Eastern Europe Planning...

Our summer trip is coming together, piece by piece, stop by stop... But still in rough-draft form :-)

How it all started:  I decided to, on a whim, call Alaska Airlines last summer (!) to see if there were any way to get 4 mileage tickets to Europe in July.  The ONLY possible way for us to get from Kodiak to Europe was to fly into and out of Amsterdam- with three weeks on the ground.  Of course I said yes, since tickets to Europe from Kodiak have been $1500-2000 per person the last few times I'd checked.  But we weren't really interested in Amsterdam (after looking at the cost of housing there) and where we REALLY wanted to go was Hvar, Croatia for a week-long spell of relaxing on the beach with my college friends Ana (whose family has a house there but works in Sarajevo), Naomi (my flatmate in Scotland and who lives in Edinburgh now with hubby Bojon, also a friend from St. Andrews, and their baby Nadja), and Terri (also a flatmate in St. Andrews- who now actually WORKS as an art historian in LA).

So we started running scenarios:  Taking trains everywhere and going through the Champagne region of France on the way to Croatia, flying to Croatia and spending the entire three weeks in the Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia region, traveling to Northern Europe and flying to Croatia and back, and finally we decided that the part of Europe that none of us had really experienced was Eastern Europe and rather than piecing together flight and trains and hauling bags everywhere, we'd just lease another car and drive from Amsterdam to Croatia and back.  Going the 'eastern route' from eastern Germany through Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Bosnia only entailed 20-some hours of driving and with two weeks in which to get from Amsterdam to Croatia and back again, it seemed doable.  So...  We got started running numbers on the driving website Viamichelin.com which allowed us to plan driving routes and we looked for stops between 2-3 hours away from each other, and let fate lead us to our stops:

Musicians of Bremen sculpture

Peugot 308- our home for three weeks.  Only about $1400 to lease a brand new car for the entire three weeks!  No fault, zero deductible insurance- awesome!

-Amsterdam first, but after looking at the cost of hotels, only one night.  Then:
-Bremen, Germany- Bella and I had read the Musicians of Bremen story and she really wanted to see the sculpture.  It ended up being a 3.5 hour drive from Amsterdam, so... there we go... AND it also ended up that there are rumors of Alutiiq kayaks in Bremen! Kismet.  Then:
-Ahrensburg, Germany for a few days to stay with some of Sven's colleagues there and to rest up for the big drive.  Then:
-Prague!
-Budapest, Hungary
-Pecs, Hungary
-Sarajevo to stay with Ana
-Mostar, Bosnia to see the historic East/ West town with the 500-year old (restored as it was destroyed in the war) Turkish bridge.

Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina

-Ferry to Hvar to relax on the beach for a week.  With four days to get back to Amsterdam we'll split up the return drive into 4 hour chunks:
-Split, Croatia to Zagreb, Croatia
-Zagreb to Linz, Austria
-Linz, Austria to Frankfurt, Germany and finally:
-Frankfurt to Amsterdam!

This is what our life looks like (and although it doesn't look like it, it took a HECK of a lot of work!):

Girl Scout Camp

 Girl Scout Camp 2012- Wow!  What a great camp!  I'll admit, I've been a bit dubious about girl scouts the last couple of years.  My experience with girl scouting was almost zero- girl wearing green, selling cookies and tying knots.  That's just about all I knew.  But when my friend Ani started a troop a few years back I signed up Eilidh and she had gobs of fun.  But still I didn't fully grasp the concept.  Until girl scout camp, that is.  As a co-leader I was fortunate enough to attend this two-night, three day camp on Woody Island.  My experience with large camps of kids usually entail bad food, bad weather, wet stinky socks and lots of down time in which to get into trouble (the kids, that is).  What THIS camp was: the opposite.  The weather was wonderful, the camp was superbly organized by Deb and her high school girls, and the camp was entirely run by sweet, enthusiastic and competent high school girls!  Under Deb's steering, the girls: cooked, ran canoeing expeditions, ran archery activities, fire-making, first-aid training, songs, skits and an egg drop competition.  The vision of these girls cheerfully leading 30-some girls under 15 was astounding.  And now I get this whole girl scout thing.  Confidence, service to one's community, and more confidence.

A couple of our favorite things:
-Meals: at times sit-down with hoppers who were the ones to get up and fill up serving bowls, at times scavenger  hunts to find the ingredients... with the focus on being thoughtful about how much food to put on one's plate so nothing is wasted.
-Fish was in town for only two days between two week-long trips.  Those two days happened to be the two days all of us girls were at camp!  So.... he kayaked out with his carving tools and sat on the beach all day making clam-shell spoons with a bunch of girls.  Of course.  We were all thrilled!  We made it back to Kodiak with just enough time to go out to dinner and take him to the airport.
-Canoing and kayaking- under the guidance of Jim Willis and the high school girls, the little ladies got daily experience in canoes and kayaks.  Both Eildih and Bella were out by themselves in their own kayaks!  Wow!
-Camp Woody- its been a few years since I visited and I forgot how amazing it is out there... the cabins are wonderful.  There are toilets!  The flag pole and fire pit area is welcoming and central- the lake is close- the beach is close- the view is astounding- the machine with which to wash dishes is speedy and fun- and the history of the island (ice-making location, orphanage, communications station, military installation and anchor to one side of the submarine net during WWII).  Super cool....

Not a clue what is happening in this photo, but it looks fun, and the arts and crafts building is shown in the background...

Bella being used as an example of a 'good prepared for anything' girl scout.

Cabin mates Krista and Eilidh

Demonstrating how to choose a handle for one's clam shell spoon.

Bella kayaking!

Making the egg drop contraption

Preparing for the egg drop...

Leaving...