The Netherlands- Around Town

I went to the Netherlands to visit my friend, Shea, who is American. We met in community theater as teens. Her husband, Mauricio, who is Brazilian, who we also first met in the same community theater the year he was an exchange student. They started dating and dated for like 20 years and got married a couple years ago in London, which you may recall, Buck and I traveling to and attending. There's the quick background on that. So Shea invited me to come visit and it ended up working out!

The guest bedroom I stayed in

View from the window

Jet lag winning

I had avocado toast every morning

Going for a walk near Shea's home. There is this magical woodland a few blocks away and everyonereally uses it all the time to walk and ride bikes!

There were several cats around and this one was so cute and friendly

It's a thing to put sprinkles on their toast

Cozy dinners at home

I had to try some pickled herring because it's a national dish! It was... okay! haha

But then I made up for it with stroopwafels

Cute houses with thatched roofs around Shea's town

Shea's cat, Tiger

One evening I took myself for a walk in the woodlands and it was lovely

Of course I had to ride a bike at least once! That's the Dutch way

"Dahlia Street"

And then I had to try the black licorice, since that's a thing there. It was horrible because I don't like black licorice but I tried it anyway and then spit it out haha

Some of the gifts I bought:
Chocolates for Buck

Dutch lipgloss and a delft duck and toast sprinkles for June

Hazel and Rose both got dolls and Rose got a coin purse and Hazel some colored pencils and a cool multi use sharpener from the Van Gogh museum, and Johnny got a little snow globe and windmill pen. I also got them euro coins and north sea shells and some candy and toast sprinkles. 

I should have taken a photo of what I got myself but I got a notebook at the Anne Frank house museum, a postcard of a Van Gogh painting that resonated with me, and some antique wooden clogs. And some chocolate. ;) 

And of course, it wouldn't be a travelog of mine if I didn't have a whole segment on the views out the airplane window. 
The day I left Utah we had the worst fire smoke I've seen and it was wild to fly through and above it. Once above it it was like a thick grey blanket and it lasted well into Canada. 

Then some clear views

Netherlands! 

On the way back I got to go to a lounge again. It's so wild 

And I scored a row to myself! But then some guy asked the flight attendant if he could switch to my row when he saw it was empty. 😑

Ireland! 

At one point he asked me if I could close my window and I actually said, "No... umm, sorry but we're about to fly over Greenland and I don't want to miss this!" haha And I am so glad I got to see it! God parted the clouds just in time for a clear view! It felt crazy to see the ice floating in the ocean leading up to the land! 

I really needed someone with me to freak out about how cool it was

Looks like clouds but nope- endless snow! 

As always, Utah isn't too bad to look at either. ;)