Travelogue U.K. Trip 2005
August is the month I think of as vacation month. We had originally planned to do a driving vacation along the Coast of California. It was not to be. Patrick had a months worth of swim meets. John had some work stuff to do in Yuma, AZ. We cancelled that trip. We just could not fit it into the schedule. Stubborn, that I am I wanted vacation!
I started to look at what we might do the early part of September, before school started for Patrick. I looked at traveling back to the U.K. and or to Ireland.
Last year’s two week tour just wasn’t enough for us. As I searched for airfare I found the costs again high for September. I searched later into October. Consulted Patrick’s school about having him miss a week during October. It seemed that there was not a reason why we could not travel during October
. John and I debated the best entry point for our adventure flying into London, Shannon, Dublin or Glasgow. I found tickets into Glasgow, Scotland at a reasonable price for all 4 of us through USAir I purchased our tickets.
I searched the various hard drives on the computers for last years Excel file containing the “List”. My method of organizing various confirmation numbers, maintaining a timeline, a running inventory of personal possessions needed for travel.
That done we talked about taking a ferry to Ireland, if not that what if we were to take the train to the spots we wanted to look at in depth. I made inquiries to Brit Rail and Avis. I found that the rail passes for the four of us was about a $100.00 less than the rental car would be. I decided that the rental car would better suit our needs. We travel with a large number of “things” we must have. The rental car also allows us to determine our own time line verses that of the rail lines. I expect that some day we will do a rail tour through the U.K.
September arrived as expected. Patrick returned to school. John traveled to Scottsboro, Alabama mid-September. The plotting, planning, discussion all seemed to take a rest during the better portion of September. I think both of us got a mild case of cold feet about this trip. As the month of September closed out we had more decisions to make about this trip. Those decisions focused on what were we to do while there and how best to arrange for places to stay.
John, Patrick and myself all had a wish list. This helped to flesh out a time line, narrowed down the locations we were to travel to. As well gave me a reference point to arrange for lodging. I made some inquiries of places we had stayed last year, other on line listings for places to stay, etc. I ultimately decided to use www.travelodge.co.uk. They had locations convenient to the places on our wish lists, the costs were about half of what we paid last year. I hoped that once we arrived they’d meet our immediate need of shelter.
The planning for this trip was done. This trip I decided to buy British Pounds here at home. That gave us traveling cash in case the credit cards did not notate the account properly. That happened last year. I spent weeks making sure all the things we needed were in place. Only to have my great effort denied!! The credit card company placed a hold on our card even after we called them to tell them we were traveling. When John phoned them this time advising them of our trip they told him they would notate the account yet that they could not guarantee that they would not place a hold on the card. Well thank YOU very much! Needless to say I have canceled the card. Enough of that rabbit trail. I buy us 1000 British Pounds. I like the security of having the currency with us.
There was ease, to planning this trip that last years trip did not have. Having done it once for a longer time frame gave me confidence. I did have some misgivings. Traveling with Shannon to the grocery store often makes me tired in just the thinking. Traveling to for over 10 hours gave me cold shivers. Shannon has three-year-old meltdowns, normal yet not desirable. With the tickets purchased, the rooms secured, the rental car arranged for, the commitment made, we so gone!
Getting gone is a daylong project. Wednesday IS all part of the vacation. On Wednesday October 5, 2005 we picked up from Avis Rental cars a Chevy Malibu. I finish washing the laundry; as well I make a picture book for Shannon. New luggage tags I print out contact information for the pet sitter. Take Patrick to swim practice, a dozen or so last minute things that all need attention. Finalize the packing of the checked and carry on bags. Remember telling Patrick to get to bed this was around 11:30PM. Shannon would sleep when I did. I found my way to bed about 12:30AM.
Thursday October 6, 2005 finds Patrick up and showering about 5:00AM, John and I follow. The dogs are put outside, their crates placed in the living room, windows shut, bags and car seat put into the rental car. I have the desire to be on the road to the airport no later than 7:30AM. Miles between point A) and point B) are not determined by actual mileage rather the time it takes to get from point A) to point B). Morning rush hour here arrives about 6:30AM dissipates about 9:30AM. The traffic is something I have to take into consideration when planning time for departure, especially if there maybe an accident along the way I need an alternative driving plan. We’re ready a bit earlier than 7:30 this is a good thing!!
On our way to the airport we stop off for Starbucks. Juice, frapaccinos, and tea are a good start towards this adventure. Freeway traffic is heavy yet moving no real crisis there. That is a relief no detours to avoid any accidents.
Once we arrive at the airport complex we spent about 15 or 20 minutes triangulating ourselves into the car rental return. At this point anxiety sets in for me. The stomach starts doing odd jumpy type things. I do deep breathing. John tells me to stop the Darth Vader breathing, he is snippy as its early AM for him. John is not a morning person. What a pain it was trying to locate the rental car return, I hope John took a GPS reading on that for future reference! The rental car is returned. We board the shuttle bus to terminal 1 USAir. We arrive to the airport plenty of time left on the clock. We check bags, get new boarding passes, seems the ones John printed on line were not going to cut it, but give us more mileage points who am I to quibble? We make our way through security something about this annoys me. I think I got left behind the guys with Shannon and all of the carry on’s. All of which need to be fed through the screener, manage the boarding passes and Shannon. I demanded that one of the guys be the keeper of the carry on’s I would then be in charge of Shannon and the paper works we Shannon and I need. We clear security with no problems. Address the issue of breakfast McD’s oh yum! Not!
The minutes tick away. Soon the plane is boarding, we board and we proceed to our seats, settle in for the first leg of our trip. Los Angeles to Philadelphia a trip of some 5 hours. We discover that the power connection for the laptop is not compatible with the connector on our seats. Lucky us we get to be entertained by the airline movie, ICK! This leg of the trip goes well. We arrive into Philadelphia on time. With plenty of time to locate the right terminal. Our connecting flight and something to eat. The flight out offered snack boxes as a lunch. Again Ick!
Patrick hit Mc’Ds again, he must have fries. The fryer is not functioning properly he becomes rather anxious over this as the plane to Glasgow is boarding Shannon and I have gone on ahead. Shannon is ready for a nap. She is being difficult due to this. John and Patrick soon join me on the plane. We end up waiting at the gate for a plane to arrive with more passengers. The cabin is muggy and the air not functioning properly because we are at the gate. This added to Shannon’s discomfort and over all attitude issue. About 20 minutes after our scheduled departure time the passengers we are waiting on, arrive. Good thing to as Shannon is quickly reaching terminal mass and melt down IS on its way. We taxi off to the runway where again we wait. Shannon is screaming hysterically to get down. Meaning not sit in the seat with the seat belt securely fastened. Joy! Oh Joy somebody pass the earplugs and LARGE adult beverages NOW PLEASE!! About 20 minutes into this screaming fit I give in I let Shannon down on the floor of the airplane. Not the recommended thing to do. We are still waiting for take off. Shannon grabs a blanket basically settles in at our feet. About this time we are hurling along the run way up into the air. Shannon quickly falls asleep. Huh! Don’t mess with this girls nap PLEASE!! We are now on the last leg of our trip to Glasgow, Scotland. How fun!!
The jet to Glasgow is older. No computer power ports available. Seems to me that the airline would have something like this for the longer segments of travel. For the most part we all tried to follow Shannon’s example and sleep. We’ll arrive into Glasgow about midnight California time. Our plan is to quickly grab our mini van, drive to Edinburgh. Check into the Travelodge there. Clean up do some sightseeing, possibly tour Edinburgh Castle a Patrick’s wish we’re attempting to address.
Friday October 7, 2005. We arrive on time into Glasgow the weather is favorable its patchy sun with some clouds. Nice. The rental van is not quite ready for us we wait about a half hour for it to be made ready for us. Once we get out to it we reconfigure the seats, determine what bags we need for grabbing and going verses those that will be needed only at night. We strap Shannon’s car seat in then the rest of us settle in this van will be a good friend over the next week. We leave the airport complex head for the motorway heading towards Edinburgh. The drive from Glasgow takes about 45 minutes to an hour. As we approach Edinburgh we realize that the Mapquest.com directions are a bit lacking. We turn off the highway following “I” signs the universal sign for visitor information. We arrive where the “I” directs. Nothing, a fairground with staff here and there maintaining the place yet no “I”.
We stop by what looks to be security to find out where the “I” is as well where is the restroom? He says oh they moved the “Information Centre sometime back move it so far from here, I have no idea where too. Oh great! I ask of the restroom and direct John to get directions to the Edinburgh Travelodge. My business taken care of. I go out to meet the security mans 2 dogs. They are brown and white Springer Spaniels darling!! One wants to play fetch with anything I can find to throw the other seems to watch the fun, and to interact with his furry friend. They were a great way to shake off some of the cobwebs from our lengthy flight, and long traveling day.
As we still have places to go. We thank and excuse ourselves and return to driving towards Edinburgh. Our trip to the Edinburgh Travelodge from the fairgrounds takes us about 45 minutes. We find our digs for the night. We park, check in, organize what does into the room with us, proceed towards that shower. Our room is well appointed I was a bit concerned as they state that the family room suits 2 adults and 2 children. Patrick is no little kid. The way the room was laid out was a queen bed for John and I. A Day bed with a trundle bed underneath it. The trundle pulls completely out not tied to the bed above it for part of its structure. I really like this. The amenities meet our sleep needs.
Shortly after getting settled in Patrick is raring to go, his needs: are food, poking in shops and if we can to get to Edinburgh castle, that too!
We set off to accomplish as many of these things. Before we reach critical exhaustion. John sets our direction on his GPS makes finding the Travelodge much easier. We set off on foot. The plan is to leave our mini van in the parking of the Travelodge until Saturday the next day, when we will move onto our next adventure. We’ll pay 5.00 pounds to do this. Parking for this Travelodge is very tight and very limited. It took a bit of finessing to get that minivan parked. A Chevy made SUV would not do well in the UK. On foot we walk along finding some very interesting views of the city, museums, local landmarks. We ask a fellow walker where’s good to eat she asks a friend. We turn around take an alley through Jury’s http://edinburghhotels.jurysdoyle.com/.
Many places in the UK that we have walked, we have had these side alleys with all kinds of interesting nooks, and crannies. In CA alleys are usually places to avoid.
We find 2 eateries tucked into this alley. The first is a trendy very busy sandwich and soup type place. It seems to cater to the student population. As it was very busy so much so that there were not seats for us. We decide that maybe the place across the way is better suited to our needs.
We pop across the alley to Forsythe’s Tea Room. This place is nearly empty. This should have been a warning. I am determined to have tea so we quickly take seats, read the menu. We have a few questions that the wait staff should be able to answer.
This lady comes huffing and puffing to our table. Our waitress. She seems rather frazzled I inquire about her day. She let loose this torrent of complaints, worries, and over all dissatisfaction with her general universe. Seems she usually works behind scenes. The person usually working the front had injured her hand they were basically hoping no one wanted tea and that they could close up. We foiled that plan. In hindsight I should have thought to move on. In my own defense I was having a hard time understanding her rant and as it had taken quite a bit of effort on our part to find a place to eat I was reluctant to try yet another place. It was one of my less stellar moments this tea, was to be ALL about me. I was looking forward to the ceremony of it. I was to learn soon that I was wrong. The lady went off on her way to consult about our soup inquires
The lady returns to our table requests that we write down on her pad of paper our orders. This is odd. We willing help her out. Again we should have left. The waitress returns with our place settings. She kind of threw them at our table and stomped off. Once she leaves John and I both laugh it was that or get up and leave. We’re short a few pieces of cutlery. The meal arrives. The waitress is called back to the kitchen seems she’d brought the wrong soup. We quickly dine, drink and leave. Memorable the tea was it just wasn’t my notion of a proper tea. Following our tea we wandered our way to a business street with lots of shops. We have told Patrick that if the price is right we’ll buy him a kilt. He’s charged up to do this first thing! We poke through a few shops. I get Patrick to agree to shop around for a kilt before placing an order. By this point we are starting to feel the effects of a very long trip and the time changes. We are wary. Its decided to head back to the hotel for rest. The search of the hotel had us going in circles for quite sometime. It started raining, Shannon wanted to be carried. For this trip I decided not to bring Shannon’s stroller. She rarely uses it at home. My thought was why bring something we most likely would not use or use only under Shannon having a complete melt down. It was very difficult for John to get a satellite on his GPS once he succeeds in doing this we quickly locate our hotel. We arrive back o the hotel exhausted and soggy. The kids quickly settle in. We play a movie on the computer. This seems to help the kids settle in even more. John and I leave them, head to the lobby for a cup of tea and adult chat. We take our 2 way radio allowing for Patrick to SOS us if Shannon has an issue. He had no problems we had a nice cup of tea over all a good way to end an eventful 24-hour period.
The our hotel room was on the 3rd floor for being that high up the noise of the late night partiers carried well. This is my seconded trip to Edinburgh it seems to me that this is a city that enjoys a party. It as well embraces the nightlife. As we have things to get to in the AM this city partying at late hours further disturbs our odd sleep schedule. I think the only person to sleep straight through the night was Shannon.
Saturday October 8, 2005 Morning finds up and about early by 7AM. We collect our things from our room and check out. It is decided to have breakfast on the way to Alnwick Castle. We travel along the coast of the North Sea from Edinburgh to Alnwick we travel the A1 with a stop along the way for breakfast a small diner a quick exit off the A1 with an easy return. We have the typical English breakfast eggs, fried bread, mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon and sausage. Patrick request for one traditional English breakfast done!! About this time the rain finds us. The rain keeps us from further exploring to far from the vehicle. We did cross over to the public restrooms and peeked quickly at the picnic area. I am guessing this place is over run on sunny days.
After our stop, for breakfast, we return to the road. We arrive at our first destination of Alnwick Castle. I had read of it while searching things to do in Northumberland County. It’s been the sight of many films over the years. I thought Patrick would enjoy seeing the Castle that had hosted Harry Potter, Robin Hood (K. Costner) etc. The rain moved on as we arrived at Alnwick Castle. The views here are beautiful, sheep dotting the hills, a pretty stream running below the Castle. Just lovely. We spend quite some time poking around the exterior of the castle. See the spot that Harry Potter had his first broomstick-riding lesson. Saw some stunning carriages used for State events. Dressed up like Knights and Ladies played a bit in the Knight’s School a child friendly part of the whole castle experience. As an aside I love the way the U.K. embraces children into places that normally a child would find boring. They have found ways to make kids welcome and their times at these places something to remember. Shannon enjoyed the dress and the wielding of fake swords, thumping John, Patrick and I until we are vanquished. Such fun! As we do have schedule to keep to we wander toward the castle entrance. Shannon sees other kids rolling around on the lawn she joins them. We quickly put the brakes on this. Enter the castle. No photography allowed. We see many painting of times long gone by. I am amazed at the ceilings of this building they are stunning. Visit many rooms with years of treasures. Beautiful furniture, objects d’art, the dining room housed many different types of place settings so very pretty. Towards the end of our tour of we learn of the Gun Powder Rebellion http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/england/stu_gunpowder_plot.shtml
This catches John’s attention as he has been researching his ancestry seems there are persons in his background that may have been involved in this. To me this makes the genealogy thing much more real. I plan to assist John in digging up these bones. I am sure he’ll be thrilled! As we exited the Castle I notice that a St. Cloud State University Minnesota has their international studies program there. www.stcloudstate.edu Patrick liked the thought to schooling here.
We leave the castle will Alwinton as our next destination I am hoping to get the chance to watch a sheepdog trial planned for this at the Alwinton Show http://www.northumberland-national-park.org.uk/VisitorGuide/WhatsOn/LocalShows/alwintonbordershepherdsshow.htm
We went around in circles for about a ½ hour trying to figure out the directions I had emailed to me. Once that figured out away we went. Long the way we saw a ruin and a church we quickly determine that we go take a look-see. Shannon is napping Patrick is not really into these ruins so he decides to stay in the mini van with Shannon. It just John and I we make our way to the church then to the ruin. We discover the ruin of Edlington Castle and an 11th Century church still used today! I had a great time exploring the ruin. I as well had a lovely chat with a cow and her calf. Over all a nice side trip.
We do have a destination in mind so we need to return to our drive to the Alwinton show. This is quite a drive on rather narrow roads. Everywhere we go there are sheep and cows. This country thrives on is livestock. I can’t begin to fathom how devastating the foot and mouth crisis was to this place.
We reach our destination. This place is alive with a fair like atmosphere. Carnival rides, food vendors, crafters, a huge variety of dogs. I am so excited to see the sheepdogs work! It is so cold. Shannon is shivering. I determine I need to hit the crafters in hopes of finding warmer wear for Shannon. I fail dismally in this. As we do a quick once over of all there is we discover the dog trial was further down the road and long time over. I was so disappointed. We did not stay to the show, as the cold and wind were not to our liking. We aim ourselves to our next Travelodge Newcastle Seaton Burn. We arrive safely. Get our things settled in. We are ready for a nice meal and bed. We dined out at Brewer’s Fayre not far from out hotel. This is a child friendly restaurant we’d eaten at on our prior trip. I’d thought that Shannon would find the dedicated child’s play area a good place to play. She had other ideas. Shannon stayed with us. No exploring tunnels for her. She ate with us over all a nice dinner. All of us are struggling with jet lag following dinner we return to the hotel for the night.
Sunday October 9, 2005 we wake to partly cloudy skies with a chance of rain. We dine at The Little Chef on the hotel property. It wasn’t the best of meals rather greasy it met the need. Our agenda is to follow visit a Roman Fort and to follow Hadrian’s Wall.
First up the Roman Fort Corbridge Roman site and Museum http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/roman%20britain/Hadrian/corbridge_fort.htm.
I am not a Roman history buff. I am indulging John’s wish list. I expect to not like this yet suck it up I plan to do. Suck it up was not what I ended up doing. Instead I find this is interesting. A museum with artifacts that helps to flesh out the Fort gives it some more meaning and place. The museum has a model of a Roman foot soldier (?) in his traveling clothes. This is mentally stunning for me. The clothes are minimal. I think of how cold I find this place. The paradigm is startling. Here I am with all my creature comforts, my parka, hiking boots, gloves, etc. This Roman came with togas, sandals so little. With so little these people made lives, homes, and learned how to adapt to this very different place. Not only did they adapt to this place they made stuff that lasts to this day. Remarkable! Here too there is a child friendly area for Shannon to color and play and to learn of what was and what remains. Shannon and I team up to walk the ruins. Shannon’s casted right arm did not stop her from climbing, jumping, running and adventuring all over the place. The rocks her arms nemesis, call her. As Shannon explores with me close by her side I am struck by the detail in the columns, and the forethought and execution of the drainage systems. With all that was left for the future it’s surprising to me that so much needless death happened in the coming future because of poor hygiene. I don’t quite get it.
We wander about this site for an hour or so. Then decide to head onto Vindolanda a site recommended by the people at this site. http://www.vindolanda.com/
This site is a new find, is currently being dug providing new pictures of Roman life in the UK so many years ago.
On the road to the next site I see a sign for a farm shop. I have no idea what this is yet I decide that we should go look. The parking area a joins a pig sty. We take a few pictures, Shannon chats with me about the pigs. We than go in the shop it a small gift and butcher shop. North Acomb Farm Shop www.northacombfarmshop.co.uk
We buy a few different varieties of cheeses and some other condiments; this was a nice side stop. The cheese is outstanding! I am hoping that I can order on line some of the bacon.
Following this stop Shannon gets herself a nap. Upon arrival at Vindolanda John and I both decide to hand Patrick the camera, pay his admission let him do some exploring on his own. We elect to stay in the van out of the cold wind. While waiting for Patrick, Shannon wakes. The car park over looks a cow pasture. She wants to go see so we take her out to have a look at the cows. We don’t spend a lot of time doing this as its very cold the sky looks very threatening. Once we settle back into the van. Patrick returns from the ruin. We quickly peek at his pictures. I think that this should have been a ruin to see. I think we’ll add that to the next trip list.
Onto Hadrian’s Wall the last ruin on John’s wish list. I have limited knowledge of this ruin. I know I have heard of it before. At this site we have to walk a quarter mile from the car park to the actual site. This walk takes us through a sheep pasture, down a hill, up a hill, quite a walk.
Once atop the site there’s much to see and photograph. The wind has little to stop its way from finding ones core. I am quickly freezing as is Shannon and Patrick after I got to walk on a part of the actual wall its decided that I’ll take the kids back to the van. John can continue to photograph and view the wall as he likes.
We set off Shannon insists that I carry her. I decide that the best way to do this is having her shoulder ride; this works great for much of the walk. We arrive back to the gift shop only to find it closing. I was so looking forward to a warming cup of anything. Not to be! John meets back with us about 15 minutes later.
. We are lagging ready for food and rest. We are now heading to Penrith our next Travelodge for 2 nights. Along the way we stop at a restaurant. This place is packed! We squeeze into the smoking area thankful that no one is seated in this area. That soon changes yet no one is smoking. John has fish and chips, I have a beef dish and Patrick gets a rice and beef dish. Not enough rice for Patrick’s liking. Shannon sampled all of our lunches. She liked Patrick’s! We arrive a long with rain and blustery wind.
Once the kids are settled into bed. We grabbed the 2 ways went over to the Little Chef next door. They offer Internet access 20 minutes for one pound. Deal! With a cup of tea and email checked I rested well that night. This Travelodge for security reasons does not do wake up calls, very odd. I have Patrick set his watch alarm for 6:30AM we are driving down to Liverpool from Penrith for the day.
Monday October 10, 2005 before we set out for Liverpool it’s decided to tank up the van. John and I set out while the kids sleep to the next round about for gas. They are out of diesel. It’s misting quite heavily here. The weather people on BBC say that the further south one goes the clearer the weather will be. Once the kids are up and dressed we are on our way to Liverpool. As the last gas station we stopped at did not have diesel we watch for a Moto to stop at. Luckily we find one the mist has turned into a heavier rain. We tank up the van and get breakfast on the go.
It doesn’t take us long to make Liverpool proper. Once we exited the freeways to get to our destination we spent some 20 minutes or so going around in circles. We eventually locate Croxteth Hall http://www.croxteth.co.uk/.
The weather here is pretty, clear skies, no rain and bit of crispness to the air. Winter may not be to far off, for this day it’s allowing the inmates out. As this part of John’s genealogy stuff, something I avoid like the plague, I have not invested time/energy into the planning of this visit. Croxteth Hall was the home of the Earls of Sefton. There is a Lady Jane Sefton that has shown up in John’s lineage, hence the pilgrimage here. The last Earl died in the 1970’s Croxteth Hall and the surrounding property was given to the City of Liverpool.
We park, and pile out of the van. It appears that this is no small place. There’s a working farm, the Hall often hosts conferences, gardens, shops gift farm, etc. We’ve much to see and do, first how to get to the Hall. To get there we enter through a gate, which is framed by the pillars of a Stonebridge. We walk under the bridge thread our way through a gate. Continuing to follow the path. The path is tree lined, the trees form a great canopy over the path, giving the path a very interesting light pattern. I had not realized that the bridge we entered through was a working bridge until I hear a carriage going overhead. The sound of the horse’s hooves tells that this has happened here for a very long time. There is an abandoned miniature railroad, along the way. A green algae covered pond is to the left, the path takes us to a large open area where the Hall is easily viewed. The Hall dominates the space. The coloring is inviting it’s a red brick with white trim. I find many older buildings are grey and dark not so inviting. A marquee tells that the Hall is closed during the week, they are running their winter hours. I am beyond annoyed at John for failing to call to verify. Summer lasts a lot longer in Southern California. Although we are very disappointed not to tour the entire building we did run inside the entrance snapped a few pictures. Nobody stopped us or objected. We did not go to far in side as there are people here for a conference. Following our photo shoot we walk the grounds, peeked over fences to view animals living at the rare breed farm. Tried to get a peek at the garden. I am not tall enough to do this. We continue our tour of the grounds. We discover the cafeteria is open, so is the rather fabulous children’s play area. Shannon, John, Patrick and I play here for some time. We then decide to go see Liverpool. We drove about there some only to find traffic heavy, the central part of town is being remodeled the traffic is way backed up. This is more of a wait than I want to deal with. It’s decided to head back to Penrith, to wash our laundry, poke through the shops and to possibly find some warmer stuff for Shannon. Long the way towards the freeway and Penrith we stop off for meat pies, fish and chips to eat in the van. As we head back north towards Penrith its starts to raining. Once we arrive into Penrith we set to washing the laundry. Shopping wasn’t to be as the shops all close at 5 or 5:30 PM. Once the wash was done we head back to the Travelodge eat at the Little Chef turn in for the night.
Tuesday October 11, 2005. I am up readying myself for the day. In the shower I fell. I did no small fall. A really impressive, waking John type fall. This was so embarrassing. I am still sporting a very impressive bruise from this fall. The bruise did confirm to me that it is best to travel when one is young and healthy enough to do so with out the complaints of aging. I can’t imagine having this type a fall with 20 more years on me. I don’t think I would go on to do the rest of a trip that involved as much walking as we plan to do.
Having woken John from falling Patrick and Shannon awaken early too. We are heading to Edinburgh to shop and to tour Edinburgh castle. It still raining good thing we are touring Castle not a ruin!
As we are circling the downtown area I see a kilt maker. http://www.kinlochanderson.com/shop/index.html I Suggest that this might me a good place to make inquiries. It’s decided to. Patrick chats about kilts with the sales staff. John and I alternate Shannon management. From a window in the small museum area of this kilt manufacturer we peak into the shop watching the kilts being made. Really quite fascinating. I learned to weave fabric as a teen. I’d love the opportunity to see the entire process of making a kilt. I can only guess to the amount of time it takes. I know when John bought his kilt it took 5 months for him to receive it. As I think the costs of their kilts bit spendy. It’s decided that we need to continue to shop around for a kilt. I’d like to find one off the rack for Patrick. We head up towards the Royal Mile and the castle. As there is no parking at the Castle it’s decided to streetpark and hail a taxi. This is what we do. We have two hours of paid street parking before we need to feed the meter. Let’s hope we can do all we want in that time frame.
Its pouring buckets, the cold is not as present as it had been in days past. We pay admission fees walk up the cobblestone street towards the castle. John and I hang back photographing the exterior. The cobble stones are rain socked I am praying I don’t fall again my aching backside could not take another trauma to it! For the last two days I have been in considerable pain. This makes me slower the backside is not a good place to fall when one plans to do a lot of walking! Patrick goes on ahead of us.
This is the fulfillment of another of Patrick’s wish list. He has been wanting to see the Stone of Destiny. I think John spoke about his with him prior to our departure. He as well got to see the Crown Jewels of Scotland. We make our way slowly up to the courtyard then into the museum this is an amazing record of how Scotland became really fascinating. The Stone of Destiny, the Crown Jewels all so very interesting. Well worth the rain struggles. We then tour a Hall dedicated to the warriors of Scotland. John, Shannon and I start making our way towards the entrance, hoping to catch up with Patrick. This doesn’t go quite as planned we don’t find Patrick. We do find our way into the castle gift shop. I buy some post cards. (For those of you who receive them let me know when yours finds you). I as well sample some whiskey. ICK! Tasted much like Nyquil. Again ick! The rain is still pouring down we are starting to get concerned for Patrick and the time left on the parking meter. The time got away from us a bit.
This was the only place on our trip that we did not make sure we had the 2-way radios and that they were on. To avoid spending more time out in the rain I take Shannon off to the restroom. John treks about up to the higher portions of the castle in hopes of locating Patrick. I do my thing then find a spot on the counter to change Shannon. A lady kindly pointed out a room dedicated to the changing, feeding and some kid time. I change Shannon. I watch for John and Patrick to make there way back. John was successful in finding Patrick. We meet up at the Castle gates from there we set out toward the main street in hopes of again hailing a cab. Along the way we see a Whiskey tasting center. Bravely John ventures in, we all follow. I am not going to hang outside in the rain with Shannon. We quickly run through the store. I would have liked to spend more time but Shannon wanted to be down and touching, something I am not willing to even think about. We attempt as we’re walking to hail a cab. No luck! We keep trudging along towards the spot where we’d parked. It’s decided to find a place to eat then to get our selves out to Sterling. We find a restaurant off the freeway. Dine fairly quickly head back out into the rain, off to Stirling and our night at the Travelodge Stirling.
Once we check in. I inquire about where to shop for boots for Shannon and ask about places to get Patrick a kilt. The lady working the desk gives us directions to Tesco. She as well speaks of Callander the place to get Patrick a kilt. http://www.heritageofscotland.uk.com/
Lastly we request a wake up call ah well we can knock on your door we don’t do phone calls. This is so foreign to me.
We set out again to Tesco our goals are to find some arnica for my bruise, boots and something warmer for Shannon. I got Shannon some adorable pink boots, some pants and some thicker socks. All this for one more day in Scotland!
We have fleshed out the next day’s activities. We had planned into this trip an empty day. No hard and fast “wish list” items. Our last day in Scotland was to tour the Wallace Monument, to find Callander see about a kilt for Patrick, and I decided we had to have an Angus steak before heading home.
Wednesday October 12, 2005 the wake up knock comes as requested. We quickly shower head out to more rain. Today I am more accepting of the rain Shannon is prepared. In hindsight most of my issues with the weather are concern for Shannon. I should have done was to have bought her the boots and warmer stuff day one. The heck with the schedule, wish list etc.
We are quick to leave the Travelodge for the Wallace Monument. We are arrive to the base of the monument they have shuttle we took that to the actual physical structure. Only to be disappointed all the interesting parts are not open as there are no lights. For safety sake. They have the gift shop and coffee shop open. The recommendation was to phone back later inquiring about lights. We decide to get out to Callander to see if they had a kilt for Patrick, if not then back to Edinburgh, then to Glasgow for the night and the flight out the next day.
We set out for Callander along the way we stopped off for breakfast at the Woodside Hotel. Had a lovely breakfast in a very pretty hotel. While dining we read through a few tourist type brochures. Found fairly close to Callander, a wool mill doing sheepdog demonstrations. I really want to do this!! I am still a bit pouty that I didn’t make the Alwinton Show. The barkeep phones to check they hours of business. They have a last show listed at 3PM if we get on it we can shop Callander. Then pop over to Aberfoyle for the sheepdog demonstration. We arrive around noontime into Callander. We stop into shops along the way to the shop we have been told to go for Patrick’s kilt. We there only to be again disappointed closed!
We head back to the van with the idea to look and see if the store is open when we go by heading out of Callander for Edinburgh. We really need to deal with the kilt issue above all else! As we headed out we got lucky the shop had re-opened. We spent quite some time getting Patrick kitted out. While waiting for Patrick to get his stuff, John notices some really nice Celtic Knot rings. We had been looking to replace our lost wedding rings for a while so we both bought new rings. John’s is silver mine is gold. Had a most enjoyable shopping experience courtesy of Charlotte the shopkeeper she was total pip! As fun as this was I watching closely watching the clock we’ll be cutting it close getting from here to Aberfoyle in a timely manner.
We set out with directions from Charlotte. Although we had directions we did not follow them, as we should have. Instead we took a driving tour of the Trossachs area of Scotland. The drive took us by highland cows. I am so thrilled to see them one of my minor wish list items. The road is not heavily traveled we drive through part of a national park and long a few Loch’s. We stop a time or two to photograph the Loch’s while shooting something John slipped on the wet moss. He’s not allowed to do this as one of us bruised and whining is enough! The vegetation, the Loch’s all made this visually stunning. I hope to return to this place in the future. That trip would include a day or two canoeing the Loch’s there is a tranquility there that speaks to my soul. I am enjoying this drive yet worrying to get to Aberfoyle and the dog show. We’re going to be late. I am hoping against all hope that I get to see that dog show. We arrive to Aberfoyle having made terrible time. Dodging yet more rain. We make our way into The Scottish Wool Centre http://www.scottishsheepdogschool.com/. I soon discover that they had only one sheepdog demonstration that was at 1PM. I think I am having bad sheepdog karma or something! I am so very disappointed. We shop the Wool Centre. Decide to head on our way to Glasgow. We stop into an Information center to get our directions and to ask of a recommended steak place. While asking of a place to eat the young man helping us (he looked younger than Patrick) spoke to another man about our wants after much chatting its decided we should follow him to Glasgow, he’ll lead us to town and to a place to park and eat. This was far more than we’d asked for. We make our way to the mini van. Set out following our guide. This ride takes us about an hour to make Glasgow proper and maybe another half hour to forty-five minute to locate the downtown area with out our guide we would never have found the area. He shows us a place to park, worried that our mini van would not be safe in this area. To us its better than most parts of Los Angeles, we’ll take our chances. The place he’d pointed out to us for dinner did not have a child’s permit, nor did they serve dinner. How rude! A lady made a comment about that as we were leaving, apologizing to us for our lack of welcome. Although we were not welcomed at that place they did direct us to another restaurant. We walked over to Noah’s a nice trendy looking place. Asked if they could accommodate Shannon and my need for a steak. Done they could and would. We arrived before the pre-dinner crowd arrived. All of us had steaks. I ordered a soup Shannon helped herself to that. We dined well. After such a nice dinner we still had to locate the freeway and the Glasgow airport Travelodge. This takes us about a half hour to make it to the Travelodge. That last round about was nightmare, scared John!
This was our last night, the entire van needed to be cleaned. Suitcases and carry-ons repacked. We make quick work of cleaning packing took a bit longer. Some things have to wait until morning. That which could be packed was. Getting everyone settled down for the night was not as easy as the rest of the trip had been. Close to midnight we all got some shut-eye.
Thursday October 13, 2005 finds us receiving a wake up call something be had been doing with out for most of this trip. As our trip is ending we head out to the airport. We tank up the mini van one last time. This will be our 4th trip to the gas station since picking up the mini van this time we are just topping off. Gas in the U.K. is expensive and measured differently than here in the U.S. The mini van is amazing on gas! I think we averaged some 300 + miles per fill up. I wish we would have this kind of fuel economy here in the U.S. I think it’ll take us another 15 years or so to get to that degree of conservation. After re-filling the mini van we quickly make our way to the rental return office, check in the mini van, hop a shuttle bus to the airport. Once at the airport we quickly check baggage. We have to many pieces to bother with for long. That done I attempt to get USAir to give Shannon a child’s meal and her frequent flyer miles corrected John was getting credited them. That done we make our way to the second level, for breakfast. Patrick has Burger King, John, Shannon and I have our last English breakfast of the trip. It was rather gross. We take our time popping in and out of various shops in the airport. Its soon time to go through security this process goes well, no real hang ups to hold us from making our way to the departure lounge. We ran the duty free gauntlet the smell was horrifying! To many perfumes not enough fresh air!
I am thankful that as we move on down the concourse the smell doesn’t come with us. We have a few short minutes before the plane is to be boarded. I dump a few pounds into the Cadbury machine. A few chocolates make the morning a much brighter day! We board our plane heading to Philadelphia then to home. There are not delays out of Glasgow. Again we are on a rather aged plane, this one with even more signs of age than the one that brought us to Glasgow. This one has duct tape holding the handle on the toilet flush. Not very comforting if that is broken what else IS? We are fortunate that we have a row to ourselves. As well Shannon seems to be handling this leg of our trip well. We read, color, play with cards and play with some beads. As with any activity they are short lived for a Shannon, she soon naps. I think I nodded off for a bit. We soon make our approach into Philadelphia. Here we will go through customs and immigration. This involves collecting our checked bags then re-checking them, onto Los Angeles. This process doesn’t take long. That done we turn to finding information on our connecting flight to Los Angeles. It’s delayed an hour. We make our way towards the proper concourse for the connecting flight only to discover that the flight is further delayed instead of a 4:30PM departure we are looking at 5:30 or 6:00PM. Its quickly approaching a time in my mind where the airline will start canceling flights. The guys are hungry so we get lunch at Sbarro’s after we eat. Shannon crawls around the seats she is board. It soon becomes apparent that while climbing she was busy filling her diaper!! Oh great I am down to our last diaper in the carry-on. I take her off to the baby changing area. I must say that here in the US we just don’t do a lot of investing in these places. The way they do in the UK. Once Shannon is clean. Patrick decides to take Shannon and go find the child’s discovery area in terminal B. Patrick radio’s back that he cannot find the play area and that they will be returning. On their way back to us they stopped to play on the moving sidewalk. It was a nice rest bit. While they were gone I asked John to see if any of the vendors carried diapers. He does only to return telling me he did not see any. For me the travel, my aching backside, and the idiot that knocked my carry-on onto me was just more than I could handle I needed a few minutes to cry out all of those issues. I go tearing off to the rest room for a quick cry. This helps me get a grip!
I as well go into a shop ask after diapers seems they are out. In the other terminal they have some. Nice I am now short on time I make the decision to forgo shopping for more diapers. Thankfully there are no more delays with our airplane. We are soon boarded and on our way. It was not long after that Shannon and I both sleep. I rarely sleep while flying I know I was exhausted because I slept with ease. It wasn’t until we were an hour of LAX that I awakened. Shortly we are waiting our turn to land. It’s close to 9:30PM about 3 hours later than we were supposed to get into LAX so we met with the late arrival flight pattern. Just before 10PM they stack up the planes in the air take-offs and landings one about every 5 or 10 minutes I am guessing. Once landed we wait on a side runway for a gate to open up so we can de-plane. Once this happens we in fairly short order de-plane make our way to baggage claim. As we were on a very full flight out of Philadelphia the bags take longer to meet up with us. Exhaustion and snippy-ness have caught up with the guys. Shannon however is still sleeping! As the bags arrive we make quick work of attaching them to each other we can piggyback on the big bags 3 at a time making it so that one of us has free hands for Shannon management and her car seat. We leave the baggage areas head to the Avis shuttle stop to catch the next shuttle to the Avis car rental site. Carrying a dead weight Shannon, rolling the various bags along the sidewalk made us quite a sight! The Avis shuttle quickly picks us up. Within a few minutes we have the rental car a rather aged Chevy not the best condition. In it we head towards the freeway and home. The drive home was quick and uneventful. We’re home! We are quick to get into the house, get greeted by the dogs. Look at the mail; sort the urgent from the recycling. John and I turn in for the night. Shannon slept until 3:00AM waking me when she headed out the door. I joined her. I started laundry, made some soup for Shannon basically starting the day many hours early. Shannon watched T.V. and ate her soup while I paid bills, read message boards and attempted to get back into the swing of things. Shannon and I lasted until noontime.