Dear family and friends,
We have been silent for a long time, but certainly not due to a lack of things to write about. Simply put, we've been extremely busy. But we're still here, alive and kicking :-) It'd be fair to say that we're now fully settled in our new home in Haifa, Israel.
The girls are all happy by now, which wasn't the case at some stages. Noga, as I wrote before, had a rough start. Eventually, we transferred her to a different class in her school, which improved her situation drastically. She returned to being a happy girl, with a rich social life and a smile on her face. Sometimes, you learn to appreciate something only when you lose it (if temporarily), and in Noga's case, her vivacity is such a big part of her personality. Still, my gut feel is that she's not as happy as before, but I believe she will fully bounce back eventually.
Hadas was almost instantly integrated into her new environment, and experienced very few difficulties if any. She has become a very popular kid in her kindergarten, and she explicitly says that she likes it here a lot.
Maayan proved unique again, being part of those 3% of kids that get a vaccination against chickenpox but catch the disease nonetheless. And boy did she get it - in a very violent form! She was very miserable for a few weeks, and so were we - although common and seemingly harmless in the long run, this is a TERRIBLE disease. But luckily the ordeal is now behind us, and she's back to amazing us daily by how advanced she is, how charming, how verbal, how assertive (not to say aggressive) and most importantly how happy she is. We often refer to her as being a "Goosh Osher" (something like "bundle of happiness").
Our family life has settled into a welcomed routine. I typically leave home early in the morning (around 7am) leaving the morning drop-offs to Anat. I leave work very early (before 4pm), to pick up the girls and spend the evening with them, playdates and other after-school activities included. Anat normally joins us much later, around dinner time. We're fortunate in being able to conduce our daily lives with very little driving - Noga walks to school daily, Maayan's daycare is a short walking distance and Hadas' kindergarten is literally across the street from our home. Anat has an easy short bus ride to the university and even my commute, in the aforementioned times, typically takes no longer than 15-20 minutes.
We live on the Mountain top (Mt. Carmel), and Google Haifa is down by the beach, so I also get the bonus of magnificent view to the Mediterranean Sea while driving downhill. With the typically blue skies of Israel, this is a fine way to start a day! In general, I'm very happy with my job, mostly with the fact that it allows me immense flexibility in my work hours, so I can afford spending a lot of time with the girls. Make no mistake, this is not at all common in the Israeli high-tech industry, and I consider myself very fortunate for this. I also feel more confident professionally than I did in Google Pittsburgh. In terms of leisure activities, I play basketball once or twice a week, and also started attending Pilates classes once a week. Oh, and last but no least, I visit the open-air market ("Shuk") every Friday morning, marveling at the unbelievable variety of fruits and vegetables Israel has to offer.
Anat had a bumpy start professionally. It's natural for new faculty to get overwhelmed, and I think that in her case several factors made it even worse, such as the insane teaching load and the need to integrate into an environment which is drastically different from those she was part of in the past. I believe she has passed the peak of her frustration, and is getting on track to maintain and develop her new lines of research. But, nonetheless, her career is greatly demanding, and leaves her constanly terribly busy, at least in the first few years.
But, as part of getting on track, we definitely remember to live, go out and have a good time. Last night, for example, we sent the girls to my parents for a sleepover (didn't get that in Pittsburgh...), and went out to a fantastic show by Chava Alberstein, one of our favorite singers. It was fabulous!!!
So, the short version is that the girls are truly amazing, life is fantastic, and although busy and often fairly tired, we're enjoying it a lot!
Kisses to all of you, and please do write!
Maayan, Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Saturday, December 13
Thursday, September 25
Why Israel is our home
Dear friends and family,
My last posting led to a bunch of responses, and I wanted to thank all of you for the support and encouragement. Clearly, the difficulties we experience are not unusual for our situation.
I'm going to start working next week, and combined with intense social activities over the Jewish holidays month, I suspect my schedule will be fairly hectic. So I gotta hurry and blog beforehand, and what's better than the promised highlighting of the positive aspects of landing here?!
The biggest advantage, without a doubt, is being close to our families. Indeed, in the past 3 weeks, there was hardly a day where we didn't meet a family member. It's hard to exaggerate the importance of these get-togethers for us, and especially for the girls. They're really thriving, playing with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
We also have many friends from our past in Israel, and our presence here allows us to see them more, if not very frequently. And in general, relationships between people here are much warmer and spontaneous. It's not rare for our daughters to arrange a playdate on the spot with friends, when they're picked up from their daycare. This is a sharp contrast to our reality in the US, where playdates need to be agreed on days in advance.
There are additional advantages, such as the much better food (at least to our taste), especially the amazing produce, or the wonderful Mediterranean Sea. But in my opinion, there is one central benefit for us here - we really, completely, utterly, entirely understand how things work around here. We are well familiar with the culture. Unlike in the US, we're versed in the nuances.
Let me try and give an example to better explain that last point. In an attempt to demonstrate it also to my US readers (at least the non-hockey fans), I'll examine a piece of Canadian folklore.
There is that cute song which I used to hear a lot on the radio - "I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory" by Kathleen Edwards, a canadian singer (see clip and lyrics). Let's examine the following portion of the lyrics:
You're cool and cred like Fogerty, I'm Elvis Presley in the 70's
You're Chateau neuf, I'm Yellow Label
You're the buffet I'm just the table
I'm a Ford Tempo you're a Maserati
You're the Great One, I'm Marty McSorley
You're the Concorde, I'm economy
I make the dough but you get the glory
You surely get the idea of the lyrics, but what about the finer details?! When I first encountered the song, I thought - who the hack is Marty McSorley? And what does she mean by "The Great One"??? Turns out the latter is a legendary hockey player, while the former is, how to say, a less legendary hockey player. If you're Canadian, I guess, these go without saying.
I hope it conveys my point.
Have a great weekend, and a happy and sweet (Hebrew) new year to everybody!
Giora
My last posting led to a bunch of responses, and I wanted to thank all of you for the support and encouragement. Clearly, the difficulties we experience are not unusual for our situation.
I'm going to start working next week, and combined with intense social activities over the Jewish holidays month, I suspect my schedule will be fairly hectic. So I gotta hurry and blog beforehand, and what's better than the promised highlighting of the positive aspects of landing here?!
The biggest advantage, without a doubt, is being close to our families. Indeed, in the past 3 weeks, there was hardly a day where we didn't meet a family member. It's hard to exaggerate the importance of these get-togethers for us, and especially for the girls. They're really thriving, playing with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
We also have many friends from our past in Israel, and our presence here allows us to see them more, if not very frequently. And in general, relationships between people here are much warmer and spontaneous. It's not rare for our daughters to arrange a playdate on the spot with friends, when they're picked up from their daycare. This is a sharp contrast to our reality in the US, where playdates need to be agreed on days in advance.
There are additional advantages, such as the much better food (at least to our taste), especially the amazing produce, or the wonderful Mediterranean Sea. But in my opinion, there is one central benefit for us here - we really, completely, utterly, entirely understand how things work around here. We are well familiar with the culture. Unlike in the US, we're versed in the nuances.
Let me try and give an example to better explain that last point. In an attempt to demonstrate it also to my US readers (at least the non-hockey fans), I'll examine a piece of Canadian folklore.
There is that cute song which I used to hear a lot on the radio - "I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory" by Kathleen Edwards, a canadian singer (see clip and lyrics). Let's examine the following portion of the lyrics:
You're cool and cred like Fogerty, I'm Elvis Presley in the 70's
You're Chateau neuf, I'm Yellow Label
You're the buffet I'm just the table
I'm a Ford Tempo you're a Maserati
You're the Great One, I'm Marty McSorley
You're the Concorde, I'm economy
I make the dough but you get the glory
You surely get the idea of the lyrics, but what about the finer details?! When I first encountered the song, I thought - who the hack is Marty McSorley? And what does she mean by "The Great One"??? Turns out the latter is a legendary hockey player, while the former is, how to say, a less legendary hockey player. If you're Canadian, I guess, these go without saying.
I hope it conveys my point.
Have a great weekend, and a happy and sweet (Hebrew) new year to everybody!
Giora
Monday, September 22
Landing in Haifa, Israel
So we’re back in
Some past feedback hinted that my writing tends to be too optimistic. Thus, in this post I chose to emphasize our difficulties. Starting one’s life in a new place is never easy, let alone when kids are involved. Indeed, after a too-good-to-be-true beginning for all three girls, we started running into various bumps.
With Maayan, we had more than a week of crying in the mornings, breaking my heart each and every time. Happily, a couple days ago she got to the point where she has started staying at her daycare without shedding a tear.
Hadas became, almost immediately, an integral part of her kindergarten class. However, she is still encountering many difficulties in adjusting to the new environment, and her behavior, mainly at home, certainly reflects them.
Noga, a new kid among a group of kids who’ve been together for two years, is having the hardest time. She feels fairly lonely at school, a situation she never had to face in such intensity. Astonishingly she’s seemingly pretty happy most of the time, but once she lets out her feelings, it’s evident that she’s not. I can’t tell you how sad (and tearful) it makes me to see her struggling. How helpless I feel as a parent, knowing that I have little ability to make her social reality a more pleasant one. I trust her social skills, and I’m certain that she’ll find her place sooner rather than later, but the way there is tough, both for her and for me.
The security guard in the custom offices immediately recognized us as returning residents, saying “you’re STILL smiling...”. Jokes aside, we quickly realized that people on the street rarely smile.
The urban areas are amazingly ugly. No milder way to put it. It’s in everything – the patchy buildings, the black oily stains on roads and pavements, the ad-hoc signs, the total lack of urban planning.
The notorious Israeli tendency to disregard the law has deep influence on one’s daily quality of life. The pavement, theoretically for pedestrians, is frequently occupied by parking cars (just try walking with a baby stroller...). Dog poop is on every corner.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good things about living here, both objectively and specifically for us (being close to our families, to name one). I’d say that all in all we’re doing OK, despite the above.
Hugs and kisses,
Giora
Thursday, September 4
We're still alive...
... and having a wonderful time in the San Francisco bay area, meeting with friends and family and enjoying the perfect weather! And tomorrow we will start the long journey back to Israel. Our trip is practically over.
Since we last posted, we spent 8 days camping in Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks. Yosemite was magnificent, though very crowded and touristic. Coming after Yosemite, Kings Canyon seemed like a quiet backwater. Nature is less majestic there, but it was still beautiful, with high cliffs and cool rushing rivers. We found it very relaxing.
We hope to update our latest batch of pictures soon, and will continue updating on the process of settling down in Israel.
Love,
Anat
Since we last posted, we spent 8 days camping in Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks. Yosemite was magnificent, though very crowded and touristic. Coming after Yosemite, Kings Canyon seemed like a quiet backwater. Nature is less majestic there, but it was still beautiful, with high cliffs and cool rushing rivers. We found it very relaxing.
We hope to update our latest batch of pictures soon, and will continue updating on the process of settling down in Israel.
Love,
Anat
Wednesday, August 20
Wear Sunscreen
We’re very meticulous in wearing sunscreen, particularly with the girls. We operate under the assumption that the younger the kid, the more crucial sunscreen is. At some point, we questioned this assumption – if the risk for young kids is higher, how come you see much fewer cancers in kids than in adults and elders?!
My friend Tal provided us with a clear and precise explanation:
Cancer is a multistep process: you need A to go wrong first, B later, then C, and so on. The chance to have cancer is proportional to the age - the longer you live, the more likely you are to have some cells further along this chain. What people do not always realize is that a lot of progress along this chain is done during childhood. Not necessarily enough so that kids would have cancer, but it significantly increase the chances of cancer at a later age.
So, as the famous poem goes: wear sunscreen.
Giora
My friend Tal provided us with a clear and precise explanation:
Cancer is a multistep process: you need A to go wrong first, B later, then C, and so on. The chance to have cancer is proportional to the age - the longer you live, the more likely you are to have some cells further along this chain. What people do not always realize is that a lot of progress along this chain is done during childhood. Not necessarily enough so that kids would have cancer, but it significantly increase the chances of cancer at a later age.
So, as the famous poem goes: wear sunscreen.
Giora
Ruminations about American History
I must admit that I know very little American History. Before our trip, I had a vague notion of the pioneers who headed west in the 19th century, but I hardly knew what the Oregon Trail was. Hence, I was very happy to learn a lot about this period in the history, for example in an excellent interpretive museum in eastern Oregon. The details are fascinating – those pioneers walked more than 2000 miles, over a 6 month period. Remember all those famous wagons you’ve seen in many movies? We learned that they were for the luggage and sick ones only. People usually walked all the way!
It’s interesting to compare these journeys to modern day hikers, walking the Pacific Crest Trail (the western counterpart of The Appalachian Trail, though probably much more beautiful). Obviously, the recreational motivation is very different from the pioneers’, as well as the constant safety net etc., but the distances are similar. We’ve met a hiker on the trail, and the distances are shocking. Hikers cover 2500 miles, from Mexico to Canada, through extremely mountainous terrain. Due to weather constraints, there is a very narrow window every year, during which you can start. Typically, hikers walk an average of almost 25 miles a day(!!!), for several months. Personally, I strongly doubt if I have ever been fit enough for something so difficult.
A less glorious aspect of American history has to do with Indians. I once heard a Native American insisting that he was an Indian, so I’ll drop the PC terminology...
We got to learn a lot about several Indian cultures in our current travels. We learned that in the 13th century, South West Colorado’s population amounted to 30,000 people, more than today! We consulted the web and were astonished to find out that in 1492, about 50 million people already lived in the Americas! (however, the vast majority were in South America).
We visited the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona, and clearly saw its evident neglect. More than anything else, it reminded me of the Bedouins in the Israeli Negev. We couldn’t forget the facts we know about some other Indian reservations and their extreme poverty. And we couldn’t help noticing that in the aforementioned Oregon Trail interpretive museum, the fate of Indians who already inhabited the lands was practically ignored.
I’m not trying to be a saint or to claim that one side was the ultimate evil. However, when looking from the outside on the history, it’s pretty sad to see.
Giora
It’s interesting to compare these journeys to modern day hikers, walking the Pacific Crest Trail (the western counterpart of The Appalachian Trail, though probably much more beautiful). Obviously, the recreational motivation is very different from the pioneers’, as well as the constant safety net etc., but the distances are similar. We’ve met a hiker on the trail, and the distances are shocking. Hikers cover 2500 miles, from Mexico to Canada, through extremely mountainous terrain. Due to weather constraints, there is a very narrow window every year, during which you can start. Typically, hikers walk an average of almost 25 miles a day(!!!), for several months. Personally, I strongly doubt if I have ever been fit enough for something so difficult.
A less glorious aspect of American history has to do with Indians. I once heard a Native American insisting that he was an Indian, so I’ll drop the PC terminology...
We got to learn a lot about several Indian cultures in our current travels. We learned that in the 13th century, South West Colorado’s population amounted to 30,000 people, more than today! We consulted the web and were astonished to find out that in 1492, about 50 million people already lived in the Americas! (however, the vast majority were in South America).
We visited the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona, and clearly saw its evident neglect. More than anything else, it reminded me of the Bedouins in the Israeli Negev. We couldn’t forget the facts we know about some other Indian reservations and their extreme poverty. And we couldn’t help noticing that in the aforementioned Oregon Trail interpretive museum, the fate of Indians who already inhabited the lands was practically ignored.
I’m not trying to be a saint or to claim that one side was the ultimate evil. However, when looking from the outside on the history, it’s pretty sad to see.
Giora
The Wheels of the Minivan Go Round and Round
When we were planning our trip, we considered several transportation alternatives. Renting a car turned out to be ridiculously expensive. The seemingly natural choice was our Ford Windstar minivan, Wendy. Yes, we always grant names to our vehicles.
However, though merely 8 years old, Wendy has a very rusty body, and we got several implicit warnings from our mechanic back in Pittsburgh, about her fitness for the task. A mechanic in Colorado defined her as “all rotten”...
We chose to take the risk, and count on Wendy. We had her delivered by truck to Nevada, saving the 2000 miles drive and increasing the chances she’ll get us to San Francisco, our final destination.
As such, we were continuously expecting her to break down. She did once, when we had to replace a starter in Colorado, but that’s fairly normal. Other than that, and I know I might be taunting fate, so far so good… The gas mileage is not stellar, we get quite some clanking now and then, but after several thousands of miles and several long lags (e.g. Anat had an exquisite way of celebrating her birthday – driving for more than 25% of it...) we’re in California. We still have almost two weeks to go, but we will be spending them within a distance of several hours at most from the bay area.
Wendy has also made Anat very proud (justifiably!): when a mysterious fuse blew out, silencing the music, Anat found its location in the vehicle manual and replaced it all by herself!
Our current plan is to donate Wendy to some charity, which will probably sell it for scrap or for parts. Again, it might be too early to say, but I think we were really lucky with gambling on her!
Giora
However, though merely 8 years old, Wendy has a very rusty body, and we got several implicit warnings from our mechanic back in Pittsburgh, about her fitness for the task. A mechanic in Colorado defined her as “all rotten”...
We chose to take the risk, and count on Wendy. We had her delivered by truck to Nevada, saving the 2000 miles drive and increasing the chances she’ll get us to San Francisco, our final destination.
As such, we were continuously expecting her to break down. She did once, when we had to replace a starter in Colorado, but that’s fairly normal. Other than that, and I know I might be taunting fate, so far so good… The gas mileage is not stellar, we get quite some clanking now and then, but after several thousands of miles and several long lags (e.g. Anat had an exquisite way of celebrating her birthday – driving for more than 25% of it...) we’re in California. We still have almost two weeks to go, but we will be spending them within a distance of several hours at most from the bay area.
Wendy has also made Anat very proud (justifiably!): when a mysterious fuse blew out, silencing the music, Anat found its location in the vehicle manual and replaced it all by herself!
Our current plan is to donate Wendy to some charity, which will probably sell it for scrap or for parts. Again, it might be too early to say, but I think we were really lucky with gambling on her!
Giora
Disconnect
As the end of our trips comes into sight, though we still have a couple weeks to go, I’ve found myself thinking about the special state-of-being that such a long journey brings about. It is a delicate balance of disconnection from every day routines, daily life and work while keeping in touch with loved ones, and in my case, also spending some time thinking about research and teaching and my soon-to-start new position. Much of this balance is affected by the presence of on-line access. Whenever we have internet, I feel like I have just stepped out for a moment and will return shortly to my academic pursuits. But when we have gone for some time without coverage, the details seem to fade to the background. Yet still, at odd quiet moments I find myself outlining the syllabus of the class I will be teaching in the fall, trying to frame a cohesive argument for a paper, or planning future experiments in my head. I think of this as a hallmark of the academic life – on the one hand, I have the extreme privilege of taking such a long trip but on the other hand, and because it is a career I am so invested in, it goes with me wherever I go.
As our date of return to Israel approaches, naturally I try to imagine what our life there will be like. Surprisingly, at least to me, I haven’t been very successful. Much like I didn’t come up with very detailed scenarios of how the trip would be (though that might have been due to all the other things I had on my mind before we left :-), I’m not formulating clear pictures of our life in Haifa, either personal of professional. I don’t know whether to ascribe it to the fact that really, I have no way of knowing any of the details, to the fullness of our day-to-day experiences that don’t always leave enough time for such pursuits, or that I’ve just become so zen that I’m content to simply let things unfold and live the moment. I’d like to claim the latter unequivocally, but in all honesty it’s probably a healthy mix of all three. I do feel very optimistic and confident that things will work out even if there are some difficulties in adjusting. I hope this proves to be justified!
I think I owe much of this confidence to the fact that I’ve witnessed our family adjust beautifully to changing circumstances over the last several years. Starting with the trip in New Zealand which I was quite apprehensive about before we set out, through settling down in Pittsburgh, welcoming Maayan to our family, and now this extended journey - we have mostly done well. The hardest part is always leaving friends and family behind, and I hope we will manage to keep in touch with all our dear friends we are leaving behind in Pittsburgh.
Anat
As our date of return to Israel approaches, naturally I try to imagine what our life there will be like. Surprisingly, at least to me, I haven’t been very successful. Much like I didn’t come up with very detailed scenarios of how the trip would be (though that might have been due to all the other things I had on my mind before we left :-), I’m not formulating clear pictures of our life in Haifa, either personal of professional. I don’t know whether to ascribe it to the fact that really, I have no way of knowing any of the details, to the fullness of our day-to-day experiences that don’t always leave enough time for such pursuits, or that I’ve just become so zen that I’m content to simply let things unfold and live the moment. I’d like to claim the latter unequivocally, but in all honesty it’s probably a healthy mix of all three. I do feel very optimistic and confident that things will work out even if there are some difficulties in adjusting. I hope this proves to be justified!
I think I owe much of this confidence to the fact that I’ve witnessed our family adjust beautifully to changing circumstances over the last several years. Starting with the trip in New Zealand which I was quite apprehensive about before we set out, through settling down in Pittsburgh, welcoming Maayan to our family, and now this extended journey - we have mostly done well. The hardest part is always leaving friends and family behind, and I hope we will manage to keep in touch with all our dear friends we are leaving behind in Pittsburgh.
Anat
Monday, August 18
Driving towards the Fire
Yesterday was one of those days when everything goes wrong :-(
It started with Hadas getting a sore throat. Her tonsils had actually been swollen for a couple days, but yesterday it got to the point where she was sick and miserable. We had her checked for strep bacteria, which came back negative, meaning it’s viral. So, no antibiotics to the rescue, only rest.
Later in the day we headed inland, towards Lassen Volcanic National Park, and at some point started noticing that the air had became smoky, from a fire.
Forest fires have been a recurring theme in our travels. We closely followed the recent Yosemite fire, to see if we should change our plans (the fire has been successfully contained, so our plans stay intact). We watched a fascinating movie about the big fire that consumed Yellowstone in 1988. We saw the forests near Rocky Mountain National Park, with a vast proportion of the pines dead due to a Mountain Pine Beatle epidemic, and heard that the only question is WHEN the huge fire will occur. We learned that the official National Parks Service policy is to let small fires burn, allowing nature to perform its house cleaning, as long as human developments and assets aren’t jeopardized. We saw the haze in Crater Lake and heard the explanation that northern California is burning, due to an especially dry year.
But all that was mostly theoretical. Now we were inside it, the smoke getting thicker and thicker, to the point where visibility was very limited. We drove through towns and villages, where people live under a thick blanket of smoke these days. I can’t say it was a pleasant experience, but it was definitely a unique one. To make it clear – we didn’t see any fire at all, only smoke, and at no stage were we in any danger. About 20 miles from our destination town, we were stopped and told that the road was closed due to yet another fire. We had to drive back the 70 miles, namely after a 3 hour drive we were back where we started, on the coast. As I mentioned previously, time spent in the car is an expensive resource in our family, and some of us (particularly Maayan) weren’t very happy.
We decided to make the day the antithesis of the rest of our travels, and continued with a night spent in Motel 6, dinner at McDonald and a gross greasy breakfast at a diner. As an aside, we searched our memory, and could still count on one hand the number of times we visited McDonald in our almost 4 years in the US. We’re proud of that...
Anyway, we had to reshuffle our plans and skip Lassen Volcanic NP. Instead of camping we are going to spend 2 nights in a fancy resort near Clear Lake, CA. Then we’ll head to Yosemite, with a short stay in Sacramento. This will hopefully allow Hadas to recover, so in a way our unfortunate day turned out for the better, or for the Hebrew speakers among you: “Col Acava Letova” ;-)
Giora
It started with Hadas getting a sore throat. Her tonsils had actually been swollen for a couple days, but yesterday it got to the point where she was sick and miserable. We had her checked for strep bacteria, which came back negative, meaning it’s viral. So, no antibiotics to the rescue, only rest.
Later in the day we headed inland, towards Lassen Volcanic National Park, and at some point started noticing that the air had became smoky, from a fire.
Forest fires have been a recurring theme in our travels. We closely followed the recent Yosemite fire, to see if we should change our plans (the fire has been successfully contained, so our plans stay intact). We watched a fascinating movie about the big fire that consumed Yellowstone in 1988. We saw the forests near Rocky Mountain National Park, with a vast proportion of the pines dead due to a Mountain Pine Beatle epidemic, and heard that the only question is WHEN the huge fire will occur. We learned that the official National Parks Service policy is to let small fires burn, allowing nature to perform its house cleaning, as long as human developments and assets aren’t jeopardized. We saw the haze in Crater Lake and heard the explanation that northern California is burning, due to an especially dry year.
But all that was mostly theoretical. Now we were inside it, the smoke getting thicker and thicker, to the point where visibility was very limited. We drove through towns and villages, where people live under a thick blanket of smoke these days. I can’t say it was a pleasant experience, but it was definitely a unique one. To make it clear – we didn’t see any fire at all, only smoke, and at no stage were we in any danger. About 20 miles from our destination town, we were stopped and told that the road was closed due to yet another fire. We had to drive back the 70 miles, namely after a 3 hour drive we were back where we started, on the coast. As I mentioned previously, time spent in the car is an expensive resource in our family, and some of us (particularly Maayan) weren’t very happy.
We decided to make the day the antithesis of the rest of our travels, and continued with a night spent in Motel 6, dinner at McDonald and a gross greasy breakfast at a diner. As an aside, we searched our memory, and could still count on one hand the number of times we visited McDonald in our almost 4 years in the US. We’re proud of that...
Anyway, we had to reshuffle our plans and skip Lassen Volcanic NP. Instead of camping we are going to spend 2 nights in a fancy resort near Clear Lake, CA. Then we’ll head to Yosemite, with a short stay in Sacramento. This will hopefully allow Hadas to recover, so in a way our unfortunate day turned out for the better, or for the Hebrew speakers among you: “Col Acava Letova” ;-)
Giora
Saturday, August 16
Wonderful Girls
This posting is going to be fairly corny, so apologies in advance, and feel free to skip it...
It's been about two months since we embarked on our travels. I had high expectations of these travels, but I couldn't imagine how much fun it would be spending all day, every day, with our three daughters. As I've written before, beautiful nature and all, these months are mostly about spending quality time together as a family.
All three of them (though Hadas less than her sisters) seem to like the traveling life, and to enjoy camping and hiking. I’m delighted to see them play around in the dirt and mud without caring about being constantly clean. I love their desire to climb rocks, and their nonchalance about the cuts and bruises incurred in the process. I'm happy to see them wetting their hands and feet in almost every creek we bump into, freezing water not being a show stopper.
Maayan is literally blossoming, running around energetically and very happy most of the time. Spending all day with Mom & Dad has a fantastic influence on her. Our joke is that she thinks she's 3 years old (she's half that age), and in many respects she is indeed very precocious. At times it feels as if we can literally see her growing and developing day by day. She's amazingly cute and friendly, and it's fairly common for her to stand in front of a stranger in the street, and start conversing in fluent Gibberish, full of intent. Another prominent desire of hers is wild berries, which we have encountered frequently in the past weeks. She'll accept them all happily - blackberries, thimbleberries, huckleberries or salal berries - typically urging the other family members to pick them more quickly ;-)
Hadas needed some time to get used to moving so often (at the beginning she’d ask that we stay longer in every place, no matter where and in what accommodation...), but before too long she adapted. She's very happy with hiking and camping, particularly when we build a campfire in the evening. She loves nature, and is extremely curious about many things we come across. Her curiosity often yields a long stream of questions, which we like and encourage. Her liveliness is simply irresistible, and when she breaks into one of her common giggles, it's hard not to join!
One of the evident changes during this trip is the relationship between her and Maayan, namely Hadas becoming such a wonderful big sister. Sometimes when Maayan is in tears, Hadas is the only one capable of consoling her, and the love is reciprocal.
Noga is thriving, and the pains of leaving her friends in Pittsburgh have stopped affecting her mood a while back. Although she only recently turned 8, it feels at times like having a third adult, with her exceptional responsibility and willingness to help. She's frighteningly smart, and I keep being surprised by her level of perception and understanding. I find myself having more and more conversations with her, which could take place with a fellow adult. Another implication is that she fears not questioning the rationale behind our decisions (i.e. allowing or not allowing her certain things). Our usual take is that such second-guessing is welcome, up to a point, and it's not rare for us to reverse our decision as a result. And with all that, she’s still young enough to let us cuddle, hug and kiss her all the time. We cherish every such moment :-)
In general, my feeling is that I'm extremely lucky to have such a family. It's something I feel during routine times as well, but traveling emphasizes it even further!
Giora
It's been about two months since we embarked on our travels. I had high expectations of these travels, but I couldn't imagine how much fun it would be spending all day, every day, with our three daughters. As I've written before, beautiful nature and all, these months are mostly about spending quality time together as a family.
All three of them (though Hadas less than her sisters) seem to like the traveling life, and to enjoy camping and hiking. I’m delighted to see them play around in the dirt and mud without caring about being constantly clean. I love their desire to climb rocks, and their nonchalance about the cuts and bruises incurred in the process. I'm happy to see them wetting their hands and feet in almost every creek we bump into, freezing water not being a show stopper.
Maayan is literally blossoming, running around energetically and very happy most of the time. Spending all day with Mom & Dad has a fantastic influence on her. Our joke is that she thinks she's 3 years old (she's half that age), and in many respects she is indeed very precocious. At times it feels as if we can literally see her growing and developing day by day. She's amazingly cute and friendly, and it's fairly common for her to stand in front of a stranger in the street, and start conversing in fluent Gibberish, full of intent. Another prominent desire of hers is wild berries, which we have encountered frequently in the past weeks. She'll accept them all happily - blackberries, thimbleberries, huckleberries or salal berries - typically urging the other family members to pick them more quickly ;-)
Hadas needed some time to get used to moving so often (at the beginning she’d ask that we stay longer in every place, no matter where and in what accommodation...), but before too long she adapted. She's very happy with hiking and camping, particularly when we build a campfire in the evening. She loves nature, and is extremely curious about many things we come across. Her curiosity often yields a long stream of questions, which we like and encourage. Her liveliness is simply irresistible, and when she breaks into one of her common giggles, it's hard not to join!
One of the evident changes during this trip is the relationship between her and Maayan, namely Hadas becoming such a wonderful big sister. Sometimes when Maayan is in tears, Hadas is the only one capable of consoling her, and the love is reciprocal.
Noga is thriving, and the pains of leaving her friends in Pittsburgh have stopped affecting her mood a while back. Although she only recently turned 8, it feels at times like having a third adult, with her exceptional responsibility and willingness to help. She's frighteningly smart, and I keep being surprised by her level of perception and understanding. I find myself having more and more conversations with her, which could take place with a fellow adult. Another implication is that she fears not questioning the rationale behind our decisions (i.e. allowing or not allowing her certain things). Our usual take is that such second-guessing is welcome, up to a point, and it's not rare for us to reverse our decision as a result. And with all that, she’s still young enough to let us cuddle, hug and kiss her all the time. We cherish every such moment :-)
In general, my feeling is that I'm extremely lucky to have such a family. It's something I feel during routine times as well, but traveling emphasizes it even further!
Giora
Thursday, August 14
Gigantic trees enveloped in fog
A couple days ago we entered California, our last state for this trip. In an official CA state parks brochure, The Governator urges us to “Trim your waistline” etc., so more than ever we’re trying to hike every day ;-)
We’re now in Redwood National Park, which is actually a bunch of CA state parks grouped together, in the north-western tip of this elongated state. As the name implies, the gigantic Redwood trees (aka Sequoia) are the main attraction. One can gaze at the tallest living things on earth, marvel at their unfathomable height (up to hundreds of feet) and appreciate their amazing vulnerability (the roots are typically less than 10 feet deep), which called for preserving them and containing many of them in protected parks. You can even drive through some of these giants.
Another prominent quality of this coastal area is its fogginess. Even on days that are defined as “clear” in the weather forecast, it’s very uncommon to see a blue spot in the sky. Indeed, you may have no clouds from above, but the fog coming from the Pacific Ocean wraps everything, and makes for constantly grey and somewhat gloomy surroundings. It does have a mighty and mysterious feel about it, and I can certainly appreciate it as a visitor, but for sure I wouldn't want to live in such a climate. It’s even much worse than Pittsburgh :-)
We planned a 5-night stay in the park, but decided to dedicate only a small portion to walking amongst the mighty trees. More importantly, this is our only rendezvous with the Pacific Ocean in our current travels, and we chose to enjoy that. The water is way too cold and rough for swimming, but you still have plenty to do – playing in the sand, hiking between beautiful tide pools and breathing the salty smell which we miss so much.
It’s a pleasant reminder of the wonderful Mediterranean beaches awaiting us in Haifa…
On another note - we expect to have very sporadic Internet access until we get to the bay area towards the end of August, so we’ll probably be relatively silent...
Giora
We’re now in Redwood National Park, which is actually a bunch of CA state parks grouped together, in the north-western tip of this elongated state. As the name implies, the gigantic Redwood trees (aka Sequoia) are the main attraction. One can gaze at the tallest living things on earth, marvel at their unfathomable height (up to hundreds of feet) and appreciate their amazing vulnerability (the roots are typically less than 10 feet deep), which called for preserving them and containing many of them in protected parks. You can even drive through some of these giants.
Another prominent quality of this coastal area is its fogginess. Even on days that are defined as “clear” in the weather forecast, it’s very uncommon to see a blue spot in the sky. Indeed, you may have no clouds from above, but the fog coming from the Pacific Ocean wraps everything, and makes for constantly grey and somewhat gloomy surroundings. It does have a mighty and mysterious feel about it, and I can certainly appreciate it as a visitor, but for sure I wouldn't want to live in such a climate. It’s even much worse than Pittsburgh :-)
We planned a 5-night stay in the park, but decided to dedicate only a small portion to walking amongst the mighty trees. More importantly, this is our only rendezvous with the Pacific Ocean in our current travels, and we chose to enjoy that. The water is way too cold and rough for swimming, but you still have plenty to do – playing in the sand, hiking between beautiful tide pools and breathing the salty smell which we miss so much.
It’s a pleasant reminder of the wonderful Mediterranean beaches awaiting us in Haifa…
On another note - we expect to have very sporadic Internet access until we get to the bay area towards the end of August, so we’ll probably be relatively silent...
Giora
The world’s most beautiful lake
A week ago we left our mansion, and returned the traveling life. The dish washer was replaced by washing dishes in freezing campground water; the luxurious king-size bed was replaced by a camping mattress in a tent; And the four adults taking care of three kids became two again, after my parents flew back to Israel.
I think we had an ideal break in the middle of our travels – our time in northern Oregon was terrific, and further, seemed to have charged all of us with a lot of energy and eagerness to return to the much more rustic manner of our usual travels. We’re hiking a lot, almost every day, and the last lag of our journey - between Portland and the bay area in California – is planned to consist mostly of National Parks and camping.
After spending a day in Portland, with our friends Tamir, Yafit, Roni & Gili, we headed south towards Crater Lake National Park. For a long time, Crater Lake was very high on my list, and it became one of the few anchors when we started planning this trip. I was anxiously waiting to see the famous lake, the deepest in the US, which is literally a crater that was created 7500 years ago by a volcanic eruption. Unlike most lakes on the planet, there are no rivers going in or out, and the only water source is precipitation, balanced by seepage and evaporation.
Hence, imagine my disappointment when we got to Crater Lake, and saw mostly haze. The many fires in northern California, combined with winds blowing in an unfortunate direction, turned the legendary lake into a mildly impressive one. The steep mile-long hike down to the water was still beautiful, but nothing you’d define as spectacular. We were hoping that the right we've reserved, to freeze in a tent for 3 nights (although mid-summer August, there was hardly a sign of warmth!) would pay off. And it did, big-time!! The following day, with some trick of the weather gods, the haze was entirely gone, and the first glimpse we got of the lake was something one would fail to describe. But I’ll try anyway... The water is extremely clear, causing it to absorb an unusual amount of sun beams. Most importantly, it absorbs most colors and reflects only a very sharp and dark shade of blue. Not turquoise like in glacier-fed lakes, not greenish like algae-filled lakes, but vivid blue. When we were there, the winds prevented reflections of the surrounding peaks in the water, which only intensified the spectacle. Add the fact that the lake is small enough to be caught by your eyes in its entirety from certain view-points, as well as a small volcano-shaped island scattered with picture-like cedar trees, and you get unmatched beauty. The kind you gaze at for many minutes, trying to convince yourself it is real.
I love lakes. I was lucky to see several magnificent ones, most notably in Tibet and New Zealand. But I have never before seen a lake as beautiful as Crater Lake.
Giora
I think we had an ideal break in the middle of our travels – our time in northern Oregon was terrific, and further, seemed to have charged all of us with a lot of energy and eagerness to return to the much more rustic manner of our usual travels. We’re hiking a lot, almost every day, and the last lag of our journey - between Portland and the bay area in California – is planned to consist mostly of National Parks and camping.
After spending a day in Portland, with our friends Tamir, Yafit, Roni & Gili, we headed south towards Crater Lake National Park. For a long time, Crater Lake was very high on my list, and it became one of the few anchors when we started planning this trip. I was anxiously waiting to see the famous lake, the deepest in the US, which is literally a crater that was created 7500 years ago by a volcanic eruption. Unlike most lakes on the planet, there are no rivers going in or out, and the only water source is precipitation, balanced by seepage and evaporation.
Hence, imagine my disappointment when we got to Crater Lake, and saw mostly haze. The many fires in northern California, combined with winds blowing in an unfortunate direction, turned the legendary lake into a mildly impressive one. The steep mile-long hike down to the water was still beautiful, but nothing you’d define as spectacular. We were hoping that the right we've reserved, to freeze in a tent for 3 nights (although mid-summer August, there was hardly a sign of warmth!) would pay off. And it did, big-time!! The following day, with some trick of the weather gods, the haze was entirely gone, and the first glimpse we got of the lake was something one would fail to describe. But I’ll try anyway... The water is extremely clear, causing it to absorb an unusual amount of sun beams. Most importantly, it absorbs most colors and reflects only a very sharp and dark shade of blue. Not turquoise like in glacier-fed lakes, not greenish like algae-filled lakes, but vivid blue. When we were there, the winds prevented reflections of the surrounding peaks in the water, which only intensified the spectacle. Add the fact that the lake is small enough to be caught by your eyes in its entirety from certain view-points, as well as a small volcano-shaped island scattered with picture-like cedar trees, and you get unmatched beauty. The kind you gaze at for many minutes, trying to convince yourself it is real.
I love lakes. I was lucky to see several magnificent ones, most notably in Tibet and New Zealand. But I have never before seen a lake as beautiful as Crater Lake.
Giora
Wednesday, August 6
Photos from Grand Teton, Idaho and Oregon
We've uploaded many photos - check them out at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/GrandTetonAndIdaho and http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/HoodRiverOregon.
Enjoy,
Giora
Enjoy,
Giora
Tuesday, August 5
Eating Cherries
We'll soon have to vacate our manor and go on with our traveling, heading towards Portland. The conditions here are so radically different from those we had during our first 5 weeks of traveling, that we might have a hard time going back to camping ;-) And in general, staying for 8 days in the same place turned our time here into a relaxed vacation. Which is a good thing, of course.
We were also fortunate to spend some time with Ayelet & Amir, our friends from Israel who live in San-Francisco. Yes, I'm still talking about Hood River, Oregon - Ayelet had a conference here...
We've been seeing many beautiful places around here, we've been enjoying a lot of home-cooked meals, and we've been eating a LOT of fresh produce, predominantly blackberries and cherries. Certainly nothing to complain about :-)
Giora
PS:
To all inquirers - my Mom is feeling much better, though there is still some room for improvement.
We were also fortunate to spend some time with Ayelet & Amir, our friends from Israel who live in San-Francisco. Yes, I'm still talking about Hood River, Oregon - Ayelet had a conference here...
We've been seeing many beautiful places around here, we've been enjoying a lot of home-cooked meals, and we've been eating a LOT of fresh produce, predominantly blackberries and cherries. Certainly nothing to complain about :-)
Giora
PS:
To all inquirers - my Mom is feeling much better, though there is still some room for improvement.
Friday, August 1
Paradise in Northern Oregon
I thought I’d write about the kind of places we’ve been stay in during our trip. Generally speaking, our preference would be to split our time, staying half the nights in hostels and the other half in campgrounds, sleeping in a tent. As I mentioned previously, cozy hostels are hard to find in the US (unlike, for example, in New Zealand), so our camping portion is larger this time. Whereas camping is obviously the least luxurious option, we value the feeling of staying “inside” nature very much, especially in National Parks.
That being said, we try not to camp for a single night, so when traveling long distances we usually seek alternatives. If we can, we fit such a single night stay into a KOA’s Kamping Kabin. KOA (Kamping Of America) is a wide network of uniform-looking campgrounds, with a very commercial feeling and often near a highway. This is certainly not the kind of in-nature camping we normally look for, but you know in advance exactly what you’ll get, the Kabins themselves are nice, and we can cook our meals as in every other campground.
Another consideration, at least since we’ve left the dry part of western US, is that our tent has very limited water resistance. We would probably be fine with a short drizzle, but as we found out in Yellowstone, an hour and a half of downpour is way more than the tent can successfully endure. Luckily, we found a vacant hotel room after one night, and were spared from sleeping in very damp sleeping bags...
The least favorite option for us is a motel. On top of being pricier, let alone with the need to eat in a restaurant, both Anat and I simply dislike motels. Despite the undeniable convenience of a private shower, you need nothing more than the vast amount of Styrofoam disposable dishes in a motel breakfast to make me feel I don’t belong there.
That brings me to our current accommodation, which is very different from all of the above. After 3 days with very long drives, we crossed Idaho and Eastern Oregon, and got to a lovely area about an hour east of Portland, Oregon. My parents will be flying out of Portland in a week, and we’ll be spending the rest of our time with them in this area, so Anat suggested we check out vacation rentals. And boy, was that a brilliant idea. After a couple days here, I’m still thrilled when I look around me.
We got a fully-furnished and fully-equipped home, situated amongst fields and orchards, in turn surrounded by lovely hills, somewhat reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside. The house is perched over a beautiful pond, with large trees around it, giving it shade. On the north, in Washington State, the snow-capped Mt. Adams is tall and clear. On the south, the impressive and snow-capped Mt. Hood is a few miles away. We’re a few minutes drive from the lovely town of Hood River, and from the many attractions the Columbia Gorge has to offer. Not to mention several added bonuses, such as a winery with wine-tasting a short walk down the road, and a neighboring farm with a friendly horse-breeding lady, who invited Noga, Hadas & Maayan to ride one of her ponies. Paradise!
Giora
PS:
The only down side at the moment is my Mom’s health – she threw out her back, and is in a lot of pain :-( We all hope she’ll feel better soon. She’ll kill me for sharing this information...
That being said, we try not to camp for a single night, so when traveling long distances we usually seek alternatives. If we can, we fit such a single night stay into a KOA’s Kamping Kabin. KOA (Kamping Of America) is a wide network of uniform-looking campgrounds, with a very commercial feeling and often near a highway. This is certainly not the kind of in-nature camping we normally look for, but you know in advance exactly what you’ll get, the Kabins themselves are nice, and we can cook our meals as in every other campground.
Another consideration, at least since we’ve left the dry part of western US, is that our tent has very limited water resistance. We would probably be fine with a short drizzle, but as we found out in Yellowstone, an hour and a half of downpour is way more than the tent can successfully endure. Luckily, we found a vacant hotel room after one night, and were spared from sleeping in very damp sleeping bags...
The least favorite option for us is a motel. On top of being pricier, let alone with the need to eat in a restaurant, both Anat and I simply dislike motels. Despite the undeniable convenience of a private shower, you need nothing more than the vast amount of Styrofoam disposable dishes in a motel breakfast to make me feel I don’t belong there.
That brings me to our current accommodation, which is very different from all of the above. After 3 days with very long drives, we crossed Idaho and Eastern Oregon, and got to a lovely area about an hour east of Portland, Oregon. My parents will be flying out of Portland in a week, and we’ll be spending the rest of our time with them in this area, so Anat suggested we check out vacation rentals. And boy, was that a brilliant idea. After a couple days here, I’m still thrilled when I look around me.
We got a fully-furnished and fully-equipped home, situated amongst fields and orchards, in turn surrounded by lovely hills, somewhat reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside. The house is perched over a beautiful pond, with large trees around it, giving it shade. On the north, in Washington State, the snow-capped Mt. Adams is tall and clear. On the south, the impressive and snow-capped Mt. Hood is a few miles away. We’re a few minutes drive from the lovely town of Hood River, and from the many attractions the Columbia Gorge has to offer. Not to mention several added bonuses, such as a winery with wine-tasting a short walk down the road, and a neighboring farm with a friendly horse-breeding lady, who invited Noga, Hadas & Maayan to ride one of her ponies. Paradise!
Giora
PS:
The only down side at the moment is my Mom’s health – she threw out her back, and is in a lot of pain :-( We all hope she’ll feel better soon. She’ll kill me for sharing this information...
Sunday, July 27
More photos
More photos are available, from Colorado (http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/Colorado02) and Yellowstone (http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/Yellowstone)
Cheers,
Giora
Cheers,
Giora
Friday, July 25
Astonishing Yellowstone National Park
Thanks a million Tamari!!!
When we started planning our travels, we were on the verge of skipping Yellowstone and Grand Teton, to avoid the long drives involved. A major factor in our decision not to skip these parks was a suggestion by Tamari that we shouldn’t, and we are oh so thankful for this advice!
Tonight is our fourth night at Yellowstone, and we could easily spend an additional week in this marvelous park, the first national park to be established, whose size is about half the size of the state of Israel.
I, in my ignorance, expected mostly a big bunch of geysers and a lot of wildlife roaming relatively dry terrain. These, by themselves, are definitely worth the visit, but Yellowstone has so much more to offer, that it’s probably the most pleasantly surprising destination we have visited this summer. Good thing we didn’t bother to read every detail about every park in advance ;-)
The scenery is very diverse, containing lakes, beautiful rivers, magnificent waterfalls, heavily forested areas, snow-capped mountains and lush green meadows. Each of our four days in the park was wonderful, and it seems as if we couldn’t ask for a better visit. I should mention that my parents have joined us, and having a couple folks for whom Yellowstone was the first National Park to visit made the atmosphere even merrier.
We had a magnificent hike in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, concluding with the awe-inspiring Lower Falls. We visited several geyser basins, enjoying the surreal feeling of the earth bubbling everywhere around you. We spotted a lot of wild life, including a Grizzly Bear and a Black Bear. We waded in the “Boiling River” (north of Mammoth Hot Springs), where freezing river waters mix with very hot sulfurous spring water - warmly recommended (literally...). We attended the world-famous periodic eruption of Old Faithful; and although you’re surrounded by hundreds of other tourists, this is something not to be skipped.
But above all stands the pure beauty we’ve experienced today. The kind of things you get to see only once in a long while, intensified by the fact that very few visitors get to share this unique opportunity. There are many well-marked and heavily visited board-walks in Yellowstone, one of which traverses the “Midway Geyser Basin”, a few miles north of Old Faithful. The main attraction in the area is a large round pool, named “Grand Prismatic Spring” that gets its name by virtue of exposing a terrific blend pf colors. However, from the ground (e.g. the aforementioned board-walk) you only get a very limited view of the pool and its colors. Thanks to a kind ranger at the Visitor Center, we knew better. A nearby trail allows you to climb a steep hill. Few things would pay off as much as the somewhat-strenuous uphill and words can’t effectively convey how astonishing the view from above is. Gazing from the top of the hill, you get a picture so beautiful that it almost seems like a Photoshop fake. The middle of the pool is blue, surrounded by a green strip (thanks to bacteria in the waters), in turn surrounded by a yellow strip (sulfur), in turn surrounded by a brownish-reddish strip with sun-like arms (possibly a result of iron deposits). The whole pool is covered by hazy vapors, surrounded by a beautiful valley and majestic mountains and (today...) capped by clear blue sky. We all spent at least an hour on that hill, admiring the beauty that only nature can produce. See photos below.
When we started planning our travels, we were on the verge of skipping Yellowstone and Grand Teton, to avoid the long drives involved. A major factor in our decision not to skip these parks was a suggestion by Tamari that we shouldn’t, and we are oh so thankful for this advice!
Tonight is our fourth night at Yellowstone, and we could easily spend an additional week in this marvelous park, the first national park to be established, whose size is about half the size of the state of Israel.
I, in my ignorance, expected mostly a big bunch of geysers and a lot of wildlife roaming relatively dry terrain. These, by themselves, are definitely worth the visit, but Yellowstone has so much more to offer, that it’s probably the most pleasantly surprising destination we have visited this summer. Good thing we didn’t bother to read every detail about every park in advance ;-)
The scenery is very diverse, containing lakes, beautiful rivers, magnificent waterfalls, heavily forested areas, snow-capped mountains and lush green meadows. Each of our four days in the park was wonderful, and it seems as if we couldn’t ask for a better visit. I should mention that my parents have joined us, and having a couple folks for whom Yellowstone was the first National Park to visit made the atmosphere even merrier.
We had a magnificent hike in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, concluding with the awe-inspiring Lower Falls. We visited several geyser basins, enjoying the surreal feeling of the earth bubbling everywhere around you. We spotted a lot of wild life, including a Grizzly Bear and a Black Bear. We waded in the “Boiling River” (north of Mammoth Hot Springs), where freezing river waters mix with very hot sulfurous spring water - warmly recommended (literally...). We attended the world-famous periodic eruption of Old Faithful; and although you’re surrounded by hundreds of other tourists, this is something not to be skipped.
But above all stands the pure beauty we’ve experienced today. The kind of things you get to see only once in a long while, intensified by the fact that very few visitors get to share this unique opportunity. There are many well-marked and heavily visited board-walks in Yellowstone, one of which traverses the “Midway Geyser Basin”, a few miles north of Old Faithful. The main attraction in the area is a large round pool, named “Grand Prismatic Spring” that gets its name by virtue of exposing a terrific blend pf colors. However, from the ground (e.g. the aforementioned board-walk) you only get a very limited view of the pool and its colors. Thanks to a kind ranger at the Visitor Center, we knew better. A nearby trail allows you to climb a steep hill. Few things would pay off as much as the somewhat-strenuous uphill and words can’t effectively convey how astonishing the view from above is. Gazing from the top of the hill, you get a picture so beautiful that it almost seems like a Photoshop fake. The middle of the pool is blue, surrounded by a green strip (thanks to bacteria in the waters), in turn surrounded by a yellow strip (sulfur), in turn surrounded by a brownish-reddish strip with sun-like arms (possibly a result of iron deposits). The whole pool is covered by hazy vapors, surrounded by a beautiful valley and majestic mountains and (today...) capped by clear blue sky. We all spent at least an hour on that hill, admiring the beauty that only nature can produce. See photos below.
Traveling With (Grand)Parents
A few days ago, my parents joined us and will be traveling with us for 2.5 weeks. The fact I’m writing these lines at night from a lounge, drinking cold beer with Anat (our first date since who knows when…), gives the sense of having two more adults with us.
Indeed, staying 7 people in the same tent (or hotel room, which happened to be the case for us in Yellowstone – see my planned posting about camping here...) takes some flexibility from all parties, but as far as I can tell everybody is happy.
For my Mom, spending time with her granddaughters seems to be a dream come true. So much so, that I suspect the destination wouldn’t matter much, but Yellowstone being so beautiful certainly makes it even more enjoyable for her, not to mention for my Dad.
Noga and Hadas are thriving, with grandma’s constant attention and endless patience. I guess that by the end of this part of our travels, they’ll memorize all existing bible stories, skillfully told in the right manner by their grandmother.
And Maayan is being very friendly (as opposed to her reluctance during their last visit in April), which for my folks could alone justify a trip to the US...
As for Anat and myself – did I mention we can peacefully sip our morning coffee?!
Giora
Indeed, staying 7 people in the same tent (or hotel room, which happened to be the case for us in Yellowstone – see my planned posting about camping here...) takes some flexibility from all parties, but as far as I can tell everybody is happy.
For my Mom, spending time with her granddaughters seems to be a dream come true. So much so, that I suspect the destination wouldn’t matter much, but Yellowstone being so beautiful certainly makes it even more enjoyable for her, not to mention for my Dad.
Noga and Hadas are thriving, with grandma’s constant attention and endless patience. I guess that by the end of this part of our travels, they’ll memorize all existing bible stories, skillfully told in the right manner by their grandmother.
And Maayan is being very friendly (as opposed to her reluctance during their last visit in April), which for my folks could alone justify a trip to the US...
As for Anat and myself – did I mention we can peacefully sip our morning coffee?!
Giora
Traveling With Kids 2
I previously referred to traveling with kids, and how different it is from traveling as a young couple. Several characterizations can be made, such as food being a central theme (try convincing an 18 months old she can wait a couple hours for dinner…), or the transition from a backpack to a packed mini-van. The latter turned my clinging to my sophisticated light-weight-burn-on-every-liquid-fuel-in-every-altitude cooking stove into a joke. After experiencing the bulkier (but more than sufficient) propane stove, Noga had a clear-cut definition of my MSR stove: “oh, I see, it does the same thing but takes much more work, right?!” ;-)
Giora
Giora
Thursday, July 17
A lovely chill in the air
I am writing from the living room of our hostel, which is a graceful wooden structure set up on a cliff right on the border of Rocky Mountain National Park. There are heavy wooden rocking chairs and sofas, wagon-wheel chandeliers, and antlers on the wall. It's chilly enough for a sweatshirt. Outside the sound of the rushing stream, tumbling down the mountain side, is as loud as air-conditioning, even with the windows closed.
Today we took a wonderful 4 mile hike. We drove way up into the park, to the aptly named Alpine visitor center, at an elevation of 11,000 feet, or about 3500 meters. We could feel the altitude on our way up, as we emerged above the tree line, through the sub-alpine habitat and into the alpine tundra, which is an open meadow dotted with thousands of tiny flowers at this time of year. The first part of the hike took us through this scenery, and afterwards we started descending towards the trees (and the mosquitoes). There were still some patches of snow on the ground although it was fairly warm outside. And the sound of the snow melting and the water trickling or rushing down followed us the whole time. The trail actually crosses the continental divide, so some of that water was headed east and some was headed west. All around us were the peaks of the "never summer" range, covered in snow that does not melt year round.
I was carrying Maayan in the backpack today, to give Giora's back a well-deserved day of rest. We started out singing, with her insisting on me holding her feet and me insisting that she doesn't pinch my arms, which she understood pretty quickly. Then she fell asleep and I could feel her weight shifting on my back as I walked. When we entered the forest I had to keep a good pace going, because the moment I stopped walking we were surrounded by bugs that didn't seem too impressed by the insect repellent we had on us. So I was ahead of Giora and the older girls, and then Maayan woke up and started exclaiming "Mayi, Mayi" which is ostensibly her word for water (mayim in Hebrew) but can have a pretty wide extension. Today it referred to the streams we passed, but also to snow, trees, mountains, sky, clouds and who knows what else. The best part was at the very end of the trail, when we reached a small lake, and she was so excited she hollered "wow, wow" and was pointing all around. It's amazing how much she has grown over the last four weeks, and I feel that I can really see changes in her from day to day.
This is the first really lush scenery we've encountered on this trip, and it is a very dramatic change from the desert. Both have their own beauty and can hardly be compared, and I'm glad that our travels are taking us through such different places, with more still ahead of us. I know that we've covered quite a lot of distance, but I'm still a little surprised at how variable nature and weather can be.
Anat
Today we took a wonderful 4 mile hike. We drove way up into the park, to the aptly named Alpine visitor center, at an elevation of 11,000 feet, or about 3500 meters. We could feel the altitude on our way up, as we emerged above the tree line, through the sub-alpine habitat and into the alpine tundra, which is an open meadow dotted with thousands of tiny flowers at this time of year. The first part of the hike took us through this scenery, and afterwards we started descending towards the trees (and the mosquitoes). There were still some patches of snow on the ground although it was fairly warm outside. And the sound of the snow melting and the water trickling or rushing down followed us the whole time. The trail actually crosses the continental divide, so some of that water was headed east and some was headed west. All around us were the peaks of the "never summer" range, covered in snow that does not melt year round.
I was carrying Maayan in the backpack today, to give Giora's back a well-deserved day of rest. We started out singing, with her insisting on me holding her feet and me insisting that she doesn't pinch my arms, which she understood pretty quickly. Then she fell asleep and I could feel her weight shifting on my back as I walked. When we entered the forest I had to keep a good pace going, because the moment I stopped walking we were surrounded by bugs that didn't seem too impressed by the insect repellent we had on us. So I was ahead of Giora and the older girls, and then Maayan woke up and started exclaiming "Mayi, Mayi" which is ostensibly her word for water (mayim in Hebrew) but can have a pretty wide extension. Today it referred to the streams we passed, but also to snow, trees, mountains, sky, clouds and who knows what else. The best part was at the very end of the trail, when we reached a small lake, and she was so excited she hollered "wow, wow" and was pointing all around. It's amazing how much she has grown over the last four weeks, and I feel that I can really see changes in her from day to day.
This is the first really lush scenery we've encountered on this trip, and it is a very dramatic change from the desert. Both have their own beauty and can hardly be compared, and I'm glad that our travels are taking us through such different places, with more still ahead of us. I know that we've covered quite a lot of distance, but I'm still a little surprised at how variable nature and weather can be.
Anat
Wednesday, July 16
Beautiful Colorado
Last week we said goodbye to Utah, which we enjoyed immensely, and headed back to Colorado. For the most part, this concludes the desert portion of our travels.
Colorado is wonderful, and boasts fairly diverse attractions.
From Moab, Utah we headed to the newest National Park, “Black Canyon of the Gunnison”. This park contains a massive canyon created by the Gunnison River, with amazing vistas and very accessible overlooks. The magnificent cliffs and roaring river 2000 feet below reminded me of a dark and gloomy sorcerer, the kind seen in “Lord of the Rings”. There is a very steep semi-trail going all the way down to the river, and we contemplated risking the climb down and up. However, a ten minute lecture by the park Rangers, assuring us that even without kids this is an extremely dangerous endeavor, convinced us to take the more conservative (though less exciting...) trails. Maybe next time...
Another interesting aspect of our stay was the very rustic campground. Due to limited water supply in the park, not only showers were out of the question, campers were also asked to avoid dish washing, tooth brushing etc. I personally enjoyed camping nevertheless; though as a family I’d say that 2 nights in such a setting were our upper limit, if not beyond it.
On the way to the Gunnison we stopped in the “Colorado National Monument”, without really knowing what it was. We were surprised to find a relatively big park, with very impressive canyons and rock formations. It was somewhat reminiscent of Arches National Park, from which we had just come. We didn’t budget the time for the 23 mile drive through the park, but were told that it’s magnificent. I definitely recommend visiting the place, but if you decide to do so, and visit Arches on the same trip, I’d recommend flipping the order, as it pales in comparison to Arches.
Our next destination was “Rocky Mountain National Park”, from where I’m writing. Mostly in order to limit the driving per day – we’re not good with long drives, and we try to avoid them whenever possible – on the way from the Gunnison we decided to stop in a town called Glenwood Springs. Generally speaking, touristy towns with pricy hotels and sparkly outfitters and gift shops are not our cup of tea, but this one was a very pleasant surprise and we enjoyed our 2 nights there very much.
For one thing, we stayed in a lovely hostel, which reminded us a lot of our New Zealand travels. In general there aren’t very many hostels in the US, surely comparing to Europe and New Zealand. This simply isn’t a very common accommodation option around here. And finding one that is lovely and cozy is especially hard. We love staying in hostels, both as cooking is feasible (and easier than in campgrounds), and because of the much more abundant and close interactions with other guests and the staff. But this probably deserves a separate posting.
Glenwood Springs is famous for its hot pools (which we skipped) and has a small adventure park (which we should have skipped in retrospect), but we’ll remember it mostly for a fantastic day of biking. Simply put, we’re very amateur bikers. Most of the rental options, not to mention adventurous mountain biking, are obviously not for us. Thus, our biking options are fairly limited, and the setting around Glenwood Springs seemed as if it was designed especially for us. The rental shop shuttled us to the beginning of a very well-maintained bike trail that winds through the gorgeous Glenwood Canyon. Even the weather seemed as though it was set up precisely to our liking, with a clear day that wasn’t too hot.
The ride was mostly a mild downhill, allowing Noga to ride her own bike, and the views were simply breathtaking. The narrow canyon accommodates a highway (Interstate-70), the Colorado River (at some places still and reflective, at others swift and vigorous), a railway and a bike trail. The construction was as nature-considerate as possible, making for tunnels and complex bridges (second most expensive highway in the US), and the canyon was preserved in its magnificence and beauty. Few places could allow us, as a family such an inspiring bike riding. Maayan and Hadas, in the trailer behind me, were happy and enjoyed both the views and dipping their feet in the frigid Colorado River midway. Anat and I were reminded of how much fun biking is, and Noga was ecstatic, with that huge ear-to-ear smile you get only when you do something for the very first time. Indeed, we all were impressed to see her riding more than 22 km, enjoying every minute.
This was the kind of day that makes traveling as a family unforgettable!
Giora
Colorado is wonderful, and boasts fairly diverse attractions.
From Moab, Utah we headed to the newest National Park, “Black Canyon of the Gunnison”. This park contains a massive canyon created by the Gunnison River, with amazing vistas and very accessible overlooks. The magnificent cliffs and roaring river 2000 feet below reminded me of a dark and gloomy sorcerer, the kind seen in “Lord of the Rings”. There is a very steep semi-trail going all the way down to the river, and we contemplated risking the climb down and up. However, a ten minute lecture by the park Rangers, assuring us that even without kids this is an extremely dangerous endeavor, convinced us to take the more conservative (though less exciting...) trails. Maybe next time...
Another interesting aspect of our stay was the very rustic campground. Due to limited water supply in the park, not only showers were out of the question, campers were also asked to avoid dish washing, tooth brushing etc. I personally enjoyed camping nevertheless; though as a family I’d say that 2 nights in such a setting were our upper limit, if not beyond it.
On the way to the Gunnison we stopped in the “Colorado National Monument”, without really knowing what it was. We were surprised to find a relatively big park, with very impressive canyons and rock formations. It was somewhat reminiscent of Arches National Park, from which we had just come. We didn’t budget the time for the 23 mile drive through the park, but were told that it’s magnificent. I definitely recommend visiting the place, but if you decide to do so, and visit Arches on the same trip, I’d recommend flipping the order, as it pales in comparison to Arches.
Our next destination was “Rocky Mountain National Park”, from where I’m writing. Mostly in order to limit the driving per day – we’re not good with long drives, and we try to avoid them whenever possible – on the way from the Gunnison we decided to stop in a town called Glenwood Springs. Generally speaking, touristy towns with pricy hotels and sparkly outfitters and gift shops are not our cup of tea, but this one was a very pleasant surprise and we enjoyed our 2 nights there very much.
For one thing, we stayed in a lovely hostel, which reminded us a lot of our New Zealand travels. In general there aren’t very many hostels in the US, surely comparing to Europe and New Zealand. This simply isn’t a very common accommodation option around here. And finding one that is lovely and cozy is especially hard. We love staying in hostels, both as cooking is feasible (and easier than in campgrounds), and because of the much more abundant and close interactions with other guests and the staff. But this probably deserves a separate posting.
Glenwood Springs is famous for its hot pools (which we skipped) and has a small adventure park (which we should have skipped in retrospect), but we’ll remember it mostly for a fantastic day of biking. Simply put, we’re very amateur bikers. Most of the rental options, not to mention adventurous mountain biking, are obviously not for us. Thus, our biking options are fairly limited, and the setting around Glenwood Springs seemed as if it was designed especially for us. The rental shop shuttled us to the beginning of a very well-maintained bike trail that winds through the gorgeous Glenwood Canyon. Even the weather seemed as though it was set up precisely to our liking, with a clear day that wasn’t too hot.
The ride was mostly a mild downhill, allowing Noga to ride her own bike, and the views were simply breathtaking. The narrow canyon accommodates a highway (Interstate-70), the Colorado River (at some places still and reflective, at others swift and vigorous), a railway and a bike trail. The construction was as nature-considerate as possible, making for tunnels and complex bridges (second most expensive highway in the US), and the canyon was preserved in its magnificence and beauty. Few places could allow us, as a family such an inspiring bike riding. Maayan and Hadas, in the trailer behind me, were happy and enjoyed both the views and dipping their feet in the frigid Colorado River midway. Anat and I were reminded of how much fun biking is, and Noga was ecstatic, with that huge ear-to-ear smile you get only when you do something for the very first time. Indeed, we all were impressed to see her riding more than 22 km, enjoying every minute.
This was the kind of day that makes traveling as a family unforgettable!
Giora
Sunday, July 13
One more note about Las Vegas
Anat has previously (forcefully) expressed her opinion about Las Vegas. I saw the cartoon below, with a gambling machine instead of a generic PC, on a T-Shirt in Vegas.
It PRECISELY captured my feeling after seeing those casinos...
Giora
It PRECISELY captured my feeling after seeing those casinos...
Giora
New photos
We finally are staying in a hostel with Internet access...
New photos are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/MesaVerde and http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/Arches
Cheers,
Giora
New photos are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/MesaVerde and http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/Arches
Cheers,
Giora
Wednesday, July 9
Hello from Moab, Utah
Sorry for the prolonged silence, we've been without internet access for the last week or so. Thanks so much to everyone. it was great to hear all your news and goings on!
So since we last posted we passed through the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona, and then arrived in Mesa Verde National Park in the South-Western corner of Colorado. Mesa Verde is home to ancient Native American Pueblo remnants, which were abandoned in 1300. The most impressive are cliff dwellings - whole communities built in rock alcoves created by water springs. The park's focus is on the culture, archeology and history of these communities, and less on the surrounding nature, though the setting is also impressive with deep canyons and high cliffs. This was refreshing change, adding another dimension to our trip.
The way to explore the park is to join guided tours lead by park rangers. We explored three cliff dwellings this way and learned a lot about the ancient people, from their size (much smaller than today), their diet (corn, beans and squash mainly, from lands they farmed on top the mesa), and their spiritual practices. It was interesting for us the adults, but the girls absolutely had a ball. They asked the rangers endless questions, ranging from questions by Noga regarding the division of labor between the sexes and exactly how the dwellings were constructed, to inquiries by Hadas regarding whether the people engaged in war (they didn't) and exactly what they used to wipe after doing their business (the ranger speculated on oak leaves...). Maayan didn't ask questions, yet, but kept her parents busy and in constant vigilance to make sure she didn't dive head first off a cliff... Another aspect which led to great enjoyment was the fact that the dwellings are accessed through steep trails and the tours also involved climbing up some tall ladders (up to 30 feet / 10 meters) and crawling through tunnels in the rock.
Since leaving Mesa Verde we've come to Moab, Utah, which sits on the Colorado river and is the access town to Arches National Park, which we've been exploring for the last couple of days. The park is very very accessible, with numerous gracious stone arches just a short hike off the road. And surprisingly, so far we haven't ran into big crowds. There are also many adventure activities here in town - river rafting, extreme mountain biking and so on, but we'll be skipping these on the current trip, and focusing on the beautiful nature in Arches.
Hope to update more soon,
Anat
So since we last posted we passed through the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona, and then arrived in Mesa Verde National Park in the South-Western corner of Colorado. Mesa Verde is home to ancient Native American Pueblo remnants, which were abandoned in 1300. The most impressive are cliff dwellings - whole communities built in rock alcoves created by water springs. The park's focus is on the culture, archeology and history of these communities, and less on the surrounding nature, though the setting is also impressive with deep canyons and high cliffs. This was refreshing change, adding another dimension to our trip.
The way to explore the park is to join guided tours lead by park rangers. We explored three cliff dwellings this way and learned a lot about the ancient people, from their size (much smaller than today), their diet (corn, beans and squash mainly, from lands they farmed on top the mesa), and their spiritual practices. It was interesting for us the adults, but the girls absolutely had a ball. They asked the rangers endless questions, ranging from questions by Noga regarding the division of labor between the sexes and exactly how the dwellings were constructed, to inquiries by Hadas regarding whether the people engaged in war (they didn't) and exactly what they used to wipe after doing their business (the ranger speculated on oak leaves...). Maayan didn't ask questions, yet, but kept her parents busy and in constant vigilance to make sure she didn't dive head first off a cliff... Another aspect which led to great enjoyment was the fact that the dwellings are accessed through steep trails and the tours also involved climbing up some tall ladders (up to 30 feet / 10 meters) and crawling through tunnels in the rock.
Since leaving Mesa Verde we've come to Moab, Utah, which sits on the Colorado river and is the access town to Arches National Park, which we've been exploring for the last couple of days. The park is very very accessible, with numerous gracious stone arches just a short hike off the road. And surprisingly, so far we haven't ran into big crowds. There are also many adventure activities here in town - river rafting, extreme mountain biking and so on, but we'll be skipping these on the current trip, and focusing on the beautiful nature in Arches.
Hope to update more soon,
Anat
Wednesday, July 2
New pictures, and request
First and foremost, we've uploaded some new pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/ZionGrandCanyonAndLakePowell
Second, we're curious to know how all of you are doing. Both of us have the feeling that communication has been fairly one-sided, because we've been posting in the blog and not corresponding individually. So we'd be really happy to hear from you all - you can either comment here in the blog (if you don't mind your comment being open for everyone to read), or send us email:
giora.unger@gmail.com
anat.prior@gmail.com
nogi.unger@gmail.com
hadas.unger@gmail.com
Love and hugs,
Anat
Second, we're curious to know how all of you are doing. Both of us have the feeling that communication has been fairly one-sided, because we've been posting in the blog and not corresponding individually. So we'd be really happy to hear from you all - you can either comment here in the blog (if you don't mind your comment being open for everyone to read), or send us email:
giora.unger@gmail.com
anat.prior@gmail.com
nogi.unger@gmail.com
hadas.unger@gmail.com
Love and hugs,
Anat
Sunday, June 29
Boating in Lake Powell
Hi this is Noga.
I am writing from the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. Yesterday Mommy, Hadas and I went on a boat ride. At first we were in Lake Powell which was not so cool but then we entered Antelope Canyon which was the most beautiful thing on the boat ride. By the way, the boat ride was an hour and a half. We saw the most amazing sandstone cliffs in the world. Mommy, Hadas and I took lots of pictures. I will never forget that boat ride.
Bye for now,
Noga!!
I am writing from the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. Yesterday Mommy, Hadas and I went on a boat ride. At first we were in Lake Powell which was not so cool but then we entered Antelope Canyon which was the most beautiful thing on the boat ride. By the way, the boat ride was an hour and a half. We saw the most amazing sandstone cliffs in the world. Mommy, Hadas and I took lots of pictures. I will never forget that boat ride.
Bye for now,
Noga!!
Saturday, June 28
The too Grand Canyon and weird Lake Powell
Our trip took us to the less-visited North rim of the Grand Canyon. I know there will be those who will be surprised at what comes next, but I must admit that I was not blown away. Sure, the scenery was beautiful, but I think the scale was simply too big for me. Because the canyon itself is so large, wide at the top and then narrowing and becoming steep further down, we couldn’t even see its entire depth from our vantage point. And since we weren’t able to actually hike into it (way way too difficult for the girls) I found myself feeling somewhat removed and not taken in by the view. More generally, I think I enjoy places where you can actually “enter into” nature, and not only appreciate it from a convenient scenic viewing point by the road. That’s probably why we insist on taking hikes, even very short ones, at every opportunity. Even if you can actually see a wider angle from the view point I truly enjoy getting further involved.
From the Grand Canyon we headed towards Lake Powell, which is actually a man made lake created by a huge dam built on the Colorado River at Glen Canyon. Surprisingly (well, at least to us – because we didn’t do too much research…) the drive there was amazing. The road took us along the Vermillion Cliffs – that true to their names, are sandstone cliffs in various shades of brown and red, sculpted by the wind and river into interesting shapes. On the way we stopped in Lee’s ferry, which historically was one of the only points for crossing the river. We got out to dip our feet into the ice cold water – a real treat with the scorching heat outside - and saw a group of people with rafting boats and heaps of equipment. They were preparing for embarking on a 16 day trip down the river, through the Grand Canyon and beyond. The girls enjoyed playing in the water while Kim, one of the rafters from Flagstaff, told us about everything such an adventure entails. I love it when you stumble across something like this, and get to meet people and unexpectedly be exposed to something you really know nothing about!
Lake Powell, as I said, is man made. And it really does look very weird and out of place – a huge body of sparkling blue water, plunked smack dab in the middle of desert canyons. Indeed, from what we were told the dam project was highly controversial due to the huge environmental impact. I found myself pondering this as well. On the one hand, hydro-electric energy is fairly clean and preferable to other options. On the other hand, a lake with a marina in the middle of the desert just looks very very wrong. We had hoped we would be able to enjoy some swimming and cooling off in the lake, but there are actually no real beaches, both because the water level is highly variable depending on rainfall, and because the lake’s status as a National Recreation areas prevents and development along the shore, i.e. no shade. It was too hot for hiking, so we mostly hung out by the pool and the girls and I also joined a short boat tour of Antelope canyon, one of the tributary canyons (see the post by Noga). Again, sailing down the canyon and the juxtaposition of the dry sandstone cliffs and the clear water was beautiful in a way, it just didn’t feel right. Not the way it was intended by nature. I hope this doesn’t come out pretentious, but I found myself mentally comparing the Native American stance of honoring the land (which I know very little about beyond that statement) with the more modern practice of molding nature to serve our needs. I know there are many advantages to the latter, but I found myself wishing we would find a way to practice a little more humility and try to refrain from actions that have such large-scale impact.
Anat
From the Grand Canyon we headed towards Lake Powell, which is actually a man made lake created by a huge dam built on the Colorado River at Glen Canyon. Surprisingly (well, at least to us – because we didn’t do too much research…) the drive there was amazing. The road took us along the Vermillion Cliffs – that true to their names, are sandstone cliffs in various shades of brown and red, sculpted by the wind and river into interesting shapes. On the way we stopped in Lee’s ferry, which historically was one of the only points for crossing the river. We got out to dip our feet into the ice cold water – a real treat with the scorching heat outside - and saw a group of people with rafting boats and heaps of equipment. They were preparing for embarking on a 16 day trip down the river, through the Grand Canyon and beyond. The girls enjoyed playing in the water while Kim, one of the rafters from Flagstaff, told us about everything such an adventure entails. I love it when you stumble across something like this, and get to meet people and unexpectedly be exposed to something you really know nothing about!
Lake Powell, as I said, is man made. And it really does look very weird and out of place – a huge body of sparkling blue water, plunked smack dab in the middle of desert canyons. Indeed, from what we were told the dam project was highly controversial due to the huge environmental impact. I found myself pondering this as well. On the one hand, hydro-electric energy is fairly clean and preferable to other options. On the other hand, a lake with a marina in the middle of the desert just looks very very wrong. We had hoped we would be able to enjoy some swimming and cooling off in the lake, but there are actually no real beaches, both because the water level is highly variable depending on rainfall, and because the lake’s status as a National Recreation areas prevents and development along the shore, i.e. no shade. It was too hot for hiking, so we mostly hung out by the pool and the girls and I also joined a short boat tour of Antelope canyon, one of the tributary canyons (see the post by Noga). Again, sailing down the canyon and the juxtaposition of the dry sandstone cliffs and the clear water was beautiful in a way, it just didn’t feel right. Not the way it was intended by nature. I hope this doesn’t come out pretentious, but I found myself mentally comparing the Native American stance of honoring the land (which I know very little about beyond that statement) with the more modern practice of molding nature to serve our needs. I know there are many advantages to the latter, but I found myself wishing we would find a way to practice a little more humility and try to refrain from actions that have such large-scale impact.
Anat
Wednesday, June 25
Zion National Park
Magnificent! Awe-inspiring!
In general, National Parks in the
We started from the eastern entrance, and a relatively steep hike (Canyon Overlook trail) that provided overwhelming views of the park.
Then, we settled in the fantastic Watchman Campground, inside the park, near its southern entrance. While somewhat rustic (no showers), this is exactly the kind of campground that makes me prefer camping over other accommodation options. It’s situated in a valley between two majestic mountain chains, hanging high above. It is also crossed by the swift
I find it hard to convey the exhilaration of gazing into the surrounding cliffs, so close that you can feel part of them. One specific cliff, visible directly from our tent, was my favorite. I could spend long minutes gazing at it, with a large V shape carved in its topmost portion, filled with sharp blue sky in the background. Each early morning stroll with Maayan, to get milk for her mandatory bottle, was filled with fantastic scenery.
And that’s only the campground, not to mention the
Interestingly, due to a very wise (and atypical in
The park does have a few weak points. For one, it’s too crowded to my liking, which is to be expected in light of the above. It’s very hot in the summer, making longer hikes too strenuous. And at least in our campground, you get very strong winds every night, leading to a less than perfect night’s sleep, when in a tent.
Recommendations:
I guess it’s clear by now – visit
Riverside Walk, at the end of the
As mentioned above, the eastern entrance is highly recommended, including driving through the long tunnel.
The lawn in front of the Zion Lodge (inside the
Giora
Traveling with Kids
Traveling with kids is not a vacation. It is rewarding, enlightening and develops deeper family relationships, but it is by no means relaxing. And at times it isn’t easy, especially if the previous night’s sleep suffered all sorts of interruptions.
With the current combination of ages and personalities in our family, Maayan (17 months old) requires constant attention, or else she’ll either hurt herself or demolish her surroundings. That typically leaves one parent to divide attention between Hadas and Noga, as well as fixing meals, washing dishes, doing laundry every now and then, packing, loading the car, building the tent etc. etc.
Both parents have very little time to relax and recharge. Not to mention things like a brief Yoga practice (Anat, not me…) or reading a few pages in a book. So, the fact that I write less than I would have liked stems not only from sporadic internet access…
One thing we had a reminder of is the importance of music on long drives with kids. The audio system in our tired mini-van ceased to work, which left us musicless. And storyless. Phew, that made the drives so much more difficult! Luckily, our unplanned stop in Kanab allowed us to have a mechanic replace a naughty fuse, and we were back to normal. I must admit that enjoying the dramatic eastern entrance to Zion National Park with the soundtrack of High School Musical 1 felt somewhat weird. But this soundtrack was infinitely better than a whining baby…
All in all, don’t get me wrong – traveling with kids is fantastic, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. As long as you don’t expect it to be a relaxing vacation.
Giora
With the current combination of ages and personalities in our family, Maayan (17 months old) requires constant attention, or else she’ll either hurt herself or demolish her surroundings. That typically leaves one parent to divide attention between Hadas and Noga, as well as fixing meals, washing dishes, doing laundry every now and then, packing, loading the car, building the tent etc. etc.
Both parents have very little time to relax and recharge. Not to mention things like a brief Yoga practice (Anat, not me…) or reading a few pages in a book. So, the fact that I write less than I would have liked stems not only from sporadic internet access…
One thing we had a reminder of is the importance of music on long drives with kids. The audio system in our tired mini-van ceased to work, which left us musicless. And storyless. Phew, that made the drives so much more difficult! Luckily, our unplanned stop in Kanab allowed us to have a mechanic replace a naughty fuse, and we were back to normal. I must admit that enjoying the dramatic eastern entrance to Zion National Park with the soundtrack of High School Musical 1 felt somewhat weird. But this soundtrack was infinitely better than a whining baby…
All in all, don’t get me wrong – traveling with kids is fantastic, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. As long as you don’t expect it to be a relaxing vacation.
Giora
Monday, June 23
Quality Family Time
One of the disadvantages in long travels is that you’re bound to run into health problems here and there. Unfortunately, we got them early in the game, and upon departure from Bryce Anat got a (very) upset stomach. So, we had to trade a camping night at Zion National Park for a Motel in Kanab, a town in Southern Utah, which you’ve probably never heard of. I know I hadn’t.
The day seemed like it was going to be a nightmare – three young kids, a sick Mom and a dead tired Dad in a Motel room, more than 100 degrees outside (almost 40 degrees Celsius) and a nowhere town with virtually nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon.
Surprisingly enough, the evening turned out to be one of the nicest so far. By 5pm it cooled down a bit. We left Anat to recover and found a lovely city park with a shaded playground, and more importantly, a water splashing area. Noga, Hadas & Maayan were running, in full cloths, getting soaking wet, cheering and laughing as children do when they truly enjoy themselves. It was fascinating to see how much they missed the swings, slides and monkey bars, in the mere week of deprivation. Dinner in a Mexican restaurant, throughout which all three of them were extremely happy, concluded a cheerful and lovely evening. By the next morning, Anat was fully recovered.
So yeah, we have magnificent National Parks on our itinerary. But this evening further emphasized to me that this trip is first and foremost spending quality time as a family.All the rest is the backdrop.
Giora
The day seemed like it was going to be a nightmare – three young kids, a sick Mom and a dead tired Dad in a Motel room, more than 100 degrees outside (almost 40 degrees Celsius) and a nowhere town with virtually nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon.
Surprisingly enough, the evening turned out to be one of the nicest so far. By 5pm it cooled down a bit. We left Anat to recover and found a lovely city park with a shaded playground, and more importantly, a water splashing area. Noga, Hadas & Maayan were running, in full cloths, getting soaking wet, cheering and laughing as children do when they truly enjoy themselves. It was fascinating to see how much they missed the swings, slides and monkey bars, in the mere week of deprivation. Dinner in a Mexican restaurant, throughout which all three of them were extremely happy, concluded a cheerful and lovely evening. By the next morning, Anat was fully recovered.
So yeah, we have magnificent National Parks on our itinerary. But this evening further emphasized to me that this trip is first and foremost spending quality time as a family.All the rest is the backdrop.
Giora
Sunday, June 22
Getting into the traveling mood
First off, photos. They say one picture is worth a thousand words… We’ll try to regularly update photos in our Picasa site (http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora). The latest crop, mostly from Bryce, is available at http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/FarewellPicnicLasVegasToBryce. However, I think that when it comes to nature and scenery the above saying is not always true. In many cases, I feel that photos simply can’t convey what the eyes see in reality, if only due the limited angle it can capture.
Anyway, today we took our first serious hike (almost 4 km) with the girls, and everybody seems to be settling into the traveling rhythm. We are still experiencing some beginning-of-trip adjustments and difficulties, which are to be expected, but we’re getting there.
We were hiking inside the canyon amongst spectacular Hoodoos - the magnificent rock formations that are the result of natural erosion. There are other places in the world with similar geological phenomena, but in few places if any the concentration of such formations is so impressive and beautiful. Add the strong colors, mostly shades of red, and you’ll get a truly spectacular view.
A few folks asked me for specific recommendations for future reference, so I’ll establish a recommendation corner. I’ll be sure to leave it at the end of posts, so that the uninterested reader will be able to easily skip it.
Bryce Canyon recommendation corner
The trail I mentioned above starts at the Sunset point, goes downhill through the Navajo Loop and ends in the Sunrise Point. It is highly recommended.
The view from Rainbow Point (the furthest in the canyon) is nice, but not nearly as spectacular as the view from the two points mentioned above.
We haven’t tried horse-back riding, but it’s available.
Ruby’s Inn campground near Bryce’s entrance is a fine one, with very nice log cabins. Like every privately owned campground it’s not as pure nature as the ones inside the National Park, but accordingly it has more elaborated facilities. We enjoyed it a lot.In general, three nights in Bryce Canyon seemed like the right choice for us.
Giora
Anyway, today we took our first serious hike (almost 4 km) with the girls, and everybody seems to be settling into the traveling rhythm. We are still experiencing some beginning-of-trip adjustments and difficulties, which are to be expected, but we’re getting there.
We were hiking inside the canyon amongst spectacular Hoodoos - the magnificent rock formations that are the result of natural erosion. There are other places in the world with similar geological phenomena, but in few places if any the concentration of such formations is so impressive and beautiful. Add the strong colors, mostly shades of red, and you’ll get a truly spectacular view.
A few folks asked me for specific recommendations for future reference, so I’ll establish a recommendation corner. I’ll be sure to leave it at the end of posts, so that the uninterested reader will be able to easily skip it.
Bryce Canyon recommendation corner
The trail I mentioned above starts at the Sunset point, goes downhill through the Navajo Loop and ends in the Sunrise Point. It is highly recommended.
The view from Rainbow Point (the furthest in the canyon) is nice, but not nearly as spectacular as the view from the two points mentioned above.
We haven’t tried horse-back riding, but it’s available.
Ruby’s Inn campground near Bryce’s entrance is a fine one, with very nice log cabins. Like every privately owned campground it’s not as pure nature as the ones inside the National Park, but accordingly it has more elaborated facilities. We enjoyed it a lot.In general, three nights in Bryce Canyon seemed like the right choice for us.
Giora
Saturday, June 21
Las Vegas to Bryce
We arrived in
The final leg of the drive took us higher and higher up towards Bryce. The air gradually became cooler, and the landscape changed from arid desert to cliffs covered with lush green vegetation. We arrived at the campground and settled down in our cute log cabin. As the day progressed, I felt that this is the real start of our trip, with
Anat
Tuesday, June 17
Taking off
It's that weird feeling which wraps you just before a big transition in life. The sadness of leaving people and places you love, mixed with the anticipation and excitement of what's coming next. Everything feels so surreal.
This is our last night in Pittsburgh. I don't think I fully grasp it yet.
This is a major event in our lives, amplified by the tough decision to leave the US and build our future in Israel.
3.5 years are a substantial chunk of life for everyone. For Noga, less than 8 years old, it means most of what she remembers. Not to mention 5 year old Hadas and 16 month old Maayan. Noga is having a very hard-time, and at times it is heart breaking for us parents to see. I hope that traveling as a family and spending a lot of quality time will help her overcome the difficulties.
We finalized all the farewells, and there were many of them. We hugged and kissed and said goodbye to all the people who made us part of a fabulous social network here in Pittsburgh. I truly believe that we were lucky to meet so many wonderful people. And we'll miss all of them.
All the technicalities are behind us, our apartment is emptied and our luggage is packed. We were lucky to have the comforts of an amazing home (thanks a million Einat & Yoni!!) instead of camping in our living room for several days. Even our mini-van is expected to be waiting for us in Las-Vegas when we get there tomorrow night. We took an ambitious risk with that, but I'll spare you the gory details.
Let the journey begin...
Giora
This is our last night in Pittsburgh. I don't think I fully grasp it yet.
This is a major event in our lives, amplified by the tough decision to leave the US and build our future in Israel.
3.5 years are a substantial chunk of life for everyone. For Noga, less than 8 years old, it means most of what she remembers. Not to mention 5 year old Hadas and 16 month old Maayan. Noga is having a very hard-time, and at times it is heart breaking for us parents to see. I hope that traveling as a family and spending a lot of quality time will help her overcome the difficulties.
We finalized all the farewells, and there were many of them. We hugged and kissed and said goodbye to all the people who made us part of a fabulous social network here in Pittsburgh. I truly believe that we were lucky to meet so many wonderful people. And we'll miss all of them.
All the technicalities are behind us, our apartment is emptied and our luggage is packed. We were lucky to have the comforts of an amazing home (thanks a million Einat & Yoni!!) instead of camping in our living room for several days. Even our mini-van is expected to be waiting for us in Las-Vegas when we get there tomorrow night. We took an ambitious risk with that, but I'll spare you the gory details.
Let the journey begin...
Giora
Thursday, June 12
Packing stuff. A lot of stuff.
We started packing today. Considering that on Friday the shipping company is coming to pick up all our stuff, you might think that starting to pack on Wednesday is last minute. However, in light of the weird feeling an empty-house-full-of-boxes induces, postponing that as much as possible was the right thing to do. Noga was really sad when she got back home today, realizing that it had turned into a bunch of boxes in her absence. But I guess this is inevitable when transferring one's life across the ocean. At least both Anat and myself have already finished working, so the whole ordeal is not too hectic. And yet, it's almost unbelievable how much stuff we have accumulated in our 3.5 years here. There is certainly a liberating feeling in throwing away or giving away a lot of the unnecessary items we own.
While speaking with several people, it occurred to me that some of you are unaware of our next steps. So here goes. We'll be leaving Pittsburgh in a few days - after shipping our belongings to Israel, we'll ship ourselves to the western US. We'll spend about 80 days hiking and camping in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and California.
In early September we'll fly out from San-Francisco to Israel and start a new phase in our lives, in Haifa. After a few weeks of settling down (mostly helping the girls to get used to the new environment), we'll start our new jobs. Anat is going to be a faculty member in the department for learning disabilities, which is part of the school of education of Haifa University. I will be working for Google, in the Haifa office. We've rented an apartment in Ramat-Begin neighborhood, and Noga, Hadas and Maayan are enrolled in the relevant schools.
But frankly, all this seems very distant right now. I'm much more focused on all the beautiful nature attractions we're about to visit starting next week. We'll keep you posted...
Giora
While speaking with several people, it occurred to me that some of you are unaware of our next steps. So here goes. We'll be leaving Pittsburgh in a few days - after shipping our belongings to Israel, we'll ship ourselves to the western US. We'll spend about 80 days hiking and camping in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and California.
In early September we'll fly out from San-Francisco to Israel and start a new phase in our lives, in Haifa. After a few weeks of settling down (mostly helping the girls to get used to the new environment), we'll start our new jobs. Anat is going to be a faculty member in the department for learning disabilities, which is part of the school of education of Haifa University. I will be working for Google, in the Haifa office. We've rented an apartment in Ramat-Begin neighborhood, and Noga, Hadas and Maayan are enrolled in the relevant schools.
But frankly, all this seems very distant right now. I'm much more focused on all the beautiful nature attractions we're about to visit starting next week. We'll keep you posted...
Giora
Saturday, May 31
Dual Citizenship
My green card was confiscated yesterday. At this time I'm not allowed to leave the United States. That is, at least until I get my US passport :-)
Yep, I was sworn in yesterday, and you are now reading lines written by a US citizen. Just in the last moment, before returning to live in Israel... The oath ceremony was very interesting - more than 250 immigrants, from 64 nations, becoming Americans. You don't see similar events in many places around the globe. I should admit that for me it is more a matter of technical convenience than an exciting and emotional day, but it was obvious from the faces of my fellow new citizens that this wasn't the case for most of them. And for what it's worth, I'll be able to freely travel in the future without ever needing to renew a green card or to apply for a US visa.
Giora
Yep, I was sworn in yesterday, and you are now reading lines written by a US citizen. Just in the last moment, before returning to live in Israel... The oath ceremony was very interesting - more than 250 immigrants, from 64 nations, becoming Americans. You don't see similar events in many places around the globe. I should admit that for me it is more a matter of technical convenience than an exciting and emotional day, but it was obvious from the faces of my fellow new citizens that this wasn't the case for most of them. And for what it's worth, I'll be able to freely travel in the future without ever needing to renew a green card or to apply for a US visa.
Giora
Thursday, May 29
Here we go again...
At last, we too have established our presence in the blogosphere :-)
We are leaving Pittsburgh in three weeks, and embarking on a three month adventure in the Western United States. In early September, we are returning to Israel, to open the next chapter of our life in Haifa. We hope to use this space to keep in touch with all the important people in our lives!
Anat, Giora, Noga, Hadas & Maayan
We are leaving Pittsburgh in three weeks, and embarking on a three month adventure in the Western United States. In early September, we are returning to Israel, to open the next chapter of our life in Haifa. We hope to use this space to keep in touch with all the important people in our lives!
Anat, Giora, Noga, Hadas & Maayan
Wednesday, February 20
Last winter in Pittsburgh
It's been almost six months since I last wrote here, and I'm properly ashamed of myself. Let's start fixing that. The last few months were extremely busy for me, and the coming ones are expected to be even denser. To begin with, as most of you already know, we will be returning to Israel this summer. Anat has accepted a tenure-track position with Haifa University, and we're about to wrap up the wonderful period of life we've been spending in Pittsburgh.
As I previously wrote, I have mixed feelings about our decision to leave the US, but at this point in time it's a done deal. We were fortunate to remotely rent an apartment in Haifa in advance (Ramat-Begin neighborhood, not far from the university); Noga, Hadas and Maayan are already registered to school and day care, and I've started looking into employment options, Google Haifa being the natural first candidate. We plan on leaving Pittsburgh mid-June, and before that we have several planned trips (pleasure and business), grandparents' visits, and lots and lots of errands to run, inevitable when moving one's life across the ocean.
We leave here mid-June, but will first be heading west, to spend some 3 months traveling, hiking and camping in the western parts of the US. Our current plan is to start from the many national parks in Utah, Arizona & Colorado (Zion, Bryce, Arches and Grand-Canyon to name a few); then drive up north to Wyoming (Yellowstone, Grand Teton); cut westbound through Idaho to Oregon and spend a big chunk of time there (e.g. Crater Lake); drive southward to California (Yosemite, Kings Canyon, but skipping southern California) and conclude in the San Francisco bay area, where we have dear friends and family. The only finalized detail at this point is our flight back to Israel from San-Francisco on September 4th. Transition points in life are certainly the best opportunity to take such long vacations, and judging by our 2 months in New Zealand "on the way" to the US, we're gonna have the time of our life! I'm so very excited!! I look forward to spending time with Anat and the girls around beautiful lakes, on trails in the forest, on mountain tops and around camp-fires in the evenings.
Future plans aside, there is still a lot going on in the present tense. The main contributor to my hectic schedule is my relatively new job. Google is a unique employer, and a notable aspect is the unusual professional level of its employees. I am surrounded by many people who are simply better software engineers than I am, in every reasonable measure. This was a new and not at all pleasant experience for me. Don't get me wrong – it's not that I was the best in every workplace to date. Far from it. But it'd be fair to say I was used to feeling that I belonged to the upper half of the professionals around me. In Google, I need to do my very best and still see many that are plainly better. There are also some technical reasons in the Google environment that make such differences more visible, but I'll skip the details.
You might be saying that it's terrific, being among people from whom I can learn so much. In theory, I strongly agree. But as many smart people said - in theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they're not... That is, getting used to such a new environment was, and still is, a challenge for me. The fact that I am very slow when starting in new workplaces only made things worse. All in all, I believe this is a very important experience, at a deeper level, and I try to remind myself of that when things are down. I can certainly say that things have significantly improved over the last 3 months, but this is not to say that everything is rosy. I should clarify, that despite the above I still think Google is superior as an employer for me comparing to almost any other alternative. Talking about Google's advantages, I can mention the company-funded ski trip in Vermont next week. Tough life...
Enough with work, back to the really important stuff. Though my workload was increased, I'm very careful not to reach a point where I don't get to spend enough time with the girls. This is, and probably will always be, the ultimate highest priority. It feels like Maayan grew up amazingly fast and all of a sudden we have 3 girls running around. No longer 2 girls and a baby. Even in objective measures, her development was astonishingly quick – she started walking before turning 10 months and is acting regularly as if she was much older than her meager one year. I guess the catching up with older siblings isn't a myth. She's unbelievably cute, fairly stubborn and possesses an exceptional talent of wreaking havoc. Her favorite activity is invading cabinets and dressers and quickly removing their content and transforming it into one big pile. It's hard to express in words how joyful she is – with her natural happiness, her meaningful facial expressions, her outstanding ability to understand what's being said to her (and ignore it outright if it happens to be a request to cease mess-creating activities). Her rolling laughter when I tickle her between her toes at bath time would leave anyone with a big smile.
Equally satisfying is seeing Noga and Hadas treating her with the sort of kindness reserved to siblings. Although Maayan tends to protest every time a parent is hugging or cuddling one of her sisters, pushing them aside as forcefully as she can, both Noga and Hadas are amazing sisters to her. It's not unusual to see Noga feeding her from a bottle, or Hadas playing hide-and-seek with her, laughter and screams of joy filling the house. In general, Noga and Hadas are as marvelous as ever (only bigger and more mature all the time). We're lucky that they are still young enough to accept hugs, kisses and cuddling willingly, while already old enough for very interesting discussions and conversations. I'll spare the details, as I'm already beyond reasonable length for this post.
I'll just add that there are plenty of new photos (and soon some videos as well) on our web site - http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora
Hope all is well with all of you,
Maayan, Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
As I previously wrote, I have mixed feelings about our decision to leave the US, but at this point in time it's a done deal. We were fortunate to remotely rent an apartment in Haifa in advance (Ramat-Begin neighborhood, not far from the university); Noga, Hadas and Maayan are already registered to school and day care, and I've started looking into employment options, Google Haifa being the natural first candidate. We plan on leaving Pittsburgh mid-June, and before that we have several planned trips (pleasure and business), grandparents' visits, and lots and lots of errands to run, inevitable when moving one's life across the ocean.
We leave here mid-June, but will first be heading west, to spend some 3 months traveling, hiking and camping in the western parts of the US. Our current plan is to start from the many national parks in Utah, Arizona & Colorado (Zion, Bryce, Arches and Grand-Canyon to name a few); then drive up north to Wyoming (Yellowstone, Grand Teton); cut westbound through Idaho to Oregon and spend a big chunk of time there (e.g. Crater Lake); drive southward to California (Yosemite, Kings Canyon, but skipping southern California) and conclude in the San Francisco bay area, where we have dear friends and family. The only finalized detail at this point is our flight back to Israel from San-Francisco on September 4th. Transition points in life are certainly the best opportunity to take such long vacations, and judging by our 2 months in New Zealand "on the way" to the US, we're gonna have the time of our life! I'm so very excited!! I look forward to spending time with Anat and the girls around beautiful lakes, on trails in the forest, on mountain tops and around camp-fires in the evenings.
Future plans aside, there is still a lot going on in the present tense. The main contributor to my hectic schedule is my relatively new job. Google is a unique employer, and a notable aspect is the unusual professional level of its employees. I am surrounded by many people who are simply better software engineers than I am, in every reasonable measure. This was a new and not at all pleasant experience for me. Don't get me wrong – it's not that I was the best in every workplace to date. Far from it. But it'd be fair to say I was used to feeling that I belonged to the upper half of the professionals around me. In Google, I need to do my very best and still see many that are plainly better. There are also some technical reasons in the Google environment that make such differences more visible, but I'll skip the details.
You might be saying that it's terrific, being among people from whom I can learn so much. In theory, I strongly agree. But as many smart people said - in theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they're not... That is, getting used to such a new environment was, and still is, a challenge for me. The fact that I am very slow when starting in new workplaces only made things worse. All in all, I believe this is a very important experience, at a deeper level, and I try to remind myself of that when things are down. I can certainly say that things have significantly improved over the last 3 months, but this is not to say that everything is rosy. I should clarify, that despite the above I still think Google is superior as an employer for me comparing to almost any other alternative. Talking about Google's advantages, I can mention the company-funded ski trip in Vermont next week. Tough life...
Enough with work, back to the really important stuff. Though my workload was increased, I'm very careful not to reach a point where I don't get to spend enough time with the girls. This is, and probably will always be, the ultimate highest priority. It feels like Maayan grew up amazingly fast and all of a sudden we have 3 girls running around. No longer 2 girls and a baby. Even in objective measures, her development was astonishingly quick – she started walking before turning 10 months and is acting regularly as if she was much older than her meager one year. I guess the catching up with older siblings isn't a myth. She's unbelievably cute, fairly stubborn and possesses an exceptional talent of wreaking havoc. Her favorite activity is invading cabinets and dressers and quickly removing their content and transforming it into one big pile. It's hard to express in words how joyful she is – with her natural happiness, her meaningful facial expressions, her outstanding ability to understand what's being said to her (and ignore it outright if it happens to be a request to cease mess-creating activities). Her rolling laughter when I tickle her between her toes at bath time would leave anyone with a big smile.
Equally satisfying is seeing Noga and Hadas treating her with the sort of kindness reserved to siblings. Although Maayan tends to protest every time a parent is hugging or cuddling one of her sisters, pushing them aside as forcefully as she can, both Noga and Hadas are amazing sisters to her. It's not unusual to see Noga feeding her from a bottle, or Hadas playing hide-and-seek with her, laughter and screams of joy filling the house. In general, Noga and Hadas are as marvelous as ever (only bigger and more mature all the time). We're lucky that they are still young enough to accept hugs, kisses and cuddling willingly, while already old enough for very interesting discussions and conversations. I'll spare the details, as I'm already beyond reasonable length for this post.
I'll just add that there are plenty of new photos (and soon some videos as well) on our web site - http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora
Hope all is well with all of you,
Maayan, Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
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