Post Script

Couldn't resist one more post.  This blogging business is kind of addicting.



Long Island Sound the day after

We seem to be attracting severe weather - Jerusalem has a 50 year snow storm while we are there and now in New York the first blizzard of 2014.  Luckily it is so cold that the snow is very light and easy to shovel. Toby and Gabriella are getting a real taste  of winter weather - shoveling, scraping windshields and sledding yesterday in 14 degree weather.  They seem impervious to the cold but I froze my butt off and couldn't take it. Had to retreat to the car and turn the heat on. Even Michelle tolerated it better than I and she is constantly cold in San Francisco.

Now we are doing the final packing and getting ready to go.  One of my recurring nightmares is traveling with an enormous amount of very heavy luggage - so this is definitely a 'welcome to my nightmare' moment.  Five big suitcases at the weight limit, a small suitcase, back packs, violin, clarinet, various other carry ons - and my fantasy is packing like the Clooney character in Up In The Air... but it occurs to me, we are coming off the greatest experience and I should stop whining and get on with completing it.  We'll be home soon.  (And then we have a day to put our house back together and get ourselves mentally ready for school and work - not the ideal planning scenario but such is life.)

And now this is really it! Crossing Rashbag is officially signing off. Next step is figuring out my next blog topic :).  Love to all.  Dan

Last Post for Crossing Rashbag Blog

Well the inevitable is here, the last post for Crossing Rashbag.  It has been a great ride and highly enjoyable to describe our experiences and I am so glad that I did it, because we could never reconstruct/recall aspects of the trip, without some reminders.  (Thank you Adam Heller, for encouraging me to start the blog.  I remember thinking to myself, I am such a luddite when it comes to technology that I will never be able to pull this off but Adam insisted it was easy to do, and he was right.) Of course, in keeping with my technophobic nature, my early efforts were lame and I was highly frustrated until I got an IT consultation from my number one son. But it all worked out.

We thought it was cold in Jerusalem (actually it was cold.)  But Israeli cold is an entirely different animal from New York cold.  (About 10-15 degrees fahrenheit different).  We are staying with Michelle's sister Sara in Larchmont. It it hitting the low teens at night and 'warms up' to 25 or so during the day.  It's the type of weather that lets you know it's there.  Sort of like Tel Aviv in August.

Bundled Up

Today we took a walk in a local nature preserve and it was definitely invigorating as well as beautiful.  Luckily Sara has a bunch of cold weather clothing so we had some protection.  I have to acknowledge that I have officially become a 'west coast wimp' - my blood is too thin to tolerate the cold like I used to.  Or maybe it is old age creeping up...

The long road is ending

Not the Hula Valley

It is back to San Francisco for us on Saturday and back to work/school on Monday. Yikes! We will all be experiencing some culture shock.  But the memories linger.  I read somewhere that research has shown that experiences, like trips of this nature, are more meaningful, last longer and provide greater psychic benefit than material things (notwithstanding that pre-war Martin 00028 that I covet). Anyway, maybe I will keep blogging about something else - you never know.  Regards to everyone and thanks for your support along the way.