We Live In The Country!

Cruise Review: RCCL Liberty of the Seas. Bottom line: BAD beyond belief.

2011-11-06T20:01:00.000-05:00

We take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a cruise review of RCCL Royal Caribbean's "Liberty of the Seas". This review is also published on Cruise Critic: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=91206
As our first RCCL cruise in 2010 on "Freedom of the Seas" was such glorious fun that I blogged about it extenisvely on this blog, with tons of photos & links, we booked a second RCCL cruise, with every intention of booking a third while onboard. This one, however, was such a major disappointment- and so upsetting, due to unbelievably bad customer service, that it repeatedly left me in tears- that we sent a 9-page letter(!) to the CEO, Adam Goldstein, to which we received an insulting and abysmal response: 2 ridiculous "discount certificates" we'd have to add thousands of dollars to in order to redeem- something that is definitely NOT happening! RCCL's patronizing Customer Service rep told me they're handing these useless certificates out now like candy, so our experience is obviously not unique, and the line is pbviously in deep trouble. As our travel agent wasn't able to get RCCL's corporate management to take any responsibility for their abysmal service either, I am now publishing my review.

As readers of this blog know, we are in the hospitality business, owning the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre in West Virginia for the last 9+ years, so we know a bit about what it takes to create an excellent customer service experience. Our week on RCCL's "Freedom of the Seas" in 2010 was wonderful thanks to truly exceptional customer service at all levels. As this cruise coincided with our 6th wedding anniversary, I added RCCL's $142.00 "Anniversary Package" as a surprise for my husband; it was a surprise, all right, but not a good one. RCCL totally messed it up, leaving me in tears, and Guest Relations was snarky and nasty about it, as they were about everything throught this entire cruise. Over the course of the week we received numerous, long-winded messages on our stateroom phone from a variety of "Guest Services" personnel, each one insisting that we were wrong and they were right, and that RCCL was in no way responsible for anything. Finally, and way too late for it to have any meaning, we were grudgingly offered a dinner at Portofino- food only(!)- at which the waitress, who we have to assume meant well, told me "I can see that you were beautiful when you were young". As I was 51 at the time and not exactly an ancient crone, I was so stunned by her comment that I sat there with a stupid smile on my face as tears filled my eyes. I said nothing, but my husband looked at her and said "She's still beautiful". This was my grand, romantic anniversary cruise dinner. I can't recall what we ate... (After our letter to the CEO, RCCL refunded my $142. This was the beginning and end of what they did to recify a week-long nightmare).
RCCL didn't bother to invite us to the "Welcome Back" cocktail party for Crown & Anchor Society Members, and the response by Ms. Guest Relations to our query as to why, was to simply shrug her shoulders at me. When I told Ms. Guest Relations that after our wonderful experience last year we were sadly disappointed this year, she cut me off mid-sentence, sarcastically saying, with a smirk, in front of other guests: "Then you won't take another cruise, right"? Stunned by her nastiness, I said, "No, we'll just cruise with another company".
This week-long customer service fiasco colored our entire cruise- and not in a good way. During our week on the Liberty we met with numerous other guests, most of whom were complaining about the terrible service. This is an awful way to meet and "bond" with other passengers! We were actually told by other guests- who spoke Spanish- that "the service is better if you speak Spanish". This is absolutely unacceptable.
From the moment we embarked in Miami, RCCL staff began telling us that the Liberty was going into dry dock the minute our cruise was over. This was news to us, and we truly didn't know what this meant at the time, but we heard this at least once a day, sometimes several times a day. We learned- the hard way- that a "pre-dry-dock cruise" is a recipe for disaster: the ship will be in terrible disrepair and the crew won't give a hoot about anything or anyone. BOTTOM LINE: DO NOT TAKE A PRE-DRY-DOCK CRUISE! One crew member even told a group of us that the staff "hated dry dock" because "2 weeks without tourists we don't make any money". As the ship was obviously in need of serious repairs (non-working elevators, non-flushing toilets and urinals in flooded men's rooms, catching my shoe in a raised stair-edging in the piano bar and flying forward down the stairs (one waiter tried to help by pulling at my foot while I lay face-down on the stairs, until I finally begged him to stop before he broke my ankle, at which point I managed to pull my foot out of my shoe and then my shoe out of the stair edging), and, finally, the flashing "strobe" light in our stateroom ), it was obvious that the ship was definitely in need of repair, but also that the crew couldn't have cared less about the guests on this voyage. The smiling and helpful crew on our previous RCCL cruise- who one and all truly seemed to be "into" their jobs and having a good time at them- had been replaced by sour-faced staffers muttering to each other in the hallways, cursing at the top of their lungs in the bar (see below), and being only superficially-and barely- nice to guests when required. They were busily packing up long before we disembarked; it started during our dinner on our last evening at sea, when, as the photo kiosk reminded us that evening (as we unsuccessfully tried to purchase photos), as far as RCCL was concerned, our cruise was already over.
Security personnel who do not understand English are a Serious and dangerous problem. So serious that it dawned on us that perhaps the RCCL Security man we tried unsuccessfully to communicate with when re-embarking the ship in Grand Cayman was pretending not to understand us- also a totally unacceptable situation. On our previous RCCL cruise we had the pleasure of dealing with Israeli security personnel; he was charming and fluent in English, as well as being a total professional, and by his very presence and manner made us feel both safe and secure. The security personnel on this cruise made us feel neither, a rather alarming experience.
My husband wound up spending basically our entire first day at sea (and the only day we had to enjoy the sun, as it turned out) running around the ship making and then cancelling reservations, a frustrating waste of basically an entire day, because the Salon refused to rebook a hair appointment so that we could attend a wine dinner we had booked. Given that we spent well over $1000 in the spa and salon during our trip on both men's and women's services, we felt this was absolutely wrong- and the icing on the cake was that I was the ONLY person in the salon during my two appointments! It never dawned on me that the staff wouldn't work with us to reschedule appointments so we could attend additional events (and spend additional money).
Because the evening events on this cruise were apparently designed around early diners, there were numerous events aboard ship that we had hoped to enjoy that we couldn't- basically every night. Another disapppointment. A cruise should be a vacation with multiple opportunities to enjoy what the ship has to offer at appropriate and convenient times for both families and adults, not a rush-around, cattle-car experience from hell.
My husband encountered a men's restroom with its floor filled with water (and, presumably, urine) from an overflowing, clogged urinal, as well as several out-of-order men's room toilets. Had we encountered anything like that on our first RCCL cruise we would never have booked another. This total lack of necessary service was interestingly counterpointed by overzealous pool and bar staff who repeatedly removed full or half-empty drinks from our tables. Close your eyes for one minute or turn away for a moment to talk to someone and your drink was gone. Yes, they were replaced upon our asking at the bars, but this was both annoying and embarrassing.
We never received either toiletries or "turn down" chocolates in our stateroom during this entire cruise. This was inexplicable, as the attendant's cart on which both the toiletries and chocolates were displayed sat outside our stateroom day after day. Finally, on the last day, I gave our Stateroom Attendant a note, asking if there was a reason we had never received either. In response, I received a phone call from yet another "Guest Relations" staffer while my husband was resting. I asked her to please respond in writing, as my husband was resting and it was not a good time for me to take a call. Naturally, I never received either a response or an explanation. Some days we got four towels, some days only two, leaving an empty rack. To say the stateroom service was odd is an understatement.
But yes, we still tipped, idiots that we obviously are.
From Day One of our cruise we were bombarded by requests to tip, starting with a letter to that effect on our bed the first night! On our previous RCCL cruise we didn't receive a note on our bed about tipping until mid-way through the cruise, and considering the extraordinarily poor service we received on this cruise, this angered us. Having read in a tourism B-2-B publication about issues with RCCL guests not tipping, I now understand why.
The excursions we booked on our previous RCCL cruise were wonderful- the absolute highlights of our vacation. This time RCCL destroyed most of them.
Our excellent first tour to Mayan ruins in Costa Maya, Mexico was spoiled by "Rita", the RCCL Excursion Manager, and other members of the RCCL staff, who stood by the ship clapping and yelling at our group to "hurry up" as we were walking back to board the ship. Rita also made sure we knew, the second we got off the tour bus, that we couldn't stop to buy anything else, but had to "run" back to the ship as fast as possible; it was like being on a 5th grade class trip, but a cruise is not a 5th grade class trip, nor is it a military exercise. If we want to be herded like cattle, bossed around like sheep, and reprimanded like unruly children, we don't need to spend many thousands of dollars for the privilege and plan for it all year long. (To add to the insult, there were trolleys available- we saw them sitting by the ship, with drivers!- that could have taken us from the tour bus right to the ship, had RCCL really needed us back in such a hurry. To top it off, after boarding, we got to listen to repeated pagings for guests who were still not aboard, making it clear that the patronizing clapping and rushing of our group was not necessary).
Our second excursion, tubing and ziplining in Belize, would have been grand, except that the ziplining portion was so overcrowded that we not only spent most of our time waiting on line, but the sour-faced, overtaxed ziplining staff literally pushed us off the platforms before the previous zipper had arrived safely at the next platform! Amazingly and fortunately, no one was hurt, but several came close to being hurt, including my husband, and frankly, that's nuts. And all because it was overcrowded and rushed.
I booked our third excursion, to the Playa Mia resort in Cozumel for the "Mexican Cuisine Workshop and Tasting", specifically because this was the only excursion available in any of the ports that offered the opportunity to JetSki. After the class- which was enjoyable- we were told by the Playa Mia staff that the JetSkis were no longer available, and that they were "surprised" that RCCL still had it listed on their website. As we saw Sea Doos in Grand Cayman and one was even on display on the Liberty, but we weren't able to do it anywhere, we were very disappointed.
Our final excursion, to go snorkeling and to Stingray City in Grand Cayman was an RCCL-caused fiasco from the beginning, owing to an hour-plus delay by the tenders, as RCCL allowed the first one to leave the ship half-filled, leaving us sitting in a half-filled tender for an hour. When we finally got to the pier we were ordered- and I do mean ordered- by the tour personnel to "run after the man in the yellow hat" as our tour was leaving without us! Our group did just that, only to be told to run back to the man who'd told us to run in the first place. Then we were herded onto a bus that didn't have enough seating for everyone in our group, and were ordered to "move over and make room" for a family of 5 people, which was impossible. Some of our group were then put onto another bus, and by the time we got on the road for our 10am departure tour, it was after 12 noon. Due to RCCL's mismanagement, our snorkeling wound up being 15 ghastly minutes in water so stupefyingly overcrowded with tourists that all we did was bump into other snorkelers. Unlike on other such snorkeling excursions, we had no guide, no food to help draw in the fish, no nothing. I'm an experienced snorkeler, and I saw literally nothing, and spent my 15 minutes constantly bumping into other snorkelers, for a truly miserable and scary experience. Having looked forward to snorkeling in Grand Cayman for two years we were deeply disappointed. The boat was filled to capacity with VERY sour-faced cruisers- not one smile among any of them. We were then taken to Stingray City, which wound up being the highlight of our trip, and it was extremely enjoyable, marred only by being ridiculously overcrowded, with people constantly bumping into each other. We paid $30 for the CD of photos taken of us with the stingrays, and when we got back to the ship we met other cruisers who had been on another RCCL Stingray City excursion and had been asked for $50 for the CD and thus didn't buy it; they were quite upset. This is absolutely unacceptable.
It was to "Rita", the lead RCCL Excursion staff member, that I went when I had a problem. Bad idea. Her response was another "RCCL Customer Service Shrug".
One small thing doesn't matter. 20 "small" things, coupled with a number of big things, however, becomes a Very big thing, and ruins a vacation.
The last night of the cruise, however, took the prize for ugly:
As we sat at the Casino Bar on our last night at sea, we were joined at the bar by approx 10 RCCL staff members, whose every other word- literally- was "f*ck". At no time did the bartender do or say anything to remind them that they were sitting next to guests, and since we recognized several staffers, we knew that they were aware that they were sitting with paying cruise guests and simply didn't care- and wanted us to be Very aware of that fact. We thus got to listen to them cursing and swearing and having a grand and foul-mouthed time of it until the bar finally shut down. It was quite the experience.
Having been told by staff that the casino closed when it was empty (which we already knew wasn't true, as it was literally closed down on us one night as we were playing the slot machines), we watched the casino close down despite having two tables completely filled with active, playing gamblers! (On our cruise last year the casino was open all night and was a lot of fun; on this one it was never open all night, and evidently nothing else was either, for late at night the ship felt sad and empty, silent and devoid of people).
RCCL's final touch was the morning of our departure, when we stupidly thought to have a last, elegant breakfast of Eggs Benedict in the dining room as we had done on our previous RCCL cruise. Instead, we were herded through three almost-empty dining rooms and shoved into a corner at a table with 3 other guests, after which we were trapped in by 6 more, and then fed a pitiful Denny's diner breakfast. We could get neither Eggs Benedict nor a Bloody Mary- nor much of anything else. Mid-breakfast I had to walk around the half-deserted dining rooms to try to find a waiter in order to request Tabasco sauce. Even Denny's doesn't have service that bad. This is our last memory of a vacation that was deeply disappointing from start to finish.
There were several good things, and several people who did provide excellent customer service: Vintages, the wine bar, had an excellent head sommelier who made us welcome & happily surprised us with ashtrays! We had an excellent time participating in Chefmakers "Cooking Around the World" event; the instructor chef, Michael Gusman, was excellent, the service was superb, and we not only learned a lot, we enjoyed splendid food in wonderful company. The Acupuncturist, Timothy Schlenk, at the Spa, was excellent, and extremely helpful to both my husband and I, and perhaps the most valuable thing we took from this cruise. The Spa's "Couples Massage" was also excellent- truly one of The best massages we've ever had. And the Shopping Desk Manager was Truly helpful, and the ONLY member of the RCCL staff on this cruise whose attitude and abilities reminded us of the stellar service we received on our RCCL cruise last year.
Another "small thing" concerns selling drinking water- at $3.50 a bottle!- to cruisers, when, in our opinion, drinking water must be GIVEN to cruisers leaving a ship in tropical ports where drinking water is not a luxury. Drinking water is a total and absolute medical necessity in the tropics, especially for people not accustomed to living in the tropics. This was Especially upsetting in Labadee on our last RCCL cruise, as Labadee had no potable water. It was angering to find this policy still in place on this RCCL cruise, especially after we learned of at least 2 people who had passed out and collapsed. Cruisers are often older people, and people unaccustomed to living in the tropics; not providing them with drinking water in the tropics is dangerous, as well as ethically wrong.
After disembarking from the Liberty, and when we were finally seated in a cafe in Florida, my husband turned to me and said, "NOW it feels like we're on vacation!" That said it all, and what it said broke my heart.
Bottom line: We will cruise again, and are looking forward to it, as we know how great it can be, but not with RCCL, a company that is obviously in serious trouble, as 300 emails in my inbox daily touting their "bargain" cruises ("one week cruise for $385!") can attest to.

Israel! Ancient Akko & Uri Buri for an AMAZING gourmet lunch!

2011-10-30T19:37:00.000-04:00

After our three fab resort days in Eilat, we fortified ourselves at the truly amazing breakfast buffet (literally 101 dishes including Insalata Caprese, + a chef making smoked salmon roulades!) at the Leonardo Plaza Eilat, drove back to Beersheva, and caught the Israel Railways train north- all the way north, to Nahariyya! When I last took the train in Israel (ca. 1986, when I was serving in the Israeli Army) there was still only the Haifa-Tel Aviv-Jerusalem route, and it was so poky and slow that the running joke was that you could hop off, pick flowers, and hop back on! But it was free if you were a soldier in uniform, and so I took it- but only when I didn't need to be anywhere in a hurry! Now there's a fabulous network of ultra-modern trains with world-class commuter stations all over Israel! And it takes only 3 1/4 hours to go all the way from Beersheva in the Negev to Nahariyya just south of the Golan Heights! Railfans that we are, taking the train across Israel was something we Had to do!

Israel Railways map

Beersheva Station

We picked up our rental car in Nahariyya and drove to Akko, also known as Acre, a beautiful, historic city of ancient stone walls on the Mediterranean, home of the famous Crusader fortress, halls built by the Knights Templar, Jewish synagogues, Christian churches, and fascinating underground tunnels- and one of many UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Israel. Dan and I had a delicious, simple kebab lunch at the Ptolemy Restaurant (the garlic-cilantro-olive oil tapenade was SO good!), sitting outside in the sunshine at the fishing port, and I had a wonderful "deja vu all over again" moment, having eaten there, just like this, back in the mid-1970s, when I was a kibbutz volunteer on holiday, backpacking around Israel!

Horse & Buggy Ride through Akko!

Ptolomy Restaurant, Akko Seaport

Kebab-Fest!

We stayed at the Akkotel, a romantic boutique hotel in a wonderfully restored building built originally as an Ottoman Army Customs Check Point in the late 18th century. I chose the guest room that had a lovely soaking tub in an arched alcove! Because of the restoration Dan did on our historic home, which we opened as the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre, we like to stay in historic buildings that have been lovingly restored wherever we can!

Akkotel

Our Guest Room at Akkotel

Beautiful restoration!

Jonah in the whale!

Wandering around Akko, which is a delightful "walking city", we got to see the huge mosque built by Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzer "The Butcher", have a Turkish coffee in a nearby cafe, and then meander thru the nearby art galleries. We took the excellent self-guided audio tour thru the subterranean Crusader fortress, walking down through the many different levels, where you can see how the Turks built literally on top of the old city, and through the Crypt and Knights' Halls, which the Hospitallers, the Order of the Knights of St. John, used as a fortress more than 700 years ago. (Do take the audio tour- otherwise, as with many historic sites, you're just looking at an "old pile of rocks"!) We saw the Clock Tower, and stopped for fresh squeezed pomegranate juice in one of the inner courtyards; we took the fascinating A/V tour of the Turkish "hammam" baths, too!

Fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice!

Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzer ("The Butcher") Mosque

Turkish coffee break!

Crusader Fortress, Akko

In the subterranean Crusader Fortress, Akko

Modern Art & Ancient Stones...

The Turkish "Hamam" Baths

Dan in the Turkish Bath!

Underground in the
Crusader Fortress, Akko

Akko at Twilight...

Clock Tower, Akko

Akko's legacy of strength, stability, & coexistence
between Jewish and Arab Seafarers...

Fishermen, Akko

In the Templar Tunnel!

Modern waterworks
in the Ancient Templar Tunnel!

Akko's Orange Man!

A fabulous sculpture house on the sea...

Akko is truly ancient: it's one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, dating back to the time of Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III (1504-1450 BCE). A part of the Kingdom of Israel, Akko was incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great after his conquest in 332 B.C.E. The city was subsequently seized by the Egyptian king Ptolemy II, who renamed the city Ptolemais in the 2nd century B.C.E., which it remained until the Muslim conquest in 7th century CE, when its ancient name was restored. The Crusader's conquest in 1104 resulted in it being renamed St. Jean d'Acre. In 1291, the Mamluks invaded and destroyed the city, killing every remaining Crusader and putting an end to the Latin Kingdom, and Akko ceased to be a major city for almost 500 years. When the Bedouin sheik Daher el-Omar carved a small fiefdom out of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-18th century, he made Akko his capital and built a large fortress, which was subsequently fortified by the Turkish governor, Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzer, "The Butcher", 1775-1804. The mosque al-Jazzer built is one of the most distinctive buildings in the old city.Napoleon tried to take Akko in 1799, but was unable to, his Middle Eastern campaign collapsed, and he returned to France, frankly, with his tail between his legs. Akko then fell under Ottoman control until the Turks were defeated in 1918 by the British, at which point it became part of the British Mandate for Palestine. The British used the ancient fortress, which had never been breached, as a high-security prison to hold and execute members of the various Jewish underground groups fighting for the creation of the State of Israel. On May 4, 1947, members of the Irgun (of which Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin was a member) staged a dramatic rescue; this was later dramatized in the film "Exodus". Though few Jews escaped, the audacity of the raid was a serious blow to British prestige and a tremendous boost for the morale of the Jews. Today, the fort is the site of the Underground Prisoners Memorial Museum, which depicts the history of Akko and the prison. You can go into the death cell where the condemned Jews were kept and see the gallows, where a noose still hangs above an open trap door.

In the evening, Dan and I strolled along the sea walls of this beautiful ancient city, and had a romantic dinner at Doniana, an elegant fish restaurant overlooking the marina and fishing port.

Fresh local fish with a glass of Israeli white!

Kebab!

Our best meal in Akko, however, was a spectacular gourmet lunch at Uri Buri the next day, where Chef Dan got to shmooze Chef Uri himself!

Chef Dan & Chef Uri!

Spectacular desert of Kiwi
Soup w/Pernod-Grapefruit Sorbet!

Amazing lunch!

The restaurant itself is "shabby chic" lovely, housed in an old Arab house on the seaside, and the food was amazing! We had a "tasting menu" with a selection of courses, complimented by excellent Israeli wines: a dry Dalton Viognier and a semi-sweet Gewurztraminer from Gush Etsion. The dishes:

A delectable Local St. Peter's Fish with Caramel Sauce, served over beet cubes and chives
Spicy & delicious Coconut Milk Seafood Soup
Truly yummy Shrimp and Artichokes with a lemon olive oil sauce, served on mai fun noodles
Fresh, delicate Jordan River Trout with a wonderful cream sauce and green onions on rice
Luscious Almond Sorbet with Arak
And a spectacular Salmon Sashimi with Wasabi Sorbet!
Deserts were an amazing Kiwi-Strawberry Soup with Pernod-Grapefruit Sorbet, and Rose Ice Cream!

I am transported to "foodie heaven" just Thinking about that lunch! Before we left, we bought Uri's cookbook and he signed it to Chef Dan!

http://www.uriburi.co.il/

After lunch Dan and I walked along the ramparts and through the old city again, and finally got on the road and headed for the Golan...

Next: Mt. Hermon and the Golan Heights!

Eilat, Israel: SeaDooing, Snorkling, & Camel Trekking!

2011-10-27T20:34:00.000-04:00

View from the balcony of
our room (656) at the Leonardo Plaza Eilat!

11 days into our amazing month in Israel, made possible by the American Associates of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Dan and I arrived in Eilat in the early evening before my birthday, and checked into our truly spectacular guest room at the Leonardo Plaza Eilat on the North Shore. I had booked it via http://www.hotels.com/ as that's where I found the best deal, but it was the first time I had used that site and I was Very nervous! It was a paid-in-full, non-refundable reservation, and I had visions of arriving and having the desk staff say "Reservation? What reservation?", but it all went perfectly, the desk staff was charming, AND they gave us a gorgeous, high-floor room with a huge, wrap-around balcony overlooking the sea and the city- truly The best hotel room ever! (Room 656. Trust me: You Want This Room!)

Happy Dan, chillin' in Eilat!

Happy Elisse, at home in Israel!

Gold Beach Bar, Eilat

The first things we did were: find a cute, elegant cafe bar on Gold Beach, and then have a lovely fish dinner on the promenade overlooking the Red Sea...

A yummy dinner on the Red Sea...

Things that make me laugh...

The next morning, to celebrate my 52nd birthday, we went Camel Trekking into the Negev!
I'd done a full-day camel trek into the desert when I was on leave in Eilat while in the Israeli Army in 1985, and it was such fun that I wanted to share the experience with Dan! Camel Ranch only had a two-hour trek available on the day we could go, so that's what we did, but it was still a lot of fun (I felt 26 again! LOL), and we got to enjoy a "desert feast" of Bedouin bread with lebane yogurt and olives, and sweet nana (mint) tea, sitting on carpets in a Bedouin-style tent, surrounded by peacocks, just like I'd done "back in the day"! (If the foodie pix below don't make you drool, there's something wrong! I can still smell the delicious aroma of the bread on the hot pan over the fire...) You see the Negev from a whole new perspective when riding a camel, as your "ship of the desert" sways gently from side to side- it's truly one of THE coolest things!

Our "ships of the desert"- ready to ride!

Elisse & her Birthday Camel!

My Sheikh of Arabee!

Trekking into the desert...

The Negev- view from camel-top!

Mr. Peacock, ready for his close-up!

Making Bedouin Bread...

Bedouin Bread, ready for the fire...

Voilla!

Bedouin Bread "al ha aish" (on the fire)

Bedouin Bread: Ready!

Our desert feast:
Bedouin Bread, Lebaneh Yogurt,
Olives & Nana Mint Tea!

My Sheikh of Arabee!

Elisse: at home in the desert!

Dan and I decided to walk from Camel Ranch to the main highway, and it was quite a hike! We found another Very cool tourist attraction on the way: Roman Chariot Rides! MUST do this next trip!

Centurion Dan in a Roman Chariot!

Chillin' in the desert!

When we stumbled into "The Last Refuge" (Hamiflat HaAharon) for a cold drink, we were blown away by their fabulous local fish menu, including delectable things like grouper carpacchio!!! Woo-hoo! We not only had a delicious little gourmet lunch there, we went back for a fabulous dinner, outside on their dock-side patio!

Desert trek to The Last Refuge!

Grouper Carpaccio!

WONDERFUL dinner
at the Last refuge!

Finger bowls! Woo-Hoo!

One of the things I Had to do was to take Dan snorkeling; Eilat not only has the great undersea museum, but Coral Beach Nature Preserve is still one of THE most fabulous places to snorkel in the world! We saw clownfish and other fabulous fish truly up close- the pinks and greens and blues and yellows of the tropical fish are amazing!

Snorkel Dan!

Snorkel Goldstein!

Undersea Museum, Eilat

And then we found what was definitely the highlight of Adrenaline Junkie Dan's days in Eilat: SeaDooing! We found the "unofficial" SeaDoo beach (message me if you want to know where it is, as I will not be responsible for ruining everyone's fun), and we each took a fabulous ride all the way out to Dolphin Reef! I'm more a slowpoke than Dan, and he got to really "gun it" and fly on the waves across the Red Sea- he had THE best time and came back as happy as a die-hard adrenaline junkie can be!!!! Then we treated ourselves to G&Ts, seafood, and burgers at one of the great Eilat beach bars!

Next: Taking the train north to the Golan and Galilee!

Israel: King Solomon's Pillars & an Ancient Egyptian Mining Goddess!

2011-10-10T10:05:00.000-04:00

On our Israeli drive south to Eilat we stopped to see King Solomon's Pillars amd the ancient copper mines at Timna Park- and stumbled into an ancient Egyptian temple dedicated to miners! How cool is that?! Timna Park was another amazing place I'd never been to, as I'd always gone to Eilat by bus from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, and so never got to stop along the way! This time Dan and I had a rental car, and so we stopped at every cool thing we discovered, and this oasis- with a beautiful lake in the middle of it- was one of them! The neatest thing for us, living, as we do, smack in the middle of the southern West Virginia coal mines, was to find the ancient shrine to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, patroness of miners! Approx. 8,000 stone circles that led to copper mine shafts were discovered in Timna Park- these were the first copper mines in the world! (A by-product of Israeli copper mining is the beautiful turquoise gem known as the Eilat Stone, a classic component of modern Israeli jewelry. My dad bought me a beautiful silver Eilat Stone necklace in Israel in 1973 which I still have!)

Israeli Eilat Stone Jewelry

Dan, Walkin' Like an Egyptian!

From the Israeli website: "The star of Timna Park is Solomon’s Pillars, towering sandstone columns so perfectly formed that you might really think they were a gargantuan public works project initiated by the biblical king for whom they are named. But of course, they, like all the other formations in the 23-square-mile park, are nature’s handiwork. So are stripes of magma frozen in geological time in the cliffs, and the sandstone, in its soft palette of pastels, shaped by wind and water into strange shapes like “the mushroom” and “the sphinx.” (They give you a cool map when you arrive, so we got to see them all!)

Ancient entrance to a copper mine shaft, Timna

Archaeological site at Timna

Timna's Ancient Copper Mines

Ancient Temple of Hathor, Egyptian Mining Goddess

Dan, at the Lake at Tmna Park

While we were there, a team of event designers were setting up what was, without a doubt, THE event of the season: a gala with dining, music, and dancing under the stars at the temple! We almost crashed it (not for nothing do we travel with Black Tie in our carry-on bags...), but decided to high-tail it to Eilat, as a fabulous guest room awaited us at the Leonardo Plaza Hotel Eilat, with, as we were to discover, a romantic (*wink wink*) balcony overlooking the Red Sea!
Next: Snorkeling, Sea-Dooing, and Camel-Trekking in Eilat!

Israel Safari! Hai Bar Nature Preserve in the Negev!

2011-09-23T18:52:00.000-04:00

Driving south through the Negev to Eilat, Dan & I stopped at the Hai Bar Yotvata Nature Preserve- one of the many wonderful nature preserves, forests, and natural wonders throughout Israel, and had a Biblical Safari! Hai Bar is a nature preserve of the species native to Israel and mentioned in the Bible, all living the "Life of Reilly" in their natural habitat, which includes acacia groves, salt-flats, and sand, and it's amazing! As much time as I'd spent in the Negev, I'd never been there, and Dan fell in love with it- I think Hai Bar was his favorite place in Israel! Animals we saw included the wild Asiatic and African wild ass, Arabian and Sahara oryx (raised at Hai-Bar Yotvata as part of an international effort to save it from extinction), addax, and ostriches- who got "up close and personal" with us! We also saw the "dark room" and predators in their special enclosures, including wolves, Ruppell’s & Blanford’s foxes, spotted leopard, caracal, wild cat, striped hyena, reptiles, and raptors. We got the CD that enables you to drive around at your own pace and enjoy it all (and know what you're looking at!), and we took our time and totally loved it! Enjoy our pix- and then go see it all for yourself!
How to get there: On the Dead Sea-Eilat Road (90), Hai Bar is between Kibbutzim Yotvata and Samar, 35 km north of Eilat. You can take Egged bus 390 from Tel Aviv, 397 from Beer Sheva , 444 from Jerusalem and 991 from Haifa to Samar.

Chillin' in the Negev...

Ostrich in the window!

Hello there!!!

Turtle love!

2000 years of history, & Israel's answer to the Grand Canyon!

2011-08-17T02:26:00.000-04:00

As readers of this blog know, Dan & I got to take Dan home to Israel and spend a glorious month there, thanks to his winning us tickets from The American Friends of Ben Gurion Univeristy of the Negev. My first posts were on Tel Aviv, Beersheva, the Dead Sea, Masada, and our wonderful "foodie-winey" days in the Negev Deseert. After breakfast and our morning wine tasting at Carmey Avdat Winery in the Negev Heights, we headed for Avdat, the spectacular ruins of a Nabatean City in the Negev Desert that was suggested to us by Prof. Rosen of Ben Gurion University of the Negev's Dept. of Biblical Archaeology. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Avdat is located on a mountain ridge in the center of the Negev Highlands, where the routes from Petra (in present-day Jordan) and Eilat (in southern Israel) converge and continue to the Mediterranean coast. This was where the nomadic Nabateans established a road station for their caravans. Avdat was founded in the 1st century BCE and named after the Nabatean King Obodas who was revered as a deity, and who, according to tradition, is buried there. On the acropolis of Avdat, the Nabateans built a temple complex and public buildings which served as a landmark to the caravaneers. Nabatean Avdat also included a residential quarter, a military camp, and various animal pens for camels, sheep, goats, and racehorses. The early temple of Obodas was built at the end of the first century BCE, and a new temple was built on the acropolis towards the end of the 1st century CE. In the debris of the entrance way numerous inscriptions were found, including some mentioning the Nabatean King Haretat. Northeast of the acropolis was a military camp, surrounded by a wall with corner towers and a gate, which housed the riders of the camel corps units protecting the caravan routes. A unique find of the Nabataean period is the pottery workshop at Avdat, including a room with a potters wheel and a kiln for firing; an abundance of pottery, including decorated Nabatean painted ware, was found here. In the middle of the 3rd century, Avdat was resettled as part of the southern defense system of Roman Palestine and became an important military outpost and the permanent settlement of Arabian nomads. On the acropolis, a temple to Zeus Oboda was erected in 267-8, which, like the previous Nabatean temple, was later dismantled, with the stones used in Byzantine buildings. The Roman residential quarter included several dozen courtyard-type houses, built along narrow, intersecting streets, and roofed with flat stone slabs supported by arches. Avdat reached the peak of its prosperity during the 6th century, with an estimated population of 3,000; it continued to serve as an outpost in the defense of the Negev, and an effort was made to renew the Arab caravan trade and grow new agricultural crops; several wine presses have been excavated. During this Byzantine period, the acropolis area was completely rebuilt, destroying and burying the remains of the temples and buildings of the Nabatean and Roman periods; the area was divided into a religious area of a monastery with 2 churches and a citadel. In the floor of the southern church are reliquaries for the remains of local saints, and in the floor of the prayer hall of the church are the tombs of clerical dignitaries; inscriptions dating from 542 to 618 provide information regarding the Byzantine Christian community of Avdat, including the name of the church: the Martyrion of St. Theodorus, named for an abbot of the monastery at Avdat who was buried in the church.
The citadel was built for protection against marauding nomads, and the fortress was surrounded by a wall with three towers and a gate connecting it with the monastery. A large cistern was cut into the rock in the center of the citadel courtyard, and there was also a small chapel for soldiers garrisoned here. The Byzantine residential quarter was erected on several terraces, and included caves with decorations of carved bulls heads, storage spaces, and a wine press cut into the soft limestone of the hillside. The structures excavated included courtyards and rooms roofed with arches covered over with stone slabs. Excavations of Avdat were started in 1958, and in recent excavations during the 1990s, a long section of a massive stone wall and a gate was found.
At the clever suggestion of Ben Brewer of Israel Food Tours, we sought out the 2000-year old wine press, and there enjoyed our bottle of wine from the Negev's Rota Winery!

Sculpture at Avdat

Dan, Avdat

Elisse, enjoying Avdat

Sculpture in Avdat

Dan, with out bottle of Rota Vineyards wine, in the 2000 year old wine press!

Elisse, enjoying modern Israeli wine in an ancient place...

Dan in the ancient wine press, Avdat

Preacher Dan!

Greek Inscriptions

Modern sculpture & ancient ruins...

From Avdat we drove through the Makhtesh Ramon - the Ramon Crater; Israel's answer to the Grand Canyon! 500 meters deep, 40 kilometers long, and 10 kilometers at its widest point, it's the largest of the 3 craters of the Negev, & the largest in the world! It is an amazingly beautiful place, and makes you think you're in Montana, or New Mexico, or Arizona- and yes, "Spaghetti Westerns" were filmed here! These craters were not created by meteorites, but are a unique geological phenomenon, and not to be found anywhere else in the world!

Yes, "Spaghetti Westerns" were filmed here!

Petrified forest in the Negev...

New Mexico? Arizona? Montana? No- this is Israel!

Chillin' out in Mitzpeh Ramon!

This made me laugh: 400 kinds of vodka, along with other pain killers, at the Mitzpeh Ramon grocery...

Relaxing with a cappuccino at Mitzpeh's internet cafe...

The hotel we stayed in in Mitzpeh Ramon

I loved this painting on the hotel's elevator door...

Gourmet ice creams- & date liquer and other goodies- at a gas station in the desert!

After driving thru the canyon, we spent the night in Mitzpeh Ramon, and had a surprisingly great dinner in town! And in the morning we headed south for Eilat and the Red Sea!

Next: Biblical animals, Solomon's Mines & Egyptian Temples, and the Red Sea!

Israel: Negev Adventures: Goats, Wines, & Crocodiles!

2011-08-14T05:13:00.000-04:00

As readers of this blog know, Dan and I spent a glorious month in Israel thanks to his winning us tickets from the American Friends of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. After days in Tel Aviv, Beersheva (getting to visit the Ben Gurion University of the Negev campus & research facility), and then our stay at the Dead Sea, and exploration of Masada, our next two days were a grand, "foodie-winey" adventure in the Negev Desert, but before we left the Dead Sea, I HAD to have one more "dip and float" in the morning! Then Dan and I had our "tourist photo" on the Big Blue Bull in front of the Crowne Plaza Dead Sea, and breakfast at the Ein Bokek McDonald's, just to say we did!

View of the Dead Sea from our Crowne Plaza room...

D & E on the Big Blue Bull...

Yes, you can do Mickey D's at the Dead Sea!

Archaeological sites in the Negev...

CrocoLoco!

Driving thru the Negev, we found a truly unique place: The CrocoLoco Crocodile Farm at Ein Hatzeva Junction! CrocoLoco is a unique desert farm raising the African Nile crocodiles that were once indigenous to the area, and helping protect the species from extinction by providing buyers in the leather industry with a sustainable alternative to skins acquired through illegal hunting. We not only got to learn about them, Elisse got to play "pat-the-croco"!

CrocoLoco!

Up close & personal!

Elisse, making nice-nice with a baby crocodile!

At an archaeological site in the Negev

Train crossing in the desert...

The Negev...

Petrified Forest in the Negev

Petrified Forest

Heading for Naot Farm, a gourmet goat cheese farm in the Negev, we stopped along the way at the archaeological digs we passed, and to see the ancient Petrified Forest. Seeking uniquely Israeli things to do and places to stay, so that Dan (as well as I) could experience as much "real" Israel as possible and meet some great people, I arranged for us to spend a night at Naot Farm, run by the charming and welcoming Nachimov family, where we got to pet the baby goats, see how their gourmet goat cheeses are made, stay in lovely Cabin 1 (you can see it on their website!), and enjoy a truly splendid breakfast that included a selection of their delicious goats milk cheeses and milk, as well as freshly baked breads, salads & spreads, honey (from a local Negev farm, which we bought), eggs, and fresh-squeezed orange juice! (I loved the handmade soaps in our guest room!) We bought food & Israeli wine at the nearby gas station store (LOL - if only US gas stations sold fine wine & made cappuchino!), and made ourselves a pasta dinner that night in our romantic little cabin, sitting outside on our desert porch with our wine, enjoying the cool desert night and a sky sprinkled with a billion stars...

Milking goats at Naot Farm

Dan & Elisse, petting goats at Naot Farm!

L'Chiam!

A desert night...

Chef Dan, making dinner in the desert!

A cappuccino & gourmet goat milk for breakfast!

Totally scrumptious breakfast, delivered to our cabin...goat cheeses, fresh OJ, breads, & salads...

Baby goats!

Tiny kids, all snuggled up!

Gourmet goat cheese...

Making cheeses by hand...

Our cabin in the desert...

I booked us stays at both this lovely, rustic farm bed-and-breakfast, and the Carmey Avdat Winery, where we spent the next night, so we got to experience a bit of the "off the beaten path" Israel I love so much. Once-upon-a-time (not so long ago!) Israel was "famous" for having one or two truly mediocre wines that were tooth-rottingly sweet- not any more! Israel now has more than 300 wineries producing internationally-acclaimed, award-winning wines, some selling for upwards of $300 a bottle, and wineries literally crisscross the country from the Negev desert to the snow-capped mountains of the Golan Heights! In a tiny country the size of New Jersey this is nothing short of amazing! The best part is that Israeli restaurants and bars feature and promote Israeli wines, so although Dan and I only had a chance to visit a few wineries throughout our month in Israel, we enjoyed a wide variety of Israeli wines throughout our stay. We tasted and bought wine at each winery we visited, and were able to bring at least one bottle of wine from each back to the Elkhorn Inn to share and enjoy with friends! (And Elisse knows how to pack a suitcase! LOL)

On the way to Carmey Avdat, for example, we stopped at the Rota Winery, in the Negev Heights, which was suggested to us by Ben Brewer of Israel Food Tours , and we weren't disappointed! To stand out in the middle of a desert vineyard in the warmth of a spring morning, tasting a selection of fine wines with Erez Rota, the winemaker, surrounded by his sculptures, was one of The most delightful experiences we had on this trip!

Erez Rota & Dan, in the vineyards...

Desert sculpture by Erez Rota

Erez Rota, creating a desert wine-tasting...

A wine tasting in the desert at Rota Winery

We bought several Rota wines, including his excellent 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. A boutique winery, Rota is now producing more than 10,000 bottles a year, for export as well as domestic consumption, they are now certified Kosher, and his wines are, deservedly, doing well in international competitions!

Following the little "grape" signs along the highways, our next stop on the Negev Wine Route was the Nahal Boker Winery, where we ran into friends from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, who were showing Israel's wineries off to a bevy of journalists! We enjoyed a wine tasting with Moshe Zohar, who founded the winery together with his wife Hilda, and bought a bottle of his wine, as well as local olive oil, in the lovely shop/dining room that overlooks a Negev vista "what to die for"!

Moshe Zohar, founder of Nahal Boker Winery

Nahal Boker vineyards

Sculpture in the Negev mountains...

We arrived at our destination, Carmey Avdat Vineyards, in the late afternoon. Founded by Hanna and Eyal Izrael in the Negev Highlands, Carmey Avdat is a small, family-run winery producing approximately 6000 bottles of wine a year, based on Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and uniquely located on the terraces of a 1500-year old agricultural settlement on the ancient Spice Route! The vineyard is irrigated with water from the flash-floods that occur each winter in the Negev mountains, and the cold winters and dry summers have provided an ideal climate for growing wine grapes since ancient times. We had a lovely, romantic cabin, and a delicious dinner of veal with mushrooms, Vietnam-style spring rolls, zucchini with mint, fresh lemonade, and sweets was delivered to our door! We enjoyed it, together with a bottle of Israeli wine, on the little outdoor table overlooking their beautifully landscaped farm, and had a totally perfect evening! In the morning, after our delivered-to-the-door gourmet breakfast, we got to see the Izraels bottling their Port wine, and then had a wine-tasting with Eyal Izrael of their various vintages, buying bottles of our faves: their 2007 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and their truly fine Port, to take with us! (From Wines Israel: Carmey Avdat, Merlot, 2007: Dark garnet with a hint of adobe, medium- to full-bodied with good concentration and extraction, its tannins and spicy wood now integrated, opens to show appealing blackberry, black cherry, purple plums and chocolate, all lingering nicely on the palate. Drink now. Score 87. Carmey Avdat, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007: Dark garnet, medium- to full-bodied, with soft tannins and notes of spicy wood. On the nose and palate blackcurrant, blackberry and cherry fruits, those on a background of earthy minerals and a hint of mint on the finish. Drink now. Score 85).

Carmey Avdat Vineyards

Dan, in front of our cabin at Carmey Avdat

Dan & Eyal Izrael, at our wine tasting

Port, being bottled

Dan, at Carmey Avdat

Spring!

Elisse, in our cabin's hammock!

Elisse, in the ancient/modern Carmey Avdat vineyards

Next: Drinking Israeli wine in a 2000 year old wine press, & Israel's answer to the Grand Canyon!

Israel: Masada!

2011-08-02T22:34:00.000-04:00

An absolute must-do during our month in Israel in March-April (made possible by the American Friends of Ben Gurion University of the Negev) was to go to Masada. The first time I was at Masada was in 1973 with my father, and I wanted to see the new archaeological excavations and share this incredible, profound historical site with Dan. In addition to the Israel Nature & Parks Authority website I linked above, Chabad has great website pages on Masada, as does the Jewish Virtual Library. Masada has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2001; an enduring symbol of the fight for Jewish freedom, it is a famous site for IDF swearing-in ceremonies; "Masada shall not fall again" is The succinct expression of Israeli sovereignty.

Dan, going up to Masada in the new cable car

Cable car up to Masada...

Dan, at Masada

Elisse, with frescos, Masada

The Dead Sea, from a window at Masada...

The Dead Sea, from Masada

Masada

Frescos, at Masada

Looking down, from Masada

Dan, with the model of Masada

Heated bathhouse floor, Masada

The path up to Masada

Elisse, in the Synagogue, Masada

Dovecot, Masada

Elisse, with stone ammo, Masada

Ongoing mosaic restoration, Masada

Mosaic floor, Masada

The Dead Sea, from Masada

The Dead Sea and surrounding desert, from Masada

Built by King Herod, the Roman-backed Governor of Israel, in the 1st century BCE, Masada was both an elaborate mountain top fortress with palaces, bathhouses, storerooms, and cisterns, and Herod's fairly fabulous vacation home, built 1,200+ feet above the surrounding desert and looking out over the Dead Sea.
In 66 CE, Masada became a refuge for Jewish zealots, led by Elazar ben Ya'ir, who were resisting Roman rule. Following the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 69 CE, more Jews joined the group and resisted Roman efforts to dislodge them, living on food that Herod had stored, and water from the cisterns. In 72 C.E., Roman governor Flavius Silva decided to do away with this outpost of resistance once and for all, and the 15,000 people of the Roman camp, including the 10th Roman Legion and Jewish prisoners-of-war, prepared for a long siege against the 1,000 men, women, and children up on the mountain. After failing to breach the wall on the east side, they built an assault ramp against the western side, using thousands of tons of stones and earth. Using a battering ram, they broke the stone wall of the fortress. The defenders had built another wall that the Romans could not break with the battering ram because it was soft and yielding, so the Romans destroyed it with fire, and planned to enter the next day. That night, Eleazar gathered the zealots and spoke to them; they decided to kill themselves rather than fall into the hands of Romans. Each man killed his wife and children, then the men drew lots and killed each other until the last man set fire to everything and killed himself. In the morning, the Romans entered the fortress and found only dead bodies. Two women and five children survived the mass suicide by hiding in a cistern, which is how the story came to be known to the historian Josephus Flavius, nee Joseph ben Matityahu. Born into a priestly family, he was a young leader at the outbreak of the Great Jewish Rebellion against Rome (66 CE) when he was appointed governor of Galilee. Managing to survive the suicide pact of the last defenders of Jodfat, he surrendered to Vespasian (who was then proclaimed emperor); calling himself Josephus Flavius, he became a Roman citizen and a successful historian, and remains the significant source of information about Masada. Since the site of Masada was identified in 1838, discoveries and excavations have occurred regularly; Masada National Park was opened in 1966, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority continues to carry out conservation and restoration activities, as well as ongoing excavations. You can walk up the famous "snake path" to Masada or take the cable car; given the heat and our "gotta see everything!" time constraints, Dan & I took the cable car!
It was fascinating to see the ongoing archaeological and restoration work, including the extraordinary frescoes and mosaics, as well as the Roman military camps below Masada which I hadn't seen back in 1973. We did a self-guided tour with headphones and found it excellent; we did several such tours throughout our trip through Israel and got a great deal out of them. Allowing you to wander and take it all in at your own pace, these tours allow you to understand at least a bit of what you're looking at; archaeological sites, especially complex ones, can often look like "just another pile of rocks" without a guide or a book!

Next: More Negev adventures: gourmet goat cheese, desert vineyards, and crocodiles!

Israel! The Dead Sea & The Negev!

2011-07-27T22:08:00.001-04:00

(Note: my lapse in blogging has been due to an epic computer crash which disappeared over 10 years worth of our business, government, legal, and personal emails, files, and documents. We had paid and relied on Carbonite to back us up, but they lied. They took our money, repeatedly stated our computer was backed up, but didn't do it, and when we and our tech attempted to work with them to recover our documents and files, told us to lump it and hung up on him twice. In our opinion they are criminals, and we are advising everyone we know: DO NOT USE CARBONITE).

As readers of this blog know, Dan & I spent a glorious month in Israel in March and April of this year thanks to Dan rather miraculously winning us tickets from American Associates of Ben Gurion University of the Negev! My first Israel blog posts were about our days in Tel Aviv, our excellent "foodie" cooking and architecture tour of Tel Aviv and Jaffo with Israel Food Tours, our Israel Railways train travel to Beersheva and our day at Ben Gurion University. From Beersheva, we drove our rental car thru the glorious mountains of the Negev desert down to Ein Bokek on the Dead Sea, basically my favorite place in the world! I have Psoriasis, and 30 days at the Dead Sea clears it totally (as well as healing rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments); when I lived in Israel I tried to spend a month there every year. When I was a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, the Army even sent me to the Dead Sea for 30 days! I hadn't been home in 15 years, and it was a joy to be able to share the Dead Sea and its healing air and water with Dan! Driving through the Negev, we discovered, to our delight, that every gas station now has an espresso machine and makes Cafe Hafouch, a.k.a. cappuccino!
We spent 3 nights at the Crowne Plaza Dead Sea in Ein Bokek, and the high-floor room we had, with a glorious balcony overlooking the Dead Sea, was wonderful! This was one of our "splurges", as I wanted to be in a hotel right on the Dead Sea beach, so we could truly enjoy the little time we had to spend there, and the Crowne Plaza is one of the few that offers that. I booked this hotel stay with www.Priceline.com, which had the best deal I could find. This was my first time using Priceline, and I was scared! The booking was paid for in advance and nonrefundable, and I had visions of turning up & having the hotel deny I'd made a reservation, but everything went perfectly, the service at the hotel was wonderful, and I must say I was impressed and will use them again!

Soldier's Memorial overlooking the Dead Sea

Roadside Memorial

Dan, on the road to the Dead Sea...

The Negev...

Elisse & Dan in the Negev!

The Dead Sea, The Negev

The Negev

Spectacular view from our room at the Crowne Plaza Dead Sea

Floating in the indoor Dead Sea pool!

Sunrise from our balcony...

From our balcony...

Dead Sea canal thru the Negev...

Cleopatra & Marc Anthony!
Dead Sea Mud at Ein Gedi Spa Beach

Floating in the Dead Sea!

Lunch at the Ein Gedi Dead Sea Spa!

Dan & Mrs Lot!

Gas Station cappuchino breakfast!

Moonlight on the Dead Sea from our balcony...

The room we had was lovely, and I still dream about the sunrises and sunsets from our balcony! Oh, to have 30 days there to clear my skin again! The first thing we did was go floating in the indoor Dead Sea pool at the hotel, quite a novelty for me, as when I was last at the Dead Sea the hotels didn't have indoor pools! Dan had never floated in the Dead Sea before, and so for him this was an extraordinary experience- there is truly nothing else like it in the world! We had wine in the evening on the hotel's balcony overlooking the sea, and the next day we went to the Ein Gedi Spa, so we could do the mud, a la Cleopatra! (The free tubs of mud that used to be along the sea side are no more :-( and the Spa was the only place I could find that still had them). We spent a wonderful, relaxing day there, floating in the sea & enjoying the beach, having lunch outside among the flowers followed by massages, and giving ourselves full-body "facials" with the famous Dead Sea mud!

We stayed at the beach until the very last "train" back to the spa, as I couldn't bear to leave- I wanted to spend as much time as possible soaking up the healthy goodness of the Dead Sea!

Elisse, in a state of Utter Bliss...

Next: Masada!

Israel! Ben Gurion University of the Negev & Beersheva!

2011-06-07T04:05:00.003-04:00

Israel Railways

Beersheva or bust!

I fell in love with the Negev Desert in Israel Many years ago… I love the climate- especially that of the Dead Sea, as it heals both my psoriasis and the rheumatoid arthritis of friends- and I find the desert extremely beautiful, as the light constantly changes the colors of the earth and the mountains, making it a landscape- painter’s dream. (I painted several landscapes of the Negev incorporating the many-colored desert earths into my paints...) The Negev’s wide-open spaces and pitch-dark night skies peppered with a thousand stars always felt like a place of a million opportunities and romantic adventures to me, and for years I tried to find a job in Beersheva so I could move there. At that time (in the 1980s), as an illustrator, jobs in my field were non-existent, and so I remained in Jerusalem, the city of my heart… But I spent as much time as I could in the Negev, and during my IDF service I spent one glorious moth there which I remember to this day... Because of my love for, and interest in, the Negev, Dan’s winning us tickets to Israel from the American Association of Ben Gurion University of the Negev was especially wonderful, as BGU set up a fascinating day for us at two of their campuses, and we got to meet with both professors and students, and learn about this amazing institution. It also gave us the opportunity to spend a week exploring more of the Negev than I ever had before (deets in my next post!), and for me to share with Dan some of the magic of this amazing desert that houses world-class wineries, gourmet farms, ancient sites, unique geological wonders, healing spas, and state-of-the-art scientific research!

Ben Gurion University of the Negev recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, and the changes to both the University and Beersheva in this short space of time have been profound. Much as I love the Negev, Beersheva was still a “poky” little desert town when I lived in Jerusalem and was in the Israeli Army in the 1980s, but it’s now Truly a boomtown, thanks, in large measure, to BGU, with its 5 faculties and a student body of 20,000 deeply involved with the communities in which they live- quite a bit different from the first graduating class of 23!

Elisse, on the Israel Railways train to Beersheva

The Negev in all its glory...

Dan & I took the super-modern Israel Railways train from Tel Aviv to Beersheva (SUCH a difference from the trains I knew "back in the day" ca. 1985, when the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem-Haifa-only train was famous solely for being so slow you could get out and pick flowers and jump back on!), and were in the “The Big B” in 90 minutes flat! We took a cab to get our rental car, which was a Totally hilarious experience, with the cab driver yelling at his wife on his cell phone headset ("You didn't believe me when I told you that repair guy was a crook!") & gesturing to her with both hands while driving hell-bent-for-leather through Beersheva, as if she were in the car with us!!! It was So hard not to laugh or say something sarcastic, but neither Dan nor I wanted to interfere with his Amazing multitasking ability, & I was having WAY too much fun eavesdropping on his conversation! We picked up our rental car (and the less said about that the better, except do NOT, under ANY circumstances, EVER use Shlomo/Sixt/Auto Europe!), and drove to Ben Gurion University’s Marcus Family Campus near Sde Boker. Kibbutz Sde Boker was the home, and is the final resting place, of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, BGU’s namesake and inspiration, who firmly believed that Israel’s future success lay largely in the Negev; Sde Boker itself is truly a garden and oasis in the desert. We had the honor of meeting Professor Pedro Berliner, PhD, Director of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR), and, guided by Cochy Abuharon, to see some of the amazing research and developments that Ben Gurion University continues to do to make the world’s desert bloom- not just Israel’s. For over 30 years the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research have been at the forefront of cutting-edge research and development helping to solve the critical food production, water purification & desalination, brackish water, desertification, and sustainable living issues of people living in the drylands- which make up 40% of the world’s landmass! We were able to see one of BGU’s solar projects, a working solution to reuse “grey water” (which I wish we had here in West Virginia, hint, hint...), their totally "green" buildings, and the fabulous “$40,000 algae” that is taking the pharmaceutical industry by storm! BGU and a Thailand company have signed a research and development agreement to commercially develop BGU’s proprietary green algae strain, harvesting valuable bio-chemicals from this microalgae and utilizing it for biofuels, and possible cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses (as it’s powerful antioxidant), for such illnesses as eczema, psoriasis, asthma, arthritis, blood pressure, cholesterol, chronic inflammation, Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, and heart attacks. Amazing stuff! Being 52 (and thus being Seriously into anti-aging products! LOL), as well as suffering from Psoriasis, the potential of this algae fascinates the dickens out of me & I’m determined to learn more! If you’re as interested as I, check out: http://www.aabgu.org/media-center/news-releases/commercial-algae.html

We were able to visit projcets of BIDR’s three Institutes in the Negev (the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, French Associates Institute for Agricultural and Biotechnology of Drylands, and the Institute for Dryland Environmental Research), which comprise a true international “think tank” of professors and students from around the world, living proof that in the "perfect world" of academia, at least, science and creativity have no borders or “agendas” beyond the altruistic. I believe that the finest thing about BGU’s R&D is that it isn’t academic research for research’s sake: BGU creates and implements real-world solutions. BGU truly binds academia with industry, as well as Israel with the developing world- which is its aim. Some of the many countries involved with and benefiting from Ben Gurion University’s research programs include Turkmenistan, India, Ghana, and Jordan.

Prof. Pedro Berliner, PhD & Elisse

Dan & BGU's Cochy Abuharon, at the BGU Solar Energy Center

Cochy Abuharon w/ BGU's "grey water" recycling model

To give one splendid example of “real world” usage of BGU’s research: Prof. David Faiman, one of the world's leading authorities on solar energy (and chair of BGU's Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics), is leading a team to make solar energy efficient & affordable to collect and store; his team produced photovoltaic cells that can concentrate and magnify the sun's energy up to 500 times over- and an Israeli kibbutz has been fueling its power needs with this amazing technology for over a year! The Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies at BIDR has both Masters and PhD programs in English, and is attended by students from more than 30 countries! For more information email: dschool@bgu.ac.il
Community outreach and true integration with the people of the Negev is a cornerstone of BGU’s raison d’etre, and through dozens of different programs, such as the Perach ”big brother/big sister” mentoring program, and the Community Action Unit, BGU’s students and faculty give back to the communities around them, serving a variety of peoples including immigrants from Ethiopia, Negev Bedouin, and the elderly. Dan and I had lunch in the university’s Beersheva Campus Cafeteria with Dana Malka and several BGU students, all of whom were working with residents of disadvantaged communities, and they truly impressed us with their intelligence, idealism, and passion.
Our last meeting was with Professor Steve Rosen, of the Dept. of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near East Studies, and he graciously took the time to “schmooz” with us about his involvement in many of the remarkable archaeological digs throughout Israel. It was a true treat to sit and chat with someone who has excavated some of the most historic archaeoligical sites in the world! At the end of our meeting I had to ask him which site he’d recommend to “tourists” like us who had limited time with which to explore the Negev. (In Israel you are “spoiled for choice” as far as archaeology goes- there are literally 100s of amazing sites that go back thousands of years nearly everywhere you turn. The Real problem is picking which sites to visit & explore in depth!) His answer was immediate: Avdat! Avdat is a Nabatean city in the Negev highlands founded in the 1st Century BCE as a road station for their caravans; there are Roman and Byzantine ruins there, as well. Since I had never had the chance to go there and we’d already heard wonderful things about it from several friends, including Ben Brewer of the wonderful Israel Food Tours, we decided then and there that we’d definitely go and explore it! Avdat is one of many Israeli UNESCO World Heritage Sites; one of the Desert Cities of the Negev on the 1500 mile-long frankincense Incense Route from Arabia to the Mediterranean.

Dan & Cochy Abuharon with the Fabulous Algae!

My only regrets at the end of this fabulous day were:

1. That we didn’t have longer to explore all that the University has to offer and meet more of her professors and students; and

2: That I wasn’t still in academia! Our day at BGU made me want to live in the Negev more than ever, and to be a part of the amazing things that are being created in this glorious place... Must. Win. Lotto…

Elisse & the Fabulous Algae!

BGU Sustainable Eco-System Project

The Negev...

An "old soldier" with the the gorgeous new guys of the IDF
at Ben Gurion University of the Negev

The Negev, in all its spendor...

Dan & Elisse with BGU students

After our day at Ben Gurion University, the university graciously put us up at Leonardo Hotel Negev in Beersheva, a world-class hotel in the center of town, where we had a wonderful view of “Boomtown Beersheva” from our window!

Beersheva view from our Leonardo Hotel room...

At the Smilansky Tapas Wine Bar, Beersheva...

Dinner at Yakota, with our Tagine...

Chef Dan & the Chef-Owner of Yakota!

Beersheva at night- from our hotel room window...

I had a(nother) glass of great Israeli wine and Dan his Gin and Tonic at the lovely Smilanski Tapas Wine Bar (You can "like" them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/smilanski?sk=app_7146470109#!/smilanski?sk=wall) in Beersheva’s pink-stone “old town” (where we Must return to have a tapas dinner!), and then a truly gourmet French-Moroccan dinner at Yakota. Chef Dan got to “schmooze” the delightful chef-owner after our glorious dinner of Moroccan pastels and “cigarim” appetizers, deliciously seasoned lamb chops on a potato puree and a spicy, fruity lamb tagine served in the beautiful traditional conical-lidded pot, with cous-cous, paired with a great Israeli wine, and ending with a selection of delectable Moroccan sweets & French petit fours, all served in an elegant, sexy setting! This fabulous little restaurant has been thriving for 40 years, but we only discovered it thanks to BGU! We came back to the Leonardo Hotel to learn that a Sheikh had attended a meeting at our hotel that evening (!), and Dan got to chat with a student of BGU’s Hospitality Dept. working at the hotel. In the morning, after a great Israeli breakfast of Cafe Hafouch ("upside down coffee", a.k.a. cappuchino!), salads, fruit, my fave cracked Sura olives, and other yummy things from the breakfast buffet, we drove to see Abraham's Well. This is the traditional site of the well (Be'er - hence Beersheva) that Abraham bought from Avimelech as cited in Genesis: "That it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore that place was called Beersheva ". Its entrance is via the gas station next door(!), & it was closed when we got there, but having actually & finally found it, we climbed up and peered in over the wall!

Israel-Turkish Memorial,. Beersheva

Israel-Turkish Memorial, Beersheva

1915 Turkish Train Station & Manager's House, Beersheva

Abraham's Well, Beersheva

]

Then we drove 'round & around and finally found the historic WWI Turkish-Israel Monument and (die-hard railfans that we are) the 1915 Turkish Train Station and Manager's House, which is in the midst of a new high-rise housing development in the center of Beersheva and (happily) seems to be in the process of restoration. And then we hit the road for the Dead Sea!

Dan, Tel Aviv Israel Railways Station

Next: More Negev explorations! The Dead Sea & mud, Massada, wineries and gourmet farms, crocodiles, drinking Negev wine in a 2000 year old wine cellar in Avdat, & driving across the Ramon Crater, Israel’s answer to the Grand Canyon!

Israel! Thanks to Ben Gurion University of the Negev! Part 1: Tel Aviv!

2011-05-28T02:30:00.000-04:00

Dan and I recently returned from a totally wonderful month in Israel, a dream made possible by Dan winning us tickets from American Associates of Ben Gurion University of the Negev! The friend who sent us the sweepstakes email once owned the bar in Jerusalem where I tended bar while I was in the Israeli Army (1984-1986), and he is firmly convinced there are no "coincidences" or "accidents" in this life, and that this was "b'shert"- meant to be. And I now think he's right! Last April, while I was working a FEMA disaster response operation, Dan called to tell me he'd won us tickets to Israel, and I nearly went out of my mind! Dancing around the office, yipping and yelping, my co-workers thought I'd lost my mind- and in a sense, I had! For 15 years I'd dreamt, hoped, wished, and prayed, for a way to take Dan home and show him my country in all its glory, but it just wasn’t financially possible. His winning these tickets made it possible, and I can never even Begin to thank Ben Gurion University of the Negev, not only for the prize-winning tickets (See? Miracles do happen!), and thus this extraordinary trip, but for the amazing day they gave us in Beersheva, the meetings with their professors and students, and the chance to see some of their incredible scientific research projects that are literally making the deserts bloom!

This is the first of a number of posts I will be making about our month in Israel; I am starting with Tel Aviv,as that's where our trip began. I will then be blogging about Beersheva and Ben Gurion University, our week crisscrossing the Negev, staying at a winery and gourmet goat cheese farm, the nature preserves and archaeological sites we discovered, my 52nd birthday in Eilat riding camels, snorkeling, and SeaDooing with Dan; our Israel Railways train travel to the north of Israel and our time in the Golan and Galilee, riding horses and tasting wines; our travels to Akko, Tiberius, Safed, Nazareth, and Haifa, and finally our week in Jerusalem, and our Passover Seder with my BFF from the Israeli Army and her family in the city of my heart... and then about Italy, where we lingered for 5 nights on our way back to West Virginia, hunting for truffles and making pasta! As Dan is the Chef at our Inn, the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre, and he’s married to a bit of a ”foodie”, our trip involved a lot of eating and drinking and cooking, all of it wonderful! My hope is that my posts will literally make your mouth water, that you will check out the hot links for some great ideas, and then get on a plane and go explore!

On March 20, 2011, after a year of saving and planning (way too much planning, but thank G-d for the Internet, as it enabled me discover Tons of things I never would have known about otherwise! And I made ALL our lodging bookings over the internet, and everything turned out great!), and dreaming, off we went to Israel!

Dan, relaxing in Neve Tzedek

We drove, in the wee hours of the morn, to Roanoke, VA, and flew from there to La Guardia Airport in NYC, and took a cab to JFK (which is a Royal pain in the yoo-hoo!) to get our flight to Israel. Happily, we found a Korean-Japanese restaurant in JFK which totally delighted us with sushi, dumplings, and kimchi, and made a VERY Loooong day a bit more enjoyable! We flew Al Italia to Israel, and the one good thing I can say about them (besides the fact that you can get credit on Delta Skymiles...) is that the wine is free! Yes, you have to ask for it,. and sometimes beg & whine & plead & bat your eyelashes, but there is no such thing as bad Italian wine, and free Itallian wine makes a Very long flight, crammed so tightly into seats in Steerage Class that your feet go numb and swell to the size of balloons, barely bearable! Arriving in Tel Aviv, we took a taxi to our "home" for three nights: Villa Vilina (And yes, the website’s photos are the apt. where we stayed!). We had a cute rooftop apt. in an old, historic building in the hip Neve Tzedek neighborhood of downtown Tel Aviv, with a balcony overlooking both the old neighborhoods and the modern skyscrapers, as well as the awe-inspiring new construction! The great thing about Neve Tzedek is that you can walk almost everywhere- and walk we did!

View of Tel Aviv from our Villa Vilina terrace...

Dan, at our pied a terre in Neve Tzedek!

View of old & new Tel Aviv from our Villa Vilina apt.

The Tel Aviv neighborhoods that are now trendy, such as Neve Tzedek, were, when I lived in Tel Aviv in the early 1980s, the oldest and thus the most rundown ones; full of old buildings with terra cotta tile roofs and balconies, they had lots of character, but at best they were "funky" or "artsy", and most had fallen into terrible disrepair. (To give you an idea: in 1979 I lived in a Very cheap apt. near the Carmel Market; it had ironing boards jutting out of the walls as it had been a jeans "factory" and broken windows, and I opened my door with a knife, as the key had broken off in the lock! Now it’s a hot, chic neighborhood, and, like the rest of Trendy Tel Aviv, unless you have deep pockets indeed, it’s not for you!) With Tel Aviv now being a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its astonishing array of Bauhaus buildings, the skyline of Tel Aviv is a sea of construction cranes, more and more of the “cool” old buildings are being restored, and they've now become "boutique" hotels, gourmet restaurants, trendy clubs & cafes, & the fashionable hot spots! (Our Neve Tzedek apt. was a block from the Shalom Tower; in 1973, when I first came to Israel with my father, it was the tallest building in the Middle East, and taking the elevator up to the top to see the wax museum and the view was a Very big deal!) Foodies that we are, Dan and I took a cab from the airport straight to "Neve Tzedek - Makom Shel Basar" (“Neve Tzedek - A Place For Meat”), right across from our apartment, and plonked ourselves down in their lovely garden to enjoy cool glasses of Israeli white wine and a yummy meal!

To sit outside on their terrace, eating excellent carpaccio with great Israeli olive oil and parm, and drinking a splendid Israeli white wine was a wonderful welcome home! And after jet lag wore off and we were wide awake at midnight, we had no trouble find cute wine bars and cafes on and off Shderot Rothschild (Rothschild Boulevard), just a few minutes walk from our apartment!

We woke up ridiculously early our first morning and walked through the Carmel Market to the beach to have a glorious breakfast of Melauach (a buttery, many-layered Yemenite pancake, served with tomato sauce, "schug" Yemenite hot sauce, and/or honey) and Shakshuka (a Moroccan breakfast skillet of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce), and Cafe Hafoukh ("upside down coffee"- a.k.a Cappuccino!) at an outdoor cafe on a south Tel Aviv beach. Melauach is basically my favorite food in life, and I was delighted that Dan fell in love with Shakshuka at first bite- he had it for breakfast as often as he could all month! We sat in the sun enjoying the gorgeous blue of the Med and the salt air, the people running their dogs along the beach and the surfers, Yeshiva students having a pre-class cup of coffee... watching Tel Aviv- a nightlife city that really Doesn't sleep!- wake itself up... We walked along the seaside and Hayarkon Street (which used to be a rather seedy stretch of dive bars, and is now full of "boutique hotels"!), and through downtown Tel Aviv, bought ourselves a cell phone (you HAVE to have a cell phone in Israel! It is totally impossible to function without one!), and then spent the afternoon at the Eretz Israel Museum, which focuses on the history and culture of Israel. Some of the exhibits we saw included the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion, with coins from ancient times to modern Israel, the Alexander Museum of Postal History, which has a LOT of cool things pertaining to the founding of the State of Israel going back 150 years; the Nehushtan Pavilion, dealing with the ancient Timna copper mines (later in our trip we went there, too!), the Rothschild Pavilion detailing the Rothschild family's contributions to Israel, and the Ceramics and Glass Pavilions. We got to see the four spectacular ancient mosaics and 12 century BCE Tel Qasile Excavations, as well- it really is an extraordinary museum, and one that I'd never been to before! The one downer was that I lost our camera- with our trip's first photos- in the taxi on the way to the museum... We had a glass of wine in the lovely Anina Cafe at the museum, where I licked my wounds over the lost camera as the sun set, took a cab to see the new Port with its trendy shops and cafes, and then had a great seafood dinner at Goocha on Dizengoff and Ben Gurion: a truly fabulous appetizer of duck breast wrapped around scallops, followed by Dan’s catfish and chips which he loved, and my yummy mussels with curry, coriander, and coconut milk! In the 1950s and '60s, Dizengoff was THE place to see and be seen- lined with elegant coffee and ice cream shops, it was Israel's answer to the cafe life of Europe. By the '80s it was becoming rather sad and seedy, but there were still lots of cafes, and I well recall sitting at “Mandy's Cherry”, founded by Mandy Rice Davies, over many an ice coffee… (Mandy and Christine Keeler were the two women of the infamous Profumo Scandal which brought down the British Government; Mandy later married Rafi Shauli, an Israeli entrepreneur, and launched Mandy’s Cherry, among other things...) Dizengoff is back again in full flower, and after dinner Dan and I strolled down Dizengoff, window-shopping the boutiques (Oh! The fabulous shoes!) while I pointed out to Dan places from my past...

Our next day was a “foodie” tour of Tel Aviv and Jaffa with Ben Brewer’s “Israel Food Tours” and it was grand! We did two of his tours (I wish we could have done them all!), and the great thing about them is that he and his excellent and knowledgeable guides take you places you NEVER would have known about or gotten to on your own- and I say that as an Israeli, who thought she “really knew” the places she’d lived! These are full day tours, worth every dime, and the best advice I can give anyone taking them is DON’T EAT A THING before you start! Our guide was Iren, and she first took us to Jaffa for a “lesson in Hummus” at THE best and most famous of Hummus restaurants: Abu Shukri!

We ate our way through Jaffa, sampling the famous orange Knafe cheese pastry and “birds nest” pastries of shredded phyllo dough filled with pistachios, enjoying breads fresh from brick ovens, and stopping to share with Dan a yummy cup of Sahlab- a hot, creamy custard made from orchids, served with coconut and chopped nuts on top. (My friends and I used to get Sahlab in Jerusalem at a kiosk by the Damascus Gate of the Old City, and it is Divine on a cool winter night!) We strolled through Old Jaffa’s seaport and meandered the winding streets full of lovely art galleries… and Railfans as we are, we were delighted to have coffee with Iren in the elegant café at Jaffa’s lovingly restored train station…

Sahlab!

Knafe and Bird's Nest Pastries in Jaffo!

Historic trains at Jaffo's restored Train Station

Jaffo's Restored Train Station - Cafe

Back in Tel Aviv, we sampled sheseks (loquats- who knew?!), and Bedouin bread with lebaneh, right off the pan, at the Carmel Market, and we were able to buy Za’atar (a spice mixture of sumac, sesame seeds, and salt that is SO delicious to mix with olive oil and use as a bread dip…) and Yemenite Hawaiij spices for coffee to take home to Chef Dan’s kitchen at the Elkhorn Inn! The vegetables and fruit in the Carmel Market are magnificent and all in season, and so they taste divine. Blessedly, the sour, tasteless Wal-Mart tomato that ripened in a truck and has the mealy texture of cardboard is not to be found anywhere, nor is the moldy box of tasteless berries. In Israel, as in Europe, you buy what’s in season when it’s in season, and there is an abundance of vegetables and fruits available all year ‘round. The seemingly endless array of olives, pickles, hot peppers, cheeses, and spices is dazzling- and all fresh! I lived near the Carmel Market 1979-80, and never have I seen it so joyous and full of life and color; watching Dan enjoy it all, and relish the wonderful “opera” of tastes and smells, gave me great pleasure and let me enjoy it all with “new eyes”!

Bedouin Bread in the Shuk HaCarmel Market, Tel Aviv

Spices! Shuk HaCarmel, Tel Aviv

After a great Moroccan market lunch of chicken, couscous, and salads (including the wonderful cracked Sura olives that I’ve only ever had in Israel…), we walked it off strolling through the tree-lined avenues of architectural Bauhaus splendor, learning from Iren the differences between the austere, rounded Bauhaus buildings and the more fanciful “eclectic” style buildings- my personal favorites! The recent UNESCO World Heritage Site fuss over the Bauhaus buildings is a great boon for Tel Aviv, but it amuses me a bit as I lived in and among them for years. Like everyone else around me, going about our daily business, tying the fuse wires together in the archaic electric boxes of our crumbling, “historic” buildings, we thought little of them; the "fancy" neighborhoods were the new ones in north Tel Aviv, and our neighborhoods of old buildings, cheek-by-jowl with the market and the dive bars along the beach, were considered "old hat"! We basically had no Clue what an architectural treasure we were living in!

(Iren, who is a wine expert, not only gave us tips on wineries to visit throughout Israel, she gave us what turned out to be THE best souvenir of our trip, something we literally used every, single day: a Golan Heights Winery corkscrew! Thank you, Iren!!!!)

Meeting up with Ben at the Iceberg Ice Cream Shop on Rothschild, we got to sample a world of wonderful sorbets: tangerine-basil, grapefruit-Campari, red fruits & tarragon, pears & wine, apricot-amaretto, lemon-mint… the things foodie dreams are made of! ( You taste things like these sorbets, and Immediately plan what foods they'll go with, what courses you'll serve them between... and then realize that in order to offer them to Elkhorn Inn guests we'd have to make them ourselves! AAAAUGH!) Then Ben took us to the Keren HaTemanim (Yemenite Quarter) for our cooking lesson and dinner! This was a truly Great evening, and in the company of friends, we drank wine and the Nesher (“buzzard”) beer I'd remembered fondly from my days as a kibbutz volunteer in the '70s, and learned from the delightful restaurant owner how to make Yemenite schug (green hot pepper sauce), chicken soup, fennel-carrot salad, Yemenite hilbeh, tehina with lemon and garlic, and Yemenite Lachoukh bread! I loved watching Dan work with our chef and really learn from her how to cook Temani! Watching him expertly flip the spongy bread (think: Injara) from the little frying pan was a blast!

Dan & Elisse, making Yemenite Schug!

Two chefs, sharing techniques...

Ben & Dan & Nesher Beer!

Dan, making Yemenite bread

Two chefs making chicken soup!

Our wonderful Yemenite dinner!

After than incredible meal we literally Waddled home to Neve Tzedek, and the next morning, after a coffee at our fave Rothschild café… we took the Israel Railways train south...

Next: Israel, Part 2: Beersheva & Ben Gurion University of the Negev!

GREAT Groupon Specials- THIS WEEK ONLY!

2011-05-03T16:51:00.000-04:00

The Elkhorn Inn has two GREAT Groupon specials up this week- and this week only!!!!
http://t.co/SmGXdS5 Piedmont Triad, NC Groupon - will be up all this week.
http://t.co/XzwNI14 Roanoke, VA Groupon - is up for 3 days.
As readers of our blog know, we have amazing railfanning, fabulous trout fishing, and outrageous ATVing here, as well as delicious Chef Dan dinners at the Inn, & a lot of other really cool things!
So check out our crazy deals ( weh ave NEVER done a deal this good before!) and share them with your friends- and come on down!
You can send us a message through this blog or our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elkhorn-Inn-Theatre/53453051478?ref=ts or call us at 1-800-708-2040 or 304-862-2031 if you need more info; for www.mapquest.com directions to the Elkhorn Inn, enter Landgraff, WV with NO zip code as your destination, and we'll come up!

Bacon Jammmmmmmmmmmmm!

2011-03-05T16:36:00.000-05:00

Skillet Bacon Jam

Chef Dan recently had the opportunity to try a new condiment at the Elkhorn Inn, and it turned out to be one that we like so much we're ordering it for the Elkhorn Inn! It's called Skillet Bacon Jam, and it's made by the Skillet Street Food - a modern American diner in Seattle, Washington, that Josh Henderson started out of a vintage Airstream Trailer in 2007! Seattleites loved his glorified diner "comfort" food, and now Skillet is opening a "brick-and-mortar" restaurant in Seattle's Capitol Hill! And based on our small experience with his Bacon Jam, rightfully so! As odd as it may sound, Bacon Jam (now being called Bacon Spread) is really yummy, savory condiment, and very versatile: Chef Dan used it on cast iron-skillet-fried potatoes the other night, and it was excellent! (He served them with his Chicken with Cherries in a Wine Demi Glace Sauce, and the combination worked SO well!)

Chef Dan's Chicken with Cherries & Wine Demi Glace,
served with Pan-Fried Potatoes and Skillet Bacon Jam

Bacon Jam is savory, salty, sweet, smoky- and lends itself to a LOT of uses! We need to get more, so he can try it on hamburgers, and in a vinaigrette on a spinach salad, saute some scallops with it (doesn't that sound good?!), use it as a topping on a baked potato, potato soup, grilled veggies, or a BLT, slather it on a croissant or a waffle, or serve it with biscuits & gravy... There are a LOT of ways it can be used, and they all sound so good! It's made, according to Skillet, by taking a "big bunch of really, really good bacon, rendering it down, adding spices, onions, etc., letting it simmer for about 6 hours, giving it a quick puree, & then a blast-chill." And we love it at the Elkhorn Inn! (And we're not the only ones- it was the NUMBER ONE Hot New Product at the 2011 Fancy Food Show, and there's even a YouTube video about it from the Today Show!)

You can order it here: http://skilletstreetfood.com/shop.php

You can "tweet" with them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/skilletbaconjam

And you can "Facebook" with them here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/skillet-street-food/39513639587

Let us know what YOU decide to use it on!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

What Chefs Do On Vacation... Chefmaker's!

2011-02-25T01:51:00.000-05:00

If you're ever wondered what chefs do when they're on vacation.... now you will know: they take cooking classes!
As readers of this blog know, whenever we travel and have the chance to take a cooking class, we do so- most notably in Vietnam. So when Chef Dan & I had a chance to get away this winter & booked a cruise, we had the opportunity to take 2 cooking classes, including a truly excellent one with Chefmaker's on board our ship, & our experience with Chefmaker's was truly great! We had THE best Instructor- Michael Gusman- and we learned to make (and then got to enjoy- with wine!) a truly fabulous meal- the best meal we had aboard ship! We started by making a Caramelized Onion Pizzaladiere- a totally delectable puff-pastry, gourmet "pizza"- and then followed it with Mini Beef Wellingtons in puff pastry- RARE, thanks to Gusman's secret instructions!- served on a creamy Leek Fondue, a totally luscious Shrimp Scampi on Grilled Romaine (which Chef Dan has already adopted...), and finally, a Key Lime Pie with Vanilla Bean Cream! And if that doesn't make you want to do a Chefmaker's class, nothing will! (They had a "small bites" class w/baby lamb chops that we Badly wanted to do, too, but the timing wouldn't let us!)
The fun of Chefmaker's aboard ship was that Chef Dan got to work in a "real" kitchen, and I, the Elkhorn Inn's resident foodie (& Chef Dan's 'official food tester' LOL), got to do it all, too! In addition to everything else, I even learned how to properly squeeze a lime (& Michael, you know what I mean!) & separate an egg! (Don't laugh- even after 9 years with an Inn, you can still learn things that will turn your life around!)

Dan & Michael, preparing Beef Wellingtons

Chefmaker's Instructor Michael Gusman

Learning to deal with puff-pastry...

Chef Dan & Chefmaker's Instructor Gusman

Chefmaker's Instructor Gusman & Dan, separating eggs...

Chef Dan, sauteeing shrimp...

Dan & Elisse, beater in hand!

The instruction we got was excellent- Chef Dan LEARNED real professional kitchen stuff that he's already started using at the Elkhorn Inn!- AND we had a Wonderful time, and the final result- dinner!- was superb!

Chef Dan & Elisse beating & whipping...

Chefmaker's Gusman & Dan, Separating The Egg...

Chef Dan, sauteing...

Elisse & Dan, blending & squeezing!

Elisse & Dan, Livin' Large!

Elisse, preparing a Mini Beef Wellington

Instructor Gusman & Dan, popping the Wellingtons into the oven...

Chef Dan, searing the Romaine...

Elisse & Dan enjoying the fruits of their labor!

MWAH! & thank you to Chefmaker's and Michael Gusman, for THE best "foodie" experience on the high seas!

XOXOXOX

Chef Dan & Foodie Elisse

Road Trip: Florida! Teeth! Sushi! Cigars!

2011-02-07T22:44:00.000-05:00

From Jekyll Island, Dan & I drove to Florida, and FINALLY got to put the top down on our little, ol' Mustang convertible! Those of you who know me, know that I haven't been able to smile my silly, toothy smile for almost 2 years, as my teeth were so pitted and stained (from decades of grinding, coupled with dastardly red wine and coffee) that they looked terrible. Dan had what I thought was a Crazy idea: that I try to find a dentist I could see the one day we'd be in Miami! I went on the internet and found Dr. Mereos of Precious Smiles and called- and found that he'd actually be able to see me on that Saturday morning! I had no clue what he'd be able to do in a day- but what he did in a hour was nothing short of amazing- he drilled & filled and literally gave me back my toothy smile- and he made it affordable for us! I was SO happy that I made a small video testimonial for him, and it's on the Precious Smiles Facebook page! We HIGHLY recommend him! My only regret is that he's not in West Virginia!

Elisse, showing off her apre-Precious Smiles smile, celebrating with Dan, having saki & sushi in SoBe!

Elisse & Dan having pedicures at SPAe

Fab SoBe Miami window dressing

We immediately went to a drugstore so I could get a night guard to hopefully protect my new teeth from further grinding damage, and vowing to lay off the red wine, we celebrated with sushi & (white) saki at a Lincoln Road cafe restaurant! We spent the day walking around and window shopping the wonderful SoBe stores (and thrift shops!), having pre-cruise pedicures at SPAe, & Dan had his chocolate fix with a rather amazing chocolate-strawberry sundae at Ghirardelli! We wound up the evening with drinks & cigars at Deco Drive Cigars on Lincoln Road, and a birthday celebration dinner with friends at La Lupa di Roma!

Dan, cigar, & hookah: Deco Drive Cigars

We stayed for two nights at the historic 1906 Miami River Inn, an interesting "old Miami" property near the port. Our guest room was cute and "shabby chic", with period furnishings and antiques, and we enjoyed our stay. the location was perfect for us, and we had a great Cuban dinner nearby, too!

Road Trip! Jekyll Island or Bust!!!

2011-02-03T21:00:00.001-05:00

We had a great Inn-&-puppy sitter, and so Chef Dan and I were acually able to escape a Truly crazy, snow-and-ice-crusted WV winter for 2 whole weeks and flee south!

And BOY did we need it, as you can see from the Sheer, Unadulterated JOY on Dan's face! Our first stop was the J&R Outlet, a 'must' for any road trip south, and where I got Dan to take a photo of me with one of their hilariously over-the-top "street signs"...

J&R Outlet

Turtle Rehab: Jekyll Island

Elisse, LOVING our guestroom patio (& champagne!) at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel!

Dan, Jekyll Island Club Hotel

Arriving at Jekyll Island...

We made it to our first destination that night; the elegantly lovely & historic Jekyll Island Club Hotel in Jekyll Island, GA. If you truly want to feel like a Rockefeller, this is The place! I expected the ice to finally fall off our car (our little, old eBay V-8 Mustang convertible that I refer to as the BoomerMobile, & that makes "go faster" noises when it hits 98 mph!) somewhere in the Carolinas, but when we got out of our car at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel we had to chip the ice off the back of the car to open the boot- it was THAT cold! We got in after 9p.m., and nothing was open and there was no place to eat, but the Wonderful man at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel check-in desk hustled us straight to the bar :-) for warm-up whiskies, they made us lovely sandwiches, and though the Facebook Special guestroom we had booked was lovely (and had a bucket of champagne and strawberries waiting for us for our 6th Anniversary!), when he told us they had guestrooms with patios we happily upgraded to one, and had THE most romantic stay!

Dan & Elisse: St Simons Lighthouse

St. Simons USCG Lightstation

Jekyll Island pier

Jekyll Island- & Latitude 31- view!

Elisse & Dan at breakfast: Jekyll Island Club Hotel

Looking up at our guest room: Jekyll Island Club Hotel

Elisse, Jekyll Island Club Hotel

Dan & Elisse (!), on the St Simons pier

Dan, St. Simons Lighthouse

Dan, St. Simons pier xylophones

St Simons USCG Lightstation

Jekyll Island Pier Sunset!

Jekyll Island - & Latitude 31 Restaurant- Sunset View

St. Simons USCG Lighthouse Light

Elisse & WWII USCG Veteran, St. Simons Lighthouse

Jekyll Island Pier Sunset: Latitude 31 & Rah Bar

Elisse, playing the xylophone on the St. Simons pier, and then showing off both her Bad Hair & her fab Buckle "Angel Wing" jeans, after stuffing her face with oysters, at SeaJay's, Jekyll Island

We drank our Anniversary champagne on our patio, slept like lambs, had an elegant breakfast in their dining room, and with the Jekyll Island Club Hotel as our base, we got the got to see the turtles being rescued and cared for by vets at the truly wonderful Jekyll Island Georgia Sea Turtle Center; drive around the island to see the gorgeous land/seascapes, have an excellent dinner (with THE best sunset view!!!!) at Latitude 31 (Chef Dan & I totally LOVED their gourmet Georgia Shrimp & Grits, with the crispy-on-the-outside-meltingly-tender-on-the-inside "cake" of cheese grits, and a spicy Poblano Cream Sauce!), and have oysters, fun dancing to a live band, and got to meet some of the (lucky!) local residents at SeaJay's. We drove to nearby St. Simons Island, to play the really cool wooden & metal xylophones on the pier, buy yummy kumquat marmelade at the Farmer's Market, and (best of all!), climb the historic St. Simons Lighthouse, see the museum, the amazing light, the fabulous view, & meet with a WWII USCG veteran and USCG Auxilliary personnel! For a US Army Ret. guy like Dan, and an Official USCG Artist like me, this was a total rush!

SEMPER PARATUS!

The Great 2010 Sweeps Wrap-Up...

2011-01-09T04:26:00.000-05:00

I think I finally hit "critical mass" in the Sweeps-&-Contest Department.

For several years, I, the Sweeps & Contest Queen of Landgraff, West Virginia, figured that if I entered enough of them, eventually I'd hit "critical mass" and the wins would start pouring in, and it look like that finally occurred! This blog-post is a love poem and a great, big Thank You! to all the great companies and blogs that host fabulous sweepstakes and contests!

Our gorgeous Aspinal Wine Collar!

Internet sweeps and contests seemed more lucrative to me than midnight computer solitaire, and they gradually became more and more addictive... Much more so after I won that first "big one"- a fabulous long weekend at the Golden Door Spa at the Boulders in Arizona- complete with plane tickets and spa treatments!- in an Oil of Olay contest ("my most romantic summer"), back in 2002. Since then, I've kind of become a "sweeper", and basically enter anything and everything- as long as it's:

1.) for a prize I truly want to win, and

2.) if the prize is a trip, it's for 2 and comes with plane tickets.

(I have these rules now as I've won stuff like a case of condoms, and several trips for one and land-package-only prizes that we couldn't use, and those were bummers).

My excellent Ergonomic Ball Chair!

My gorgeous AuraLee bracelet!

The LeCreuset (we picked Flame Red!) I won in a Brickfish contest!

My Fabulous Santana "shooties" from Princess Dominique's Blog!

Last year was pretty fabulous, what with our Feb. trip to San Diego (thanks to winning GameStop's "World At War" Sweeps www.gamestop.com ), the totally magnificent $525 Mary Norton www.marynorton.com fur-&-Swarovski crystal pumps from the FABULOUS http://www.shuzsociety.com/ weekly sweeps (which yes, I wore in San Diego...), a set of great Hamilton Beach pots and pans for Chef Dan (which arrived while we were in San Diego!), and then a truly incredible guitar signed by everyone at the Country Music Awards, in the TurboTax www.turbotax.com "super status" contest on Facebook!

But this year started with a bang and never let up!

On Jan 1st I won a gorgeous Aspinal sterling silver wine collar (that we use All the time at the Elkhorn Inn- silly as it may seem, it's really practical as well as elegant- the velvet lining really does stop wine from dribbling all over the table!) in a poetry contest (my winning entry: "Ode to a Wine Collar") on The Examiner's Wine Blog.

My hand, wearing my gorgeous Auralee pearl bracelet!

Then I won a pair of fab $250 Santana "shooties" in a sweeps on Princess Dominique's excellent fashion blog: http://www.princessdominique.com/fashionblog/

And them came THE biggie: Dan won us my dream: 2 tickets to Israel from Ben Gurion University of the Negev! http://web.bgu.ac.il/Eng/Home/ (And yes, we're going!)

I love to enter contests on www.brickfish.com, for although they are often rather time consuming to enter, they're interesting and fun, and this year I won a Remington Hairdryer, a check for $400, and a magnificent $350 LeCreuset Dutch Oven for Chef Dan!

Me in my Fab Santana "shooties"!

Right after I got out of the hospital this fall I won a gorgeous silver and pearl AuraLee bracelet from http://www.auralee-company.com/ in their Facebook sweeps, which cheered me up immensely!

My other wins this year included a hilarious tee-shirt from www.CheapStingyBargains.com on Facebook; Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil from the Burp! Where Food Happens Blog www.eatatburp.com for Chef Dan; for a friend: TriLash Eyelash Serum from the BusyWorkingMama blog www.busyworkingmama.com; a sample of Phytomer Skincare from www.healinglifestyles.com; and a lovely sampler set of Jaime Earl skin care products (that I REALLY like) from www.JaimeEarl.com on one of the "mommy blogs" that's linked right here on my blog!

Just in time for Hanukkah, I won 2 great gift certificates:

$250 at Buckle www.buckle.com (got incredible jeans with "angel wings" embroidered on the butt, sky-high peep-toe "gladiator" heels, and two "way cool" tops), and $100 at Tilly's www.tillys.com in the "Levi's & Tilly's Front Flips & the Vegas Strip Sweepstakes" (got a pair of great, warm Aussie Dogs winter boots, a totally cuckoo shredded "bondage" dress, & a pair of "jeggings") - a wardrobe of young, fun clothes that I'd NEVER own if I hadn't won them!

I also won a wonderful book during a delightful Lubavitch (www.lubavitch.com and www.chabad.org)
Hanukkah #FrumChat on Twitter: Victory of Light, a Chassidic discourse by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson!

And to wrap up 2010 I won a $20 gift cert. for a Maidenform www.maidenform.com bra from Elle Magazine on-line: http://www.elle.com/- and I'm going to go find myself a bra Right Now!!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?!

The downside is, of course, that I have to go thru and delte 1000+ emails a day...

The upside is that, among other things, I get to, B"H, take Dan home to Israel!

So, like, yeah, you should enter! :-)

Life goes on...

2010-12-30T00:40:00.000-05:00

Chef Dan, the Latke King of Landgraff, WV!

We did our best to have a wonderful Hanukkah...

Elisse, lighting the Hanukkah Menorah

Elisse wearing her Hanukkah present dress & shoes...

The Elkhorn Inn's Inflatable Holiday Decor...

Elisse & our 6' Hanukkah Menorah...

The NS "Pokey" in the Snow...

and a happy Christmas: We inflated all our decorations, including our 6' Hanukkah Menorah, and Santa in a plane, helicopter, train, NASCAR racing car with an elf pit-crew, & getting a ticket from a cop!

I took photos of the NS trains going by the Elkhorn Inn in the snow and posted them on the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre Facebook page for our "railfan" guests. We filled gift shop orders from around the country from our on-line gift shop http://store.elkhorninnwv.com and sent coal statuettes, books, jewelry, gourmet goodies, and vintage ornaments off to people around the country. Dan, THE undisputed Latke King of Landgraff, made his fabulous "two-tone" latkes (potato pancakes) with grated sweet and white potatoes, and we lit the Menorahs each night of Hanukkah & gave each other fun gifts. On Christmas eve we followed Santa around the world on NORAD's Santa Tracker on the internet, and cleared the embers out of the fireplace just in time for Dan to get an "Extreme Racing Package" from http://www.tryitracing.com/ and for Elisse to get massage slippers & Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds perfume with an adorable teddy bear!

But, all in all, this has Not been a wonderful winter for us. Dan's sister Martha- who was brilliant, talented, funny, incredibly accomplished, and whom we both loved more than I can ever begin to say- died in November, and it shook us both up very badly. What shook me up the most is how she gave up immediately once the doctors told her the chemo "was doing more harm than good" (to me, "dead" is far more harmful than chemo...) and sent her home with a pain pill to die.

Their "care" was very effective: She was in a hospice within a week, made comatose on morphine immediately, and died inside 3 weeks.

I am still in shock- and so angry that words can't express it adequately.

There, but for the grace of G-d, go I. And You.

And I, for one, will NOT go gentle into that Obamacare good night, sent home with an "economically sound" pain pill to die, and so relieve "the system" of the financial burden I, as a "Baby Boomer", would impose, by continuing to live, thanks to expensive medical treatment.

And as I have been under treatment for another antibiotic-resistant infection these last 7 months- and it's expensive, and I wound up in the hospital last month from it- I do not say that lightly.

What is ever in the back of my head is: when are they going to tell me that the treatment I'm getting is "doing more harm than good" or "isn't working" or "isn't cost effective", and send ME home to die?

What happens if my government insurance (which covers me as Dan served in the US Army for 21 years, including 3+ tours in Vietnam) decides the medication I've been prescribed is too expensive or "isn't working" and refuses to approve it?

And how about when they do it to YOU?

And how if we do nothing but sit by & let our elected criminals (who are not required to use the same garbage, worse-than-3rd-world medical care that we must) foist this upon us, we are all doomed to early graves.

Dan couldn't go to Martha's funeral in Illinois as we were in the middle of an ice/snow storm here & lost our water; I've been fighting off that infection in my leg for 7 months and he didn't want to leave me alone without water, & then he threw his back out- badly- putting in a new a water line. Then we got hit- as did everyone else- by The Blizzards of 2010, & it's been snowing and icing up non-stop for over 2 weeks.

We have our water back. We have plenty of firewood, rum, food, and water. Dan's taking Advil, & is making, as I type, more of his unbelievably delicious Vietnamese Spring Rolls, with the Chinese mushrooms & Vietnamese rice-paper wrappers I brought back from a fabulous Asian grocery in Virginia our friend took me to after my hospitalization there. (When life gives you lemons...). I've decided to take the offensive against my infection (as opposed to blindly following AMA medical care into the grave by simply continuing to take stupidly higher & higher doses of antibiotics against an antibiotic-resistant infection), and, after much research, am going to start taking Allicin garlic against my infections. (I have used garlic to knock out acute infections on 3 occassions in the past, so I know this works). Dan & I are planning vacations in the hope, B"H, we'll live to enjoy them. In short, we are both trying to take the high road, "look on the bright side", push forward, "think positive", and look forward with enthusiasm, hopefulness and joy to the new year... but it's hard.

Very hard.

Love and best wishes for a HEALTHY, happy 2011.

Elisse

BLACK FRIDAY WEEK! 20% OFF AT ELKHORN INN GIFT SHOP!

2010-11-26T15:07:00.000-05:00

This offer is ONLY for readers of our Blog, Facebook page, & Twitter "tweets"!
20% off all orders (minimum purchase $100) at http://store.elkhorninnwv.com, the Elkhorn Inn's Gift Shop!
You MUST let us know that you heard about this offer from this Blog, our Facebook page, or Twitter!

Offer good from today (Friday, November 26, 2010), thru midnight ET, on Friday, December 3, 2010!
Shipping is additional, as is West Virginia sales tax for purchases picked up or delivered within West Virginia.

Our gift shop has coal gifts that are hand-made in West Virginia from real WV coal, "old timey" coal candy, delicious jams & jellies made here in McDowell County West Virginia, books (including signed first editions by Homer Hickam!), vintage American quilts, gourmet finishing salts, like Chef Dan serves at Elkhorn Inn dinners, one-of-a-kind hand-crafted silver jewelry and pearl necklaces, stained glass by Virginia artisan Richard Latshaw, vintage blown-glass Christmas ornaments & Dorothy Draper Greenbrier Hotel Railroad China, gift certificates for stays at the Inn, our embroidered logo apparel (spa robes, chef's aprons, tee shirts, jackets & hats!), and much more!
Call us at 304-862-2031 or 1-800-708-2040 with any questions!

Have a Happy!

Elisse & Dan

Elkhorn Inn & Theatre www.elkhorninnwv.com
Gift Shop http://store.elkhorninnwv.com
Route 52, Landgraff
Eckman, WV 24829
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eckman-WV/Elkhorn-Inn-Theatre/53453051478?ref=s
Twitter: @elkhorninn