Fuel for

TWO Tanks!

What true redneck travel girl, whose trip is being filled full of rhapsody, wouldn’t want to start the day in a nature reserve or 4? Let the adventure begin. Day 3 – it’s going to be amazing!

Tel Dan Nature Reserve is where I had planned on starting my day, but it didn’t exactly work that way…. When traveling “fly by the seat of your pant’s” a little, things don’t always go as planned. So, I visited the backside of the Kibbutz of Tel Dan, but didn’t ever make it into the actual reserve itself. Did learn that the kibbutz exports caviar to the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, Singapore and Canada. It is highly sought after. Prowled a little, snapped a few pics then moved on. Now, to where & what I knew would be the most physically challenging part of my northern Israel exploration.

Hermon Stream (Banias) Nature Reserve

Mt. Hermon’s run off is the source of the stream that flow’s here. I started out at the Banyas Waterfalls location. It was going to be a warm day. Boy, was I thankful that a large portion of my trek was under the cover of foliage. LOTS of steps, rough declines and steep inclines. A picture / video are sometimes worth a 1000 words. So, there will be a bit of both in this post.

The sound of all the water falls are constant & inundating, even when you can’t see them. The power and majesty of water flowing in abundance like that just reminds me of how small we are. I love them…..

Redneck Rhapsody Girl – Fig Tree Fondness

This little redneck travel girl had a large memory revival when I breezed (literally a big wind blew the smell right into my face, like

a big breath of air being released at just the right time) by a fig tree. ALL STOP ? When I was a young my grandmother had a fig tree next to the steps that went up to the porch at her house. This smell lingered as we grew up swinging on that old porch swing. This fragrance brought back memories of joy, sadness, fun and youth. My cousins and I could spend hours planning, fussing, discussing, and dreaming with this all familiar odor as a backdrop.

Precious memories, how they linger…..Rhapsodyville…..

Wow, the power of the sense of smell… thank you Lord for all of my senses, but at this particular moment on this day for just a bit it gave me an incredible memory of one of my very best teacher, mentor and someone who I treasured. Mommie, I miss and love you all the time; especially your warm hands. You were always willing to hold and warm my cold ones.?? This is my “Rhapsodyville” dose for the day!!!

LLLOOONNNGGGG way from the car……..

When I arrived at the top, on the opposite side of where I began, you can chose to journey on the path. You can venture further north, towards the stream where the falls come from, the Banias Springs park area (Caesarea Philippi). It would be about a 90 minute trek there and 90 minutes back. When I thought I might just do it…..Clouds rolled in and thunder rumbled. Well, it had stormed really bad this week. I decided if I was caught in a flash flood, where the trails were already slick, it would not be the best use of my time. I can play in the mud back home. Back to the car I go.

BEE-yond Cool

Found one of the coolest things that I have ever seen in nature. I only had my camera on my phone this day. Would have give anything to have had a REALLY good zoom lens. I’m still not sure from the angle that it would have made it any better. Hope you are going to be able to see it. You’ll have to use your imagination for the hum of the buzz of this many honey bees. This was a natural beehive. AND it was HUGE.

Up, Out & On the Move

Made it back to the car and headed to the springs. Which is just a couple of miles drive. Banias is also known as Caesarea Philippi. It is an area where there is a grotto dedicated to Pan. It use to have many different building’s & statues of Roman gods, goddesses and other mythological creatures. Rumor has it that this area was and is still a direct portal to Hades. There was an earthquake that destroyed many of the structures. It was severe enough that it even rerouted the Hermon stream that flows from the mountain.

Just keep meandering…

I ventured on past the main part of the stream and began to wonder back toward the falls. I found an old flour mill, Roman bridge, aqua ducts and many other beautiful sights.

Time to move out & up

A quick winding 10 minute trek to the north led to the high spot of Nimrod’s Fortress. It is a beautiful historic Muslim strong hold with a full protective wall, a keep with defense capabilities, cisterns dining halls. It would rival any structure from that time period in history. The fortress is located in the very north part of Israel. You can see Lebanon and Syria from there, in the beautiful Golan Heights.

Hot Bath Calling

The day started before 07:00. It is inching toward 16:00, hence I was about 2 hours from my tub. It had been calling my name for that last 25 flights of stairs / inclines.

Happy trails and ? tunes ? for the road…..

Day 4, we’ll cruise into Jerusalem for the next 5 days! God is so good! I just kept pinching myself, because this was all too good to be true.

Be Fearless✨adventures await?and lean in?,

Trina

Redneck Travel Girl, Rhapsody Style:

Check out Day 1 & Day 2