, me, Elana and Rachel.