From Vaassen, With Love

Actually, this is from the airport in Boston.  I took a bunch of pictures as I was pretty bored already and Dad was checking his email with the scarcely funtioning public wifi.

THESE are from Vaassen!  This is around 5 in the afternoon when we went for a walk so we wouldn't fall asleep, since neither of us had slept well on the planes.  Can you tell?  We are a little paler, less enthusiastic with moving the muscles of our faces?

Daddy took pictures of thatched roofs and turn-buckle-devices to keep fence wires tight.  I philosophized about traveling and feeling like a drifter.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  Sometimes I feel like I don't belong anywhere, like no place I've been is the place for me to stay.
Dad:  Will you look at that roof.  Interesting thatch.
Me:  And I like being in some places, but sometimes no place feels right.  Have you ever felt like that?
Dad:  I didn't like NYC much.  Check out this fence:  this thing keeps the wires tight.  Brilliant.

Sometimes that is just how we communicate.  Also, Dad wanted me to include these pictures, so I'll humor him:

thatch

winch

After a good night of sleep (practically 12 hours), we went for a HUGE long bike ride down to Apeldoorn.  I showed Dad the Paleis Het Loo and my old school, Veluws College, and the pedestrian city center.  I bought him a kroket, delicious delicious things that they are.  We fed my leftover airplane brownie to some ducks as Oranjepark.  Then we biked all the way back.

When we got back, Dad laid himself down on the carpet and promptly fell asleep.

It was a good time but it was kind of strange for me.  We biked down a street that I had "discovered" all by myself when I was just learning what independence meant.  It took us five minutes.  We stood in front of my school where I spent Monday through Friday every week for a year.  We looked at it for a grand total of 75 seconds ("Look at all the bikes!") and then moved on.  We sat in a park where I once took last minute photos for my photography class and where I liked to read after school before I had to head home.  And I kept thinking to myself, "This is kind of boring.  What more can we do?  What else can I show him?"   

I've known for a long time that you can't go back in time.  But sometimes it hits you again, you know?  The past, even the good bits, is gone.  I can't share it with anyone.  The present, on the other hand, I CAN share, and I have.  :)  With my daddy.  :) 

Here are some more pictures (and a video) of a good day already gone.  See afterwards for a paragraph from Daddy!

me and a shed with a vine tree growing off it. coolest thing.

Oranjepark

Paleis Het Loo

walking the bikes for a bit

i'm amazed i didn't crash taking this picture

♥

Daddy writes:

Today was the first day that I rode a bike since I was a young father, back when my children were small. It is much different from biking at home, we have hills and no bike lanes or trails. You never forget how to ride but your body muscles do not remember and they complain when forced to take on the task. I was amazed with how well the bikes and cars co-exist on the highways in Holland. As we went to Apeldoorn, part of the ride was on separate bike lanes, paved by the way, with signage too. When in the town, the bike lanes were right alongside of the car lanes; bike lanes in red. When cars approached they would move over if needed and cyclist would also move over. The styles of bikes are much different than in the states, much more practical and made for everyday use, not racing or off-roading. There were bikes designed to have a large wheelbarrow type of basket pushed on the ground in front of it with bicyclist behind; we saw a mom with two children inside the basket peddling away, like it was nothing to it; people here must have calves of steel! My calves on the other had were in full rebellion, and crying for release. But I made the journey anyway being a stubborn Dutchman and all! And Alexandra and I had a wonderful time, riding the wonderful bike trails of Holland in the light rain and chill.