Amsterdam Stopover and the "Lake I Left Behind"

Between May and October I "work" here on this alpine lake pictured.  Lake Diablo (1200' above sea level) lies inside Ross Lake Recreation Area in the world famous North Cascades National Park of Washington State, USA.  My position is "Passenger Tugboat Operator" for the hydro dams of Seattle City Light which means that I hold a captains license to be able to transport paying customers on the lake and am also responsible for dam worker crew transport and truck/equipment movement via tug/barge on the lake.  This City of Seattle job is one of the rare (coveted) boat captain jobs that fits a 8-5 work schedule and allows to be home every night and have weekends off (in theory).  It is in a remote location however; can be described as 2.5 - 3 hours drive from anywhere/everywhere.  The nearest groceries are 40 miles down valley.
The majority of the summer showed clear days as pictured above but I am including some shots from October to show the lakes other beautiful looks.

The photos shown plus more can be seen and downloaded here at this dropbox ARC 2017 Photos

My flight from Seattle to Reykjavik was long (7.5hrs) and started out with the tease of an entire row to myself.  After being violently shaken awake the two travelers in my row begrudgingly retook their assigned seats and I resumed my neck-ache siting/sleeping cycle. 

The one hour layover in Iceland was extended and extended as blamed on "technical" whatever ; grumbling was heard from travelers that frequent this route that Iceland Air is consistently late.  Landing in Amsterdam well into my 2.5 hour layover there and waiting an additional 45 minutes at the baggage carousel meant I missed my Las Palmas connection.  I would be spending the night in Amsterdam and getting the next available flight out the following day. 

A self-inflicted 10 mile walking tour begins in this ancient city.  A smartphone does not do justice to this city's excellent architecture and historical landmarks, but after a long day and night of travel I was unwilling to carry a camera on my back or in my hands.

If I wasn't in a pub drinking cold Pilsner that the Dutch do so well I was out walking the Blvd, streets, alleys, cobblestone canal walkways of Amsterdam for a full 7 hours. The best parts were; the canals - as I read in a travel blog about Amsterdam "they're cliché for a reason", "window shopping " in the red-light district, thousands of pubs, walking streets with beer, burgers in this city are taken very seriously.

My flight to Las Palmas is boarding.  Ciao!