Hiking The Golden Arches

The summer heat has made it an obstacle to explore the many sights of Israel.  Hence, on the first sign of cool air, we ventured out for a simple hike.  The cause of the temperature drop was a downpour a day before, the only downpour of the summer I believe.

We went to Ramat Hanadiv which is a park built by the Rothchilds just north of Tel Aviv.  We hiked there before at the beginning of the summer when the heat was just bearable and walked along the "easy" trail.  This time around, I wanted to explore the other, more advanced trails that would take us to scenic views of the Mediterranean. Not more than 2 minutes into the hike, we ran into trouble.  Jana led the way as Atom was strapped in a backpack on my back.  And what looked like a solid dirt path instantly morphed into soggy mud patch.  Jana sank deeper with each step until all of a sudden one of her shoes became locked in the mud, and she hopped out with just her socks.  I couldn't help but laugh hysterically while she whined for me to get her shoe.  I carefully stepped around the mud and bent down for the shoe, but as I finally pulled it from the mud's grip, I lost my own balance and subsequently also my shoe in the mud.  Jana had to come save both Atom and I.  She said Atom had the look of terror on his face during the whole ride.  We decided to forgo the advanced trail for the same one we hiked the previous time.  It turned out to be trouble free. 

Evidence of our misfortunes.

Pali saw no problem with the mud.

On the way home from our hike, we decided to give McDonald's here in Israel a try.  Long story short, don't give it a try.  Photos below of our dining experience.

Like others in the US, this McDonald's is next to a gas station.

The Texas specials made me feel like home (for a split sec).

I wanted to see if it tasted the same as in the States.

Then I remembered that I never ate Big Macs in the States

Atom's Happy Meal.  His toy was better than his food.

Worse than the Big Mac.

The fries were decent, especially with lots of ketchup.

Atom passed out from hunger.