Trippin' with Susan Straley

We didn't even know there was such a thing as Kings Day.  We found out well after we had booked our bike and sail.  Long after we had booked our lodging. But here we are and today was Kings Day, which is the birthday of a King... who liked orange.   According to Google, " King's Day is  the Dutch national holiday celebrating the King's birthday on 27 April . If 27 April falls on a Sunday, King's Day is celebrated on the previous day." Even before we left our motel room we could hear the thum thum thum of music as boat after boat loaded with bouncing, orange -clad celebrators cruised by in the canal below us. I learned that about 700,000 people visit the city for the event.  When I asked locals where we should go to participate, they told us it is everywhere in the city.  I didn't believe them.  I mapped our route to go see where we catch our sail boat on Sunday.  And then we would walk to city center. We passed this tiny car and Steve notice...

 We have landed! We took the train from the Airport to Amsterdam Centraal Station. And we were introduced right away to the bicycle culture of Amsterdam. We had pre arranged, through an app called  Bounce, to store our luggage for the day at a coffee shop near the station.  We then walked to the flower market.  There was a lot to see on the walk to see the flowers.  A Rubber Duck store. Steve got some Rick Steve's books about the cities we are visiting.  He said that because Holland was built on wooden pilings and fill, the buildings often start sinking and getting out of square.  The Dutch square up the building with metal rods.  The metal decorations on the outside of many  buildings are the ends of those rods. He also said that the buildings usually had a shop on the bottom, the residence in the next floor or two, and then the top was used as a warehouse.  They designed the building so the top leans out.  That way when they were ...

 We are waiting for the shuttle driver to take us to the Tampa Airport.  We about to launch a 24 day trip that will include: Amsterdam Berlin and Prague  Neighbors are watching the place.  Our trikes are resting inside under the watchful eye of Steve's security system.  I will try to post a couple of pictures each day. Thanks for the many good wishes from friends and family.   See you on the flip side.

Greetings from the Airport in Appleton, WI. I didn't really plan way ahead for a trip to Wisconsin.  I kind of played with the idea of visiting my sister for her birthday at the end of March. But one day, I talked with her on the phone.  If you have been reading this blog a while, you may remember that her husband was diagnosed with dementia before George was diagnosed in 2014-2015.   His decline has been very slow.  But now he is getting pretty wobbly and unsure in his step.  After a couple of bad falls he is supposed to use a walker,  but you can imagine how that is going.  How can you remember to use a walker when you sometimes don't know that you are sitting in your own house and not someone else's.  After our talk on the phone, I cleared my calendar and booked a flight.  Allegiant flies a couple times a week from St. Pete, FL to Appleton, WI direct.  Perfect. I am writing this in the airport.  I have been gone eight days a...