jmeandm

Mission Statement:

We decided to take the plunge in July of 2008. Quit our jobs and travel the world. Now fully addicted to the bum lifestyle we are exploiting every opportunity that comes along. Commit yourself to the now, never pass up opportunities and take make use of every advantage offered to you. It is never too late to start your life over, or just make a little change.

Recent Trips:

The Dutch Connection

04/08/2009 - 04/22/2009

We had been home for only a few days when our next adventure began. An opportunity arose for us to go to The Netherlands to visit Christine, Frank and Lucas. We hadn't even unpacked and we were off again. Adventure ho!

Current Adventure

Inca Jungle Trek

03/08/2009 - 03/11/2009

We took off on a four day and three night adventure to Machu Picchu. We set off from Cusco and drove up to the top of a high mountain pass. From there we spent the whole first day biking down 25 miles of distance and 7,000 feet of elevation. The second day we hiked all day to a hot spring. The third day we climbed around 2,500 feet up to a ridge line for our first glimpse of Mach Picchu before descending to the valley below. That afternoon we finished with a 45 minute train ride to Aguas Caliente at the base of Machu Picchu.

Finished

NYC Annie's Birthday

12/19/2008 - 12/22/2008

Jammie and I traveled to New York City for my sister's twenty-fifth birthday. We partied hardy in the city that never sleeps.

Finished

South American Tour

01/06/2009 - 03/25/2009

We have been planing this trip for close to 6 months now. After quitting our jobs at the beginning of July and starting our new lives as bums we began scheming our escape from the good old U.S. of A.

Finished

Recent Hijinx:

At Large in Amsterdam

We had one full day on our own in the city. We hit the bikes and headed out. First to a market, then a local coffeeshop before visiting the Van Gogh Museum. The special exhibit there was amazing. It was all about the effect of night and evening scenes on impressionistic painting. Obviously Starry Night was the focus of the exhibit, but what I found the most interesting was the obvious inflfuence of earlier painters on Van Gogh. The way they structured the exhibit was chronological so you could easily see the effect of early Millet on the work of Van Gogh.

Fortress City

While in Patagonia we meet a young man from the Dutch city of Naarden. He was quite funny and we kept running into him everywhere we went until the joke became that we were stalking him. On one occasion he showed us his city on Google Earth and we were blown away, he lives in a walled, moated fortress! Naarden at least the old part is built inside a walled area surrounded by two moats. Gidion's parents live in a house right in this part of Naarden.

Holland Bike Ride

The weather has been so good here that Jammie and I decided to take a bike ride around the area. Christine showed a few of her favorite routes, one takes you out to the dunes and the beach another heads north and then loops around through the green spaces so common in this country. No matter how densely populated the cities are the land use planing in The Netherlands has been focused on preservation of green spaces. Little farms and common areas dominate the country side.

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday we were slated for a family visit to Frank's parents' house. However they all thought that since we were in the area Jammie and I should check out the Hoge Veluwe National Park. At this park they have tons of biking trails and they even have racks upon racks of free bikes for you to use in the park.

Around Haarlem

On Saturday we went down to the big market in Haarlem. Along the way we picked up some frites complete with mayonnaise, mmmm, delicious. Pushing on we went to the liquor store. This place is awesome! So much liquor at reasonable prices. And the beer selection! One of the helpful employees showed us which of the local brews were most like IPAs. He helped us pick out four or five different brews to sample, we will definitely be back to this place several times!

Biography