Galilee: Part 1.

Monday (11/14):

Our 10 day jaunt to Galilee started out early early early on Monday morning. We left the JC and headed to our first stop: Bet She'an.

Bet She'an!

This site is an ancient site that was HUGE. There was lots to see and they say that only about 1/10 of the old city has been excavated and is currently above ground for people to see. The site was inhabited by all sorts of people so it was pretty cool to see it.

Actin' like the locals.

The funnest part of the site was the fact that we got to ride on a little train/tram thing to get to the ruins. So great.

With Lottie and Katie. :)

There was also this fun tree that we obviously had to pose with. :)

Me, Desiree, Sarah, Devin, Katie, Suzy, Robin and Jessica.

Following Bet She'an, we then headed to Nazareth. First stop: Church of the Annunciation followed by St. Joseph's Church and then the Synagogue. The churches were pretty cool but nothing that we aren't used to seeing and nothing all that unusual. Plus, I was just at the Church of the Annunciation in August so it was pretty much... the same. haha

Outside the Church of the Annunciation with Elyse and Lottie.

Our last stop for the day was Mt. Arbel which is a lookout over the Sea of Galilee. With our good timing, we got there riiiiiight when it was about to start raining so it poured on us. Which wasn't all that bad, because rain only adds more excitement to the adventure but it caused it to be rather foggy and thus, we couldn't see all that much from the overlook. (And I left my camera in the bus SO we didn't get any pictures really... there are some but I don't have them currently. haha oops.)

We then drove around the Sea, through Tiberias, and over to Ein Gev.

To our cute little kibbutz turned home for the next 10 days. It was so cute. And we were so tired, so we went to bed early.

Oh the life of a college student.

Tuesday (11/15):

After a wonderful night's sleep, we woke up bright and early for another day of field tripping. This time: Jesus sites. We drove a couple minutes to the dock where we loaded up on a boat and took our boat ride across the Sea of Galilee to the other side.

With Suzy Q.

On the ride, our captain played us some sweet gospel music so we were clapping and dancing the whole way. We also had a good devotional/teaching time and then we just took pictures and hung out and took in the view. It was good. :)

We then landed on the other side (at the same boat dock as August) and we went inside the museum that houses the Nof Ginosar ancient boat which is a boat that they found which was perfectly intact that they dug out of the Sea. It was pretty cool to see the boat. We watched a little video on how they found it, got it out and preserved it and then we saw the actual thing! We also learned of Papa Hunts' nickname for Brother Ludlow: J-Rowdy. hahaha

Old Boat. Yep.

Following the museum, we headed to Tabgha, which is the place of the loaves and fishes. There was a cute church which we visited and there was also the CUTEST dog outside. I just wanted to take it home with me. And so did Cameron. We decided that the Jerusalem Center needs a pet dog.

Ah! I just can't get over how cute it is.

After that brief stop, we headed to the Mt. of Beatitudes. This was probably one of the prettiest places we went to in August and it was just as gorgeous the second time around. Plus, we sang some songs, read some scriptures and had some quiet contemplative time. It was a good stop. :)

With Jess.

With Jeff.

We then went to another cute little church right on the shore. We had a little teaching time on the rocky shoreline, took some good pictures and then sang in the church.

Sea of Galilee!

Capernaum was the next stop. We ran into a tour group of a bunch of Utahns so we obviously had to chat with them. And then we just wandered around the ancient little city. Super cute. Maybe I would have more to say about it if I hadn't already been there...?

Our last stop was the pig running place. I don't know if it has a name (just kidding, I know it does; I just don't know what it is). That was fun because that's where we all just had lots of fun. haha lots of crazy bonding time. Including racing down the hill like pigs, joining the mustache crew, etc. Good times, had by all. :)

Lots of people (starting in the top left): Jessica, Katie, Jeff, Kaleb, Caleb, April, Alyse, Elyse, Me, Lottie, Taylor, Amy, Maryanne, Katie. :)

And then we came home to our little kibbutz.