Journal:

Attended a 4-hour presentation and tour of the Arava Institute. Learned about how students find their way to the school and earn college credits towards their bachelor's degree. They have formal college credit reciprocity with Ben Gurion University for BGU students and Bennington College in Bennington, VT for U.S. students and students who are not eligible to enroll at BGU.

Took a tour of some of the experiments in sustainable agriculture sites that are used to learn more about the advantages of the using shade underneath solar panels and weed control using donkeys (so cute!). Visited a small forest of a fast-growing tree species (I forget the name) that was planted near part of a date palm farm. The trees closest to the date palms grew taller and larger as their roots took advantage of the extra water (100 liters per day per date palm tree).

Learned that the date palm farms are planted by and maintained by Kibbutz Ketura and Kibbutz Lotan as cash crops that help support those kibbutzim.

Met up with David afterwards. Benji and David and I loaded our luggage into the back of the small, rented SUV that we needed to return to Jerusalem on behalf of the Israel Ride. Passed the Dead Sea and Masada. No time to stop and be a tourist, but it was fun to see them both from afar.

Our trip to Jerusalem climbed from Dead Sea (-1400+ ft below sea level) to Jerusalem (2400+ ft above sea level). Made it to our hotel, YMCA Three Arches in Jerusalem after dark. Another long non-stop day full of a variety of activities.

After freshening up, we met up with David's nephew, Michael (one of our tour photographers), all four of us went out for dinner. Found an excellent fast food shwarma restaurant with an outside bar top and stools. Walked around some more and found David's favorite crepe / ice cream store. Had some excellent pareve ice cream. Don't remember the flavor. Walked to the Kotel. The black & white pigeons that I noticed over a week ago were still there, but on a higher ledge. That's their home!

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