Wine Tasting, Camping and Minor Injuries

Last weekend was a lot of fun!  We did a wine tasting and camping trip that we've been wanting to do for quite some time.  And the best part was that we did it with a decent sized group of friends!  It was so much fun...that tomorrow night we are heading south for another trip (this time minus the wine).

When we were trying to find a time to go on this trip I went through the calendar and realized that we only have about 4 unclaimed weekends left in Israel.  I could go through each weekend and tell you what exciting plans we have - but I'll spare you.  Instead, the short version:  Ball, home, home, Paul to Africa, party, Christmas, Visitors, visitors and more visitors! Then....USA!!!  So this realization of only 4 free weekends was pretty interesting.  Really made us think we should make the most of every weekend left.

So the crew left from Tel Aviv on Saturday morning and the three car caravan pulled into Nazareth just before noon.  After all 12 of us used the teeny tiny restroom in the wine shop, we headed upstairs to find a large table with lots of cheese and meat and breads...and a table with lots of wine.  It was really fun.

We left there a bit later than expected...and got stuck in traffic somewhere between Nazareth and Cana (yes...the miracle at Cana..Jesus turned water into wine...we were just trying to experience history).  So we headed waay North to one of my favorite wineries. By the time we got there (2.5 hours after our apt.) it was cold and dark and we'd lost one vehicle which chose to go straight to the campsite.  The second winery was also a lot of fun, but cold. 

 From there we headed to a great campsite and set up tents in the dark.  Paul was just getting over a hurt ankle (from a running accident) and I slipped on some water and hurt my knee - so we were quite the damaged pair.  Regardless, we got the camp site set up and served up a great camping meal!  I remember this warm comforting soup my friend Lyndsi's dad used to make when I went camping with them.  I really wanted to make it, but it called for bacon and green beans...which are not in season.  Well, I was determined enough that I found both so we had beans n taters for dinner with couscous and hots.  Top that off with smores and you have some happy campers! 

Everyone who camped out just happened to be a big coffee drinker.  So in the morning three of us pulled out our ingenious way of making sure the group had coffee.  One guy brought a french press, another Turkish coffee, and I had my dad's percolator!  Needless to say, there was no shortage of delicious coffees to go with our eggs and bacon.  I'm telling you, this was not a tough camping trip.  More photos here (if the link works).