Catching up on 12-days - the short version!

Will try to be brief, which most of you know is impossible and catch you up on our last 12-days... will post full details and back date them - so expect LOTS of email in the next few hours if you are subscribed to Windows Live Alerts.

Q: Why the prolonged delay?
A: the ISP at our campground would not allow us to log in to Blogger. For the first four days of our connectivity, we were only able to view Hotmail, could not send via webmail or log in to online services, including Skype (well, it let us sign up for Skype and test drive, but wouldn't work again). We still are unable to connect to Gmail. Though Google.com works fine.

Q: How'd you fix it?
A: I'll let Dan explain it in a future post.

Q: Where have you been?
A: The Netherlands - from Arnhem, we wandered to Apeldoorn, Amsterdam and are presently in The Hague (Den Haag) - with a side-trip to Gouda that will be explained in a separate post.

Q: What have you been up to?
A: Lots! The summary version:

• Arnhem - before leaving, we visited the Kroller-Müller Museum, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park - it was a 10km bike ride each way - our first with the kids. The park has 1,700 free bikes for visitors to use - unfortunately, there are no bike locks to go along with it and our return ride home was sans one child seat. Megan was a trooper and sat side-saddle on the book rack of Dan's bike!
• Fantastic van Gogh exhibit - early to late works with too many other great artists to count. Sadly, we didn't have time to enjoy the sculpture gardens out back (they close at 4:30 and we didn't make it to the museum until around 2'ish).
  
• Apeldoorn - Paleis Het Loo & shopping - first purchase of cheese at a cheese-only market - mmmm smoked gouda. Life is good.
  
• Amsterdam - what can I say? For those of us who are uninitiated with Amsterdam, a coffee shop is NOT for drinking coffee and a cafe does NOT serve food (cafe = bar). We spent a few days wandering the city (avoided exposing the girls to the red light district, thank you!). The city is much more beautiful than I would have imagined, given the stereotypes associated with it.
  
• Took at tourist canal boat from central station to The Arteis Zoo and loved it. Nothing better than a zoo in the middle of a very busy city.
  
• Gouda - In Sherry's latest attempt to get Dan stuck in a small town, we tried to visit Gouda and camp at the "Klein Amerika" (Small America) parking lot in Gouda. I'll add the pictures at some point -you will plainly see it wasn't my best choice so far. Though their traffic control for the parking lot is cool - when the lot is full, it won't let the next person in until someone else leaves. Needless to say, after pulling in and holding up traffic to get out, we moved on to The Hague.
  
• The Hague - Once a day just isn't enough. We pulled up to the campground and I took the LONG walk in to the reception desk. Their pitches are max 10x10m. We're 10.5m long. They offer us a spot in the "back" where it's OK to overhang a bit. The grass looks deceptive when covering sand. Front wheels immediately immersed in sand and digging in in more with each attempt to get out. A novel combination of using the front jacks to lift the front tires off the ground and Sherry, in a skirt for the first time this trip, madly pushing sand under the tires led to the amusement of those camped around us (who didn't bother to offer assistance). To add insult to injury, there was a light pole directly behind the RV, enabling us to only move a few inches with each iteration of raising, shoveling, lowering, moving.... add to camping gear: Shovel, rake... and don't travel in a dress again.
  
• MC Escher exhibit - very fun for everyone. Sophia loved the virtual reality exhibit. Dan and I could easily have spent the entire day exploring the exhibit. Alas, the kids just don't hold out so long and we all needed food.
  
• Train trip to Gouda - had to go and visit this historic town after almost causing a traffic jam last Saturday. The town has a long history and is presently known for Gouda cheese and Gouda stained glass windows in St. John's Church- which is also the longest church in The Netherlands.
  

Q: Where to next?
A: Delft is next - home of the famous blue pottery.

Side Note: We have been able to use Windows Live Call through Verizon to make inexpensive calls back to the States through our laptops (e.g. 3-cents per minute vs. 4 Euro/minute on our pre-paid cell phone). Yay! We feel back in touch for the first time.

Before I post this, I have to point out a great article in The Seattle Times, "The World According to Rick Steves". It's an interview with Rick Steves, who presented a lecture on Politics of Travel on 13.September in Seattle. It's a good read with a few laughs to go alongside. Enjoy!