rocks and stones

I'm not sure why, but I have a thing for rocks. I buy those bags of them in Ikea, and I put them all over my home. I have been known to pocket rocks from beaches and parks, and sometimes that is definitely against the rules. But I can't resist the colors and shapes  and feel of them. On this trip to Israel, I tried to capture my love of rocks in photos, rather than in my backpack.

Observe:

So, another lovely thing about Israel is that lots of buildings- new, old, and ancient, are made from stone. And I love them. The older and crumblier the better. We visited Caesaria, a small town (no street names, even) on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where ancient Roman ruins abound.

And against the blue sky, those old rocks look beautiful. Every time.

And I would be a remiss scrapbooker if I didn't include the stories of that day. Sam was actually pretty hot, tired, and cranky during a lot of the sightseeing. But, really the sights were too magnificent  for us to rush through on his behalf. In the middle, though, we bought some ice cream, and that gave him a boost for at least an hour. And then even he couldn't contain how cool it all was. As for all the climbing, well, it wasn't very well labeled. Some places seemed to be open to the public to go in and out and up and down, and others not. Once we found a sign after the fact, asking us to please keep out. Oops. So, Max and Dave loved the history, I loved the stones, Sam loved to climb, and who can't be enamored by the sheer scale of some things?

I mean look at him! He's huge!

Next up: What to do when you get back to the hotel, eat an amazing and decadent dinner, and then find out that absolutely NOTHING is on TV?