FUN MONDAY HOME EXCHANGE VACATIONS

Allison is hosting FUN MONDAY this week and we are suppose to tell about a fun vacation. Our funnest vacations have always been when we go with our children and grandchildren. New York, Vancouver, Hawaii, Washington D.C. My weeks in New York with my girlfriends is insanely fun. But our most unique vacations have been with my special travel companion- DH. We joined HomeLink in 1995 so I could afford to take my Mother to England and have exchanged about 20 times since then. It is the most wonderful way to travel. People have two very distinct reactions-- either they say "Oh, that sounds like so much fun", or they say, "Oh, I could never do that". Let me emphasise that we have NEVER had a bad experience. Neither have we had any problems with people staying in our home. True, we don't use our primary residence (we use our cabin because it is in a more desirable tourist area) but 98% of the people in the exchange program use their primary home. We have only stayed in one exchange that was a secondary home. You shop in neighborhood shops, experience new and different beds, kitchen appliances, neighbors and sometimes feed cats and rabbits (France). It is so fun. For more Fun Monday's visit : http://rdhmom.blogspot.com/

One of our favorite exchanges was in 2005 when we went to Holland

There are 19 windmills along this canal. It is the only place in Holland with that many in one place. As the story goes, there used to be over 11,000 windmills and when they updated to the new windmills they started tearing the old ones down. They are now protected but there are only about 900 left in all of Holland.

The winter before we went I finished my Grandfathers WW I history. One of the first things we did was drive into France and go to the exact field where he was fighting when he was wounded. We left at 5: a.m. and spent the entire day criss-crossing places he would have been. I'm certain at some time that day my path crossed his. It was very memorable to me.

This was the valley he fought in. And yes, we climbed 300 steps to take this photo.

Church in tiny town in the valley. Many of the buildings had bullet holes in them. Lots of bullet holes

Our Exchange Home was the second from the end on this Historic Street. 2 doors further and through a large archway was where the country of Holland was formed. The beautiful town was called Dordrecht. During the 3 weeks we were there, not once did I pronounce the name correctly.

This is the beautiful backyard.

This is the view of Dordrecht from the church tower--Yep, another 270 steps.

We rode bikes on cobblestone streets around the canals. It was a beautiful city.

Anne Frank House

I think Amsterdam might be one of my favorite big cities.

This is the most beautiful shopping bag from a gift shop I have ever seen. It was huge and had so many beautiful masterpieces protrayed on it.

A TULIP SUPERMARKET. YEEPEE

We wanted to visit a cheese factory and this is one of the few left that gives tours. A wonderful family owned and operated effort. A mother and father, son and wife with two small children and they do all the work. Plus raise 100 head of pigs. They work 365 days a year. I ask the son "when do you take a vacation" and he just smiled at me and said "why would I want a vacation, everything I love is here. My family and my work." If you ever get to Holland it would be worth your while to visit them: Jongenhoeve, Fam. deJong, Benedenberg 90, BERGAMBACHT, Nederland.