OK, Here's the Dutch part of my travels:

As I mentioned in the previous post, I arrived in Houston without any problems but when I handed over my paperwork at the United counter we were in for a rude surprise. 
She couldn't find me on the passenger list! After a lot of typing and inaudible mumbling she finally found me on the next day's flight! Yikes! Panic!
After more phone calls being made it turned out today's flight was cancelled due to a technical problem and they had moved me to the next day's flight, and 'hadn't I received an e-mail'?!
Nope! 'Did I come from far'? Well, yeah, 3 hours away! Oh, .....
well, ... in that case .... would you want to fly KLM today?
Heck, yes! And so it happened, although there was another hiccup at the KLM counter where they couldn't find me on the list... again, so I was added, ....again .....pffff!!

The flight went very smooth and since I was arriving at the morning rush hour we had decided I'd take a train to Den Helder so they didn't have to sit in traffic to get me.

There had been a slight panic on their side, since they had discovered the plane was cancelled and I didn't had time to notify them I'd taken another one, but I managed to sent them an e-mail from the train (don't you love modern technology) so in the end ... 'all's well that ends well' ....

    

There was lots of coffee and pastry and family and talk and catching up and for the next 4 weeks that was basically the daily scenario!

                                                                                                                                                                         

Now, as you might see in the pictures, a lot of which are taken while sitting outside, I happened to catch the warmest July since the beginning of recording!

This totally defeated what was one of the reasons behind this visit which had been, among others, to avoid some of the hottest weather in Texas and enjoy the cooler climate of Holland. 

What were the odds they were having a heat wave?! :-)

Not that we were complaining too much though, we'd planned for a lot of outings and of course it's so much nicer when the sun is shining!

For instance, we went to Texel, which is a small island just off the coast, only 15 minutes by ferry, from the town where my family lives.

We've all visited it a hundred times but it is still one of my favorite places to go. It's such a peaceful, laid back and pretty place.

It's very much a sheep island, and I would have loved to shear this one  .....

I paid a visit to my niece Riet at The Nollen and got a private tour. It had been a while since I'd seen it and was very impressed by the progress that has been made!

What a beautiful place and what stunning art! If you find yourself there one day you really have to see it!

Another visit brought me to the north-east of the country where I reunited with my best friend Irène  after 13 years!

Talking about 'catching up'! We had a great time, picked up right where we left of, and enjoyed a delicious BBQ and a long warm evening in her gorgeous garden.

I also paid a visit to my sweet niece Lotte, my sisters second daughter, who recently moved out of her mother's house and has the cutest apartment right under the 'dike' and at stones throw (well, you have to have a good arm ;-) of the aforementioned ferry to Texel.

                        

That's her, on the left. Oh boy, I've actually witnessed her birth all those years ago. Where has time gone ....

Wednesday afternoons are reserved for 'hobby-time' at my sister's house. Whatever you want to work on goes .... 

A good time to try to teach my (oldest) niece Anouk how to spin on a drop spindle.

Minor detail, ... she didn't have a drop spindle, so we made her one!

A couple of old Cd's, a dowel, a rubber eye-let and a cup-hook, et voila .... a drop spindle! 

Although this is not so easy to learn as it looks she is pretty handy and very persistent so she got the hang of it rather fast.

                 

                                    

She wants to try to spin some of the dog and cat hair she collects at the shelter she works for. Not easy, but I bet she'll manage!

This is a pic she sent me recently. Not bad!

My mother happens to live in an apartment on the 3d floor of a building that stands smack in the center of the city, right across from the railway station, on top of some of the best stores and with a magnificent view of one of the liveliest streets in town!

On Saturdays you overlook the farmers market (left) and on the right you see one of Den Helder's landmarks, an old water tower.

         

Her balcony is a great place to sit and 'people watch' and have your morning coffee!

                                           

My mom and sister had picked a few trips to entertain me while I was there, just in case I'd get bored, so one sunny day we took the train to Delft. 
This pretty city is known for its historic town centre with numerous canals, for the famous Delft Blue Pottery (Delftware), for being the painter Vermeer's city of birth and for it's association with the dutch royal family, the house of Orange-Nassau.

The Great Town Square,  with the New Church on one site and the City Hall on the other. 

We roamed the little streets, crossed the many canals the city is named for (Delft - from delving - digging - think 'canals') and visited the Old Church, were Prince William of Orange was the first of our Royal Family to be buried after being shot in 1854. 

Since than it houses the Royal Burial Chamber where most members of the House of Orange are buried.

                                                      

We also visited the New Church, funny enough Delft's oldest church, where many famous Dutchmen are buried, including Piet Hein and Johannes Vermeer.

Prince William of Orange's tomb in the New Church

After having lunch at the Grote Markt we visited the Vermeer Center which offers a view on the works and life of the famous painter. It houses reproductions of all of his 37 works (never knew there were 'only' so few) and shows the methods and famous lights of his paintings. 

  

Last on the program was museum The Prinsenhof, where William of Orange held court and eventually was killed in 1584.  
Through the projection of a hologram on the wall (and a loud gunshot) his killing is performed every time you approach the steps where it happened and the bullet holes in the wall are still visible!

The museum tells the story of the turbulent period of the creation of the Dutch Republic and shows a good insight in the typical dutch city life of that 'Golden Age' period. Very well done!

Lunch at the Grote Markt

My sister could use some help in her backyard so on one of those Wednesday hobby-afternoons I 'hobbied' a little in the garden with my side-kick Anouk.

Repairing and extending some pavement and adjusting/re-arranging a planter. Got to use my landscaping skills; fun! 

And, together with my mom, we turned my sister's broken electric awning into a 'by hand' sunscreen.
The reward was an excellent BBQ, in the cool shade of that awning  being joined by Babet, the youngest of my 3 nieces.

                My sister baked this delicious pie with blackberries!

Yumm!

And than there was this much anticipated trip to one of everybody's childhood favorite amusement park, the Efteling!

                               

Efteling "is the largest theme park in the Netherlands and one of the oldest theme parks in the world.
Since its opening in 1952, it has evolved from a nature park with a playground and a Fairy Tale Forest into a full-sized theme park. It now caters to both children and adults with its cultural, romantic and nostalgic themes, in addition to its wide array of amusement rides. It is twice as large as the original Disneyland park in California and predates it by three years!

The park is fantasy-themed and its attractions are based on elements from ancient myths and legends, fairy tales, fables and folklore." 

 

These mushrooms play music! (It's not that scary Monique, open your eyes! :-)

This is an extremely busy park with long waiting lines for most attractions (1 to 2 hours!) but we were very fortunate that the forecast had been for very hot weather so a lot of people had chosen not to go there that day ! 
We sometimes had a 10-15 minute waiting line but many times we didn't have to wait at all!
On top of that the weather stayed overcast and fairly cool until about 3pm and even than it didn't get too warm.   
                                                      

It was so much fun to walk through the old part of the park and recognize all the old fairy tales of long ago. 
Of course technology has changed and compared with newer, more recent additions it might be a little outdated but to us (and to most of the younger children I saw) it was still just as mesmerizing.

                                 It's truly a magical place. 


        

 

The girls were brave enough to try some of the hair raising roller coasters, and some less scary ones, in a specially for this designed part of the park, but they are not for me!

 

 We ended with a nice greasy fast food meal because that's what you do in these parks!

 

Our gang

Since we enjoyed it so much we decided to re-visit another favorite, this one an Open Air museum.

It's the Zuiderzee museum in Enkhuizen which is dedicated to the culture and history of this area.

After parking and buying your ticket, the only way to get to the museum is by taking the ferry across the Zuiderzee. It's a nice boat trip that takes 10-15 minutes.

The museum  focuses on the past and the present of the IJsselmeer lake, the former Zuiderzee. The museum features living history, heritage, and crafts from the past, temporary exhibitions and new purchases that focus on the future.

Lots of interesting buildings and history brought to life by in-costume characters.
We found a nice place in the shade to have our lunch since, you guessed it, it was a very warm day again!

                                 

 
    Of course there was a cheese shop!
            

Smoking of herring and drying of cod (on the clothesline, why not)        

                                                                                      

                                    

In the old school building I came across the board I learned to read from. (Even at that time it was a rather old fashioned method but I come from a small village with a rather elderly school board in those days.)

As you have noticed, it was a rather busy trip although there was enough time to relax too, during which, I have to admit, we ate a lot! Well, a person has to, doesn't she? 
I'd made a list of my favorite foods and in the end I think I'd pretty much checked them all off!

Top left: Chinese/Indonesian, top right: mussels, bottom left: BBQ, bottom right: pizza!




At my favorite Chinese restaurant: De lange Muur (the Long/Great Wall)

 
Nasi Ramas, my favorite Indonesian dish!                   My sisters ham and egg pizza at Pizzeria Costa
                                                                                                                    Smeralda

  
    
                                                             And steamed mussels!

Unfortunately, and on a totally different note, of course there was also this:

               

I've seldom seen our country as shocked and numb as when this news broke which sent the whole country in mourning. Disbelief, anger, deep sadness ... it effected everybody ...
In that same week another plane crashed in Algeria and another one in Korea and that just months after the disappearance of another Malaysian airplane!

Needless to say that when the end of my say was approaching I didn't particularly feel like flying back.
On the day I left, this was the scene in front of Schiphol, A'dam Airport.
             

So many flowers ......

But what is there to do? In the end you figure 'what are the odds' and 'everything happens in threes' and more of those uplifting clichés, and you just board that plane, just like all those people that are now dead did, ... and fortunately I was lucky ... if luck has anything to do with 

it ...

At my arrival in Houston I quickly found my way to the SuperShuttle desk and booked a ride to the Amtrak Train Station where I boarded the Sunset Limited train to Alpine at 6.15 in the evening.

                    

Providing service between New Orleans and Los Angeles 3 times a week, Amtrek's Sunset Limited is the oldest named train in the USA still operating.

I'd never thought it would come through Alpine but it does. It might be in the middle of nowhere but it turns out to be where the operating crew changes and since it also happens to be where we do our monthly (big) grocery shopping it worked out perfectly!

                      

Since the train ride would take all night I'd booked a roomette and a very friendly attendant showed me my quarters and put away my luggage. Dinner and breakfast is included with this arrangement and he let me know he'd made reservations for 7pm and if that was OK for me? Wow! 

Let's just say, I'd hoped this train ride would be fun but I had no idea I was going to be treated like royalty all the way, wined and dined upon, my bed made, free water, juice and coffee available all the time and listen to this ... there even was a (working) shower!

I thought I was also very lucky to be the only occupant of this 2 person roomette but I later learned that these are booked by room and not per person, so if you're by yourself you basically pay for the other bed too. Not that I cared because it was well worth the money, I loved to have the space by myself and it was still cheaper than if James would have had to pick me up.

Dinner was delicious, I had the Tilapia fillets, but there was also rib-eyed steak, chicken, hamburger and vegetarian lasagna on the menu and breakfast was just as good with a choice of pancakes, french toast, any eggs with bacon, biscuits or fruit. 

Coming from New Orleans it also had grits on the menu and the nice lady that joined me at the table taught me the proper way to eat them, with lots of butter on top! Pretty good!

                           

I slept fairly good, by that time I was up for almost 24 hours, except for a couple of times that the train jerked a little more than usual or when the engineer was a little too enthusiastic blowing his whistle!

Although this train has a reputation to run a little late sometimes, this time we were actually 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and we arrived in Alpine at 10.15.  

Fortunately James had thought to go to the station a little early so we arrived practically at the same time!

 

Perfect timing of course because 10 minutes later at 10.30 we sat down for .... yep...coffee time!

Well, that's it for now. I had a great time in Holland but it's good to be home again and you know what ... it's true what they say; "absence does make the heart grow fonder" ;-)!

One of my favorite pictures of our travels through the Texas Hill country. A Bewick's Wren in the warm summer rain.

A lot has happened in the weeks I haven't blogged and it has taken a while to recall when was what and which pictures are from where but I finally got some of it sorted out, so here we go!

On Friday the 20th of July we hooked up the RV for a 10 day trip to see a little more of Texas and to get me to Houston, from where I would fly to Holland for a month long visit with my family.

After picking up some groceries in Alpine we didn't have very far to go to our destination of that day, Fort Stockton, where we arrived somewhere around 2pm. 

We'd booked a spot in advance at the Overland Trail campground and were given an easy drive-through just next to the office.

The main reason for visiting this area was to attend a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory, home to the famous Hobby Telescope (designed and constructed with a unique objective: to gather a very large amount of light, specifically for spectroscopy, at extremely low cost).

The reason the Ft. Davis Mountains were chosen to build the Observatory is that these mountains are home to the darkest skies of any place in America.

               

The 39 mile drive up to to the observatory is very scenic (read: steep and windy)!

They have several programs day and night offering "a wonderful opportunity to view the stars and ask astronomers questions first hand". 

We first attended the 'Twilight Talk' at 8.15 and enjoyed the expert and very entertaining lecture about the constellations and various bright objects in the sky. 

Unfortunately we had chosen one of the very few days that it was completely overcast so when it was time for the second part of the program we'd signed up for, the 'Star Party', to begin at 9.45, there wasn't a star or constellation to be seen!

We were graciously offered a 'rain check' to come back any time but we were rather bummed! Oh well.....

Next day we took the I-10 to Sonora for a visit to it's Caverns. 
They have their own small, but nice, campground which makes it a comfortable place to stay overnight and attend one of the tours.

The cave is 71 degrees with a 98% humidity level which makes it feel about 85 degrees, no jackets or sweaters are necessary! 
The guided walking tour takes about an hour and a half and is well worth it. The cave is (only) explored for about 8 miles and you walk about 3 of it.




In 1966 this cavern was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior, and is one of the most active caves in the world with over 95% of its formations still “growing”. 

It's beautiful formations go on and on, there's no end to it!


                          

Outside/above on the premises they have a large gift shop and a menagerie of all sorts of animals. I really liked these purple martin 'apartments' they'd put up:

Being awoken early by the peacocks (man, do they scream) and

guineas we were soon on our way to Canyon Lake, after making a small detour to drive the scenic loop through the hills around Kerrville and Boerne.

We'd made reservations for a couple of days at the Lake Point RV Resort, a nice campground smack in the middle of the 'Hill Country' of Texas.

This campground caters mainly towards full-time 'members', most of which are boaters or fishermen.
We'd become Passport American members just before we left and because of that this campground cost us only $15 (half price) a night. It's a little 'tired' around the edges, I would say, and needs some tender love and care but for that price it's OK.



It has 2 pools, which, after a hot day exploring the hills of this Hill Country', are very nice to come home too!
The campground is often visited by a large herd of (wild) deer which are friendly enough to feed close by and some even take treats out of your hand.

 

I was having a ball discovering all the different birds that hang out in this area, among which was my very first cardinal!

What a vivid red! And what a beautiful song!

The one on the right is the beautiful Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise or swallow-tailed flycatcher. What a gorgeous and elegant bird, but also a pretty feisty one when defending it's nest!

              

                A scissor tailed flycatcher feeding it's young!

The fella below is a Texas Spiny Lizard. The male has a peculiar habit when challenged by another male for its territory. The two will have a push up contest, or so it seems. Both males will begin doing push ups until one of them gives up and runs away.

But of course we did something else beside bird watching too.
We were very lucky to hit some unusual cloudy days and cooler weather, normally it's very hot and humid in July.
Just what we had wished for, perfect sight-seeing weather!
So that is what we did.

Not surprisingly, the Hill Country is rather hilly, with lush rolling green fields and lots of smaller and bigger rivers and lakes.

Early settlers here were predominately Germans, in fact a lot of people still speak the language and a lot of towns and cities bear German names.
One of the quaintest little villages is Gruene, now a district within the city limits of Braunfels, on the Guadalupe River.

It has a lot of cute shops with antiques, clothing, and all sorts of nicknack's, a good bakery and pickle shop and a main street with beautiful old houses lined with huge, huge oak trees!

 

We also visited Fredericksburg, but apart from the very German looking 'Ausslander Biergarten' (that turned out to be closed that day ;-( ) it was really nothing but a busy, noisy street with lots of traffic, lined with super touristy souvenir shops. A real tourist trap and other than having some good sausages for lunch at a German restaurant we quickly moved on!

James had his mind set on getting some peach pie that the area is famous for in summer so we picked up a cobbler at 'das peachhaus'. Unfortunately it was rather disappointing. I make a better one if I say so ;-).

Some shots of Gruene. The one at the bottom right is a famous dance hall "the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas".  Every famous musician there ever was and even some not as famous have played here.
No AC but huge fans and a potbelly stove for winter, original (warped) wooden floors, long tables to sit at and lots of room for two-steppin'!

Next day we visited San Antonio. We'd planned for a visit a little later in the afternoon and first went to see the famous Alamo.




We've all seen the movies and heard the cries (remember the Alamo) so a visiting this historic mission that once served as the fort for a fight that would become the decisive battle in Texas liberty is imperative.
Smaller than I'd thought but (free) great displays, lovely grounds and a very good 45 min. movie tells the story of great courage and strong beliefs as well as the tragedy and reality of war.
Impressive. We'll remember ...

Next on the program was a walk along the River Walk, also known as 'Paseo del Rio', a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath the streets of downtown.

It winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops.

It's the perfect place, especially towards the end of the day, to have

something to drink and eat and do some 'people watching', hence the reason we went into town a little later.

             

We spent a day 'while we were in the area' visiting the 'Texas White House' or the LBJ Ranch House, home of President Johnson and his wife 'Ladybird', in Stonewall (near Johnson City).  

                                                               

                                   

This ranch was where President Johnson was born, lived, died and buried. After his death in 1973, Mrs Johnson continued to live at the Ranch part time until her death in 2007.

Visitors are now able to tour the Ranch after obtaining a driving permit at the LBJ State Park and Historic Visitor Center, with the ability to stop at sites along the way such as the President's birthplace, the family cemetery and the (working) cattle farm.

                 

We also took the guided tour (by a ranger)of the ranch house. The whole house is set up as it was during the years of his presidency, including his office, living quarters for the secret service, lots of cars and his jet.
It was an interesting glimpse in a difficult time gone by and in the life of one of the 20th century's most colorful characters.




                       
Right next door to the LBJ Ranch is the Sauer-Beckmann living History Farm which recreates rural farm life from 1900-1918.  It is an actual, working farm, where the park docents wear period clothing, and work it….milking the cows, canning the beans, or working in the gardens. 

Visitors can walk along the farm, interacting with the docents and farm animals.  The employees love to show you their daily chores and talk about what life was like “back then”. Each day, a docent slaves over a hot stove to create food of the time period for visitors to get a good perspective of how it was done.

They had a good looking meat loaf in the oven while we were there but unfortunately it wasn't done yet.

                            

Now, if you're still with me, this is where this story gets an interesting, and rather unfortunate, twist!

We knew already for a while that one of the truck's injectors was having problems, which showed itself in less power (especially uphill) and leaving behind grey smoke, especially when idling or pulling up.

We'd planned to take care of the problem over the winter since it is a costly repair so we were saving up for it.

But when we left canyon Lake after 3 days to continue our trip the truck decided it had enough and blew not one but, what was later revealed, two injectors, completely! The result; a loud pop, lots and lots of black smoke and almost a total loss of power!

To make a long story short we managed to crawl to a nearby mobile home park, unhooked the RV, rented a car and inched our way to Rush medium Truck Repair Center, that by some miracle was only about 10 miles away!

                                          

 

                                  

The injectors

But you know how that goes, the guy who does the electric stuff, and would have to hook the truck up to a computer for diagnostics, was on vacation and would not be back until Tuesday (this was on a Friday) so there was nothing we could do but leave the truck there and wait.

Fortunately we had ended up just outside of San Antonio so there would be no problem getting me to Houston on Tuesday morning (using the rental car), but we quickly realized the rest of our trip was hereby canceled. 
So much for all our 'well laid plans' ....!

After some brainstorming we decided to at least make the best of the days we had left, so the next day we drove to the coast, as had been our plan, and spent a day exploring around Corpus Christi, Rockport and Port Aransas/Mustang Island.

It was a rather cloudy, muggy but warm day and with an overall haze, not the best for pictures as you can see. We really started to feel the humidity here, quite different from the dry heat in Lajitas.


 

If you like fishing you've come to the right place in Port Aransas on Mustang island. People were fishing everywhere but especially on all the piers. The restaurants all serve their fresh 'catch of the day'.
We had some pretty good oyster po'-boys for lunch in a really funky fish-shack.

             

Standing on one of the piers we were lucky enough to see a small pod of dolphins go by in search of food and a couple of brown pelicans gliding above them to try beat them to it!
All of a sudden I spotted a very different 'pelican'! It turned out to be a Magnificent Fregatebird (left picture), sometimes named ' man o' war'.
This huge bird is about 3' in length, has a wingspan of over 7' and is an excellent flyer and glider. 
So thrilling to see one!

Overall though, we weren't too impressed by this coast. It's rather messy and 'rougher' than the California beaches and without any of the beautiful rocks of the Oregon and Washington coastline. 
I prefer it a little less humid also (or maybe a lot less ;-)

 
            Hurricane shelter



On the way back I tried to ignore these disturbing hurricane signs along the highway. Don't even wanna think about it!
(Same goes for that shelter we saw in Gruene)
As a Californian (sort of) and RV-er, I'll take an earthquake any day over a hurricane!





I'll end this humongous post with a picture of our campsite in San Antonio (and the rental car).
After our day at the coast we took it easy the next day and played a very enjoyable round of golf on a nearby golf course and grilled a nice T-bone in the evening! (hey, somebody has to do it)

The next day James drove me to Houston where I boarded my flight to Holland. Well, actually, it was a different flight than planned but I'll save that for my next post!
Enough already! :-)