Next week we are off on our holiday!  It's pretty early in the year for us, as we usually head out during the summer or early Autumn.  The reason for the switch was because of the destination we chose, the Netherlands.  Known for a few things including legal drugs, prostitution, kickboxing, the Netherlands also is (don't laugh at me) known for it's tulips.  Yes...tulips, we are going to see the flowers.  I'm sure we will hit up a cafe or two in Amsterdam, and maybe take a look at the ladies in the red light district, but the main reason for this trip is to see the countryside and flowers. 

While searching through the internet trying to decide on where to go this year, we noticed photos of fields of tulips which would pop up while we looked at different areas in Europe.  We dug a bit further and realized we were looking at pictures of Amsterdam and the Netherlands.  Now I'm no gardener, although when I was a kid I grew some veggies in my mom's garden and some pot plants at my aunts house as a teen (I've got an interesting story about this I can tell in a later post).  However I am someone who does appreciate flowers, gardens, and the work that goes into them, so my interest was piqued.  Add in the cafes in Amsterdam, the architecture and canals, toss some places to train jiu-jitsu, the convenience of train travel to Belgium for a side trip and we have ourselves an adventure! 

Next Wednesday can't come soon enough.  This trip is also going to allow me to heal up hopefully.  I pulled a muscle in my calf and haven't been able to run hardly at all for the past 3 weeks.  Physically, this past year has been taxing.  My body hasn't felt right for a while and I've really been ready to get on the road and away from my normal routine for a bit.