It has been a long time since the blog was updated, and I am lucky to have been travelling for much of that time...my journey started back in April, and unfortunately alone. I was taking two full months away from work mainly due to the fact that my brother's wedding fell in between 2 terms and I was reluctant to travel so far (half way around the world) for just a few weeks, and also because it has been so long since I had last seen any of my family. Nick however, was only able to take a month off, and that at a push.
So my trip started with a week in Colorado. The original idea had been to move some of our belongings from various places they had been stashed for the winter and also to visit friends and family and check on our condo in Crested Butte. The weather, however, had different plans for me and it became apparent with the first blast of winter I had seen in a year that I wasn't going to be attempting the drive up to the mountains...too bad. I would have liked to have seen people up there and seen how the condo had held up to another winter!!!
I spent time with the girls who were as fun as always. Domnique was suffering from the excitement and fatigue of prom, but still came by to say hi...
Rena was also in full flow when I saw her and was particularly fascinated with the spring rush of birds in her garden and the bird feeder that she had been given...many is the hour I could have spent sitting on the window seat with her and trying to entice the birds to come to us! Boy she is growing fast!!!
From Colorado I flew to London and then straight to Hull...I may have been gone for a long time but I still did well on the "so you think you're from Hull" quiz on FaceBook!!! Spent a few days getting used to being back and enjoying a traditional Sunday lunch before Nick arrived on the Sunday (and yes, I got him a Sunday lunch to go...) We tried the Whittington and Cat in the older part of town. It has (apparently) recently been taken over by the family who run Railway in New Ellerby. Their lunches are always wonderful so we decided to try it and were not disappointed - definitely a keeper on the Sunday lunch circuit for me!
Nick spent a day trying to overcome jet lag before we left for lovely Lyddington, near Uppingham in Rutland for the wedding. Nick and I had a look around Lincoln on the way down. Lincoln is a very quaint old town with a beautiful cathedral area on top of the hill. It can be seen for miles around from the plains and is well worth a stop. It was the third largest town in England in the 13th century according to Wikipedia. The cathedral must have been quite the sight back in those days as it soared up above the plains with commanding views of its lands. Unfortunately, the day we were there it was freezing and rained the whole time...we managed to cope by finding a nice warm pub for lunch that conveniently sold traditional pub lunches such as Cumberland sausage and mash potatoes...good old rib sticking food for those damp, miserable days spent sightseeing in drafty old buildings...I don't know how they managed back in the 1400s!!! I was just glad I had a pair of gloves in my rain coat, leftover from our Crested Butte back packing days!!!
From Lincoln we continued down to Rutland. The weather improved slightly but we were hoping for much better with the wedding only 3 days away! It was lovely to see everyone again, and the first night we managed to get us all into the dining room of the cottage we had rented for a family meal. The next day dawned bright and clear and we were even able to have breakfast in the garden.
We spent some time looking around Lyddington. It's a lovely village that used to be on the main London - Uppingham Rd and used to have it's own thriving community and market. The Bishop's Palace and the church date back to 1320 so the history is also very impressive.
Lovely, Lyddington: A quintessential English village
The view from our cottage.
We spent time relaxing before the wedding, (and catching up on jet lag!) and I even has a chance to catch up with an old college friend who now lives about 40 miles away. Lorraine came up to the next village to meet me for lunch and it was great catching up on the last 22 years!!! The weather was improving every day and we were excited when May Day dawned warm and clear. That is certainly not a given on May 1st in England! Here are some photos from the wedding... Congratulations Mr and Mrs Manchester!!!!
Stephen, Nick and Julie
Avril, Mum, Julie and (my Aunt) Ann
Next is me with Isabella and Joshua, Sarah's nephew by her sister, Karen.
Me, Mum and Dad in the Church
It's a done deal! With Mum outside the church after the wedding
And Steve and Sarah with Mum and Dad
With the bridesmaids: Karen (Sarah's sister), Melanie (Sarah's niece), Isabella and Libby (the daughters)
Dad, Mum and Mike relaxing at the reception
...After the wedding we left Steve and Sarah alone and had a few days out. At Foxton Locks we explored the "famous staircase lock flight" which was built in 1810. The locks enabled boats to climb up a 75ft hill. They were pretty amazing and we were able to see a number of narrow boats negotiating their way up and down them before we retired to the pub for some refreshments! The locks were originally built in 1810 and were the main means of transporting goods through the area. It must have bee
n quite the sight to see...it still is, though the narrow boats now are used purely for enjoyment.
At the owl exhibition, Bella surprised everyone by asking the guy in charge if she could hold one...and she never flinched when it sat on the big thick glove that was twice the size of her!
From the Rutland area we headed down to London and spent a few days with Leigh and Nigel.
As always, lots of fun, lots of eating and lots of drinking! A good time was had by all, and we even got into London for a day and did a tour of Tower Bridge. The exhibition informs you about the design for the Bridge and how long it took to get approval, and also the engineering and building of Tower Bridge. The views were great too - though not as good as the ones from The Eye.
I had never been in before and it was pretty interesting. I could spend weeks in London and still not do everything I wanted to do!
The Tower and Tower Bridge
Julie and Nick (and yes, you can almost see Tower Bridge)
From the Bridge we walked along the Embankment to drink in the famous London views. On cue, there always seems to be a red double decker passing in front of The Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of parliament!
The Barcelona fans were rocking out on the river, also enjoying the views and getting ready to take on Chelsea in the semi finals of the European Cup (Chelsea lost, much to Nigel's delight...).
And that started us thinking about the next part of our trip, due to start the next day...Mallorca. Yehah! Spain here we come!!!
We were lucky enough to go back to Kauai in the summer. The school I work at needed an extra pair of hands to drive and help out and Nick volunteered for the job...so he got paid, and I paid to go...and we had a blast. We were so excited to be going back to Kauai, and even more so with the prospect of a catamaran cruise along the Na Pali coast and snorkeling in a sheltered cove. Sign us up!!!
fish (I think the food they threw in helped!), swam along with a couple of turtles and saw seals on the beach. Pretty cool. After snorkeling was lunch - a great buffet with sandwiches, salad, dessert, and plenty of beer and wine. What a great day. I would recommend it to everyone - we had a blast...wouldn't want to be out there with 60 foot waves though, that's for sure!
