Time's up.

The end. Our trip's over. Sad to be leaving such a beautiful country. Sad to be leaving a vacation. Sad that my time with Kari and Riley is winding down. But, with any trip, at the end, I guess I'm always prepared and so in some respects, I was ready to go.






We set our alarms early (8AM was early...especially since none of us really slept for some reason) and went straight down to the water. As with last night's sunset, why didn't we do this sooner?!?!?! It as so beautiful down there and no one else was around (to upset!). Later in the day we noticed that the wind picked up but at that point it was so still except for the occasional fishing boat going past. Riley got in a few jumps, I floated around a bit and Kari got in for a short while too.




We went up the 303 steps (we counted!) without a break at the pool and were pretty hungry for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of the bits and pieces left in the fridge and a final cup of the toffee cappuccino concoction Kari cleverly brought along. It was tough to go but it was time.




I budgeted 3 1/2 hours to drive to the airport, fill up with diesel, return the car, check in, security and customs. We had a bit of a cushion but it was actually pretty close. Of course once we got through immigration and upstairs to the zoo that was waiting there for us, I think we all wished we'd maybe cut it a bit closer to minimize the time we had to spend trapped in the departures hall with the MASS of people boarding international flights home...mostly, you guessed it, to Germany!




We should be home a bit after 4. It'll be a challenge to get to the Albert Heijn in time to get a proper stash of groceries, but we'll see. Tomorrow Kristen arrives and we'll have a week together in the Netherlands, finally! I have to work a couple of days but I'll try to make it up to her!




So that's the end of this part of the holiday. There are several parts though. Paris, Les Tilleuls, Croatia, The Hague and some more of the Netherlands, and hey, I'll include Houston too because other thatn work, it is pretty fun to go to Rice Village, the malls, etc. David and I are also talking about a trip to Austin on the weekend between work weeks too. So...it should be an enjoyable next three weeks.

UPDATE:


Since I've been away I've heard news that Sherrin got the job she applied for in Vienna and that Jocelyn finally(!!!) got her dissertation submitted. Wow! Those are both huge! Sherrin leaves at the end of October. With me gone u til mid-Sept and her getting everything ready, it doesn't leave much time. Still, I'm really happy that she gets ton stay in Europe. I know that was something she really wanted.