2011-07 Waalwijk and Heusden, Netherlands

  

Ray made a trip to Waalwijk (sounds like vall-vick), which is a town about 60 miles southeast of Amsterdam.  It was originally known for the manufacture of shoes, not the Dutch wooden clogs everyone associates with Holland, but rather leather shoes.  There is shoe museum in town, but it was not open when I passed by.  I did see my share of windmills along the way, but only one was actually operating.

Being summer and located so far north and west in a time zone, the sun did not set until 10:00PM, giving me plenty of time to explore after work.  I went to visit the old town of Heusden, which was a major strategic town for many years due to its location at a bend in the river.  A moat was built around the island and 20-30' tall walls built along the walls to aid in the protection of the city and protect the castles.  I took a walking tour of the area to learn a little of the history of the town.  It was expanded from its original size and the old moat still runs through town. A full scale model of the town and surrounding area is housed in the city government building.

I stopped for dinner in the Vismarkt (fishmarket), which has a number of restaurants along the open plaza.  It is located near a small inner harbor.  I had a huge plate full of spare ribs, and they were delicious.  It was quite an effort to get them all down, but I managed.

The next morning before my flight home I rented a bike to do some more exploring.  I rode south towards the sand dunes national park area, but couldn't find a good path to take to the dunes themselves.  Most were sandy and were better for walking than riding. 

I did see a park working trimming bushes and trees with a lawn mower.  He was able to trim them up very evenly, and I was impressed.  One of the driveways I passed was lined with many beautiful and large hydrangeas.  Another nursery was growing some interesting curly trees.  The Netherlands is known for it horticultural industries, especially tulips.  The facility that I was visiting actually makes the plastic flower pots used for growing small ornamental flowers.  They are also known for Tulips, and I was bringing some home as a souvenir.  When I got home I read the inspection sticker and they were actually from France, but were being sold as Holland bulbs in the airport.

It was a quick trip in and out, but it was fun to see a new part of the world and take in a few of the sites.

2011-06 Madeline Island

The extended Bloom family (including Ray's mom Karren and sister Beth along with her husband Doug and son Jack--OK, I guess that makes it the entire Bloom family) headed to Madeline Island in northern Wisconsin for a long weekend in mid June.  We had decided at Christmas this year to do something all together rather than exchanging individual gifts with each other, and this is where we ended up deciding to go.  School ended no Thursday and we headed up on Friday.  Ray and his mom made a side trip to see Karren’s uncle Roald in Barron, WI since we would be going through the area.

To get to Madeline Island, you must take a ferry from Bayfield.  These run back and forth about every 45 minutes and can carry around 20 vehicles, plus walkers and bike riders.  We got lined up for loading and waited for the ferry to arrive, then drove on for the 20 minute trip.  During the winter, an ice road is used to go back and forth.  Before the ice is ready to drive on, and during the spring break-up period, a large, enclosed windsled is used for getting people back and forth.

We stayed in a rental unit called Mariner’s Rest which was inland about a ¼ of a mile.  It is a house that is rented out during times when the owners are not using it. 

As Beth, Doug and Jack were arriving, a small fox was wondering around the house.  He was as curious about us as we were about him, so we all watched him for a while.

Saturday morning the kids got on the bikes and rode into town to check it out and explore the area.  The adults later walked to town and we all met up for lunch.  The town had a few restaurants, antique and knick-knacks stores, and of course an ice cream shop.

Despite the cool and rainy spring we had been having, we had beautiful weather for the weekend.  It was a little rainy on Friday evening, but then it cleared off and we had clear, clam weather with temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s for the rest of the time.  The lake was very calm.  We saw some interesting sand patterns along the shoreline.  They must have been caused by some wave actions, but the calm water allowed them to remain and be easily seen.

After lunch, we headed back to the cabin.  Ray, Doug and Jack went out on a bike ride to the southern tip of the island.  Jack was skateboarding while Ray and Doug were bike riding.  We stopped near an old Indian cemetery near the marina.  Some of the grave sites were covered with small wooden structures resembling a barn called spirit houses.  These were built to protect the deceased in the afterlife and to protect offerings that were given to them.

Jack was able to ride the skateboard most of the way, except the last ¼ mile which was a dirt rode. He set his board in the grass and hitched a ride on Doug’s bike the last segment.  The beach was very long with soft white sand.  Only a few people were in this area.  We headed back and Jack picked up his skate board and had nice long ride down the hill to the marina.

On Sunday, we went up to Big Bay State Park.  The parents rode bikes up there and grandma and the kids drove up.  We first hiked in to the Point picnic area.  There we large rock outcropping and the kids enjoyed climbing and jumping on the rocks.  As we left the area on the bikes, Doug saw an owl up in one of the trees along the road.  It sat there for a long time allowing everyone to see it, and we got some good pictures.

We next headed down to the beach area.  This is a beautiful ½ mile long curved beach.  The sand is fine and soft, however the water is always very cold, generally around 40F even in the summer.  Doing much more than wading in for a short period time would be very difficult.  If this beach were a 1000 miles south of here, it would be packed all the time.

On the trip back to the cabin, Ray had a flat tire.  He was near a cemetery and so made that his place to wait to be picked up since it had some nice shade and nice grass to relax in.  About 5 minutes after settling in, a long processional of cars started to head to the cemetery and parking along the roadway.  This would make it hard to be seen and picked up, so he had to start heading down the road to get to a clear area to be “rescued".

We packed up on Monday morning and took the ferry back to Bayfield, where we picked out a coffee shop to have an early lunch before heading back to the Twin Cities.

2011-04 Oceans Adventure

Ray attended the Philippine plant summer outing held this year at Oceans Adventure in Subic Bay, about a 3 hour drive from the Manila area.  We arrived at about 9:00 am and spend the morning attending shows scattered throughout the park.  We watched a dolphin show in the bay itself, along with a sea lion show, and acrobats on a trampoline.  Besides the sea life, they also had a demonstration of other local animals and birds native to the area.

After the shows, we ate lunch near the beach area and the afternoon was spent swimming or relaxing at the beach.  As we were leaving, we watched as some people got an opportunity to swim with the dolphins, and they actually were taken for a ride with the dolphins.

2011-04 Taipei Bike Ride

I went on a bike ride with one of my co-workers on Saturday.  We rented bikes along the riverside near the National Taiwan University.  Although they had a lot of nice bikes to choose from, they didn't have a bike that fit me too well.  I ended up with a mountain style bike and raised the seat up has high as possible, but it wasn't enough to get full leg extension, so I felt the muscles starting to get a workout as soon as we took off.

We headed north with a plan to go to Danshui at the mouth of the Danshui river.  It was only about 13 miles as the crow flies, but we didn't know how far it would be along the trails.  The trails along the river are very  bike freindly with many bike related statues and artwork, like the giant Paul Bunyan sized bike tire buried in the ground.  There are also lots of sports fields and courts including soccer, basketball, baseball and even croquet.

We stopped in Guanshui for a donut, which was very light with a minimal coating of sugar.  They were warm from the fryer and went down very good.  There is a very large temple built into the side of the hill, and a lot of people were visiting this morning.  It is a long holiday weekend in Taiwan as Children's day is Monday and Tomb Sweeping Day, which is similar to Memorial Day in the US as it is a time to remember the ancestors and visit the cemeteries.

We ended up getting to Danshui about 2 hours after we started.  Since it was near lunchtime, we headed down a street filled with multiple vendors and stared eating our way down the street.  Kenny was picking and choosing some of the best and most well known foods along the street for us to eat.  Our first stop was for breaded, deep fried cuttlefish, which is a large type of squid.  What made this delicious was the powdered spices they sprinkled over the hot cut up pieces.  I had plum spice along with a touch of curry powder.

Next we stopped for some milk tea with pearls (giant tapiaco balls)  in the bottom.  It was cold and refreshing.  This was followed by a stop in a very small restaurant with benches and tables specializing in dumplings and fish balls.  The dumplings were pork filled and the fish balls were served in a hot broth.

Midway down the street was a temple with some wonderful stone carvings on the walls and intricate pottery or china statues on the roof.  There were 3 monks in front of the temple soliciting donations.  Each one was about 6" taller than the previous, ranging from 5 to 6 foot tall in a perfect stair step.  I started to take a photo because I thought it was interesting, and as soon as I raised my camera, they raised their arms to cover their face.  I first thought it was just part of their routine, but then realized they did not want their photos taken.  I erased the photos and went to apologize, but don't know if they understood.  No photo, but it is a site and experience that I will remember quite well without the photo.

We then headed farther north to the fisherman's wharf, which is the port at the river mouth.  The pedestrian bridge spans the port opening.  We got on a ferry and took that across to the other side of the river, which is called Bali.  Both the Bali side, known as the left bank, and the Danshui side were very busy and it was difficult riding our bikes along the sidewalks.  We headed north and went to the Museum of Archeology and learned about the aboriginal natives of this area and their early iron and smelting capabilities.  After the museum we stopped for a shaved ice treat.  The ice was shaved from a block of mixed ice and milk, and then topped with a choice of flavors.  I got a mango topping.  The shaved ice ends up being very light and airy, and is also known as snow ice here.

It was time to head back to turn our bikes in and make the trek home.  By this time my bottom was very sore and troubling me, so we decided to stop along the way to try to find some bike shorts to give me some more padding and protection.  Back at Guanshui, we find a roadside vendor who had a pair shorts in my size and let me try them on before purchase.  They fit great and really helped for the rest of the ride.  This ride gave me a great appreciation for the proper fit of a bike and why a poor fit bike could make someone never want to ride a bike again.

We got a a little turned around on the way back and put a few more miles on than anticipated.  One of the upsides of this was that we were able to be riding as the sunset over the west bank of the river.  About 2 miles from the return center, my seat loosened and started to shift around.  I kept pounding it down, but then the nose was too low, so did a lot of standing pedaling at

the end.  We got back to the rental location about 6:30, and my thigh muscles were killing me, especially in the car on the ride back to the hotel.  I took some Advil at the hotel and walked around the area a little to stretch them out and by 8:00 they felt OK. 

All in all it was a great way to spend an afternoon.  We ended up riding a little over 40 miles on the trip and saw a lot of beautiful scenery, tested a lot great local foods, and got some much needed exercise.