Saturday, June 2, 2007

Big hearts & wooden shoes in Holland

Back on dry land we headed for Holland.  Yes, Holland is in America.  In fact, it is in Michigan ... and it is a beautiful city.  We had just missed the annual tulip festival, but even the remnants were something to remember.

We had never been to this part of the country, so we had no idea where to stay the night before our scheduled visit.  We stopped by the station to seek guidance.  What we got was a great hotel tip, and an evening of laughter & relaxation. 

It was a quiet night for the crew, so I think the diversion from the norm was welcomed.  All we can say for sure is that they were friendly, and sent us off for the night looking forward to the next day's visit back to their station.

We even got a ride in with them before we set out for some zzz's.  And -- BONUS! -- their finishing touch to our rig was a strobe light ... which you will see in use on a future stop!!!

We bid them goodnight, got some much needed sleep at a nice hotel per their recommendation (good call, guys!) then came back in the morning.  

The day shift had a different feel to it.  More reserved, but still a lot of fun!  We decided that the night shift guys were so bored by the time we got there, that anything would make them laugh.  And this is a morale campaign after all.

Day shift started out a bit quiet, but you could see them getting into it more and more, as our shared time went on.

We had to laugh at their antics when one of them posed Rookie in a precarious position, and got called on it.  So they gave him a nice bouquet of the remnant tulips and invited us up for the highest basket ride we've had yet ... 118 feet!  Rookie got a great view of the city, with the beautiful water all around before ... you guessed it ... over hewent!  Last view we had of him was as he hit the pad and the pretty pink petals floated down over him.  Hard to believe he auditioned for this job, huh?

We went inside, spread out the banner for more great messages to be added.  Met some of the city's men in blue, making sure to represent for the police side of the house.

As we were wrapping things up, sharing photos, and addresses for future references, they added something we had heard of, but not seen up close ... a for real wooden shoe  Even better, they signed it for us.  What a beautiful souvenir of our visit with some class act folks!

Would we come back?  You bet!  Thank you all for a great time!

lj & the road crew

 

lj & the road crew

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Looks like you're having a great time, Can I come next year?  I missed the pictures.
So who's all missing you at home family or anything? I figured you must be retired to take on a trip like this.  I sure couldn't get away for 6 weeks, wouldn't have a job when I got back !  Unless I had a really understanding boss.  Do you? ?
Tell us how you met Kathy & Kelly and how they fit in.  Saw Kathy's name on the front page but who's Kelly ?  I think it's so exciting to be on a trip like this.  I'd never be able to do it with my current situatiuon.

Take Care and have fun
Squeaky

Anonymous said...

what happened to the pictures from your stop at E 10 and Ladder 10? :0(