Off to Canada to See Candy and Rick

Tuesday June 24th - Saturday June 28th -   (Days 386- 390)

Howie was feeling left out, since he couldn't make the trip to England with us. So, when our friends from Montana invited us to camp with them in Canada, he said we just had to go!
We joined Candy and Rick in Kelowna, BC, camping at the provincial park there next to Okanagan Lake.
The weather was sunny and warm for the first few days.

Candy and Harris used Bear Creek to cool the wine and the beer.

Our campsite by the creek which flowed into the lake.

The camper before us had left a lot of firewood at the site, so Harris decided to cook the chicken thighs over flames for dinner.

Candy and Rick had the salads and the wine!

The Okanagan area is filled with wineries. We stopped at one small one, and took this picture of Howie behind the vines.

On Thursday we moved a bit south and camped Kettle River Provincial Park, and the weather changed a bit as well. We got a bit wet on our morning walk!

Some of the campers had rigged tarps like this to get some protection from the rain.

It absolutely poured one day, and we even had thunder and lightning.

By the time we left on Saturday morning, the weather was clearing up. We decided to take highway 20 home, the North Cascades Highway, because it is so beautiful.

As we came down the westside of the pass, the weather turned gray and rainy again...typical! But it was a great trip...our first of the summer!

Total miles driven= 750

Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 9

June 5th
We only scheduled a few days in Ireland, which was a bit unfortunate. Plus, we were very tired by this part of the trip, so we only hit a few sights.
The first day we flew from Newcastle to Dublin, hired a car, and set out for the west coast. When we told people we were going all the way west, they expressed amazement we'd drive that far in a day. But really, it was only about 5 hours, mostly on highways. (although still on the wrong side of the road! but Judy was almost getting used to it by now.) We drove to the town of Kenmare, close to the Kerry peninsula. We planned to drive the Ring of Kerry the next day, but alas, the good weather deserted us and we woke up to a pounding rain and heavy clouds. So, we only made one stop along the road, at a "ring fort". This one was at Staigue. According to Rick Steves's guidebook: The circular drystone walls were built sometime between 500 BC and AD 300 without the aid of mortar or cement. About 80 feet across, with wall 12 feet thick at the base and up to 25 fee high, these structures would have taken 100 men six months to complete.

Back in Kenmare, we found a great pub with live music and a great dinner, especially the seafood chowder.

We left Kenmare on Saturday the 7th, and drove back to the east coast. We stopped at Cashel for lunch along the way, which had a ruined abbey and a famous castle.

 We spent the afternoon just north of Dublin, visiting the world heritage site called Bru na Boinne, or Newgrange  and Knowth for those of us who don't speak Irish.
These are two 5000 year old passage tombs, massive grass covered burial mounds, with a chamber inside reached by a narrow stone passage. We arrived just in time to jump aboard the bus to the first one, at Knowth. There is the one large mound surrounded by smaller mounds. These were used as graves in about 3200 BC, and successive forts and towns were built atop them in later waves of settlement. This area was excavated by archaeologists in the 1960's.

This is the second great mound, called Newgrange, which is about 500 years older than the pyramids. This one allows visitors to go inside with a guide in small groups to witness a demonstration of how the winter solstice sun lights up the main chamber for about 17 minutes.

The next day we went to Dublin, and toured the excellent National Museum of Archaeology. This picture looks like it's outside, but it's a replica of a doorway inside the museum.

We took a hop on, hop off bus tour around the town.

This was a favorite jumping off spot for many tourists...the Guiness brewery but Harris would rather spend the admission money on the actual product (and he did).

We happened to talk to a policeman outside this building, which was next door to the Museum of Archaeology. It is the parliament building, and after giving our identifications to the guards, we were given a tour of the place by a very patriotic Irishman .

We also visited Trinity College, where the Book of Kells is housed...another elaborately decorated set of gospels. No pictures were allowed there!

We flew to Newark, NJ on the 10th, visited with Tasha and Ewan, and then drove to Boston to see Keith and Theresa on the 12th. Then we all met up on Saturday with Kyle, Serenity, Reliance and River back in New Jersey...and then we finally came home on the 16th. The trip was wonderful. And so was sleeping in our own bed that night.

Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 8

June 3..Tuesday..our walk along Hadrian's wall started in the rain...and with a little bit of company.
Hadrian's Wall was built by the Romans in about A.D. 122.  It was built across 73 miles, from coast to coast, and included forts, ditches, settlements and roads.  The wall was originally 15-20 feet tall, with a ditch on either side. After the Romans left, many stones were used by the local farmers for their homes and fences, so now it's only about 3 feet high.

The cow above was particularly interested in Judy before heading on its way.

After a bit, the rain went away. You can see Hadrian's wall stretching on over the hill into the distance.
Alan and Jess.

Alan helped Harris find a geocache along the walk.

This is called Sycamore Gap. The movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves shot some scenes here.

After our walk, Alan found us a great place for afternoon tea...inside Langley Castle. It is a 14th century castle that has been turned into a hotel and restaurant. We had great tea and lovely cakes.

One of 2 peacocks on the grounds.

Hexham Abbey in yet another town.

Hexham Abbey was originally built in 674. It was destroyed by the Vikings 200 years later and rebuilt in 1174. Scottish raiders attacked it in 1296, and the Nave (main part) was only rebuilt in 1908.

Wednesday morning, June 4th...wet and rainy. We took a walk from Alan's house into the town Morpeth. This is a view of the Telford Bridge over the River Wansbeck, with St. George's Church in the background.

A lovely garden view from our bedroom window showcasing the work taken in setting it up.

Alan has been an incredible host. He has housed us and fed us great meals, driven us to many, many places here in Northumbria and in Scotland, arranging for our B and B there. It has been a wonderful, relaxing, and exciting 9 days. We hope we can return the favor someday in Washington!
Tomorrow we're off to Ireland for a short visit.

Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 7

Leaving Edinburgh with this view in the rear.

After a long day of touring Edinburgh, we drove north and west to a small town called Comrie, where Alan had arranged lodging for us in a very old farmhouse. We walked a bit on the shore of Loch Earn, where this metal statue was standing just off shore. Harris found another geocache here.

Another geocache was up on a hill by an old railroad bridge.

As we walked the next morning, we passed this old stone house...the family lived in 2 rooms farthest away, and the animals in the nearest third of the structure.

There were many awesome views as we walked the three mile loop.

Wildflowers in the woods along our walk.

Harris thought these were the highland cows, known as "hairy coos" but they weren't. We saw the real thing later, and they were much shaggier and had big horns!

In a tiny town called Balquhidder was Rob Roy's grave...maybe. The plaque along side said this was one of 3 possible sites of his burial. Rob Roy was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, who is sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood.

The house we stayed in for 2 nights.

On the shores of Loch Katrine. We started our walk in the pouring rain, but it soon cleared up.

We didn't have time to wait for the steam boat that takes people around the loch, but watched it from the shore.

Inside the Church of the Holy Rude, founded in 1129. It was destroyed in a fire in 1405, and rebuilt in 1414. The oak timbered roof is original to the reconstruction in 1414.

We didn't go into Stirling Castle, but took this shot overlooking the kirk yard.

Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 6

A bit out of order....more pictures of Holy Island........boats turned into storage.

The Lindisfarne Castle, on the island.

The road that gets covered by the tide...you can see it starting to come up to the road.

A view of Bamburgh Castle...very impressive in its size.

We had dinner with Alan's in-laws, and Harris got to taste 4 different whiskeys. He decided he liked the Highland Park the best.

Susan and Keith Hodgson..great hosts and a wonderful meal.

A first glimpse of Edinburgh. We took a hop on-hop off bus tour to get an overview of the city.

Street performers..Harris appreciated the ones that weren't bagpipers!

Inside St. Giles Cathedral...a beautiful church. We were pleasantly surprised to hear a girls' choir from Oslo, Norway performing in the cathedral. Gorgeous voices reverberating in the spacious stone interior.

A view of Edinburgh Castle.

Going down some side streets...

A great way to sell Pulled Pork!

Harris thought the contrast of a "Hen Party" (which we call bachlorette party) with the harp player was cool.