We started the day at Golgotha or "the place of the skull" and even today that side of the mountain looks very much like a skull (too bad I'm mostly blocking it). Right down below the "skull" is likely where Jesus was crucified, it's an arab bus station now, but it's down by the main road, not up on top of the hill like most of us have thought (due to all the depictions of the Crucifixion we've seen over the years). Jesus was right off the road where everyone could see him.

Right next to Golgotha is a very nice garden, called the Garden Tomb, that was once owned by Joseph of Arimethea. He had built a tomb for his family, but instead used it for Jesus. The "bricks" you see are a crude repair after soem damage done by an earthquake.

This is inside the tomb at the likely place Jesus' body was laid. Outside the tomb you can even see the "track" where the round stone could roll in front of and away from the entrance to the tomb.

All of us just outside the tomb. It has been cool and overcast for several days now, our guide says he can't ever remember being cold here before, but it makes for VERY nice touring.

Sadly, I came down with a mortal ailment and died right here at the Garden Tomb.

Then all of the sudden I was gone! Leaving behind my clothes!

Next we made our way to Beit Lehi. Very few people know this even exists yet, because once it it published, hundreds of thousands of tourists will come (says the Israeli tourism dept) and it has no facilities yet. Many Utah college students are excavating under the supervision of a leading archaeologist at the Hebrew University. It is unbelievable. A huge mosaic floor that goes "up" from room to room, it dates back to a little before 600 BC, and is still today called "the place of Lehi). It's a rough, unpaved road to get here, but may be open to the public in another year or so, although there is still a lot of excavating going on. These people knew something about boats, these very colorful boat mosaics are on the floors, and we got to walk right on them and brush away the sand to see them.

On the floor of the first or lowest room there are pictures of plants and fruit.

In the next highest room you see animals fighting! Very interesting eh?

These are the steps leading up to the mosaic floor, the mosaics are right behind me.

Right up the hill in Beit Lehi they have just finished excavating the only complete ancient Jewish "wash" house.

We finshed the day at Sampson's well. Sampson needed water and struck a rock or something and this well appeared for him. The water was was green but clear, you could see way down in there. I thought it would have been funny to push dad in there and take a short video, but I didn't.

One morning we mounted camels at 1am and took them to the top of Mount Sinai. It was beautiful. So dark you could see every star in the sky it seemed. We made to the top for sunrise at 5:45 am. Unfortunately, on the way back (we walked), we took a wrong turn and instead of taking the camel switch-back trail, we ended up going down 3500 stairs all the way to the bottom! It was gruelling. You couldn't see the end of the stairs. Not the right way to go. Monks put the stairs in centuries ago to a monastery near the top.

We got one day off to relax! Misty and I went paragliding and snorkling on the Red sea.

This is a view from atop Massada. It is so hot up there. Wow. We took the tram up and then hiked down. It's no wonder it took the Romans 2.5 years to take this fort of 980 people

We went into old Jerusalem in the morning, and it was just stunning. Such a beautiful, old city. The wind, however, was blowing in from the East and filling the air with yellow dust. So it looked hazy and overcast all day. On the up-side, it was cool and pleasant all day too. We started with the traditional site of the Last Supper, then we made our way down 2000 year old steps recently excavated and certainly used by Jesus himself many times as they lead down toward Gethsemane. You can see the red "lillies of the field" are all around.

This is the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a beautiful place and we had a very nice experience here. But Daren, Dad, and I could definitely feel for Peter, James, and John, we could barely keep our eyes open after an hour here...

This is the BYU Jerusalem Center. It is an incredible place. We had a meeting in the Chapel and sang songs and toured the campus. It has the most unbelievable views. The Chapel walls are all-glass overlook Jerusalem, best view of the city of anywhere we've seen! Dad was nearly overcome by the place, he said if he had known how amazing the place was, he would have let Emily and Ellen go for study abroad, he felt really bad about saying no now that he's seen it!

One of the caves under the Nativity church, shows what it was like for Mary and Joseph when Jesus was born.

This is the traditional spot said to be where Jesus was born in the caves under the church of the Nativity, where the animals were kept. It has been enshrined though, so you can get a better feel for what it was like in the pictures that follow

On our way back into Israel from Bethlehem, some Israeli soldiers boarded the bus to take a look at us. One was this female soldier. All men and women have to serve at least 3 years in the military. One guy on the bus asked for her phone number!

Misty and I ended the day welcoming in the jewish sabbath as the sun went down over jerusalem at the Wailing or Western wall.

You have no idea how hard it is to get mom to take a picture now! This is Caesarea, where King Agrippa had a very nice summer home. I want one here too. Paul preached here to Agrippa and then was sent to the world to teach. This is the door to the preaching of the christian gospel to all the world. Peter had his vision down the road at Joppa that 'no man is common' and then sent Paul out, not just to teach to the house of Israel anymore. Cool.

Caesarea, we stopped to play in the mediterranean. The water went right over dad's shoe in this picture!

The Roman aquaducts to bring fresh water (dozens of miles away) to Agrippa's house at Caesarea. Up on top there is a trough that carried the water. It's neat up there, I climbed up.

This is the view from the top of Mt. Carmel. There is so much free natural carmel growing on the trees that is yumy to eat! This is where Elijah confronted the priests of Baal.

Me and Elijah about to cut down the priests of Baal.

We started the day in Haifa, up north near Lebanon, where Hezbolla fires rockets from time to time. There are two LDS missionaries buried here. They died of small pox in 1895. They are the key reason the LDS church has a presence here and received permission to build the BYU Jerusalem center. Israel refused any non-established religions when they received independance in 1948. These graves proved a prior LDS presence, and the primary reason Israel allowed the BYU Jerusalem center.

At the front gate of Ntanya University (there is only one way in, by this gate for safety reasons), there is the Orson Hyde garden. Never heard of this place before. The Jews and Mormons have a wonderful new blossoming relationship, and some leaders created this garden to commemorate Elder Hyde's dedication of Israel for the return of the Jews in 1841. But it didn't stop there. There is a tree and a plaque for every LDS president, and for a few other general authorities who dedicated Israel for the return of the Jews at one time or another. There is even a spot for Elder Rector's son who died in that climbing accident last year.

This is Mt. St. Helens, or maybe mount Timor, possibly the mount of transfiguration, and where Jesus would often go to pray.

This is the Nazareth YMCA. The ancients loved to dance the Y-M-C-A and this is where they honed their basketball skills.

We ate St. Peter's fish on a pier at the Sea of Gallilee, these fish were UGLY and we got the whole thing, head, tail and all. My fish had a coin in his mouth, just like the ancient miracle by Jesus to Peter! See video below

This is where the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. The beatitudes, the "blessed are the..." sermon. Beautiful place.

This is where Peter's house may have been, Capernaum, where the Lord spent a lot of time and performed many of His miracles.

We started the day at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus occasionally wanted to escape the huge crowds that mobbed him near Jerusalem and as recorded in Matthew 16 (beginning at Verse 13) he took the Apostles to Caesarea Philippi to teach them. He asked Peter "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Then he asked Peter who he (Peter) thought that He is. It was a very pretty place, we wanted to jump into the headwaters of the Jordan River here, but it said you can't. I then had a nice similar interview with Misty about who I am! You can see the video next!

Misty's Interview at Caesarea Philippi

This is way up in Northern Israel, they uncovered these walls and gates of the Northern Kingdom when Solomon turned the kingdom over to Rehoboam, who was brutal. So his brother Jeroboam took 10 tribes north. From here the 10 tribes were scattered and "lost."

This is the alter in the land of Dan in the northern kingdom (opposite of the golden calf--next picture). A lot bigger than I thought. The fire was below, the animal up above.