Packing for Nepal...

Packing for the trek to Everest Base Camp was incredibly stressful, trying to balance what I need versus want and yet still hit the low weight limit. Kent loaned me a 100-liter duffel bag so I could narrow down what would and wouldn’t fit for the trek. After practicing for days, the day of reckoning finally arrived on August 27, the night before departing for Kathmandu. 

To add to the stress, I panicked that my new backpack wouldn’t be allowed after finally checking the carry-on dimensions on Emirates’ website; luckily, I worried for nothing. I got my hair braided the morning of departure in anticipation of a lack of showers along our trek. After some hugs and tears (both girls would be gone upon my return―Veronica back to UEA and Ashlynn to Paris to attempt to model for Paris Fashion Week), I was picked up to head to the airport.

Above Ground...

After Carlin and I went to the Nepalese Consulate to get visas for the four of us, we took a long walk to the train station. Along the way, we walked through the Rijksmuseum gardens...

 ...and then saw this cool temporary sculpture in the Museumplein fountain by Dutch artist Joseph Klibansky called Self-Portrait of a Dreamer.

After lunch at Traffic, a humus boutique, we walked the long way around the Olympic Stadium to Amsterdam Zuid. Along the way we saw some cool houseboats...

...and an old-fashioned river cruise ship. Our next long walk would definitely be very different.

Below Ground...

Each of the new north-south metro stations in Amsterdam are completely different with specially commissioned artwork. Check out this giant marble corgy and cat.

Further down the wall was a bit more nonsensical with a snake, French horn, coffee pot and a bunch of other strange images.

Lots of the stations have crazy long escalators. This one at Rokin was particularly cool because in the middle is a display of some of the 700,000 archaeological objects found during the 16 years of construction.

Hash Birthday Cakes...

Although it was Veronica’s 21st birthday, she was relieved to learn that she was off the hook as Strobe My Balls had pre-arranged with Neptunus to make a birthday cake on his daughter Abby’s head.

Lucky for her, they went pretty easy on her...

...but not so lucky for Strobe as he got to take her place for the entire cake experience.

Abby especially got into cake making, which included flour, eggs, beer, syrup...

...and whipped cream.

Strobe was quite a mess...

...but his bald head was easy to clean up.

We stopped in Leiden on our way home for an Indian birthday dinner. We saw this chalk art in front of Leiden Centraal to remind folks to help keep the canals plastic-free.

Veronica 21st at Amsterdam’s Red Dress Hash...

For the second year in a row, Veronica’s birthday fell on a hashing day. Being the good parents that we are, we dragged her along. Not only was this a special birthday for her, but it was a special hash: a Red Dress Hash hared by her Daddy. Disappointingly, Ashlynn opted not to join us.

Opee chose to start near the new Noord Amsterdam metro station. Here you can spot Neptunus as he runs across the bridge to make a late entrance. Although Opee prefers to live lay trails, he prelaid this one so that he could run with us.

It was an excellent trail with a lot of new features, including this suspension bridge. Just in front of Veronica was Boar Whore wearing her old Year 9 dress again.

Clearly this bridge was designed for kids as we were all hunched over.

Even Opee was holding on with at least one hand.

I can’t imagine what the folks on the big cruise ship behind our crazy group thought of our antics.

When Give It a Blow posed between these running statues, we couldn’t resist repositioning his dress.

Reflections on our 13th Year - Part 2...

We are happy that once again our list of highs is much longer than our list of lows, which is also why it took me so much longer to post:

• Family Travel: Luxembourg - Jimmy was pleased to break 4 hours at 52 years old at his first nighttime marathon, Veronica was thrilled to complete her first half marathon and Ashlynn enjoyed the runner’s high, we all fell asleep at a movie at the contemporary art museum and became performance art ourselves; Madeira - family hike at the levadas for 25th wedding anniversary, swimming with dolphins (Ashlynn became a dolphin!), cooking on the rooftop, diving, stargazing and lunar eclipse; Lisbon - cool art, architecture and technology museum with climate change exhibit, street art, renovated factory complex, power plant museum
• Veronica/Ashlynn Travel: California - seeing Grandpa and Grandma, sleepover with Auntie Eden, hike and pizza night with Auntie Leigh and Uncle Mike, Grandpa performing at the San Jose Jazz Festival, exploring San Francisco, hip-hop dance class, brunch with the gals; London - meeting up with Ariana, seeing Phantom of the Opera
• Jimmy/Veronica Travel: London - Greenwich, seeing Book of Mormon, shuffleboard, mini-golf, London City Hash
• Melissa/Ashlynn Travel: England - uni tours at Southampton, Plymouth and Fallmouth, staying with Andrew and Sally in Bath, staying with Veronica in West London, Kew Gardens, successfully surprising Ashlynn when taking her to see The Lion King; Paris - very cool to visit Ashlynn while she was staying in Paris for a month, awesome light show at Paris’ first digital fine art museum; Athens - so much fun exploring Athens with Ashlynn while she was “on stay” for six weeks
• Jimmy/Melissa Travel: Belgium - another great Belgium Nash Hash Weekend, beerbuster costumes; Warsaw - Ola and Nick’s White Trash Fairytale Wedding from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., Jewish Ghetto Walking Tour, watching World Cup along the river; St. Tropez - Chris’ 60th birthday party, Kube Hotel pool, more World Cup; Lakes District - training hikes to Helvellyn and Scafell Pike for Melissa and fell running for Jimmy
• Jimmy Travel: US - seeing old friends and the VU Student Television Studios at Vanderbilt Reunion in Nashville, family time with Buddy, Debbie and Johnny, spending time in Manhattan with Peter; Athens - black tie event with posh guys and arm candy ladies, glad that Ashlynn got back from Cyprus in time to have lunch together; Berlin - amazing spa and modern art museum
• Melissa Travel: Brussels - fun weekend with hash friends going to museums, dancing on tables and hashing; Germany - visiting Melissa and Pieter, street fair, Hash-a-thon camping weekend, surviving 40K trail; Nepal - slow as hell but very proud of successfully trekking round trip to Everest Base Camp, fascinating cultural tour of Kathmandu 
• Veronica Travel: Cornwall - Eden Project and Lost Gardens of Heligan; Spain - field course in Almeria, visiting the greenhouses which helped shape interest in food security to concentrate on for her Master’s Degree; Scotland - surprising Lois for her birthday
• Ashlynn Travel: Lisbon - first solo trip, stayed in a hostel alone, Brunch Electronik, aquarium; Kavos - dancing, ocean, swimming, secret beach; Germany - MELT Festival were the four best days, swimming in the lake, Palms Trax’s sunrise set, DJ Boring B2B DJ Haus; Berlin - zoo, lovely time exploring with Sarah, Suicide Circus until 10:30 a.m.; Paris - sweet cocoon studio apartment, exploring on foot and bike, dinners with Tamar, movie night with Alyssa, separate visits of Melissa and Sophie, picnic on the Seine, dinner at apartment with most amazing view of Eiffel Tower; Netherlands - visiting Max in Groningen; Athens - souvlaki, DJ friends, nights out with Ace Models, fun shoots in a carpet store and a bar, hiking the hills, Melissa and Sophie visiting separately; Cyprus - first time flown and put up in a fancy hotel for a job, cool editorial shoot at a villa, going straight to the airport from a club; Norwich - visiting Veronica, LCR, Ultimate Frisbee training, cooking together
• Visitors: Melissa, Pieter and Norah visited several times before moving back to the US including joining us for several hashes and King’s Day in Amsterdam; it was great to get to show my sister Leigh and her husband Mike around Holland for the first time; it was also great to see Darlene and Mike back in The Hague for several days; taking Phil on our famous Rotterdam tour including the best secret bar
• Happy that Veronica was willing to don a red dress on her 21st birthday for AH3 Red Dress Hash that was hared by Jimmy
• Proud Parents: Ashlynn kicked-ass on her A-Level exams and is heading to Plymouth University in September 2019 
• Jimmy: “winning” a NATO Innovation Award and going to Berlin to “present” the solution, hosting several cocktail parties including one for Ashlynn, haring another successful hash at Schiphol, Bonfire Beach Festival, making a 360° Christmas video in Breda, ice skating on Amsterdam canals
• Melissa: starting separate photography Instagram account, Amsterdam Urban Run, training walks with Terri and Carlin, stepping down from AWC Board, carnival in Tilburg, being Religious Advisor for AH3 and FILTH hashes
• Veronica: Ultimate Frisbee tournaments and socials, bookstore walk in London, seeing Much Ado About Nothing at Globe Theatre, high tea with Pamela and Mandy, amazing support from my friends, boating in Leiden, volunteering at Big Bang Festival and Norwich Science Festival, discovering volunteer opportunities at Food Cycle, Cambridge Climate Hack (her team won!), silent disco at aquarium, being back with friends in Norwich, becoming Publicity Sec for Aye-Aye, meeting Andrew from The Great British Bake Off, making lots of soup
• Ashlynn: reading Margaret Atwood books and New Scientist magazine, getting first DJ deck, discovering underground music, graduation boat trip and ball, Super 6 MUN, ECO Committee and Earth Hour, celebrating New Year's Eve 2018 with friends in The Hague

Vegan Birthday Dinners...

After boating, we walked across town to an area we’d never been to before to go to Oproer Brouwerij, a vegan restaurant and microbrewery. 

The Japanese pancake was really delicious.

Afterwards, we walked back across town, grabbed another beer and caught the train home. It was a very relaxing and fun family celebration. 

A few nights later we had another awesome vegan dinner, this time at Spirit in Rotterdam to celebrate Veronica’s 21st birthday.

Afterwards we took Veronica to Dr. Rotterdam, our favorite cocktail bar, for the first time.