More Drenthe...

For a walk on our final full day in Drenthe, we found a smaller regional park, which seemed pretty basic compared to the national park. Kati was brave again, as seen by walking along these logs.

Here’s some more photos from our walk along the beach in front of our chalet...

...romantic love...

…and puppy love.
 

Photoshoot in Drenthe...

Brett brought along his large format camera, which took some time to set up for each shot.

I never saw the final photos as they were likely with a lot less clothing. 

On our drive back to the chalet, we saw signs for an egg vending machine and couldn’t resist checking it out. Clearly this must have been a factory farm, but since no chickens are allowed outside anywhere in the country due to bird flu, we didn’t feel too guilty. Brett usually eats three eggs per day, so bought two cartons.

 

Dwingelderveld National Park...

The following day, Veronica felt fine. We knew we should all be isolating, but decided that as long as we kept our distance from others, our little family bubble should be able to spend the day at a national park. Surprisingly, on both the drive there and drive back, we ended up behind an oversized vacation chalet being moved.

Lucky for us, the weather was great and the park was quite empty. 

The café was closed, so we could use one of their tables for lunch. 

We all enjoyed the scenery, which was quite diverse with forests, swamps and savannahs.

Kati usually avoids water, but perhaps acted differently because she was so excited to be on vacation.

 

An Unexpected Curve Ball...

Veronica and Brett brought some weights along so they could workout during our stay. 

This was Jimmy’s favorite spot to work as it was comfortable and had a great view. 

It wasn’t a big surprise that Veronica tested positive that day when self-testing for COVID as she’d already heard that the Narrator had been ill while performing on Sunday (clearly a case of the show must go on). We’d all been boosted, but our jabs hadn’t been designed for Omicron, the prevalent variant. We were able to book official tests for the three of us Dutch residents, but only Veronica tested positive. Luckily her symptoms were mild.

Rather than driving to the grocery store, Jimmy, Kati and I walked the three miles (five kilometers) to the nearest Albert Heijn, which we were surprised to discover had its own on-site café. It was nice and sunny while we sat on the terrace and enjoyed a local craft beer.

Someone had fun decorating the place.

We took a different route back, where we came across a chair for giants.

That afternoon we enjoyed the jacuzzi. 
 

Getaway in Drenthe...

On March 14, the day after the final panto performance, we packed up Terri’s car and drove three hours to the village of Erm, in Drenthe in the northeast. We stayed for four nights in a vacation park (a fancy name for a trailer park). I had chosen this particular lakefront two-bedroom chalet since it had a big fenced yard for Kati...

…and a large conservatory, which nearly doubled the living space...

...as the rest consisted of a compact kitchen, small living room with just enough space for the four of us to watch a movie, a bathroom and two bedrooms. 

Another draw was the large jacuzzi...

…with a great view.

This was the view directly in front of our chalet...

…and further down the beach. 

Here’s proof that I rode the zipline after Veronica and Brett.

There was zero wind, so lots of nice reflections.