Israeli bees, Golan Heights

Catching up a bit on the blog. Not writing in real time but wanted to get everything down before we settle into home routines. Another full day of touring with our first stop - a special request by Ross to see Kibbutz Shamir where they have a fairly extensive bee keeping operation.  We had a lovely explanation by a woman there who was very impressed when Orly found the queen bee in their demonstration box in less than a second! Ross focused on the details but we all learned a lot and emerged with lots of fun honey and honey infused beauty products.

Next stop at Tel Dan, a natural park in the far north of Israel packed with Israeli and Arab schoolkids. It's a real attraction in Israel especially the fresh cool water wading area. It was a hot day so everyone enjoyed the refreshing wet break but it was especially fun to watch the expressions on the visiting schoolkids' faces as they experienced this treat. Lunch at Kibbutz Dan and then a big driving loop up through the Golan Heights stopping at a military outpost overlooking Syria that is not being actively used but was important during the six day war. Since it is high up there is a coffee shop there called Coffee Anan (Coffee in the Clouds) but people think it's funny because it sounds like Kofi Anan.

Kids eager again to get back to the ranch for more swimming. Big news of the day was that Bram kept himself afloat and did some real swimming strokes for the first time. He was so excited he wanted to stay at the ranch until the next day when the pool opened again. Unfortunately, it was time to leave this very pretty place and head over to the coast and down to Tel Aviv.