Ilan Ramon at Kennedy Space Center

Wed. Feb 28, 2018

Time for Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.



We spent a long day at the space center and enjoyed it very much. I'm not going to describe what we saw. You can find a lot of information on line. My suggestions are: First, if you are in Florida, don't miss it! Second, take one of the tours available, it adds a lot to your experience.   www.kennedyspacecenter.com



As Israelis, we were interested in Ilan Ramon's story. He was the first and only Israeli astronaut.

He went to space mission on board of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The disaster of Columbia shook us all in Israel 15 years ago. The findings that are presented on display touched me. 

The next day was one of the best! We came back to Cape Canaveral to watch a rocket launch!!!

We watched it from the top of the Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral. 

This is really an amazing experience, you hear the roar and feel the vibration of the air.

It was so exciting that we plan to watch the next launch on April 16th. This one is going to be even better since it's a much bigger rocket, the Spacex Falcon!   http://www.spacex.com/

Bridges

In a place where nearly everyone drives a car and there are so many water ways, bridges are a necessity.

On our way to Kenndy Center at Cape Canavarel we had to stop on the bridge. We stood at the traffic lights on the bridge, the gates of the bridge went up towards the sky and a tall mast of a big yacht crossed in front of us. The same happened few more times while crossing bridges.



We found here different kind of bridges... Tall, wide, flat, long and short bridges.

For walking...

 

As well as for cars

 

Daily life in a RV park

March 2nd-9th, 2018

Stories to tell about places and people who choose to live in a travel trailer.

When you come to a campground, you get a site to park in. We prefer pull-through sites, since we're not that experienced with back-in sites. backing in your RV is complicated for non-experienced people like us. It works against your intuition... you need to turn the stirring wheel to the opposite direction you want to turn your RV to, and then straight back. What you usually do when backing your car works different here. We were lucky to get those pull-through in most cases. I must say, that with time and practice we are improving and dealing with reverses much better.
In the state parks, each site has water and electricity supply. In private parks you get in addition sewer hookups, usually WiFi connection and in some cases cable TV.

There are people like us, that come for a vacation with their RV, usually during vacation times and weekends but most of the people living in an RV, are retirees... there are many that this is their only way of living.
We met some that are hosts in state parks. They park the RV for free in a site designated for a host. It is limited to a 3 months period. In return, they volunteer to do works needed to be done in the park like office work, cleaning the showers and toilets, handyman jobs etc. and above all that, to be an address for other people in the park that might need help or assistance. When you pass a host's site you immediately notice the fact that this is a permanent staying site... there are flowers, lamps, decorations and signs to show you: I am here and I am not moving anywhere in the near future! When time comes to it's end, after 3 months, they pack everything and move to the next state park to do the same.
www.floridastateparks.org/get-involved/volunteer
There are similar volunteer programs in most of the states.

And there are all the other RV Parks.
We came to our last stop in Camelot RV Park, Malabar FL few days ago. It's a family owned business. On the Internet we saw that this place is for adults...😳  When we registered we tried to understand what it means. We were told that no kids are staying here, there are many dogs, the average age is 60-65 and up (I bet it is higher). There are activities that reminded me of the place in Israel where my father (90) lives now - Senior assisted living!
Don't get me wrong! I get the impression that this is a good way to spend your life when retiring, as long as you can still handle it. The activities in this specific place includes zumba, bosse ball (they had a tournament while we stayed there), arts classes, quilt exhibition etc and even diner cooked for every one in the recreation hall. A whole community life! People live here the whole year or part of it and then store their RV for the rest of it. We met someone who came here, to the same place, for the last 12 years! He and his wife come here for 7 months a year and spend the rest of the time at their home somewhere in the north. I'm not sure I would like to stay at the same place year after year after year. I want to move on, to explore, to see new things and to meet new people.

During your stay in an RV park there some routines,
like: You take care of the functioning appliances in the RV like opening the gas valve for cooking, you cook and then you eat, you wash dishes, you spend an evening playing backgammon or cards and yes... you also need to get rid of your sewage.

Laundry day...

Spending a morning in a laundromat near the RV park. This event happens about once in 2 weeks.
This time we had the joy of hearing Elvis singing in one of his first movies. There are many machines, it takes about half an hour to wash and a little bit more to dry. There was a lot of traffic, people came and left all the time!

ארץ מים רבים The land of many waters

This is the land of many waters... ארץ מים רבים

Wherever you go, wherever you turn you will find water. It might be a creek or a river, a pond or a lake, it's the Indian River or Banana river, salt water or fresh water, sometimes it's a swamp and there is the big ocean. to cross the water ways you need bridges or a ferry, to see the land from the ocean you need lighthouses. There are here plenty of both.

St John River ferry

Hallifax River from Ponce de Leon Lighthouse
south of Daytona Beach

Port Canaveral

Ocean beach

hallifax River near Tomoka State Park

Indian River near Camelot RV Park

Malfunctioning car

Feb 25th, 2018

On the road again!

We were leaving Marcia and Bob with tears in our eyes... They are the best hosts ever!
We spent fantastic time with them and we miss them already. We went to say goodbye to Marcia's mother and we parted from the parking lot that hosted our RV for 9 days and nights.

We were driving to Tomoka State Park, about 115 miles south, when the car started making suspicious noises. First we heard an unfamiliar whistle sound while climbing the connecting bridge of Amelia island to the mainland, than it became a more disturbing noise. It sounded like a metal to metal friction noise whenever accelerating. The tension grew and the mood went down...
What is the problem? Is it the engine? - Doesn't sound like it is...
Is it the gear? - No way, transmission shifts smoothly...
Then what could it be??? We reduced speed, drove really carefully, hoping to reach our destination safely, park the RV and then deal with the car.

Arriving to Tomoka State Park was a relief. The site we got was narrow with no space to maneuver... up until now we always parked in a pull through sites. Mind you that we are not experienced with pull back parking... it took us quiet a while. We settled and started searching for a Ford service near us.

The next morning we drove to a garage in Daytona Beach. While driving there, we hardly heard the noise. It meant that when you load the car it amplifies the problem. We had to leave the car for them to dig in for the reason that causes the noise.

On Tuesday, Feb 27th, we rented a car (Nissan Pathfinder) for 3 days, hoping our car will be fixed by then.

We didn't let the unexpected change our plans!

The Nissan hardly needed a driver... the cruise control and the sensors' system did the whole job! The car accelerated and reduced speed as needed, notifying when it was safe to pass and when it wasn't...
A real treat! We drove with it 450 miles in 3 days and enjoyed it very much!

On Friday, we had to vacate our RV site and move to the next stop...We had to have the car fixed and it was! The problem was in one of the catalytic converters. It completely failed. They replaced it.
We went to the garage, took the car and left "only" $ 3350 at www.garyyeomansford.com. This was painful!!! Then we returned the rented car.
Driving to our next stop at Camelot RV Park was nice and stress less. The car towed the trailer smoothly and easily. Now we cross our fingers that this was the last failure.🙏

Fake Jews

Growing and living in Israel as an Israeli and a Jew for nearly 60 years, I witnessed the ongoing debate in Israel about :"מיהו יהודי" - Who is a Jew, the basic question about Jewish identity.
According to the Jewish law, a Jew is defined by his/hers mother. If the mother is recognized as a Jew, her children will be as well. You might than wonder, what is the problem?  This is really complicated!
Jews are supposed to marry Jews to prevent confusion. Here are some of the problems, yes, there are many! A child of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother is one of the problems, conversion to Judaism is another one.
There are many cases in which someone wants to become a Jew, goes through a very long (which takes more than a year) and rigid learning and practising process of conversion  and at the end, when he/she is happy and done with the tiring process... sometimes the Rabbinate's establishment in Israel denies his/hers new status. He/she are not recognized as Jews.
Similar problem happens frequently with Jews making Aliyah, new immigrants to Israel, who were raised as Jews and considered themselves Jews their entire life, suddenly, in Israel, in the Jewish state, they hear that their Judaism is in doubt.

After this long introduction I need to add that I always wondered why would someone want that much to belong to this nation, that puts so many difficulties to someone who wants to join it... not to speak about the hate towards Jews along the history and nowadays.

Exiting the Cummer Museum in Jacksonville, we faced a group of 6 black young men preaching loudly, holding in their hands what seemed to be the bible, wearing gowns and kind of bandanas on their heads with the Jewish Menorah!
That raised our curiosity and we approached them.

He ain't my brother! He doesn't want to be!

Their leader was conducting the preaching.

He ordered who should be the next preacher, provided tasks giving the exact chapter and verse to read from. 

Then he approached us and invited us to teach him something... We said we have nothing to teach him. He probably knows what he knows...

I was asking about the idea behind this demonstration. I got a question in return: "What color of skin did Jesus have?" I said I have no idea! He started quoting from the Bible and the New Testament saying that whatever he was quoting is the proof that Jesus was black! It might be right or wrong, I don't know and I hardly care! I care for the human being but never for the color of his/her skin...

The guy was a fast talker and very fluent I could hardly follow him. Add to this the fact that I'm not familiar with the English text he was reading, nor with the Hebrew version... 

We asked why they have the Menorah and what is written near it on their bandanas... We got a detailed explanation about the Menorah and that the writing next to the Menorah is the ancient Hebrew.The leader said that they have gods name written on their forehead.

He showed me a text in English mixed with some words in Hebrew which I easily read. 

I remember something connected with the "נקבת השילוח" The Shiloah Tunnel near the City of David in Jerusalem... He insisted that this is the evidence that back in time the Jews were black! I don't mind!  I even told them that it means that we are brothers! One of them, the one with the white gown, shook his had from one side to the other, shocked by my idea! And said No, no, no!

In order to prove his claim, he presented us with a board on which the names of the 12 tribes of Israel are written with parallels to other nations - all of them colored!

Then I heard for the first time that those who call themselves Jews are not really Jews! 

I said:" But I am a Jew!" It didn't help me, They denied it completely.

I am a fake Jew!!!

We were told that in the end of the days, when Jesus will come back, the black people will be transferred to the Holy land and the fake Jews will be expelled... What??? Again???

To remove any doubt, I checked the letters written on the bandanas.

These are in Paleo-Hebrew, the ancient Hebrew letters.  

It says יהושע for Jesus name in Hebrew and יהוה for the name of god in Hebrew.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet

St. Augustine FL

The Jewel in the crown is St. Augustine, the oldest city in the US, founded in 1565 by a Spanish Admiral, to establish an anchor for the future Spanish territories on the Atlantic Coast.

Its impressive Spanish stone fortress Castillo De San Marcos welcomes you guarding the entrance to the st. Augustine Inlet. It was built in the 17th century and is amazingly preserved.

 
This fortress is one of the main attractions of the city. a living museum, commemorating the glorious past of St. Augustine.

 

After visiting the fortress we wandered through the narrow alleys of the old city, mingling with the crowd, watching the colorful old buildings and enjoying every minute.

 

Another highlight of St. Augustine is Flagler College Campus. An architectoral gem, built in 1888 as Hotel Ponce De Leon and became a college on 1968.

 
This is a masterpiece! Every detail was crafted carefully by the best craftsman, outside and inside.
The huge oval dinning room has a rare collection on Tiffani vitrages. It is breath taking! so beautiful! Daily tours are available. Don't miss them, it's the only way to see the dining room from the inside.


 

Lightner Museum is the next attraction. In Hotel Alcazar, another beautiful 19th century hotel, which was converted to a museum of collections, some of those were bizarre.
The Lions bridge leads the way to Anastasia Island and it's lighthouse. About this one, I'll tell you in another chapter.
 

Jacksonville Florida and Thomas Hart Benton

 Saturday 2.24.2018

Whenever we asked about Jacksonville, at the Florida Welcome Center, Tourist Information or people we met, we got an hesitating answer like: well, there is the Zoo, the Cummer Museum and that's about it...
Since we were not interested in a zoo, we nearly skipped it, but Marcia mentioned an arts and farmers market under a bridge and I adopted it immediately!
On Saturday morning we headed to Jacksonville. We parked the car near Cummer Museum and walked towards the high bridge near by. Under the bridge we found a lovely arts market with some food vendors.

http://ram.riversideavondale.org/

A guy was making wood signs by burning a piece of driftwood using the solar irradiation with a huge focusing Fresnel lens.

The huge lens

See the flame burning the wood!

 Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, a fine art museum with varied collection of artifacts from Egyptian and Greek archeology, porcelain collection, classic art to modern paintings.

Andy Warhol

To my surprise I found here a marvelous collection of Navy life works during WW2 by Thomas Hart Benton, the famous Missourian painter that we became familiar with while living in Columbia MO.

http://www.cummermuseum.org/visit/art/exhibition/thomas-hart-benton-navy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(painter)