Netherlands

So I know it has been a long time since my last post, but I was on vacation for the past few weeks so give me a break. Holland was great and we got to visit a lot of places and see a lot of wonderful things.

Day 1: arrive in Amsterdam, meet with Eric "hooker" Hoeksema, see the sights and then go to Rotterdam and stay with my cousins Matt and Cara.
Day 2: Bike to Delft, visit churches and museum, bike home
Day 3 : Bike to the Hague, visit great museums, Bike home.
Day 4: Bike to Gouda, See cheese market and taste test, Bike to the Kinderdijk, Bike home(~55km)
Day 5: Take the train to Arnhem, visit national park, WWII operation Market Garden Museum, Celebrate Brenda birthday
Day 6: Bike around Rotterdam and visit market, see the Carnival festival, Dinner on the harbor.
Day 7: Bike to Delft for church but all are closed (who would have thought), Lunch and the leave for Paris, dinner in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Day 8: Visit the Louve, Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph, and a bunch of other stuff.
Day 9: Versailles and other sites around Paris
Day 10: train to Brussels and spend the day there, take the train back to Rotterdam and go to Matt and Cara's apartment (they are gone on vacation).
Day 11: Train and Biking to Katswijk, arrive at friends vacation home and go to the beach.
Day 12: Bike to Harlem and see Ten Boom House and church. Bike against a 25mph headwind 18 miles home.
Day 13: bike and take a train back to Rotterdam and visit market for lunch. Relax at home.
Day 14: Bike to Delft and go to the New Church (built around 1400's), Pannekoken for lunch (awesome), and them bike home and pack
Day 15: Fly Home

All in all a good trip.

Amsterdam (very cold and very rainy).
The "new" Church in Delft. Over 400 steps to the top of the tower.
Here is the view some of the way up the tower.

The Torture Museum in The Hague.
Beautiful Brenda with the happy cows Holland has to offer. No fences and green grass...what more would a cow want.

Stroopwaffel is the greatest invention and it needs to catch on in the U.S. Matt and Brenda are enjoying it. Brenda and Cara are sowing their muscles to the people watching.

Brenda and I at the Kinderdijk. 17 windmills in about 2 miles made for some great views.
Brenda getting ready for her birthday cake.

Awesome European standards of a porta-urinal. I really enjoyed this pee.
Brenda, me, Matt, and Cara in front of their apartment.

Brenda and I in front of the Gate to Delft. The city used to have gates all the way around and this was one of the only ways in and out.
We saw "rocky" while waiting in line at the Eiffel tower. He is very old.
The tower at night on the first day in Paris.

This is what I plan on doing to an elk during my hunting trip (Sept. 22-Oct. 1). Grab it by the horns and jab a knife in its neck...so manly.
The bored gargoyle on top of Notre Dame.
This guy in the flowered shirt we saw the day before and his stench was horrid. this day we actually smelt him before seeing him. He was not allowed close to the paintings for fear that the paint would peel off...really.

Belgian waffles in Belgium.
Brenda drinking "fountain" water.

Great signage all over. Here is a great example.
Brenda leaving the "hiding place". Great ministry tour and a must see.
Home sweet home.

Some of the Stroop we brought home (we ate the container of ice cream our last night there and man was it good).
Notice the sweet mullet.

10 things you can do to greatly increase your chance of not looking like a tourist in Europe.

1. get a ridiculous 80's mullet

2. wear capri pants on a man

3. get a fanny pack

4. carry a man purse/european handbag (not cool)

5. wear pointy uncomfortable shoes

6. have bad stinking BO

7. grow hairy pits (on a woman)

8. wear scarves just for the heck of it.

9. start smoking at age 12 in public

10. Wear bright neon colored polo shirts with odd designs.

Fishing and Bodie

So after the Reunion we went up to the mountains for some time away and fishing. We went to the same place I went to a few weeks ago with the guys, but now I brought the wife. She ended up being quite the good fisherwoman.
Here is Brenda bring'n in the first catch on the first day. Rock Creek lake is stocked with rainbows and we caught all planters, but they were a great time.

Here is Brenda displaying here catch that she later ate for dinner. You can't get more fresh than that.
Here is Brenda chilling out at the homestead. We actually stayed in a campground for a change (we usually go off of some old dirt road with the inevitable bearded gun yeilding redneck at the end). The temperature was great, but if you go 10miles down the hill the change was 30degrees (up to 103).
That is some fresh eating...and good to.

Our new camera takes some great pictures.
Brenda fishing on the upper Owens river above Crowley's lake.
The majestic Convict lake. I guess there was some sort of gunfight between convicts from Carson City here back in the 1880's. Only one guy from the posse died.

Wen stopped by the ghost town of Bodie on the way home. This town is near the Nevada border and is an old gold/silver mining town that in 1878 went from only 20 residents to over 10,000 in 1879. Now that is a boomtown. In 1879 Bodie was the third largest city in CA (tied with Sacramento) and now only has 3 year round residents which are California state park employees. The houses were left in many cases with almost all of the stuff in them and you can see them through the window. This is a must see for anyone going to the eastern Sierras. (they used to mine using mercury and Cyanide so it is also a toxic waste site in certain areas). Today there are about 70 buildings still standing, but that is only about 5% of the total back in the "golden years".

Your classic ghost town two holer. Brenda tried it out...no not really. One of the only two chrches the town had. I think this was quite the rough town back in the day because they had over 60 bars operating in 1879 and no Churches until years later.
Awesome graveyard. No family needs to bring flowers when you have these natural ones around.

Jim, Is this the front axle from on 1915 or 1916 model T.

PS:my family is from Freisland

I'm just carrying on an old, Family tradition

We just got back from our family (De Jong) reunion in Monterey. These are held every three years and a very good time. My great Grandfather, John De Jong, had nine kids and all of their families have been getting together to celebrate the generations of Christian parenting and faithfulness of God since the 70's. I have only been to a few since I lived away from the most of the family for years, but for Brenda this is a whole new experience.
Asilomar is a great venue and here is the view from our house (which was designed by the woman who designed the Hearst Castle).
As some of you may know Brenda and I have a slight family connection. Our great great grandparents are ...well...the same. I know that this may be weird to a large number of people, but when you are dutch and live in a dutch community that is the way it is. We found this great family history album at the reunion that traces the De Jong heritage back to the 1400's and yes has the common link in there. This was up for bidding at the family auction held at the end of the reunion and I figured we had to have it.
PS: we found in the book that the first husband of my great great grandmother on the De Jong side was her first cousin, so we are just carrying on the tradition.
Joke if you want, but we wanted to make sure the good looking and handsome De Jong traits would continue/increase in the next generation.

My brother showing his daughter the starfish.
My grandmother and her immediate family that could make it.
All of the cousins and second cousins (third cousins not present). I was glad that Brenda and I did not fit into the same family picture categories (cousins).

Joel (brother) Missy (his wife) and Brenda and I...and of course the lone cypress.
Grandma De Jong and Delaney (my niece).
The family auction which the proceeds go to the next reunion. We had over 130 people this time and are hoping for more in 2011.

Today we went to the aquarium and of course the kids loved it. We also had a great time.

Fly fishing the eastern sierras

So here is the post that you all have been waiting for. Last weekend I went with Randy and Zach Moon, Claudio Hunger, and Kevin Schenk to the eastern sierras on a fishing trip(the Rock Creek/Mammoth area specifically). We left on Saturday morning and were to the campsite by 1pm. By 4pm we were in the water fishing and having a great time. We found a few leaks in the waders, but had a great time. It was hailing and raining intermittently and a little thunder, but that did not stop us (we didn’t see lightning so we stayed out in the middle of the lake holding our rods in the air…exactly what you shouldn’t do in a thunderstorm).

The next day we went hiking out of the mosquito flat trailhead (later we came to find out it was aptly named). We hiked to some lakes and fished our way back to the trailhead. Most of us did not do all that great, but Kevin came up the big winner and had about 12 that day. Later that afternoon we went to the lake again and fished (this came to be a daily routine right before dinner and we all enjoyed it).

Here is a picture of me and the pile of wood Kevin and I got to keep us warm at night. I am doing the "Rit", a pose for pictures popularized by Joel Rietema in or around 2000 and continues to this day.
I got a nail in my tire at work on Friday. this was a slow leak and I am glad that trucks have full size spare tires. It may look like Kevin is helping here, but it is just a pose.
Zach and Randy on the first day of fishing on Rock Creek Lake.
Claudio with this first fish ever. He actually caught a swivel that had about a 3' leader then a hook and a fish at the end of it. I guess someone caught the fish and their line broke and then Claudio caught the line. Beginners luck I would say.

My attempt at an artistic shot.
Awesome...I think so.

The typical sierra scene of mountains behind a lake.

Monday we went to the fish hatchery to check it out and of course it was cool, and then we headed to the Hot Creek area. This is a native trout stream where it is fly fishing only. This being said it was cool, but of course way overfished. California is one of those places that has way to many people and every fishing spot is obviously overfished. This is why the hatchery is so important, to give everyone a chance at catching a fish.




Fishing at its best. PBR has the same recipe since 1844...why mess with a good thing.
Zach tying on another fly.
Crossing a stream to fish on the other side of Long Lake.

Randy fishing on the Owens river. This was a picture perfect river and had there not been so much smoke in the air the mountains would be alot clearer.
The Hot Creek hot springs just downriver from where we were fishing.

A fire lookout just inside of Yosemite. There was a fire nearby so the visibility was about a mile or less.
one of our campground neighbors smoked some of the trout they caught and gave us some. It was great and the perfect snack.