National Park-Palooza

Day 7 - Tuesday, July 12
After some delicious bacon at breakfast, we set out for Yellowstone.  Yellowstone was pretty amazing - mountains, rivers, waterfalls, prairies, hot springs, geysers, wildlife - it really has it all.  We got to see elk, bison, and antelope. We didn't spot any moose or bears, sadly.  (But we did spot camels on the road just before the park entrance - random!!!)  In terms of scenery, I liked the mountainous areas the most.  The hot springs and geysers were neat. We did get to see Old Faithful, though I must admit I was kind of underwhelmed by it.  There was a lot of anticipation, I don't know what I was expecting but it was still neat - not something you see everyday...

We stayed in Cody, WY for the night, a drive that took 2.5 hours from Old Faithful.  That was difficult especially since we had to come back into the park basically the same way the next day.  Much of that drive was through forests that had been burned down in a forest fire, presumably years ago.  But we also got to drive along the huge Yellowstone Lake with pretty mountain views.

Day 8 - Wednesday, July 13We got a very early start back through Yellowstone this morning.  After getting lots of pictures by the lake, we left the park through the southern gate, which basically leads you right into the Grand Tetons.  That was magnificent, easily the best views of the trip for me so far.  The mountain views are spectacular, the lakes were pretty, the skies were clear. It was a perfect day there.

After leaving the park, we headed south through Wyoming towards Colorado.  We went through Jackson Hole and I kept an eye out for Harrison Ford but I didn't spot him.  Alas, maybe next time...  Much of this drive, all 189 miles of it except for parts at the beginning and end, were on a rural highway - meaning one lane in each direction.  It was fun to pass the slow trucks using the oncoming traffic lane.  Fortunately, the roads aren't exactly heavily travelled... If the scenery in northwestern Wyoming is beautify, the same cannot be said for the rest of the journey.  Very brown, very plain, very dry, very hot.  We spent the night in the bustling metropolis of Rock Springs, WY...  Tomorrow we get to Colorado and plan to visit Rocky Mountains National Park before finally turning East and heading home.

Day 9 - Thursday, July 14It took a few hours to drive from Rock Springs to Rocky Mountains National Park. We went through Laramie and Cheyenne - all I could think about was Oregon Trail.  Fortunately, I did not get dysentery and die and we didn't have to get our covered wagon across any rivers.  I do not think I would have survived a real journey on the Oregon Trail...

At Rocky Mountains National Park, dad had the brilliant idea to drive the scary one way barely paved road up the mountains rather than take the normal road.  That was alarming, especially the parts on the very edge of the mountainside with no guard rails.  In fact, practically all roads in the park were lacking guard rails, something I personally would have included if I were in charge...

The views from the top were phenomenal, though.  I do love mountain scenery.  We also saw lots of elk, including an entire herd grazing on the hillside.  It took a few tries to find the right field, but I got my "Sound of Music" moment.  It would have been better in one of the meadows at the top but we weren't about to go back up to get that shot...

Tomorrow we head for home, driving as far as we can each day across the Midwest back to Connecticut.  We might get home by Saturday night, otherwise definitely on Sunday.  Not a lot of exciting scenery to stop for in Kansas...

Halfway Point

I think we are just about at the halfway point of the trip - tonight is night 6.  Here's what we've been up to:

Day 1 - Wednesday, July 6
We left Connecticut at about 9:00 am and really faced no issues at all.  We made it across New York and Pennsylvania and then into Ohio, staying in a hotel just past Youngstown.  It was a very uneventful day...

Day 2 - Thursday, July 7
We started the day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  I had really wanted to go there.  I wasn't disappointed - it had all sorts of neat music memorabilia, from Lady Gaga's crazy meat dress (which was sent to a taxidermy place after she wore it) to Bruce Springsteen's notebooks filled with his song lyrics (I wish I could have flipped through it!) to Michael Jackson's bedazzled glove from Billie Jean.  It was a neat place...

We ended up making it all the way to Chicago and so we got to Susie's house a night early, definitely a good thing!  The drive was unexciting - it's very flat and there is a lot corn.

Day 3 - Friday, July 8
We spent the day with Susie and Alan.  Dad got to drive his Tesla, which he enjoyed.  Dinner was with lots of family and a fun time was had by all. It's always nice to catch up with everyone!

Day 4 - Saturday, July 9
We left Chicago bright and early to make our way west.  We managed to cross Wisconsin, Minnesota, and into South Dakota before stopping for the night in Sioux Falls.  It was pretty uneventful - there were a lot of corn fields but at least it was more hilly than Indiana...

Day 5 - Sunday, July 10
We hit lots of big South Dakota landmarks today...  The drive in the eastern part of the state was pretty dull but once we got to the Badlands, things got more interesting.  Badlands National Park was very cool - it was ridiculously hot, otherwise I might have been willing to explore some of the trails a little more.

All across the state, there were about a million billboards for Wall Drug, a tourist trap of store that we obviously had to stop at.  We ate lunch there but managed to not spend anything else - go us! It was very tacky...

We then made it to Rapid City and checked in to our hotel (the place we booked cancelled on us but rebooked us somewhere else - whoops...).  Since it was pretty early still, we decided to do Mt. Rushmore then instead of the next day.  I'm glad we did since we got see it in daylight but also got to stay and see it lit up after it got dark.  It was a neat place.

Day 6 - Monday, July 11
We originally planned to do the Crazy Horse Memorial, Jewel Caves, and Devil's Tower Monument today on the way to Billings, Montana, but we were worried about fitting all of that in so we scratched the caves.  That turned out to be a mistake since I really think we could have skipped Crazy Horse - that was very underwhelming...

The drive to Devil's Tower was on some very rural roads, that was, um, interesting.  Let's just say that there are some very remote places in Wyoming...  Devil's Tower itself was very cool.  Though there are lots of lovely hills surrounding the area, it really is massive and so random looking.  We didn't really walk many of the trails but what we did see was neat.

The drive to Billings was uneventful.  Pretty scenery in parts, flat prairies in other parts.  And that is where we are now.  We head off to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for the next two days - can't wait!

Road Trip!

Tomorrow's the big day! Dad and I head off on a very loosely planned road trip that'll last a week or two.  I may or may not actually update this as we go but here are the things we're hoping to see:

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland)
• Family in Chicago
• Badlands National Park
• Mount Rushmore
• Devil's Tower
• Yellowstone
• Grand Tetons
• Rocky Mountain National Park

I'll be adding five new states to my list (South Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, and West Virginia), which will leave me with three left.  Can't wait for that Oklahoma/Arkansas road trip... And then Hawaii... Ha.

My preparation included making a good playlist, packing lots of snacks and comfortable clothing, and some road trip games (license plate game! Trivial Pursuits questions!).  Here's hoping it all goes well and we don't kill each other...

June 20-22

The end is in sight, we fly home tomorrow...

(Note: picture uploading is taking forever at this hotel, it'll have to wait until we get home...)

Here's a recap of the last few days...  On Sunday, we went to Scone Palace, the place where kings and queens of Scotland were crowned for centuries.  The palace itself was nice, as were the extensive grounds.  Our visit happened to overlap with a big multiday music festival of 80s music, so we had a little background music as we enjoyed the grounds.  We went for a very long walk around the property, met all sorts of animals (peacocks, furry highland cows, a donkey, ponies, etc.) got lost in a giant hedge maze, learned what a pinetum is, and learned how the Scottish view North American geography (hint - they think New York is where Atlanta really is...).

On Monday, we left our Edinburgh base and moved west to the Fort William area where we took the Jacobite steam train (as seen in Harry Potter as the Hogwarts Express) north to Mallaig.  The drive to Fort William was pretty with all the mountains and lochs, but those roads are really narrow!  I will be happy to be back driving on familiar roads ago soon...  It was a beautiful train ride both to Mallaig and back, though Mallaig itself isn't the most exciting of villages...  We stayed at a large bed and breakfast that seemed stuck in the 70s.  It is not a place I would stay again, the musty smell was unpleasant...

Today, we took a ferry out of Oban to the aisle of Mull and visited Duart Castle, home of the MacLean clan.  It was high atop a cliff overlooking the sea in a very pretty locaction.  The castle itself wasn't super exciting compared to the others we visited, but the island was lovely and the ferry trip there and back was also quite nice.

We then drove back to Edinburgh for our final night before we fly to Lindon and then Boston tomorrow.  I will probably go back later on and write more extensive recaps of each day at some point...

July 17-19

Greetings from Scotland! Our group has grown to now include Steve.

When we left off, we were in York.  We went to the National Railway Museum on Thursday morning - dad had a delightful time exploring all of the train engines.  They were quite impressive and I was much more interested in everything there than I was expecting.

Awesome sign at the train museum...

We then headed north to Edinburgh.  Our car GPS (nicknamed "Her Majesty") took us off the highway and onto one lane roads for much of the lengthy journey.  It was a very pretty drive, but a bit of an adventure in many places with narrow roads and crazy curves.  We took a little detour to see Hadrian's Wall.  We didn't quite realize what it was until we drove by, though (there wasn't really anywhere to pull over and stop).  It pretty much looks like most of the other walls all over the place.  The big, famous part of the wall was on the western side of the island.  We got into the apartment and met up with Steve.

On Friday, we went on a bus tour of the city and spent time at Edinburgh Castle.  It is quite the mighty fortress with all sorts of neat things to see, perched high above the rest of the city.  The crowned jewels were lovely.  These included a huge sword, practically as tall as me.  We also got to see the Stone of Destiny!  This is the stone used during the coronation of British monarchs and it has a very long history.  It's a really big square stone, it looks quite heavy.  We also got to see lots of fully kilted guys playing bagpipes on street corners, which was highly entertaining.

Today, we headed out of the city to see some old buildings.  It's been the first day with less than ideal weather - foggy and rainy, but somehow fitting for Scotland.  First, we went to Roslin to see Rosslyn Chapel, made famous in The DaVinci Code.  It was a neat but strange little chapel.

We then headed east to visit Tantallon Castle, on the coast.  It's all ruined now but was open for exploration.  It was pretty cool, especially with the weather the way that it was.  We lunched in Dunbar at some little shop, which was yummy.  Sadly, we didn't get to see the home of our famous ancestor Black Agnes.  Alas.

July 14-16

Whoops, it's been a few days since I've updated.  I'm not so sure anyone is reading this anyway, but that's ok...

On Monday, we picked up the car.  Dad has been doing a good job of mostly driving correctly.  Better him than me...  We did almost hit a bicyclist, but that's because he inexplicably fell off his bike and fell into oncoming traffic.  That was really scary, but thankfully there was no one in the lane next to us when we swerved over...  Driving in London is a pain.  It seems like to get to any place on the other side of the city, one must drive through the city.  That process takes about 60-90 minutes alone. It's painful...

Driving over Tower Bridge

Anyway, getting the car took awhile, so our initial plans to go to Dover were scraped and we went to Hampton Court Palace, the home of Henry VIII and many others.  We didn't go inside due to time, but it has extensive gardens that were beautiful that we explored .  There was also a hedgerow maze, which was fun to go through.

On Tuesday, we again ventured through the city by car, this time to go to Windsor Castle and then to Stonehenge.  Both were very impressive.  I could have easily spent more time at Windsor exploring the castle and looking at all of its various treasures.  We even got to have our picture taken with a palace guard!!!

Stonehenge was also very impressive.  It is just sitting there in the middle of the fields.  Very cool.

This morning, we left London for good and drove north to York.  Thankfully, we didn't really have to go through London, so most of our trip was on the highway.  In York, we went to a Viking museum.  It was small but had a bunch of skeletons and artifacts from the Jorvik settlement that existed in that location.  York itself (at least the old city) seems like a neat little city, with a lot of older things that would be fun to explore.  Alas, we do not have the time.  Tomorrow we are off to the National Train Museum (dad's excited about that one) and then onto Edinburgh for the next several days.  Steve joins us tomorrow, as well.

Sheep seen from the window of my hotel room.  Baa!

Weekend #1 - July 12 & 13

Yesterday, we visited the Warner Brothers Studios for a tour of the Harry Potter sets.  That was very cool - they had everything from the movies, from buildings to costumes to props so detailed you'd never see them on screen to models and on and on and on.  It was all very impressive.  We took the train out there and accidently got on the local instead of the express - oops! But we made it there eventually and a fun time was had by all. Plus, butterbeer! So yummy!

We had dinner at a burger place in Canary Wharf - very yummy!

Today we started at the Tower of London and got to see the Crown Jewels and the Bloody Tower.  We wandered around a large area of the complex - it is much larger than I expected.  There is an entire village within the walls of the castle.

 The White Tower at the Tower of London

At Tower Bridge

We then took a river bus to Greenwich and made the very steep climb to the top of the hill where the Royal Observatory is, but we didn't get a picture on the marked prime meridian because we didn't want to lay the entrance fee for that one thing. But we did get some remarkable views and stood on the meridian outside the gates. The whole town is quite cute and seems like it would be a great place to spend the day.

View from the top of the Royal Observatory

It's an early night for us - we are all beat and have some busy days coming up.  Tomorrow we get our rental car.  I'm terrified of driving in London...

Friday, July 11

A day filled with lots of history today...

We started at Buckinham Palace for the Changing of the Guard.  Lots of pomp and ceremony with that, thought it was bit hard to tell what was going on.  My favorite part - the band playing John Williams music.  There's nothing like  those fancy guys in their jackets and black fuzzy hats playing the themes from Indiana Jones and Star Wars...

Buckingham Palace

We then walked to Westminster Abbey.  That's a magnificent building. Jeremy Irons narrated our tour.  Sadly, the tomb of Edward the Confessor was off limits, but we did get to see Queen Elizabeth I's tomb as well as many, many others.  The whole building was definitely an awe-inspiring sight to behold.  And who can resist flying buttresses!

We then made our way to the British Museum, where we saw lots of really cool old things - the Rosetta Stone (bigger than I expected), the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon (give them back to Greece!), and many other neat things.  We didn't get to see nearly enough of what the museum holds, but we did get to see the main highlights.

Rosetta Stone

Elgin Marbles

Today we are off to the Harry Potter studios!

Thursday, July 10

Yesterday was Sophie's day.  There were two things she wanted to see in London - the London Eye and the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.  We started the day at the museum.  Walking into the main hall felt like walking into the Great Hall at Hogwarts.  The building itself was beautiful.

The entrance to the museum

Dad is apparently still learning how to use a camera.  Every single one he took has his fingers in the shot...

We saw many dinosaur skeletons, which were all very cool.  Sophie was quite impressed be the animatronic T-Rex.  She also very much enjoyed looking at the various minerals and crystals that were on display.  She did not enjoy walking past the entrance to the "Creepy Crawlies" exhibit since they had a very large poster of a very gross spider.  Can't say I blame her there...

After lunch at the museum, we headed over to the London Eye and rode the very large Ferris wheel.  We got some excellent views of the city from up there.  It was a nice way to see things.  Sophie then played in the playground for awhile before we began to make our way back to the apartment.

Sophie climbing around at the playground with the London Eye in the background

We had dinner at an Asian place inside the big shopping complex near our apartment.  It was good.  While the Tube itself is very easy to use, we are having some issues with the sizes of the stations - the amount of walking we have to do to transfer lines is crazy and then once we make our way out, it is a bit confusing as to what way to go or which exist to use, but we're slowly figuring it out.

On tap for today is the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum to see things like the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles stolen (!) from the Parthenon.  I'm very excited about all of these.

I'm currently sitting around waiting for the apartment owner to show up to fix the washing machine that doesn't work.  She was supposed to be here 45 minutes ago and I got up early for that reason alone.  Zzzzzzzz.......