I just returned from a seven-day bike ride through the Netherlands. My desire to visit there came 10 years ago when I met with Daryl and Hank Hoole. Hank and Daryl both have Dutch ancestry, and they shared with me their love of the Netherlands.
When Hank was just 17 he left Amsterdam and came to the USA in search of a new life. He married Daryl and they were soon on their way to creating an incredible life in Utah. The two of them were able to return to their native land when Hank served as a mission president, so they were able to spend three years of their adulthood there and remembered it well.
They shared with me their amazing experience of trips through the tulip fields in the spring. I learned that this small country is one of the flower capitals of the world. I fantasized about going to see the tulips and the windmills, but life intervened as it often does.
I forgot about my dream of going to see the tulips until I traveled through the Amsterdam Airport a year ago on the way to Africa and saw all of the tulips for sale. Those tulips jogged my memory. I remembered my dream and decided to create a trip to see the tulip fields. Hank and Daryl had told me that most of the people who live in the Netherlands travel around on bicycles, and I thought that would be a marvelous way to see the country.
I put together a bicycle trip, and that was exactly what we did. Nine of us hardy souls gathered on May 1 to take the first direct flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam. With my eight special friends on our bikes we descended into the magic world of tulips, cheese, windmills and wooden shoes.
The following photos were taken for our tulip adventure in the Netherlands in May.
We rode 200 miles in seven days. When you travel near the ground you see much more of a country and its people. I enjoyed learning and experiencing more about this amazing people and country. I am home and wanting to go back.
