As for the good reason, Kurt and I decided to make a spontaneous trip up north to explore the Lake District and Scotland. We're increasingly aware of how quickly our time here's dwindling so squeezing in adventures whenever possible is a must.
I'd become pretty disenchanted with England over the last couple months. It boiled down to being sick of city life and longing for some place to call home. Having to leave my aunt's peaceful back porch and being detained for two hours at the UK border didn't help either. This trip won me back a little, though. The Highlands are beautiful and Scotland is magical...almost as magical as Ireland. We stayed in a cute lodge in the middle of green sloping farm-land, walked along Hadrain's wall and looked for Nessie at Loch Ness.
Like most road trips (please tell me my family isn't the exception) we had some not-so-planned experiences too. First, on our way home, we got caught in severe flooding. Thankfully our little rental car didn't succumb to being stranded in thigh-high water, like some. But we were delayed over three hours. I'd wanted to make it to what was Mr. Darcy's house in the new Pride and Prejudice film before night fall. This didn't happen, but we were still determined to sneak a peak. We parked on the side of the road and ran up a sheep-speckled hill to see the house. In less than five minutes we saw cop cars and flashlights. Unbeknownst to us, the Olympic Torch was to go through on the road the next day. Our parking was highly suspicious stuff and mainly this was the biggest responsibility the cops had ever been given. It was half comical, half a pain in the butt, but we got to sit in the cop car and in the end they even directed us to the best spot to see the house.
As for the big news I mentioned above, today we booked one-way tickets to the States! August 30th is the date. I know leaving will be bitter-sweet, but right now I'm just focusing on the sweetness. By golly, I have two new nephews to meet!! This year I've learned that life goes on, with or without me around, and I'd prefer to be around. So here we go, another transition, more adventure. I'll keep you all posted.
How have you all been? I've been out of the blogging-loop for some time now, do fill me in. ;-)
Michaela Rae
Too funny about the cops! What are the odds that the torch would be coming that way! But glad you were able to at least catch a glimpse of Mr. Darcy's house - that would be on my list too! :)
ReplyDeleteI looked at your album on facebook! that sounds like a crazy adventure. now you can reminisce about "that one time in scotland" and it will be awesome.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shots and flooding... been crazy over here in the States. Power outages, tornadoes... it will be nice when you get back and meet your nephews!!
ReplyDeleteI've heard about all the craziness back home too, makes the gloomy London weather not seem as bad. :-/
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