My wife and I have never been to Israel, never really had planned to go, but.....

[DFW]

Our elder daughter is there now with her fiancé, who had lived there for several years, and speaks fluent Hebrew.

If this photo of her in front of the Dead Sea is any indication of what it is like there, I think a major inclusion in future travel plans is warranted!

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[snowybirdie]

1. I prefer

Greenery to desert.

[DFW]

3. We prefer variety

We've been to Hawaii and the Seychelles, the jungles of Thailand, the forests of northern California, and for greenery, we always have our back yard:
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We're always up for something new.

[ZZenith]

2. Yeah, hum..... looks great.

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

4. How beautiful ...

...your daughter AND the view! By all means go and post lots of pics when you do 😊

[DFW]

8. We'll get around to it some day

The trouble is finding the time. It's a four hour flight from here, so we would want to do more than just a weekend.

Our daughters got a healthy dose of my wife's genes.
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It helped!!!

[sakabatou]

5. I swam in that

Just be careful not to have cuts or get the water in your eyes.

[DFW]

6. The salt content is off the charts, 'tis said

If I got the reports right, floating is easy, seeing straight if you get the water in your eyes is not.

Still, I think we have to try it once.

[sakabatou]

7. If I can float in it

You can float, too.

[irisblue]

9. You can get to know your new son

In some depth by his being a travel guide of sorts. He gets to know you, win-win

[DFW]

10. We've known him for a couple of years now. He now lives in New York with our daughter.

He even wanted to call me to ask my permission before asking my daughter to marry him (how's THAT for old-fashioned?). I happened to be in an intercontinental plane, and couldn't be reached, so he went ahead with anyway, which was fine with me. After all, the big question wasn't one I was going to be answering. She's a big girl now, after all. I appreciated he wanted our approval (he would have had it anyway).

[Wounded Bear]

11. OT, but from that pic it looks like the Dead Sea is shrinking...

Enjoy the trip!

[DFW]

14. Uh oh!

I hope this isn't another Aral Sea. We had better not wait too long, I guess!

[Wounded Bear]

15. I'm thinking that more and more water is being pulled from the Jordan River...

as the Israelis crowd people into the West Bank.

Not much of any other source for the Dead Sea, so it is probably going the way of the Salton Sea in So Cal.

[TuxedoKat]

12. My aunt and uncle

went there and really enjoyed it. The Dead Sea is supposed to be the best for scuba diving if you are in to that. Hey -- I was in BCN and the Costa Brava this past July (BCN - one of your cities). The Costa Brava hadn't changed much but Barcelona seemed different to me. I hadn't been there in over 20 years. A lot more tourists in the city, but I didn't usually go in July in the past though! Congratulations to your beautiful daughter.

[DFW]

13. Thanks for that!

BCN is definitely "my" town. First laid eyes on the place in 1968. a LOT has changed since then, but there is plenty that hasn't, too (luckily!). I don't know the Costa Brava at all. My professor was always after me to go to Cadaqués, but that was to hang with the "see and be seen" crowd, neither of which I really fit into, especially there. What did he think I was going to do, espy Salvador Dalí on the street, go up to him, and say "hey, Sal, remember me? I played the music for one of your receptions in 1968!" I don't think so.

I would LOVE to go scuba diving!!!! My younger daughter took it as a sport when she was going to school in Hawaii, but I have both eardrum problems and heart problems, and so they wouldn't even let me train. A couple of years later, a friend in Sprout City lost his son who was scuba diving, and got careless. He never surfaced alive. I'm glad my daughter has (at least temporarily) retired from that. She just had her first child in May, and I'd like the baby to grow up with a mama. My daughter was always meticulously careful, but when something goes wrong while scuba diving, it might be the first and last time. EVen so, I was with her on a night dive when she went down with the pro divers, turned on some lights that had been set up on the ocean floor to attract plankton, and the manta rays came "flying" in to feed. I could only snorkel on the surface, but watching these gentle giants perform somersaults in front of our noses in the water was an unforgettable experience. I can only imagine what it would have been like watching it from down on the ocean floor.

[TuxedoKat]

16. Scuba

I would love to try scuba diving too but whenever I try and swim below about 5-6 feet I feel immense pressure on my ear drums. I will have to be content with snorkeling -- very cool to see all those Manta Rays at once though, either above or below. How tragic about your friend's son. You can't be too careful in that sport.

The place we stayed on the Costa Brava was about 2.5 hours north of BCN, where my mom has a place. It was nice to see that the area hadn't changed much and it was not that crowded either for mid-July -- very hot though when you left the coast. I prefer early June or September weather there. I haven't been to Cadaques, but have been to Figueres where there is a Dali museum. Some of his artwork is both weird and disturbing but worth a visit.

It was great being in Spain again, especially because we brought our two daughters, the oldest of which is the same age as when I first went there (21) so it was great to share things I'd seen and experienced there at the same age through her eyes. You are so lucky to live in Europe and get to know so many great cities. I'm hoping to live a partial ex-pat lifestyle some day when I retire from my airline job.