Tripping is an Adventure

Going on a trip with Dennis is always an adventure. There is usually a pretty good chance you will do or see things that you never expect. Our current trip is no exception.

We flew from SLC to London by way of Detroit on Tuesday, May 24. We had a 8 hour layover in Detroit so rented a car and went to find a museum. Our first choice was closed due to renovations and the second was only open Wednesday thru Saturday. We ate lunch in Greek town and then we drove in search of a store to pick up some things we had already realized we forgot - Dennis' jeans and the power supply cord for Alyna's computer. Almost before we knew it we found ourselves in Canada.

We flew all night and arrived in London the next morning. We rented a car and headed out to visit the queen at Windsor castle.

After checking into our hotel - a Marriott that was right on the sight of a large horse racing venue - and taking a quick nap, we were off once again, in search of a good dinner.
We made a quick stop at the temple first and then drove to Brighton to see the Royal Pavillion. When it was finally to dark to see anything else very well, we went to a little Indian place and had a nice dinner.
The next day was a lot of driving, which in England, is not all that easy since everything is on the wrong side. But we made it to Stonehenge (it was rainy and I didn't even get out of the car but the girls got out for 5 minutes and ran and took a picture), Bath (where we spent the most time) and Bristol (where we mostly just dropped off packages to the missionaries) .

The inside of the clock of the cathedral

The Circus - Bath

Alyna writes a note to the Elders to leave with the packages.

The next few days we spent in London seeing the sights - Buckingham Palace, Westminster Cathedral, Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London and the London Bridge..... The town is looking much more spiffed up, whether it was for the royal wedding that took place last month or for next summer's Olympics, I'm not sure.

In front of Buckingham Palace

From the tower of St. Paul's Cathedral

Oh, we met a few famous people along the way.

We went to see a show each night - Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. I enjoyed them the second or third time as much as the first.

Sunday, we headed North. Dennis had a hard time staying awake so we had to find places to stop every two hours. We ended up going to Oxford, Stratford-Upon-Avon, the temple in Preston before getting to our hotel - a Marriott that looked like a large old country estate. We went to find something to eat and ended up in the down town part of town - not very nice - and getting meal at a KFC that was the most disgustingly filthy restaurant we had ever been in. We took the food back to our hotel, blessed it good and went to bed hoping that we all didn't have food poisoning.

More to come

Southeast Coast Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Jessica and I flew to Atlanta to take a fun trip. The purpose of the trip was to give Jessica a chance to meet with some potential employers and check out other job opportunities in the Georgia and Carolinas area. Almost everyday, there was rain predicted but we had perfect weather the whole time. The only time it rained was while we were indoors so that didn't stop us at all. The temperature and humidity was just perfect for our whole trip.

We flew into Atlanta late Monday night and spent Tuesday morning there while Kara finished up her work. Jess and I went to the Aquarium. It is a good one.

After Kara got done, we grabbed some lunch and headed up to Ashville. We got checked into our hotel at about 5 PM only to find out that most of the stores and such in town close at 5:00. Kara has been to the area a time or two and knew some great places. We went to Grove Park Country Club. It is a beautiful place! We enjoyed the gardens - especially the statue garden and had a light dinner.

The next day we spent most of the day at the Biltmore. WOW!! Loved it! I want to go back. The house was magnificent and they were having a special floral exhibit so every room had beautiful huge floral arrangements that fit the rooms so perfectly. The gardens and grounds were amazing.

After leaving the estate, we went to a discount shoe store. That was fun too. All of us left with at least one new pair of shoes.

We drove to Durham that night and got to Mindy and Jeran's at about 10 PM. We spent the next two days with them. We went shopping, to a farm to see "oreo" cows, and of course we laughed and ate a lot. It was just so fun to be able to spend some time with Mindy and Jeran in their home.

The famous oreo cows on Fearrington Farm.

Mindy being Mindy.

Kara had to fly to Atlanta for a day so Jessica, Mindy and I went to the NC botanical garden before Jess and I took off. The garden was well done as far as an educational garden goes. I especially liked the poisonous plant section. Mindy and Jessica enjoyed playing with the

Venus Fly Trap.

We drove down to Myrtle Beach and checked into our hotel - right on the beach. We had fun walking on the beach and Jess got to play in the water. (I could only get in up to my knees since I was still re-cooperating from an appendectomy.) It was so warm and humid - it felt wonderful! After dinner, we picked Kara up at the airport and drove through town on the way back to our hotel. We were glad that we were staying on the North end of town and not down in the amusement park area.

From there we headed to Charleston. On our way, we stopped to see a garden that one of Kara's friends had recommended. We had no idea what to expect but it turned out to be really amazing. It was probably one of the best gardens we saw on our trip, and we saw a lot! Brookgreen Gardens is near Murrells Inlet and is huge.

We finally made it to Charleston, checked into our hotel and then went out and walked around the old part of town until time for dinner. Kara has traveled through this area and also has friends who love good food so we had plenty of recommendations of good places to eat. In Charleston, we were able to eat at a very popular restaurant, Magnolia's. The food was excellent and the waiters were great.

The next morning, we went out to Boone Hall Plantation. It was supposedly the inspiration for Gone with the Wind and the place where North and South was filmed. It wasn't nearly as amazing as I thought it would be but we got some great photos here.

We spent the afternoon driving to Savannah. We checked into our hotel and then went out walking and exploring the town. I loved the park squares every few blocks. It was so peaceful and calm. While we were out walking, there was a man out standing on his porch. We stopped to talk to him for a few minutes and he invited us in to see his house. It was very interesting to see the antiques he had and to see his extensive art and artifact collection. He and his wife love to read and he had books everywhere! It was a really fun and unexpected addition to our experience in Savannah. Dinner was delicious again.

The morning dawned beautifully and we took a tour of the city on a minibus. We ended up walking the last half of the tour but that was okay because it was the part along the river and the shopping areas. We bought candied pecans and sorbets. We also had some huge chocolate dipped strawberries.

Then it was time to head back to Atlanta and get ready to fly home. It was so much fun to be travelling with Kara and Jessica. I'm so glad we were able to make the trip and see so many amazing sights. It would have been nice to have a few more days but we had Fun!