Hanover & Keukenhof!

Alright, this may turn into two posts. There is so much to say, what a weekend!

On Saturday, Ray and I drove up to Hanover for the 20th annual Hanover Spielt (spielt=games in German). You may ask: "Why Kailin? Why did you drive 4 and a half hours to a gaming conference?" Well, I'll tell you.

Because Ray has started his own game review website and is working on developing many of his own board games! We are crazy excited about this, and Hanover Spielt was an excellent way to get the word out about his website, and give Ray an opportunity to talk to others who designed and produced their own games.

See? Here we are wearing our snazzy homemade T-shirts that rocketed Ray's popularity at Spielt. Seriously, a random girl walked up and said she'd been waiting for the opportunity to shake his hand. Then she blushed like mad and ran off.

 You should all go check out Ray's website right now!
Go to: rayreviewsgames.com

Well, did you go? Did you love it? If you didn't go to it, seriously, go now. I can wait. It's cool. 

Okay, wasn't that great?! He's so funny, and yes it's true, I did kick his trash at that board game we played. (ha! I got all you people who didn't go read it! Now you wish you'd gone when I first told you, huh?)

Anyway, after Spielt, we spent the night in Hanover and slept a good 10+ hours. A long drive and a day of gaming can be exhausting. When we woke up in the morning, a thought occurred to me... 

"You know Ray, the Tulip Festival is going on right now, and Keukenhof is only four hours away. Want to go to The Netherlands today?"

"Yeah. Okay, let's go!"

So we did. We quickly got ready and hopped in our rental car armed with print out directions from Google Maps to Keukenhof Gardens and then from there to home. Our GPS only had maps of Germany and this diversion was taking us to Holland (obviously) and then home through Belgium. So we went old school, and didn't get lost once. Go us. 

We arrived in Amsterdam about 2:00 in the afternoon, and were at the gardens shortly thereafter. We spent the next 4 hours roaming the gorgeous landscape and taking in the amazing smells & sights of thousands of flowers. It's been a long winter so some of the tulips still hadn't bloomed, but fortunately they stagger the planting periods so no matter when you go, something will always be blooming brightly. 

Really the best thing I can do now, is just be quiet and show you the pictures. : )

Here's Ray, dutifully driving us into The Netherlands.

and then peacefully enjoying a quick rest in the gardens.

Crazy bridge! The gardens are full of people's fun and interesting outdoor designs.

I loved these flowers, I wish I'd known about them for our wedding.

"Desktop worthy"  -Ray

Ray's favorite tulips: "Big Smiles"

Gigantor tulips

We're in Holland!

I can't decide which was better: the smell of the flowers, or the smell of fresh, Dutch waffles.

The best may have just been this moment. Life Goal: check!

Ray kept trying to sing the "Alice in Wonderland" song about the flowers, but neither of us could remember it.

It was wonderful. One of my most favorite trips ever.

I loved the spontaneity of it.

I loved that we saved money (as opposed to an organized tour from Germany)

I loved how beautiful a day it was.

I loved that I was with Ray the entire weekend, just having fun.

At the gardens we bought a sampler pack of Dutch Cheeses so we could really get the full Netherlands experience. We enjoyed sharing them and refining our cheese connoisseur voices...

 Well, I prefer the Edam purr-sonally... 

Seriously though, Gouda's my favorite. (name that movie!)

I will save the rest of our driving home adventure for the next post. But trust me, it's a doozy. Have a great day! And go check out Ray's website!