A Weekend in Hasselt, Belgium

We caught a ride with Lisa to Hasselt, Belgium for Belgium Nash Hash. Before checking into the hostel, we toured the Jenever Museum. 

Jimmy was excited that they were selling old mini beer glasses at the bar in the museum, where we all tried a shot of jenever.

That evening there was a walking pub crawl around town, where we saw this strange mural...

...and these cool neon signs.

Rings Beside the Sea...

The following day, Terri and I walked from the AWC Clubhouse in the Statekwartier to Scheveningen Beach where we came across these giant Rings Beside the Sea. It took 2 weeks to build the 20 giant 500-foot (150 meters) by 1,000-foot (300 meters) rings representing 200 years of beach culture in Scheveningen. 

Terri didn’t hesitate to climb up, so I followed.

After lunch, we climbed some stairs, asked someone to take our photo...

 ...and saw some of the remnants of the WWII bunkers that were part of the Atlantic Wall.

While walking through Scheveningen on the way back to the AWC, we passed by these cute murals on the side of a building.

Training Begins...

In late November, Kent proposed another one of this wild ideas: trekking in the Himalayas to Everest Base Camp. Even wilder is that I agreed to go along with him and Carlin. Between the training and the 2.5 week trip to Nepal in late August, Jimmy couldn’t commit the time to joining us as he’s trying to start a business. I was thrilled when Terri accepted my invitation to join us. In early April we finally started our training with just us girls on this walk from Wassenaar Beach to Katwijk. 

As always, Kati enjoyed running through the dunes...

...and to the beach. 

We added a few up and downs to the beach in an attempt to get a little hill training.

I felt really bad that I forgot to bring any dog treats along, but Kati was one happy dog when Carlin and I ordered ham and cheese sandwiches and told the waiter to hold the ham to give to Kati. 

Cleaning Day...

With a promise to take us sailing again, Austin and Hannah recruited us to help them prepare their boat for the new sailing season. While Jimmy helped with sails and electronics, I spent the first part of the day swabbing the decks and scrubbing the interior.

The boat had actually been shifted by some heavy winds, so Austin asked the harbormaster to help straighten the boat, which they did using a giant strap attached to a crane to shift the boat.

Once it was in position, I started working on my next and much harder task: scrubbing the gunk off the sides of the boat. I sure regretted not wearing gloves after my hands turned so black that it took a lot of scrubbing to get them clean as well. 

Dixie was very relaxed...

...and Hannah was very pregnant.

Easter Sunday...

 We had a relaxing Easter. Veronica enjoyed taking photos of Norah...

 ...as well as playing with her.

Ashlynn was especially thrilled that Andrew came over for dinner with his parents.

From Schiphol to Amsterdam...

Once we exited the airport, we had a long way to go to get around the runways and exit Schiphol’s property.

Eventually the trail led us into Amsterdamse Bos, a large wooded park, where someone got overly ambitious marking this check.

Opee’s trail eventually ended in a parking lot at the edge of the woods, which meant it was time for some beer and munchies.

It might be hard to tell, but Veronica and Norah were matching in Amsterdam hash gear.

The second trail was set by No Leeway of Wageningen H3, starting at the parking lot and ending at Slippery’s house in Amsterdam. After a break of beer and soup, we set off on our third and final trail set by Strobe My Balls for the FILTH H3.

The final trail was totally urban and ended near Amsterdam Centraal running a total of 21K, which was a distance record for me.

Hashing in an Airport...

After dropping off our bags in Start Me Up’s car, we were given a sheet with pictures of spots that we needed to locate throughout the airport.

Our treasure hunt paid off with Opee waiting for us with a drink at several of the spots.

After we finished this drink, we needed to solve a puzzle to figure out the next stop.

He clearly discovered a security breach at the airport when he got away with hiding a bag in a compartment of this old plane in one of the stores. Although I couldn’t believe that he’d taken a risk like that, I still enjoyed the jello shots that he had hidden. 

 

Our final stop was at the Hello Good-bye Bar where an employee gave us a note to say that our treasure hunt was over.