Wide Open Spaces...

We like a good city trip every now and then.

Over here we visit Amsterdam once or twice a year.
Utrecht is great, Rotterdam too and since we moved, we 'discovered' Zwolle.
(not to forget Deventer, Zutphen, Kampen etc etc.)

Our current home Ommen is officially a city with city rights since 1248 but with a population of only 12.835 (give or take a few) it's not what you call a Metropole.

On our next trip we will visit much bigger cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

But our real passion over there are the vast wide open spaces, the beautiful mountain ranges, the impressive forests and ofcourse the National (and State) Parks.
During our trips we visited a lot of those parks and most of them are impossible to discribe other than saying; 'See for yourself'.

As a IT guy i like numbers and stats, so let me explain it in numbers.

If the Netherlands would be a US State, in size it would be number 42, between West Virginia and Maryland.

Looking at the population is a different story and the Dutchies would be number 5 just below New York and above Pennsylvania.

With a density of almost 1,100 people per square mile it would be number 3, just after DC and New Jersey.

A couple of years ago we visited Montana and Wyoming (density less than 8 living souls per sq mi) and in one word; 'WOW!'.

This year we will be touring Washington (The State, not the City), Oregon, (Northern) California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah and a small piece of Arizona.
All states with roads full of 'nothing' mile after mile. 

But the most beautiful 'nothing'. 

Perfect!