Otter tug-of-war

Flevoland is the newest dutch province, just north of Amsterdam. It's "new" because it only became a province in 1986 as a result of reclaimed land from the ocean via various projects that started in 1932. This created some interesting "natural" environments, and the area is known for a variety of birds & waterfowl that live or migrate through here. Our day was very windy so it wasn't great for birding, but we had a fun experience at the nature park. The park has a variety of animals in various natural settings, including some european otters (which we didn't see) and asiatic small-clawed otters (which we definitely saw). Some of our friends & family know that otters are Rochelle's favorite animal, likely due to their playfulness and their love of water (and shellfish). While looking at their area, some of the otters started coming toward the fence where we were standing. We put down our backpack, and Rich leaned over the fence to try to get closer pictures. Unfortunately, forgetting that the top of the fence was electrified was a big mistake and resulted in quite a shock (literally), but luckily the current isn't so great to stop the heart (at least this time).

But the otters kept coming our way, and before we knew it one stuck his little paw through the fence and grabbed the backpack strap. This quickly attracted another otter, then another, and before we knew it we had five little otters tugging at the straps of the backpack. We eventually pulled it away from them, but we'll never forget the little game of tug-of-war with the otters.

The weather started to clear up, so on our way back we stopped at another of Holland's castles, the Muiderslot. The current castle dates to the 1200-1300s. It's located in a quaint little sea town on the edge of the "bay" and made for a nice afternoon.