A whirlwind trip

Beth attended a conference last week in Las Vegas, NV and I decided to tag along for the ride. The main reason that I wanted to go was to visit with my sister over in Los Alamos, NM, but I’ve also never been to Vegas and was more than a bit curious to see this infamous city.

Beth and I are not much into gambling, usually setting a $100 limit - which, just as usually, is gone in the first hour. I think that this time around I kept my losses to under $50 and the time with my ass in a chair at less than an hour. I spent most of my time in Vegas out walking around and checking out the various themed casinos.

New York, New York

Paris

Caesar's Palace

Luxor

You get the idea, so here is a final picture to put it all into perspective.

The Strip

As anyone who knows the slightest thing about me, you can imagine how quickly I became bored with this scene. The individual casinos were pretty well done and kind of interesting to explore, but the overall vibe was not at all for me.

So on day two I rented a car and headed into the surrounding desert for some sight seeing. It was a beautiful day and I found some great hiking in the mountains and canyons of nearby Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It was a lot different than pancake flat and grassy green Holland. On my two hour hike, I saw...

...funky plants

...funky rocks

....and funky petroglyphs

...on my way up a narrow box canyon to this spectacular payoff view.

I also did a side trip over to Hoover dam. It was worth a quick stop to see what makes all the Vegas thing possible in this barren landscape. It was impossible to capture the scale of this dam and this photo does not do it justice. Those are cars at the bottom…it was freaking enormous!

Hoover Dam

Beth had the last night in Vegas off so we caught a show over at Mandaly Bay. We have been wanting to see Mama Mia for some time now so we were glad to see that the production was in town. It was a great show!

We then headed over to New Mexico, via Los Angeles, to visit with my sister. They have been hammered with snow this year, giving the desert and mountains a beautiful blanket of white.

Los Alamos with ski hill in background.

High desert canyon.

Our hosts...Sue, Tom and Sydney

For Beth, the biggest attraction was the massage chair that Tom had. Look at that book vibrate!

Overall a great trip! But as always, it’s good to be back home in Holland.

Espania

Our good friends Frank, Natasja, Eva, and Rosie invited us for a short New Year's holiday in Spain to help break up the long, dark winter here in Holland.

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From the uncrowded beaches of Oliva....

...to the concrete jungle of Benidorm, we had nothing but warm sunny days of relaxation.

One day on the way to the beach near Denia to walk Rosie, we stopped at this colorful roadside fruit stand run by the local Gypsie clan. We were all a bit afraid to get out of the car and take a photo without buying anything, but Frank stayed behind the wheel in case we needed a quick escape while Natasja and I jumped out for the photo's. We all came away unscathed and apparently uncursed...we'll have to wait a while to be sure.

Enjoying the Balcon del Mediterraneo in Benidorm. Sunset, sepia, and wine...does it get any better?

Busy shopping street in the old quarter of Benidorm.

Beth and I also spent a day in Valencia. It is Spain's third largest city and has a great combination of old and new architecture. The oranges were ripe...and delicious!

The main square of old Valencia.

Exploring one of the many shops around the central market in Valencia. I didn't realize until we got home that I didn't get any pictures of the market itself which is a real shame because the covered markets of Spanish cities are some of our favorites to explore. They carry just about any sort of fresh produce that you can imagine, from whole pig's heads to fresh truffels. A truly unique experience!



Modern Valencia was also very cool. They have diverted the main river that used to run through the city and use the old river bed as a massive green belt park. It is awsome! They are building a whole series of new museums, aquariums, concert halls, and entertainment venues on the edges of the park. It gives the city a perfect blend of old and new.



We thought that Katie and Jody would enjoy this picture. It's a giant playground in the middle of the park. We were very tempted to go down and test out some of the slides for ourselves, but there was a park attendant to keep the skateboarders out and we weren't sure how well two old-fart American tourists would be accepted playing amongst the Spanish children.


No post seems complete without a look at the local dog culture. In Spain, it's not so good. I won't comment on the way the Spanish treat animals (I guess I just did), but this guy seemed to be enjoying his time out on the terrace near the beach at Valencia.

A quiet pennisula near Cullera...

...where we enjoyed another quiet sunset.


Wishing everyone the best in 2007! Stay in front of each and every day. Keep it fun and never forget that with life, there is no free trial!


Cheers - Dan and Beth

Kerstdag II

By 11:30 Christmas Eve, a sea of crumpled wrapping paper and an empty bottle of wine were all that were left of our quiet evening at home.

The big question this year was who could get Sage the best toy. Last year turned into a brutal conflict when I got Sage a really cool dead plastic chicken that squeaked when you tugged it. Beth got her some sissy-queer little pink and purple elephant. Well, I don't know what came over my tough little hunting dog, but Sage went for the elephant.

This year, I got her a softer (and alive) version of the same chicken theme, although you can still see the target on its chest. Beth opted for another cutesy holiday toy with this stretchy Santa Clause.

And the winner is…..

0-2, no more chickens please.

We stumbled on this naked recreation area on our annual Christmas day hike. We decided to explore it a bit because we figured that since it was cold and overcast outside no one would be "recreating" in the nude today. I don’t know what we expected to find in such a place…volleyball, tennis, dodgeball…but we were a little disappointed to learn that naked recreators do the same thing that non-naked recreators do….walk paths, sunbath, and swim. Somehow, it has lost its allure.

Relaxing on a bench in the naked field.

We also explored the village of Weesp just outside Amsterdam. Lot's of canals and decorated beautifully for the holidays. Worth a stop!


We hope that you and your families have a great holiday season! We’re off to visit friends in sunny Spain for the new year. No updates till we get back in early January.

Cheers!

Mecca

I tagged along with Beth on her trip down to Mecca (Waldorf, Germany) last week. The Christmas markets were in full swing and even though we were both fighting the remnants of our first winter colds, we had a great time out and about on the towns.


The old city gate and bridge of Heidelberg.


Heidelberg Castle, shrouded in mist and brooding over the city. The mountains and forests in the background provided some great hiking for me while Beth spent the day at the office down in Waldorf.


The castle ruins, up close and personal. This complex was destroyed during the 30 Years War with France.


Christmas market on one of the many squares. The Hot Mulled Wine and Bratwurst were excellent!



Viable city streets. Even in Germany, which seems to value the automobile almost as much as America, they've managed to keep their downtowns intact.



View of Heidelberg from the castle. You can see the mass of shoppers snaking through the city by the old church. It was a great holiday atmosphere.



I had to snap a photo in the local downtown Heidelberg dog park (on the Neckar River). This was a typically spazmotic young German Shorthaired Pointer and would have given Sage a serious run for her money.




Impressed by the city walls of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This 13th century city was incredibly intact. We were amazed that they still let you walk the ramparts. I can imagine that it is completely overrun by tourists in the summer time, but with the mediocre weather and mid-week visit we practically had the place to ourselves. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas.




Fairy Tale entry gate to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.



Walking around this walled city was surreal. It felt like we were inside a fake, Disney World diorama.



We also hit lesser known Dinkelsbuhl about 20 minutes south of Rothenburg and almost liked it better. Outside the wall, looking in, it felt authentically medevial with grazing goats and small garden plots.




But inside the walls were the most brilliantly painted half-timbered houses. What amazed me the most was the breadth of the streets. It felt so "un-Dutch". They had gone to all the trouble of erecting a wall around the city (back in the 14th century), you would think that real estate inside the wall would be at a premium. To have a street that can easily accommodate modern day traffic and parking was pretty amazing and not at all typical of what we've seen in the old cities of other countries. Why did they need all that space on the roads back then?

Going up!

Our neighbors across the street are building up their third floor, so this massive crane moved onto the street last week to help get materials up to the roof. You see these cranes frequently around Haarlem for all kinds of building projects. A lot of the time they are used to lift materials right over top of the houses and down into the back yard.

We’re going to have to order one next spring for when we redevelop our back garden. We’re putting in a new flagstone patio, a built in BBQ and fire-pit, and a couple of new trees.

The operator of this crane was top-notch. He manipulated the hydraulic arm like it was an extension of his body. Pretty cool to watch!

Reality Check

We’ve been having some brilliant fall weather this week, so I saddled up the bike, strapped on my camera and went for a nice ride out into the dunes.

It wasn’t a hard ride today, but more of a slow meandering cruise. It was quiet and peaceful and crisp, so when I happened along this small memorial, I decided to stop and sit for a while. It isn’t the first cold granite marker that I’ve seen while wandering among the dunes - unfortunately, they are almost common along this part of the coast. The inscription on this one is short and simple. A brief slogan about freedom, then nothing more than a date and the number of dead.

1945. 9 Bodies.

The memorial doesn’t say who the people were or why they were killed. Dutch Resistance Fighters? Jews? Gypsies? Gays? In some respects, it really doesn’t matter.

As I sat, I replayed in my head any one of the grainy black and white films that could have captured the events that led to these memorials being placed here. We’ve all seen these films, it doesn’t matter which era, or war, or conflict, or police action that they are from. They are all abstract footage that we quickly and simply label as ‘terrible’ or ‘horrific’, then we move on.

But today, I sat in the grass on the edge of this small depression and allowed myself to think about what happened here and what is happening somewhere else in the world today. For a brief minute, it actually felt real to me.

Funny how that can happen - if you let it.

Hillbillies

Beth and I spent the last three weeks on holiday in America. I have to admit that I wasn’t really looking forward to it this time around. Our agenda for the trip was jam-packed and I worried that it would turn into a near constant scramble to get from point A to point B in time to visit person C and get task D accomplished before needing to purchase item E and then visit person F and on and on and on. What weighed on me most was our goal for shutting down the house in Maryland for winter. The frantic memories of doing that job last year still taunted me and kept my planning off balance.

But aside from Beth’s little “schedule me another 5 minutes at work” incident at the airport on the way in, the trip couldn’t have been better. We started out up in Williamsport with Beth’s family to celebrate her pap’s birthday. We think he’s 92 - they didn’t keep very good records up on North Mountain back in those days and no one seems to know for sure. Both pap and Virgetta are doing great and as always we enjoyed their old fashioned hospitality, cooking and storytelling - even though someone or something always ends up shot by the end of the story ;-) Happy birthday Pap and Aunt Mandy!

We also spent a few nights with my family in Ligonier. Meg, Timm, and Terri all stopped over and we got out for some nice walks around the property with Sam and the boys. Steve and Jen moved to Philadelphia and were unable to join us, but we still managed a few traditional “Glasstetter” evenings of great food and stimulating conversation where we solve all the world’s problems. Then both Beth’s and my parents joined us at the house in Maryland for a few evenings where we celebrated an early Thanksgiving, complete with turkey, cranberry sauce, and apple pie. My mom cleaned up at a cutthroat game of dominos and we finally got the wood pile cut that the renters left behind over a year ago.

On any trip back to the States, no matter how short or how long, we can always count on good visits with our families. As usual, we were not disappointed this time around and had a great time with everyone.

But the unexpected pleasure of this trip was the time that Beth and I spent alone at our old house up in the mountains. We stocked up the fridge, filled the wine rack, fired up the hot tub, cancelled our planned construction project and just kicked back to relax. Once we were settled in, we only ventured outside the gate to our property one time the entire vacation. Gezellig.

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The forest is crawling with deer this year, more than we have ever seen on our land. We enjoyed filling the feeder with corn and watching them every morning from the hot tub and every evening by the fire.