City Limits

I was just playing around on Google Earth yesterday and it became abundantly clear how different that our lives have become since we moved to Haarlem 4 years ago. These before and after images show just what I mean:

Our woods in Maryland

Our "hood" in Haarlem

But no one ever told us that we couldn't bring a little bit of country life into the city limits with us.

Lekker Vakantie

Another spring brings another trip back to America. This time around our good friend Esther joined us. It was her first trip to the states.

It's hard to bring someone from Europe over to America without a few nights in New York city. Not that Beth and I mind...NYC is quickly becoming one of our favorite US stop-overs.


Can you see a key destination for Beth here on 5th Avenue? Yes, she finally got her I-Touch.

We found a great little apartment in the west village....away from the tourists and in the heart of lived-in lower Manhattan. Kitchen, dining room, living room, full bath and bedroom all for about $75 cheaper than a cramped hotel room. Here we are packing up for the drive west.


...where we visited Pap and Virgette for a "down home" lunch...

...and a walk down memory lane. Look at that hair and those sideburns! Beth was already all leg!
Then it was a stop over in Ligonier to visit with the Glasstetter clan. Sue and Tom were in from New Mexico and we all helped mom and dad finish settling into the new house.

No trip to Ligonier is complete without a breakfast stop at the Fairfield Inn.

Of course we continued on down to Western Maryland, where we did some shootin'...

(Dutch girl with a loaded gun...now THAT is scary!)

...some ATV'n...

...and of course some famous sittin' by the campfire before hopping into the hot tubbin'.

We also went to the new ASCI adventure sports center on top of the mountain to watch some kayakers in the new man-made whitewater course.

And speaking of white water....we also visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Fantastic!

We had traditional American roadside cuisine on the way back east to Delaware...

...where we ate a little bit tastier food - blue fin crabs spiced with 'Ol Bay...Lekker!

A nice walk through downtown Rehoboth...


...and a great bayside visit with the Boyer clan.


All in all a great trip!