From Brussels, we hopped on a train and headed north to The Netherlands. As we traveled through the Dutch countryside, it seemed like every inch of unoccupied land was used for agriculture or livestock. Although The Netherlands is only the size of Tennesee, it the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products, and surprisingly the world’s #1 exporter of tomatoes (second only to Mexico).

8 train & bus transfers and 7 hours later, we arrived in the Dutch suburb of Haarlem. We rented bicyles, rode to the beach, and took a dip in the warm 70 degree ocean. At sunset, we pedaled to an outdoor cafe in the center of Haarlem, and enjoyed a great dinner while soaking in the views of Grote Kerk Cathedral. Built in 1479, it housed the biggest organ in the world for many years, and also hosted several legendary composers including Handel and 10 year old Mozart.

The following day we took a short train ride to Amsterdam, and found a hotel in the heart of this busy tourist destination. Despite the crowds of people and countless restaurants and souvenier shops, Amsterdam still retained a quaint, laid back feel. Like most of The Netherlands, the primary mode of transportation were bicyles, and every sidewalk in the city was divided into pedestrian and bicycle lanes (The Netherlands is truly a biker’s paradise).

We began our visit to Amsterdam by lounging and people watching from one of Amsterdam’s many coffee house cafes, and eventually found our way to Madame Trussaud’s Wax Museum. The interactive theme of this museum made it really fun, and Ted “jammed” with Bob Marley while Renata coached Anne Frank on her diary and stole a bottle of champagne from an unsuspecting super model.

After leaving the wax museum we snapped some photos at Dam Square (the gathering and social mecca in the city center), followed by a leisurely stroll along one of Amsterdam’s many canals on the way to the Anne Frank House (no photography allowed inside the house, so you won’t see any posted here). The Dutch are amazing engineers, and nearly one-fifth of The Netherlands’ total land mass was reclaimed from the ocean by way of these canals. The setting sun reflecting off the still water of the canals also made for the perfect end to a perfect Dutch day.

Dank Je Nederlands (Thank You)!

 

 

 

 

 

Our first stop on our Mini European Vacation was to Brussels, Belgium. Belgium specializes in beer, chocolate, waffles, and frites (french fries), making it an absolute paradise for Ted. Belgians are the biggest consumers of french fries in Europe, and most stores sell at least 2 or 3 dozen brands of Belgian brewed beers. We skimmed through a Beers of Belgium book that was about 300 pages long!

Thanks to AirBNB and lots of research by Nada, we rented a bedroom in a house owned by a friendly young couple living just outside the city. She (Matilda) was from Belgium and he (Elie) was from Rwanda, and just like most people living in Belgium, they both spoke at least three languages. They generously provided with us maps of the area, bus/train cards, and lots of great information. Another great thing about having local hosts is they provide a personal look into the culture. For example, most Belgians seldom trouble themselves with politics, or as Elie explained, everything else is a distant second to family.

During our first day we strolled through the Grand Place, a 1,000 year old outdoor square in the City Centre lined with sidewalk cafes, breweries, and in the evenings, live entertainment. After lunch we toured the Museum of Musical Instruments. The unique thing about this museum is it houses instruments from around the world, and visitors can hear each instrument being played thanks to a trusty hand held device.
Many instruments on display, such as the hurdy gurdy, were totally new to both of us.

 

Our second day began with a stop at the Atomium, a futuristic looking Belgian landmark consisting of nine stainless steel spheres. Each ball has a viewing area, and the balls are connected by escalators and stairwells. The Atomium was built for the 1958 World Fair.

Next door to the Atomium is Mini Europe, which has miniature replicas of national landmarks belonging to every country in the European Union. Each exhibit included the country’s national anthem, and in some cases miniature protestors (depending on current events). The only downside to Mini Europe was its BIG entrance fee (still worth every Euro though).

After three days in Brussels, we took a train to Amsterdam in The Netherlands (and it’s from that very train we are writing this post). More to come from The Netherlands. Slaap well (“sleep well” in Dutch).

 

 

 

 

 

In between the two road trips we had some lovely family time in Spokane as well as Pt. Roberts, which is a tiny piece of U.S. territory accessible only through Canada (or by boat). And by had a lovely time I mainly mean eating and drinking… tons of fresh fruit and produce in Spokane and fresh dungeness crab in Pt. Roberts. Ah, the gastronomical joys of vacation!

With a week to kill before my sister and her husband arrived, we decided to take another road trip. Ted wanted to go to Astoria, Oregon, even though I assured him that Oregon was basically a flatter, more boring Washington. So we drove south and ended up an hour south of Astoria in Saddle Mountain State Park, since all the coastal campgrounds were full. The campground was in the midst of endless trees, which was beautiful. Even better, there was a 2 mile hike up to Saddle Mountain right outside of our tent! All we had to do was start walking. So after a very steep 2 miles we were rewarded with some amazing panoramic views of Oregon. Not so bad after all.

The next day we packed up and drove back to Astoria, where we walked around and even visited the movie museum, which of course had props from Goonies and we could even make a short film ourselves.

After Astoria, we continued on to Rainbow Falls State park (which was a bit of an exaggeration) in Chehalis, Wa. The “falls” was more like a 6 foot rapid in the middle of a river. Oh, well. Chehalis did have a garlic festival going on, which is why we were really there. So the next day we enjoyed a myriad of garlic themed food and even had a garlic cupcake, which was surprisingly delicious.

Next on our tour of southern Washington was Rainier National Park, where we stayed at Indian creek campground. It was beautiful and quiet, accompanied by a large lake and some strange, UFO-like cloud formations.

The next day we decided to hike into the goat rocks wilderness, which was one of my favorite hikes so far. It was a long hike, being about eleven miles round trip. We hiked up a ridge and then crossed over and down into Shoe lake. At the top of the ridge we had an amazing 360 view of the mountains, including Rainier and Adams. Shoe lake was yet another gorgeous alpine lake and we enjoyed a bracing (and brief) dip in the glacial water.

Since we still had a few days left, we decided to revisit the Leavenworth area, since we liked it so much. We stayed in the Icicle creek canyon again, though this time at Johnny Creek campground, a little farther up the canyon. For our hike we chose Stuart Lake, which starts out on the same route as Colchuck, the hike we had done previously in Leavenworth. The path for Stuart lake splits off from the path to Colchuck and meanders around a slightly lower elevation with some great views of craggy peaks surrounding the lake. We didn’t jump into Stuart but instead continued on to a field behind the lake, where we could look up and see the glacier and the pass over to Ingalls lake.

Feeling grungy and tired but happy, we spent the last night at our camp with some friends, and then headed back to Home.

After getting back from our jaunt to Spokane with my parents, Ted and I decided to take a quick road trip over to Leavenworth and Cashmere (where I’m from) to see the area and so Ted could see my wee little hometown. We opted for camping up the Icicle Canyon, which is a winding little road at the end of Leavenworth. Leavenworth itself is a Bavarian styled town of about 2,000 people. It was a struggling logging community until the 60’s when a couple of entrepreneurs thought that by modeling the town after a Bavarian village, it would boost the town’s economy. And they were right! Now everything is “ye olde this” and “Das brewery” etc.

We set up camp at Bridge Creek Campground, about 15 minutes outside of town. After consulting our local hiking gurus, my aunt and uncle, Dawn and Karl, we decided to hike to Colchuck Lake. Colchuck was about 9 miles roundtrip and like most, if not all alpine lakes, absolutely gorgeous.

That night, we ate dinner with Karl and Dawn at their house (Thank you!!!) and got another recommendation for a short hike for the next day on our way back, Minotaur Lake. So the next day after a short tour of Cashmere (about 10 minutes is all it took) we drove towards Plain on the back roads headed for Minotaur. Minotaur was a very steep hike; only about 4 miles round trip but felt like a lot more with an 1800 foot elevation gain. We were again rewarded with pristine alpine meadows, sparse rocky peaks and a small idyllic lake.

We continued on the back roads and came out near Stevens pass. Definitely not the fastest route, but certainly more scenic!

After a relaxing week or so at Home, we left for Olympia to do a hike with Ted’s sister, Lori. Lori is an avid hiker and stoked us out with proper backpacking gear that was all very tiny and light. And thank goodness for that, because we hiked about thirty miles in the next three days with that gear! We hiked through a huge Jurassic looking forest to our campsite, and then the next day continued to the end of the valley where our chalet awaited us. Well, kind of… a chalet had been build there in the 30’s and had rooms where people could stay. It aso served as a ranger station until the river changed its course slightly and threatened to wash the whole thing away. Thankfully, a team of people MOVED the house about 70 feet using metal beams and soap to slide the house to a safer position. So we got to enjoy the view and shade of the chalet even though we couldn’t go inside. After meandering around a while, we headed back to our campsite and enjoyed another dehydrated meal before collapsing for the night. We survived the hike out and by we I mean I… Lori and her seven league boots can stride right up a hill like its nothing, while Ted and I struggled to keep up. Ever the sweetheart, she called out over her shoulder, “You guys can pass me if you want” as we blinked and she was gone.

Out of the valley we enjoyed some well deserved hamburgers at a local joint and then took our aching bodies back home. Thanks Lori for showing us such a magical spot!

Haven’t written on our blog in a while, mostly because we’ve been spending time with family. And while cards games and catching up with people we haven’t seen is a great time, it doesn’t make for the most exciting blog fodder. That being said, the next three blogs will mainly be a recap of the last three weeks in washington. We also spent about three weeks back home in Maui, which was (as always) a good time and we got to see lots of people we had missed on our adventures abroad. As exciting as traveling is, there is truly no place like home. And we even got a little bit of surf!

We left Maui around the third week of July heading for Home, Washington, where my parents live. There we were greeted by an abundance of blackberries, peaches and apples. Yum! We spent a few days relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet of Key Peninsula and also saw my parents perform at a bluegrass “festival” on the peninsula. My parents are rock stars! Who woulda thought.

Home is a small community that originated as a “utopian” anarchist community around the beginning of the 2oth century. Each person was allotted two acres with which to be self-sustainable, and the town rule was no churches, bars, or cops. It became a quirky community of freethinkers, communists and nudists in addition to the anarchists. In time, it seems that anarchy was perhaps too much work in addition to sustenance farming, and the anarchist community dissolved. These days, some of the quirkiness mysteriously remains, and Home has attracted a community of mostly retired people that like to grow things and have parties. Oh, and play music. Most of Home is on a hillside that overlooks the Puget Sound and the main street probably sees a car about every hour or so during peak traffic hours.

Between projects around the house, stuffing our faces with blackberries, and listening to my parents’ band practice, we did get out on the water in the sailboat a few times, and saw Mt. Rainier peeking around the peninsula as well as several sea otters. We also took several road trips venturing around the state, from Olympia to Spokane and even to Canada, but always kept coming back to Home… maybe there’s a little bit of quirky anarchist blood in our veins as well.

 

 

 

After two days of airport travel and one day of brush fire/road closure delay, we finally made it home. Thank you to Ellen, Juliana, and Davida for the transportation and the last minute place to stay.   Our adventures continue in August.

After a few days of surfing and enjoying quiet, stress-free Sumbawa, Sky said he wanted to take us to his secret hot spring.  “It is a short 20 minute drive (and although unpaved) it’s no problem on mopeds,” said Sky from high atop his dirtbike as he looked down at us on our rented mopeds. So we began our adventure by driving pass Lakey Peak and the small town of Huu, and headed up a rocky dirt trail that hugged the steep cliffside.  The ocean views from this area were amazing (especially later at sunset), but I was preoccupied with getting the determined moped-that-could up the steepening path.  We walked our moped at times as the loose rocky terrain and incline made it challenging to ride.

Once we reached the top of the cliff, we began ascending into the bay that was home to Sky’s secret hot spring.  The rocky cliffside was suddenly replaced with wild jungle and a narrower trail, and sharp thorny vines stretched along the trail as if to say “keep out.”  I thought about turning around once or twice, but Sky kept assuring us that “the road gets better.”

As I looked at the fresh cuts on my feet, ankles, and legs, I found myself asking “Why do I listen to Sky?” I asked myself this same question one month earlier when we drove down a tiny goat trail on the side of a cliff in the mountains of East Bali, and just two nights ago when Sky assured me it was easy to drive a moped on a sandy beach.  Just like these two previous occasions, once we got to our destination, I was happy I had listened to Sky. This time our destination was a remote rocky bay with no one else in sight.  Hot spring water funneled to the surface between large rocks at the foot of the ocean, creating a hazy steam that hung over the area.  The surface temperature of the hot springs was dictated by the amount of ocean water you sat in.  When the waves filled in the coastline and the water level rose it felt like a warm bath, but when the waves receded, it was HOT (borderline unbearable).  It was a challenging game attempting to find the right balance of tolerable ocean and hot spring water, and Sky instructed us on where to sit, and in what position.  As we lounged in the hot spring, we slipped into a relaxing state and forgot about the drive in.  The ride back out did seem a bit easier (maybe because we knew what to expect), and the sunset views from the cliffside were well worth stopping for.   Thank you Sky (mostly).

We took another ferry from Lombok to Sumbawa, and upon arrival immediately set off on the 6 hour drive to Eastern Sumbawa and Lakey Peak. Lakey Peak has drawn surfers from all over the world for decades, and yet (somewhat mysteriously) remains quite undeveloped. A handful of guesthouses and rickety warungs (restaurants) cluster around the Lakey Peak surf break, but other than that, the village of Hu’u is sparsely populated. There are no gas stations or grocery stores, and the only dependable wifi is at the “fancy” hotel Aman Gati, which boasts air conditioned rooms for about $60 a night. Compared to the guest house prices of about $5 a night, it’s a high class place. , thanks to Sky and his connections, we were lucky enough to stay at Sky’s friend’s villa, which is directly in front of another surf break called Periscopes. It’s about a half an hour walk on the beach from Lakey Peak and there is literally nothing around except for the locals, which include people, dogs, chickens, goats, and water buffalo.

In the town of Hu’u, cows rule the road. Followed by dogs and goats. Sometimes driving on the main “highway” was a bit of an obstacle course, especially at night. They weren’t afraid of moving vehicles, either; once we rounded a curve to see a dog ahead of us in the middle of the road, who looked at us for a moment before giving a big stretch and then laying down while we laughed and drove around.

We stayed at Lakey for about a week, mostly surfing and gorging ourselves on nasi goreng and other great indo food. One interesting thing about Indonesia, and Lakey in particular: the tides are more extreme than in Hawaii, and a surf spot can go from perfect to unsurfable in a matter of hours. Because of the tide cycle, in the morning we had to wait for the tide to come in enough to cover the reef before we could paddle out.

Still, we were able to surf almost every day we were there, except one day when the swell was too big. Photos don’t do it justice since the waves were so far out; in fact the waves didn’t even look big until we saw a surfer on them, to put it in perspective. Since none of us felt like charging, we resigned ourselves to watching triple overhead sets rolling through, and admiring the brave souls who were on them.

Our last day in Bali mostly consisted of packing and running errands, and then we were off to catch the night ferry to Lombok. Lombok is directly to the east of Bali, and roughly the same size, though much more sparsely populated. After the ferry arrived in wee hours of the morning, we drove directly to Kaliantan, on the southeast coast. Kaliantan is nothing more than a wisp of a seaside village, lonely except for the Muslim garbed villagers and the occasional kitesurfer. No crowded streets (in fact, only dirt roads and single tracks), no hawkers, and (gasp!) no wifi. And we saw more sheep than people.

The main source of entertainment for kids seemed to be running around after the sheep, or grabbing the back of a giant truck and skidding along the dirt road as it traveled between villages. This was definitely village living!

Other than sheep herding, some of the locals farmed seaweed, which was visible at low tide as large green patches throughout the bay. There was only one “villa” close by, which was three small huts in the middle of not much. We only stayed one night and day in Kaliantan, where village life moved along with all the speed of a glacier. The only fast thing about the place was the kitesurfing, which Sky and Will enjoyed while Ted and I watched from hammocks, compensating for the lack of sleep the night before on the ferry, and resting up before departing to Sumbawa bright and early the next morning.