Artas lettuce

I attended the 15th annual Artas Lettuce Festival yesterday. Artas is a beautiful town just south of Bethlehem.

The banner reads:
The president and the members of the Artas Town Council welcome their honored guests to the activities of the annual Lettuce Festival.

We walked to the first of the three Burak Suleiman (Solomon's Pools) lying at the head of the valley where Artas is located. From there we followed a group of locals and visitors as they hiked down the valley to the town. After lunch we went to watch several debke troupes perform. In addition there were poetry recitations and a fashion show of traditional Palestinian thobs (traditional women's dresses).

$4.70 a gallon for gasoline?

Yes, that's what we pay here for gasoline, $4.70 a gallon. The last time I filled my little rented Chevy, I put in 29.28 liters (7.73 gallons) and paid 162.97 New Israeli Shekels (36.36 USD) which comes out to $4.70 gallon. For that fill I got 21.78 miles per gallon although on trips I have gotten much better mileage. For example, on a trip in late March I got 34.75 miles per gallon.

Back home in Iowa, according to www.iowastategasprices.com, we are paying $1.89/gallon in the Ames area so the same fill in Ames would have cost me $14.60. That is a difference of $2.81 a gallon or $21.76 for that fill.