The Journey: Manchester, UK [part 1]

In April and May we took a wonderful trip to visit family. I eagerly awaited our trip for a few reasons: this was the first time really meeting Simon's sister Bryn and her husband Tom, as well as my nephews (they came to our wedding two years ago, but our families only spent two hours together and my attention was directed elsewhere--Simon), and I wanted to show Simon some of my favorite places in Spain, and then we were visiting his parents who we hadn't seen in a year.

We flew out of Salt Lake on April 24th and arrived at 8 a.m. in Manchester the following morning. Tom and Bryn came with Toby to pick us up at the airport.

And wouldn't you know it...it was raining. Hence, our first trip was to acquire rain coats and so we took the train into Buxton with Bryn, Tom and the boys after we dropped stuff off at their house.

Day 1: Buxton

It was a bit cold, windy, and rainy as we wandered the streets. So we decided to go to the indoor gardens. However, only the atrium was open and the gallery itself was closed.

We went and got sweets at a shop and had a delightful time.

I took this picture of the countryside as the train rolled along.



Day 2: The Canal
We started our second morning at our B&B with a full English breakfast (minus the black pudding). Two sausages, two huge slabs of bacon (our equivalent of ham, only better!), two tomatoes, two hashbrowns, mushrooms, an egg, 6 slices of toast for the two of us and beans. And all of it, except the beans, was fried.

Our first English breakfast was a bit too much for me. I couldn't finish it.

Simon and Tom picked up the canal boat we had rented for the day. Simon took right to the helm.

Tattie (Tatti?) did not like the boat at all. She wanted to be off it and on dry...er..stable ground, particularly if anyone else was out of the boat.

There were many lovely boats all along the canal parked. Some people live in their boats full time. Space is at a premium in England.

Our trip began with a little rain but it cleared up for several hours and we even saw some blue skies.

Stuart and Toby really enjoyed themselves and loved the boat, and the bridges.

These were dandelions growing out of the wall. It was so funny to me.

We traveled about 9 miles in 3 hours and turned the boat around after we had a picnic lunch. On the return trip about halfway back it began to pour.

Stuart decided to keep Simon company and help him steer. Both boys were thoroughly soaked while the rest of us kept dry beneath the canopy.

When we were nearly back Toby wanted to help with one of the small swing bridges and so Bryn hopped off and I was to hand Toby to her on the canal bank. However, the rain had made the boat bottom slippery and as I was about to pass Toby, I lost my footing and fell hard. I gave my hip a nasty bruise and may have hit my head (I think I narrowly missed a sharp corner). Toby landed on top of me and I think he was more startled than hurt. He cried and Bryn held him. I was relieved that he didn't hold the fall against me and grateful that Bryn didn't either.

Day 3: Castleton

We spent the next day in Castleton. As there was not enough room in their car for all of us, Tom dropped us off and picked us up from the train and they drove and met us there.

The boys had their matching duck umbrellas, that even when it wasn't raining, they liked to carry around.

We hiked up to the castle ruins for which the city is named. I do not recall the history, but this castle was built in a highly defensible position.

Aside from the wall, the tower is the only real real remain of this small castle-complex.

Simon finally took the camera from me to take my picture of the view of the village from the castle hill.

Above: This window was in a room which looked as though there might have been a toilet.
Below: The inside of the tower

The backside of the tower had stones up in, while the front's stones were missing (perhaps greater weathering? The wind seemed to blow on this side which is why I had my hood pulled up to avoid freezing my ears.

Simon loved the fluffy moss that grew in stones everywhere! The flowers growing up walls were also incredible.

We'd hoped to go exploring these caves but they were closed due to high water. England received a month's worth of rain about the same time we arrived.

And yes, this cave really is called the Devils Arse. We only went as far as the crack.

Simon and I wandered through a church cemetery; most of the headstones were older than our country's founding (1776).

For these first few days we primarily had 40 degree weather. Stuart matter-of-factly told us when we asked him if it ever got warm, "It's always warm in England."

After visiting Castleton, we caught a 6:50 flight in Manchester.

On to Spain!

Yellowstone National Park

 

Idaho Falls Temple

[We stopped for gas and dinner in Idaho Falls on Saturday night]

Memorial day weekend, we took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Although my third time (the last time being 8 years ago), it was Simon's first visit to the park. It was snowing when we arrived Saturday night. We pitched the tent in the flurry of flakes and the small ground coating of snow. We hunkered down in our tent and managed to stay warm in our sleeping bags and underneath several blankets we brought with us. We noticed the weather looked cold prior to leaving and packed accordingly. The first two nights were so cold. When we'd return to camp in the evening to cook dinner on our grill, it was so cold that our fingers would turn numb and the hot food, quickly cool off once we took it from the grill.

 

Our first morning heading into Yellowstone, the cloudy sky looked foreboding, cold and dreary.

 Buffalo often demonstrated their dominance by leading the herds of metal animals.

Simon smiling at the awe inspiring bison.

Steam rises from the ground everywhere in Yellowstone.

 Mammoth Hot Springs and the travertine deposits

We only saw one elk. It was in a far off field and the snow clouded the image somewhat.

 We saw many of these deer-like creatures. They have a huge white plume on their rears and their heads are shaped unlike any deer I've seen.

The baby bison were adorable and had such cute bright coats.

Oddly colored pools of steaming water, desolate in the immediate vicinity, but beautiful in the surroundings.

 Sapphire Pool

 Sapphire Pool's ledges went in and suddenly dropped off as cavernous and deep openings.

Our first viewing of Old Faithful. 

 These pools contained such vibrant colors. Simon began craving lobster and crab as we walked near the orange stripes.

 

 From a distance we would see the steam picking up the colors from the pool.

We took a hike up to a waterfall. It was a little over a mile to the falls and was worth the hike.

 

The Lion family: little cub, big cub, lioness, and lion

[It made noise, steamed and little cub spurted briefly, while lion only shot up a couple specks of water]

 

 

Anemone Geyser was one of my favorites. It shoots water every 7-10 minutes. There are two pools. If they are empty you wait a few minutes and they will begin to fill. Once the first fills you will see the second fill shortly and begin to erupt with the first pool draining and shortly thereafter followed by the erupting pool draining as well.

 

Old Faithful's spectacular conclusion to our visit.

We watched Old Faithful erupt three times during our visit: Once on the second day, and twice as we wandered the geyser basin, admiring other geysers (Anemone, the Lions, and Castle). Castle also erupted while we were there which we felt pretty lucky to see as it only shoots water every 12 hours or so; it has a 30 minute eruption phase followed by a 40 minute steam phase. It was incredible to be surrounded by several erupting geysers simultaneously erupting--Plume, Old Faithful, and Castle, and Anemone going off again and again. An incredible demonstration of nature's forces.

 

Three wonderful days with my husband enjoying the beauty and power of our world.