Our first backpackers

Why the visit? Fellow Oregonians Amy and Max spent over 3 weeks traveling around Europe ... and they swore that Amsterdam was #1 on their list of favorites. Amy spent the past 4 months living in Madrid teaching English to 3 kids.

What's the connection? Amy and I worked together at Chalkboard in Oregon. She started for a summer back in college nearly 4 years ago and somehow we convinced her to come back after graduation. She basically was an angel from heaven.

And Aaron's off and riding

Why the Visit? Aaron got to be the solo rep for the Pempel family while in town for Nike business. He shocked us all with his ability to hope off the plane, rally for dinner AND ride our bike to get there just like the locals. (photo as proof)

What's the Connection? Met Aaron and Kristen back in Portland, some of the first crew of friends to welcome me to the city while Geno was off at grad school. They're especially high on our list of cool kids since they also saw the benefit in getting married in Mexico ... their wedding goes down in the book of dream weddings.

Jackson Hole comes to Amsterdam

Why the visit? Alex and Macye were touring Europe and their last stop was Germany to visit the little town that Macye's grandmother "Oma" grew up in. "Oma" (now 80ish and living in USA) and her sister (she's like 90 years old) and other family from Germany all toured Amsterdam together - they walked everywhere - very impressive.

The Connection: Gene went to college (University of Richmond) with Alex and Macye ... who now live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (heaven to Gene). The four of us spent New Year's in SF back in '02 when we first started dating.