DAY 2: Let's RIDEEEEEE

 DAY 2: LET'S RIDEEEE!!! We waved a sweet "Tot ziens!" to Medemblik and a "burrr" chilly 48 degrees, and hopped on the bus to take us back to our waiting bikes in Schoorl where we ended our ride on Day 1. Though the sky was drizzly and gray, our biking group were all smiles and chatter and ready to pedal our way through whatever the day held. Ohhhh....if only we knew the adventures (and maybe a few comical struggles!) that Day 2 had quietly waiting for us.

Rain geer on and smiles on our faces, we slid into the village of Burgerbrug's where we found the most beautiful (muddy) roadside flower market waiting for us. It was less "stop and smell the tulips” and more "dodge the raindrops while gawking at the tulips" but seriously, they had the coolest tulips, many named after snacks and rock stars – like the "Popcorn Tulip”, the "Janis Joplin Tulip" the Pizza Tulip.....it went on and on!

The sky FINALLY took a break from raining as we huddled together for a group photo!

We continued riding past tulip field after tulip field until we arrived in St. Maartensvlotbrug where we had a scheduled combination snack/lunch/much-needed-bathroom break at a cool cafe where we ordered MORE Dutch Apple Pie and a stiff hot coffee and enjoyed hunkering down in a warm building for a few minutes as we dried off.

Our next stop was a short 8 miles up the road to a place called Anna Paulowna. There, we were told, we would find a miniture version of one of the largest bulb gardens in the world!!

And this is when the ride took a sharp turn… straight into disaster.

We were a couple miles from Anna Paulowna, when we found ourselves on this magnificent tree-covered road. Truly...this is the kind of road Liz is known for pulling over and taking no less than 50 pictures of in East Texas. Turns out, I'm not the only one who does things like that. One of the girls had a great idea to video the crew riding through this tree-covered masterpiece. She raced ahead to get her camera ready to video when....BAM....she took a hard fall on the bike and broke her arm. An ambulance was called and she was hauled off to the hospital. She’s fine....but has a serious break in her sweet arm.

We then continued our journey towards the town of Anna Paulowna (named after a Dutch Queen Anna from Russia, wife to King William II of the Netherlands....just in case you were wondering). We arrived in Anna Paulowna about the time the sun started coming out and behaving as we toured the Gardens of Poldertuin. WOW. The sun, the tulips, the cute town and did I mention, the SUN.....all brought our spirits WAY up!

We were still rehashing the "broken arm" accident when, in a moment of pure poor timing, one of our cyclists demonstrated a truly innovative (and terrifying) method of navigation. A casual glance to the "left" somehow translated to a sharp veer to the "right," and wouldn't you know it, a murky Dutch canal was conveniently located stage right waiting for her. The "SPLASH" instantly silenced our broken arm commentary as we pulled both the cyclist and bike out of the nasty canal....

We finally all made it back to the boat safely to a warm dinner waiting for us and a quick exit to the next days destination as we set sail....and our guide took a much needed Zanax (kidding...I think).

Day 2, I assure you, will forever be a day we will never forget.