Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 16
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 15
Monday, October 14, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Days 12-14
Friday, October 11, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 11
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 10
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 9
I am cautiously optimistic that congressional and White House meetings tomorrow will start to make progress on getting me back to work. I miss it!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 8
Monday, October 7, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 7
I was restless today -- couldn't do one activity for more than an hour or two at a time. This morning I cleaned the kitchen (my house has never been so clean for so long before I swear) and then made a quiche (asparagus and bacon with a sweet potato crust). I painted my toenails with watching Covert Affairs (mostly because it's too hard to decide what else to watch), worked on Oakley's blanket (could have finished it probably, but I ran out of binding), read for a while, talked to my boss for a while (she wanted to check in with everyone and make sure we were doing okay), called my brother and dad, and went to ballet class. Today was also a dark, gloomy sort of day which I don't think helped with the restlessness.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 6
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 5
Friday, October 4, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 4
Re,latedly, seeing as this thing doesn't have an end in sight and I could be looking at being home for a while longer I've come up with four Rules for a Shutdown
1.) Take a shower and get dressed every morning within one hour of getting out of bed (or be out exercising in the same timeframe).
2.) Leave the house for at least 45 minutes every day.
3.) Speak with another human at least once a day.
4.) Do at least one productive thing every day.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 3
I'm officially bored. It's been two and a half days and I'm simultaneously in danger of becoming a couch potato and going absolutely stir crazy. Went out for a run/brisk walk this morning. The weather was perfect (note to self: morning, not midday for this business) AND I saw a woodchuck! Virginia is woody and so I've seen all kinds of woodland creatures before, but this was my first woodchuck sighting! FUN! He was like five feet away from me when I first spotted him, but obviously by the time my camera loaded, he'd started scampering off. I spent most of the afternoon working on my Auntie Jules blanket for soon-to-be born Niece #3, but I ran out of thread about the same time that it was time to go work out with Amy Lou. Except then we didn't work out. We watched Doctor Who instead. And Amy and Mel loaned me a giant stack of books, which I'm sure that I will be grateful for. I'm ready to go back to work.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 2
I folded all my laundry this morning for the first time in at least two months. Probably three. I also ate way too much chocolate cake and went for a run at lunchtime (not the best decision I've ever made, given the unseasonably warm weather we've been having). My friend Emma invited me over to hang out with her and her kids for while, so I did. We spent a lot of time talking about how ridiculous the shutdown is generally, how ridiculous Congressional entrenchment is getting on both sides, and how absurd the blame game is getting. Doesn't matter who's at fault, what matters is finding a solution which is going to be made MUCH more difficult if you keep publicly name calling. Just saying. I'm also kind of annoyed that right now the only thing on the table is a continuing resolution. Yes, I'd like to get back to work as soon as possible, but I'd also like to not have to face this situation every three months so maybe let's pass a real budget or something. Anyway, finished out the day at my volunteer gig, so I feel like I at least made a contribution to society today.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Shutdown Diary: Day 1
Went into the office today for a 4-hour "orderly shutdown," then was home a little after noon. I filled the rest of my day Skyping with Amber, attending to some neglected housekeeping, and finishing the first season of "Under the Dome" which was annoyingly addictive. Ames and Mel came over in the evening to have dinner and watch Castle and Doctor Who.
It's starting to sink in that this is a for-real affecting my life sort of thing. Fingers crossed that it's resolved quickly.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Career Woman
Over the last several months I've been facing the tough question of what's next in my career, and in the process have had the startling revelation that, um, I'm having a career. When I graduated from college and moved to the East Coast it was in search of a job. Something to pay the bills until my real life started, but at some point I made the transition from having a job to having a career, and that was so not in my life plan.
I was very blessed in this process. I applied for my current job on a whim -- I was semi-qualified and the job seemed interesting but I never expected in a hundred years for my application to stand out enough to be offered an interview and later an actual job. And I was doubly blessed that I not only enjoy the work that I do, I'm also very good at it. I'm not saying that to brag; being very good at my job is hugely rewarding and I feel tremendously lucky that, having sort of stumbled into my career by accident, it was something that I'm good at.
Because I never meant to be a 30-something career woman. My real life plan was to go to college, fall in love, get married, struggle through the lean years, and then support my husband in his career while I stayed home and raised the babies. I got a college education because I love knowledge, because that's what you do after high school, and also because I wanted to show my kids that we as parents valued education. And when marriage didn't happen during the college years, because I knew that I'd have to support myself for a few years before my Real Life happened.
And then marriage kept not happening, and in the meantime I was getting very good at my work and making decisions that were making work into a career. So here I am. And as I've been exploring my next career move (a new office? a new position? overseas?) I've realized that this IS my Real Life, and it's great. It's obviously not without it's challenges -- I'm busy and I can't always keep up with everything that needs to be done and it can be lonely and I still yearn for marriage and children and honestly, making career choices can be terrifying and hard -- but it also affords me a lot of opportunities to serve and a lot of flexibility.
So now when I think about a possible future marriage and possible future kids, I realize that it would be very hard to walk away from this career of mine. Not that I would necessarily have to, but I like to hope that I would want to stay at home and have a new Mother career. But I think if that time ever comes it will be hard. That life no longer seems like it's my Real Life waiting just around the corner.
In related news, I just got a performance-based raise at work. I celebrated by buying myself a pretty.
I was very blessed in this process. I applied for my current job on a whim -- I was semi-qualified and the job seemed interesting but I never expected in a hundred years for my application to stand out enough to be offered an interview and later an actual job. And I was doubly blessed that I not only enjoy the work that I do, I'm also very good at it. I'm not saying that to brag; being very good at my job is hugely rewarding and I feel tremendously lucky that, having sort of stumbled into my career by accident, it was something that I'm good at.
Because I never meant to be a 30-something career woman. My real life plan was to go to college, fall in love, get married, struggle through the lean years, and then support my husband in his career while I stayed home and raised the babies. I got a college education because I love knowledge, because that's what you do after high school, and also because I wanted to show my kids that we as parents valued education. And when marriage didn't happen during the college years, because I knew that I'd have to support myself for a few years before my Real Life happened.
And then marriage kept not happening, and in the meantime I was getting very good at my work and making decisions that were making work into a career. So here I am. And as I've been exploring my next career move (a new office? a new position? overseas?) I've realized that this IS my Real Life, and it's great. It's obviously not without it's challenges -- I'm busy and I can't always keep up with everything that needs to be done and it can be lonely and I still yearn for marriage and children and honestly, making career choices can be terrifying and hard -- but it also affords me a lot of opportunities to serve and a lot of flexibility.
So now when I think about a possible future marriage and possible future kids, I realize that it would be very hard to walk away from this career of mine. Not that I would necessarily have to, but I like to hope that I would want to stay at home and have a new Mother career. But I think if that time ever comes it will be hard. That life no longer seems like it's my Real Life waiting just around the corner.
In related news, I just got a performance-based raise at work. I celebrated by buying myself a pretty.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
And Now! Everything That's Happened Since I Got Back From England!
So, honestly, each of these things probably deserves its own post, but that's unlikely to happen, and probably by the time it DID happen, it would be, like, November and I would still be two months behind two months. So instead you're about to get a too-long but insufficiently detailed overview of stuff that's happened since I got home from the Epic Grad Trip.
Jules's Birthday 5K
I turned 32 this year. I know. I couldn't believe it either. There are things that happened that I remember happening that happened MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO!!! And! There are things that I do (like speak/study Spanish) that I've been doing for 15 years or more. Not even kidding. Anyway, to celebrated I had a 5K run! I did this on my 30th birthday and loved it so much that I intended to do it every year of my life forever, but last year between the car accident and general life mayhem, there to was just no time. This year's was just as fun as the first time, though, and even included some repeat participants. (Thanks for coming out, Dixons!) The course turned out to be a little more challenging than I'd anticipated (a mean hill during the last half mile was definitely not nice), but I loved it! And we finished up with smoothies and muffins. Such a great way to celebrate.
Fourth of July
I spent fourth of July with Amy Lou and some of her friends from work. We made and grilled and ate kabobs and sat on the back porch and chatted about life. Then we walked over to the Falls Church fireworks show, which was actually pretty good. I enjoyed spending a low key holiday with friends and thinking about how much I do love this country and what it stands for, even though here in the DC area the problems with the system can become really, really apparent.
Emergency Trip to Vermont
I got a phone call late on Friday, 12 July from my dad's significant other who was calling to let me know that he'd been in a pretty serious motorcycle accident. They were being transferred from the hospital closest to them in Rochester to one in New Hampshire that would be better able to meet his needs. I spent the next hour or so calling people and relaying the news. That's never a very fun experience. Everything from the awkward transition from "hey, we haven't talked in a while!" to "so I have bad news, actually" to having to repeat over and over "Dad's been in a serious accident. He has a fractured skull and is currently having memory problems. There are indications of bleeding on the brain. He's also suffering from fractured ribs and a collapsed lung." It was a lot.
When it became clear on Saturday morning that the hospital stay was going to be least a couple more days, I decided that I would drive up so that I could spell Leslie from bedside duty. There was a whirlwind of packing, making arrangements with work and church, and other places that I have responsibilities, and then then drive. It's not actually terrible, about 9 hours, but depending on which way you go, it can cost $50 in tolls.
Dad spent Sunday night in the hospital, and was discharged late afternoon on Monday. My job for most of the time I was there was to sit quietly in Dad's room, but be on hand in case he needed anything. Not a bad gig, actually. I was also in charge of contacting the local missionaries who came over to give him a blessing. I drove him home after he was discharged, and Dad said that I did "a pretty good job." Which is kind of high praise. He's doing much better now, although his vision and balance are still affected by the head injury. And on the upside, I got to add a state to my collection of "States I have gone on a run in." New Hampshire, woo!
Root Canal
Okay, this is two bummer tales right in a row, but I had to get a root canal at the beginning of August. I had had this horrible, awful toothache that laid me low most of the weekend and scheduled an emergency visit to the dentist, who discovered that I need an old root canal retreated AND a new one. The office I went to doesn't mess around, I was in on Monday, and done on Friday. It was horrible. I don't remember my other root canal being as awful, but they were also top teeth and not bottom back teeth, so maybe that's why. Three shots, and achey jaw, and many tears later and I got handed the bill for almost $3K. Hor.ri.ble. And I still need to get the retreat done (I'm waiting until I can add dental insurance to my policy at work).
Work Trip to Panama
Also at the beginning of August I ended up getting to go on a last-minute, whirlwind trip to Panama for work! We'd planned a virtual team summit-type meeting, but funds became available and we actually got to do it in person, which is SO much better for planning team strategy and hashing out tough questions. Because it was so fast, though,I pretty much landed, slept, went to the office, went to dinner with the office, slept, repeat. No times for fun adventures or monkey sightings or anything, but I did love being back in my favorite Central American country. <3 p="">
Tubing the Potomac
The local Single Adult ward planned a tubing trip down the Potomac in mid-August, and that sounded like a really great idea. So Amy Lou, her sister Becks, and I decided to go play. It was really, really fun (except for the part where Amy fell out of her tube and hit her head. That was sad.) (And also the part where it was not terribly well executed in the get loads of people on the river which means we were waiting around for an hour+) but tubing down a river is pretty much the greatest idea that anyone ever had ever. We did "whitewater" kind which meant sometimes there were rocky parts which was fun to go over, so basically, it was amazingly relaxing and amazing. You can see a bunch more pictures here.
Labor Day Weekend: BYU Football and Hiking Shenandoah
I discovered that BYU's season opener was going to be in Charlottesville, VA, a mere 2-ish hours from me and therefore well within the boundary of Distances I Am Willing To Travel To Watch BYU Football. Once again Amy Lou and I decided that we needed to be there, and we went. There was a two hour weather delay, thanks to serious rain and lightning, and once we were back in the stadium, it started raining again during the 3rd quarter. But a little rain never hurt anything (Except BYU's offense). By the time we were like "hey, maybe we should get out of the rain," we were so drenched that it was already too late. We just stopped by WalMart on the way home to get dry clothes. It was really fun to watch BYU play, even if the loss was just heartbreaking (they made up for it by their amazing performance against Texas last weekend, though). More pics here.
On Monday, Ames and I hiked Old Rag, one of the more popular hikes in VA. It's a really, really fun hike with about a mile of rock scramble just before you get to the summit. We picnicked while enjoying the view and then took the smoother, easier way down. Being in nature always leads my thoughts Gospel-ward and so we had really great discussions about the meaning of life and the beauty of God's creations. It was great. We got done rather sooner than expected and tacked on a side trip to Luray Caverns. I love caverns. I really, really do, and this one had one of the most stunning features I've ever seen -- a huge, perfectly still lake that reflected the ceiling so clearly you couldn't tell it was a reflection. Gorgeous. The picture does not do it justice.
And that's you caught up on my life. Hooray! Now I can get back to posting about the much lamer things that my life is actually made up of like making homemade marshmallows and trying to figure out this whole "career" thing.
Jules's Birthday 5K
Fourth of July
I spent fourth of July with Amy Lou and some of her friends from work. We made and grilled and ate kabobs and sat on the back porch and chatted about life. Then we walked over to the Falls Church fireworks show, which was actually pretty good. I enjoyed spending a low key holiday with friends and thinking about how much I do love this country and what it stands for, even though here in the DC area the problems with the system can become really, really apparent.
Emergency Trip to Vermont
I got a phone call late on Friday, 12 July from my dad's significant other who was calling to let me know that he'd been in a pretty serious motorcycle accident. They were being transferred from the hospital closest to them in Rochester to one in New Hampshire that would be better able to meet his needs. I spent the next hour or so calling people and relaying the news. That's never a very fun experience. Everything from the awkward transition from "hey, we haven't talked in a while!" to "so I have bad news, actually" to having to repeat over and over "Dad's been in a serious accident. He has a fractured skull and is currently having memory problems. There are indications of bleeding on the brain. He's also suffering from fractured ribs and a collapsed lung." It was a lot.
When it became clear on Saturday morning that the hospital stay was going to be least a couple more days, I decided that I would drive up so that I could spell Leslie from bedside duty. There was a whirlwind of packing, making arrangements with work and church, and other places that I have responsibilities, and then then drive. It's not actually terrible, about 9 hours, but depending on which way you go, it can cost $50 in tolls.
Dad spent Sunday night in the hospital, and was discharged late afternoon on Monday. My job for most of the time I was there was to sit quietly in Dad's room, but be on hand in case he needed anything. Not a bad gig, actually. I was also in charge of contacting the local missionaries who came over to give him a blessing. I drove him home after he was discharged, and Dad said that I did "a pretty good job." Which is kind of high praise. He's doing much better now, although his vision and balance are still affected by the head injury. And on the upside, I got to add a state to my collection of "States I have gone on a run in." New Hampshire, woo!
Root Canal
Okay, this is two bummer tales right in a row, but I had to get a root canal at the beginning of August. I had had this horrible, awful toothache that laid me low most of the weekend and scheduled an emergency visit to the dentist, who discovered that I need an old root canal retreated AND a new one. The office I went to doesn't mess around, I was in on Monday, and done on Friday. It was horrible. I don't remember my other root canal being as awful, but they were also top teeth and not bottom back teeth, so maybe that's why. Three shots, and achey jaw, and many tears later and I got handed the bill for almost $3K. Hor.ri.ble. And I still need to get the retreat done (I'm waiting until I can add dental insurance to my policy at work).
Work Trip to Panama
 |
| Yes, these are the only pics I have from this trip. |
Tubing the Potomac
The local Single Adult ward planned a tubing trip down the Potomac in mid-August, and that sounded like a really great idea. So Amy Lou, her sister Becks, and I decided to go play. It was really, really fun (except for the part where Amy fell out of her tube and hit her head. That was sad.) (And also the part where it was not terribly well executed in the get loads of people on the river which means we were waiting around for an hour+) but tubing down a river is pretty much the greatest idea that anyone ever had ever. We did "whitewater" kind which meant sometimes there were rocky parts which was fun to go over, so basically, it was amazingly relaxing and amazing. You can see a bunch more pictures here.
Labor Day Weekend: BYU Football and Hiking Shenandoah
On Monday, Ames and I hiked Old Rag, one of the more popular hikes in VA. It's a really, really fun hike with about a mile of rock scramble just before you get to the summit. We picnicked while enjoying the view and then took the smoother, easier way down. Being in nature always leads my thoughts Gospel-ward and so we had really great discussions about the meaning of life and the beauty of God's creations. It was great. We got done rather sooner than expected and tacked on a side trip to Luray Caverns. I love caverns. I really, really do, and this one had one of the most stunning features I've ever seen -- a huge, perfectly still lake that reflected the ceiling so clearly you couldn't tell it was a reflection. Gorgeous. The picture does not do it justice.
And that's you caught up on my life. Hooray! Now I can get back to posting about the much lamer things that my life is actually made up of like making homemade marshmallows and trying to figure out this whole "career" thing.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Epic Grad Trip: Conclusion
We took the overnight train from Inverness to Euston and then caught a bus from Euston to Paddington. We checked our luggage at Paddington so we could go breakfast without having to drage everything around (which was especially a problem given Lori's lack of wheels on her suitcase situation). We finished breakfast more quickly than anticipated, but after two weeks away from home and putting in 12-15 hours days of Having Fun and Seeing Stuff, and also being tired from being cheapskates and not getting bunks on the train, we decided that we'd just go to the airport early rather than try and do anything else, which turned out to be a good thing.
When we got back to Paddington we learned that the express train that usually runs between Paddington and the airport was not running that day. At all. Awesome. Which meant taking the tube. Which meant adding money to our card, crowds, changing lines, and generally taking way longer to get to the plane than planned. Which was fine because we'd ended up leaving earlier than intended anyway.
So we got to Heathrow about when I had planned only to discover that somehow I'd gotten the time of our flight completely wrong and/or that the time of our flight had changed and I'd missed the memo and that we had six minutes to check in if we wanted to be on the flight. Which, obviously, we did. Luckily, six minutes turned out to be just enough time since the attendant let us check in at the fancy people check in. We did not check in soon enough to get seats together, but we were close enough, and just happy to be permitted on board. We raced through the airport and made it to the gate just in time to walk onto the plane. *Phew!* Talk about stressful.
The flight back was WAY more grueling than the flight to London and my ankles were like three times their normal size by the time we finally landed (though, in fairness, that had already started on the train). As per tradition, we stopped at In'N'Out on our way home from the airport.
I had one day in California before my flight back home, which I spent pretending that I could TOTALLY run on five hours of real sleep after almost a solid 24 of travel and then hanging out with 'my brother's family. We had dinner and made birthday cake to celebrate the fact that my birthday was the next day, and generally had a lovely time. And then it was time for me to go back to real life.
I loved going on this trip with Lori. It was an epic adventure and it was really awesome to have some time to really get to know my baby sister who a lot of the time is still just five years old in my head. She's not five anymore and she's a wonderful young woman. I'm SO excited for her to head up to college and spread her wings because she's going to be great!!!
And now I can't wait for when it's Kolby's turn to graduate and pick somewhere awesome and fun for us to go!
When we got back to Paddington we learned that the express train that usually runs between Paddington and the airport was not running that day. At all. Awesome. Which meant taking the tube. Which meant adding money to our card, crowds, changing lines, and generally taking way longer to get to the plane than planned. Which was fine because we'd ended up leaving earlier than intended anyway.
So we got to Heathrow about when I had planned only to discover that somehow I'd gotten the time of our flight completely wrong and/or that the time of our flight had changed and I'd missed the memo and that we had six minutes to check in if we wanted to be on the flight. Which, obviously, we did. Luckily, six minutes turned out to be just enough time since the attendant let us check in at the fancy people check in. We did not check in soon enough to get seats together, but we were close enough, and just happy to be permitted on board. We raced through the airport and made it to the gate just in time to walk onto the plane. *Phew!* Talk about stressful.
The flight back was WAY more grueling than the flight to London and my ankles were like three times their normal size by the time we finally landed (though, in fairness, that had already started on the train). As per tradition, we stopped at In'N'Out on our way home from the airport.
I had one day in California before my flight back home, which I spent pretending that I could TOTALLY run on five hours of real sleep after almost a solid 24 of travel and then hanging out with 'my brother's family. We had dinner and made birthday cake to celebrate the fact that my birthday was the next day, and generally had a lovely time. And then it was time for me to go back to real life.
I loved going on this trip with Lori. It was an epic adventure and it was really awesome to have some time to really get to know my baby sister who a lot of the time is still just five years old in my head. She's not five anymore and she's a wonderful young woman. I'm SO excited for her to head up to college and spread her wings because she's going to be great!!!
And now I can't wait for when it's Kolby's turn to graduate and pick somewhere awesome and fun for us to go!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Epic Grad Trip: Inverness
During our trip, I kept treating train stations like airports, which they are not. You really don't have to arrive very much ahead of time to catch a train, and especially not when you travel on passes like we did which were good pretty much for any train. So, we spent more time than was strictly necessary in train stations. Which was fine. As we were leaving Edinburgh though, the train to Inverness kept not having a platform. And not having a platform. And not having a platform. We spent a good 20 minutes staring at this board waiting for our train to have a platform, along with all these other people.
It started to seem like the train would be really, really delayed. Or cancelled! And we would have to live the rest of our lives in the Edinburgh station. But just before the train was scheduled to leave, we got a platform, got on the train, and departed not 10 minutes later. The day was saved and we arrived in beautiful Inverness.
We'd been in the UK nearly two weeks by now, and we had gone to Inverness mostly as a staging point to see the Loch Ness, so that evening we pretended we were home (which was easy to do; Inverness was the place we went that actually felt like a "real town") and went to the movies. There was a theater near our hotel with an attached restaurant so went and dined and watched Man of Steel. Which was ridiculous, obviously, but it was nice to have a bit of home away from home
The next day we hopped a bus out to Urquhart Castle, whose ruins sit on the banks of Loch Ness.
Somehow, Lori and I had gotten into a giggly mood that day, and everything was making us laugh, starting with the dramatic opening of the curtains for a view of the castle after the overly dramatic film introducing the castle. At some point in the movie there was a random moose call or something which we though was hilarious enough that after we'd gone exploring, we went back for a second viewing. But that was later. First we explored the castle. (You'll notice that Loo is actually wearing a sweatshirt, which should tell you something about the weather. These last two days in Scotland were the worst weather days we had the whole time we were there.)
And then we joined some tour group for a boat ride out onto the Loch.
And then it started to rain.
We stayed out on deck as long as we could, but eventually we were driven below. We hadn't finished exploring the Castle before catching the boat, but it was still raining when we got back so we decided to take our tour at a run -- laughing the whole time. Obviously we got soaked.
When we'd explored every inch of the place, eaten lunch, and watched the intro movie again we decided it was time to go see one of the Loch Ness Monster exhibits. Obviously. (There had been no Nessie sightings for us, sadly.) When we realized we'd misjudged the bus schedule, we decided that two miles was nothing and we walked back into town.
Or skipped, as the fancy took us. :-) Lori had gotten into the habit of stuffing her bag with treats and had accumulated a number of half eaten ones, that somehow all managed to get nibbled on during this walk. Seriously. At what point I heard a rustling wrapper sound and turned around and was like "What are you eating NOW!?" and Lori lost it. She laughed for like 10 minutes about that. Anyway, we made it to a Loch Ness monster exhibit and it was actually pretty well done and quite interesting. I liked that it focused on the hunt for Nessie rather than getting all "Nessie is real!" Plus there was this, which is just awesome.
After some hot chocolate in town, we headed back to Inverness. I went on a run while Lori took a little rest and probably mostly checked facebook. And then came the task of finding somewhere to eat. We were turned away from five or six different places which were apparently all full before finding (yet another) Indian place and stuffing our faces with deliciousness.
The next day was our last full day in Scotland, so obviously we spent the morning at church. The ward was having their ward conference, which was kind of fun, and which also meant that Loo and I were together for most of it. For the afternoon, we'd decided we'd go check out Cawdor Castle which we'd heard was cool. The lady at the bus station told us we should take the bus to Nairn and then catch a taxi out. She did not tell us that there were multiple stops in Nairn, so I chose the one that was by the "Tourist Information" sign. We got out and... there was nothing. No one on the street, no stores, no nothing. We found the Tourist Information center, but it was closed. So I looked at Lori and she looked at me and we were like "So... what do we do now?"
Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit when I said there was nothing open. There was a chip shop open, and we went in to see if we could get the inside scoop on anything. When we explained what we were after and that the woman at the bus stop had said to get off at Nairn, the young fellow behind the counter said in his awesome Scottish brogue "Ah, you shouldna trust anyone who tells you to get off at Nairn." And that is what Lori and I continue to advise each other. As we were having this discussion, an older gentleman had come in and ordered two ice cream cones, and, on hearing our dilemma offered to drive us out there as he was going that direction anyway. "Sure!" we said and as we followed him out thought "Hmmm... this is maybe not the *best* idea we've ever had." But he'd ordered two ice cream cones because his wife was in the car, so we were fine.
Cawdor Castle still has residents, and so it's fully furnished and was fun to walk through. And the grounds are just stunning, and worth the price of admission on their own. However, having been dropped off by strangers once we were through we faced the secondary dilemma of not knowing how to get back to Inverness. So we had the lady at the ticket office call us a taxi, and we got home with just enough time to catch our overnight train back to London.
It started to seem like the train would be really, really delayed. Or cancelled! And we would have to live the rest of our lives in the Edinburgh station. But just before the train was scheduled to leave, we got a platform, got on the train, and departed not 10 minutes later. The day was saved and we arrived in beautiful Inverness.
We'd been in the UK nearly two weeks by now, and we had gone to Inverness mostly as a staging point to see the Loch Ness, so that evening we pretended we were home (which was easy to do; Inverness was the place we went that actually felt like a "real town") and went to the movies. There was a theater near our hotel with an attached restaurant so went and dined and watched Man of Steel. Which was ridiculous, obviously, but it was nice to have a bit of home away from home
The next day we hopped a bus out to Urquhart Castle, whose ruins sit on the banks of Loch Ness.
Somehow, Lori and I had gotten into a giggly mood that day, and everything was making us laugh, starting with the dramatic opening of the curtains for a view of the castle after the overly dramatic film introducing the castle. At some point in the movie there was a random moose call or something which we though was hilarious enough that after we'd gone exploring, we went back for a second viewing. But that was later. First we explored the castle. (You'll notice that Loo is actually wearing a sweatshirt, which should tell you something about the weather. These last two days in Scotland were the worst weather days we had the whole time we were there.)
And then we joined some tour group for a boat ride out onto the Loch.
And then it started to rain.
We stayed out on deck as long as we could, but eventually we were driven below. We hadn't finished exploring the Castle before catching the boat, but it was still raining when we got back so we decided to take our tour at a run -- laughing the whole time. Obviously we got soaked.
When we'd explored every inch of the place, eaten lunch, and watched the intro movie again we decided it was time to go see one of the Loch Ness Monster exhibits. Obviously. (There had been no Nessie sightings for us, sadly.) When we realized we'd misjudged the bus schedule, we decided that two miles was nothing and we walked back into town.
Or skipped, as the fancy took us. :-) Lori had gotten into the habit of stuffing her bag with treats and had accumulated a number of half eaten ones, that somehow all managed to get nibbled on during this walk. Seriously. At what point I heard a rustling wrapper sound and turned around and was like "What are you eating NOW!?" and Lori lost it. She laughed for like 10 minutes about that. Anyway, we made it to a Loch Ness monster exhibit and it was actually pretty well done and quite interesting. I liked that it focused on the hunt for Nessie rather than getting all "Nessie is real!" Plus there was this, which is just awesome.
After some hot chocolate in town, we headed back to Inverness. I went on a run while Lori took a little rest and probably mostly checked facebook. And then came the task of finding somewhere to eat. We were turned away from five or six different places which were apparently all full before finding (yet another) Indian place and stuffing our faces with deliciousness.
The next day was our last full day in Scotland, so obviously we spent the morning at church. The ward was having their ward conference, which was kind of fun, and which also meant that Loo and I were together for most of it. For the afternoon, we'd decided we'd go check out Cawdor Castle which we'd heard was cool. The lady at the bus station told us we should take the bus to Nairn and then catch a taxi out. She did not tell us that there were multiple stops in Nairn, so I chose the one that was by the "Tourist Information" sign. We got out and... there was nothing. No one on the street, no stores, no nothing. We found the Tourist Information center, but it was closed. So I looked at Lori and she looked at me and we were like "So... what do we do now?"
Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit when I said there was nothing open. There was a chip shop open, and we went in to see if we could get the inside scoop on anything. When we explained what we were after and that the woman at the bus stop had said to get off at Nairn, the young fellow behind the counter said in his awesome Scottish brogue "Ah, you shouldna trust anyone who tells you to get off at Nairn." And that is what Lori and I continue to advise each other. As we were having this discussion, an older gentleman had come in and ordered two ice cream cones, and, on hearing our dilemma offered to drive us out there as he was going that direction anyway. "Sure!" we said and as we followed him out thought "Hmmm... this is maybe not the *best* idea we've ever had." But he'd ordered two ice cream cones because his wife was in the car, so we were fine.
Cawdor Castle still has residents, and so it's fully furnished and was fun to walk through. And the grounds are just stunning, and worth the price of admission on their own. However, having been dropped off by strangers once we were through we faced the secondary dilemma of not knowing how to get back to Inverness. So we had the lady at the ticket office call us a taxi, and we got home with just enough time to catch our overnight train back to London.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Epic Grad Trip: Edinburgh
We'd heard from many, many people that Edinburgh was their favorite part of Great Britain, and how gorgeous it was, and how awesome it was. And it was both gorgeous and awesome, but I found that I did not love it as much as I loved London and Wales. Probably more than I loved Bath, though. We'd caught an afternoon train, but it was summer, so we still had plenty of daylight to hike up to Arthur's Seat and enjoy the views in the late afternoon sunshine.
We were up and at 'em early the next day to get to Edinburgh Castle (almost) as soon as it opened, which was probably a good choice because there were already lots of people there. What stuck mle as we were touring was how different the various castles we'd visited so far were from each other. Edinburgh didn't have the same sense of "defense" that the others we'd visited had, mostly because many of its defenses were natural, and many of the layers were not as noticeable nowadays.
We took the free tour which was mostly an overview of what the highlights of the castle were, and then arrived in time for this guy to teach us about Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobites, and the many uses of a kilt.
This was the beginning of the WAY too much we heard about the Jacobites while we were in Scotland. I asked a Scotsman later about whether the Jacobite story was part of the Scottish national identity and he said no way, they only talk about it for the tourists who come to Scotland because they loved Braveheart. Lame. I also started to find the constant bagpipe music and the kilts a little cloying because it started to feel inauthentic. Not to say that I don't think that there are people who play the bagpipe because they love it or wear kilts because they're upholding a long tradition, but what we saw of that felt gimmicky, which is probably why I didn't love Edinburgh as much as I felt like I was supposed to.
Don't get me wrong, though, Edinburgh is a gorgeous, gorgeous city. And we WERE in the tourist areas, so you have to expect SOME of that. Also, I'm going to put a plug in now for walking tours. We loved every single walking tour that we went on, including the "secrets of old town" tour we took after leaving the castle and grabbing lunch.
Lori had gotten some acrylic nails as a graduation gift, and proceeded to complain about them pretty much the entire trip. I'm not even kidding. One popped off and another had broken so when we spotted a nail place, I decided that everyone would be happier if we stopped and got them taken off.
This turned out to be a longer process than we anticipated, but the lady -- who was from North Carolina and had the accent to prove it -- was delightful and we whiled away the time chatting about living in Scotland. At one point she stopped and announced "I love a man in a kilt" and watched said man in a kilt swish by. Then she told about how she had caught her husband "twirling" while dressing in a kilt for some formal occasion. Love! (And those Scottish men did tend to swish when they walked by in kilts.)
We eventually made it to the end of the Royal Mile, stopping to admire the Holyrood House from afar, since we'd gotten there too late to actually go in
The we wandered back home, stopping to have some dinner and a fried Mars bar on the way. Um, yeah, deep fried, battered Mars bar. Disgustingly delicious. We should probably stop here and talk about how much chocolate Lori and I ate while in the UK. We had multiple chocolate treats a day. My personal favorite were the Minstrels, which are basically giant M&Ms but with good milk chocolate inside. We had those probably every single day. And then we tried all kinds of candy bars, and let me tell you: the Brits put weird stuff in their chocolate. The strangest we had was chocolate with pop rocks AND jelly beans in it. So. Weird.
The next day we took a bus tour out to Loch Lomond and the highlands. This was a last minute addition to our trip, but by then we'd learned that Lori traveled much better with structured touring rather than wander (and particularly walking wandering), so we figured it would be a good idea. Loch Lomond did not disappoint.
Our driver was weirdly obsessive about making sure that groups with odd numbers of people sat together, and he was an odd mix of funny/whiny. Definitely not as good as the Mad Max tour in Bath, but we still loved seeing the gorgeous country side. We stopped in this one little town for lunch that had a "rare sheep" zoo-type thing. Which included this four horned guy.
Weird. The highlands were gorgeous to travel through, and the tour included a stop at Stirling Castle, which had not been on our agenda.
Stirling is a "restored" castle, and sparked a lengthy discussion between Lori and I about the merits of restoration v. preservation. We both ended up being on the preservation side of things because we felt like it made the sites more authentic. We felt like you couldn't ever really re-create things as they really were, though I must admit, I was impressed by these re-created tapestries.
We spent that evening in New Town (in which, ironically, most of the building are older than those in Old Town) and appreciated the Georgian architecture, some yummy food, and the stunning views of Edinburgh Castle.
We spent our last morning in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh museum, which we didn't have nearly enough time to play in, though we enjoyed seeing Dolly the Sheep.
We stopped to get some Lebanese food for the train ride up to Inverness and scored some free hummus because the guy was open, but not actually ready to serve food. Delish! And then we went to the train station and sadly waved goodbye to Edinburgh.
We were up and at 'em early the next day to get to Edinburgh Castle (almost) as soon as it opened, which was probably a good choice because there were already lots of people there. What stuck mle as we were touring was how different the various castles we'd visited so far were from each other. Edinburgh didn't have the same sense of "defense" that the others we'd visited had, mostly because many of its defenses were natural, and many of the layers were not as noticeable nowadays.
We took the free tour which was mostly an overview of what the highlights of the castle were, and then arrived in time for this guy to teach us about Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobites, and the many uses of a kilt.
This was the beginning of the WAY too much we heard about the Jacobites while we were in Scotland. I asked a Scotsman later about whether the Jacobite story was part of the Scottish national identity and he said no way, they only talk about it for the tourists who come to Scotland because they loved Braveheart. Lame. I also started to find the constant bagpipe music and the kilts a little cloying because it started to feel inauthentic. Not to say that I don't think that there are people who play the bagpipe because they love it or wear kilts because they're upholding a long tradition, but what we saw of that felt gimmicky, which is probably why I didn't love Edinburgh as much as I felt like I was supposed to.
Don't get me wrong, though, Edinburgh is a gorgeous, gorgeous city. And we WERE in the tourist areas, so you have to expect SOME of that. Also, I'm going to put a plug in now for walking tours. We loved every single walking tour that we went on, including the "secrets of old town" tour we took after leaving the castle and grabbing lunch.
Lori had gotten some acrylic nails as a graduation gift, and proceeded to complain about them pretty much the entire trip. I'm not even kidding. One popped off and another had broken so when we spotted a nail place, I decided that everyone would be happier if we stopped and got them taken off.
This turned out to be a longer process than we anticipated, but the lady -- who was from North Carolina and had the accent to prove it -- was delightful and we whiled away the time chatting about living in Scotland. At one point she stopped and announced "I love a man in a kilt" and watched said man in a kilt swish by. Then she told about how she had caught her husband "twirling" while dressing in a kilt for some formal occasion. Love! (And those Scottish men did tend to swish when they walked by in kilts.)
We eventually made it to the end of the Royal Mile, stopping to admire the Holyrood House from afar, since we'd gotten there too late to actually go in
The we wandered back home, stopping to have some dinner and a fried Mars bar on the way. Um, yeah, deep fried, battered Mars bar. Disgustingly delicious. We should probably stop here and talk about how much chocolate Lori and I ate while in the UK. We had multiple chocolate treats a day. My personal favorite were the Minstrels, which are basically giant M&Ms but with good milk chocolate inside. We had those probably every single day. And then we tried all kinds of candy bars, and let me tell you: the Brits put weird stuff in their chocolate. The strangest we had was chocolate with pop rocks AND jelly beans in it. So. Weird.
The next day we took a bus tour out to Loch Lomond and the highlands. This was a last minute addition to our trip, but by then we'd learned that Lori traveled much better with structured touring rather than wander (and particularly walking wandering), so we figured it would be a good idea. Loch Lomond did not disappoint.
Our driver was weirdly obsessive about making sure that groups with odd numbers of people sat together, and he was an odd mix of funny/whiny. Definitely not as good as the Mad Max tour in Bath, but we still loved seeing the gorgeous country side. We stopped in this one little town for lunch that had a "rare sheep" zoo-type thing. Which included this four horned guy.
Weird. The highlands were gorgeous to travel through, and the tour included a stop at Stirling Castle, which had not been on our agenda.
Stirling is a "restored" castle, and sparked a lengthy discussion between Lori and I about the merits of restoration v. preservation. We both ended up being on the preservation side of things because we felt like it made the sites more authentic. We felt like you couldn't ever really re-create things as they really were, though I must admit, I was impressed by these re-created tapestries.
We spent that evening in New Town (in which, ironically, most of the building are older than those in Old Town) and appreciated the Georgian architecture, some yummy food, and the stunning views of Edinburgh Castle.
We spent our last morning in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh museum, which we didn't have nearly enough time to play in, though we enjoyed seeing Dolly the Sheep.
We stopped to get some Lebanese food for the train ride up to Inverness and scored some free hummus because the guy was open, but not actually ready to serve food. Delish! And then we went to the train station and sadly waved goodbye to Edinburgh.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Epic Grad Trip: Conwy
Our adventures next took us north and west to Conwy, Wales. I was not really clear on where the boundaries of Conwy were, but the part we stayed in was inside the castles walls of Conwy castle. AWESOME! We immediately fell in love with the welsh landscape -- it was green and hilly with lots and lots of adorable sheep, and the sight of the castle in the distance had Lori going "Dude, that's a castle!" all evening.
We didn't have time for much more than settling in to the hotel and eating dinner, but we kind of needed the time to just chill. The next day was Sunday so we looked up the nearest branch and grabbed a taxi over to Colwyn Bay. Lori really wanted to attend all three hours of church, so we did. Afterward, the branch was having a bit of lunch and my theory on that was "free lunch" so we stayed for that as well. While mingling I happened to mention that one of the things I'd loved about the journey up from the South was the distinctive shift in architectural style to the architect in the room. That spawned a fantastic conversation about the various influencers of British architecture and languages and led to and invitation to join one of the families for a private evening tour.
But first! Another of the members (seriously, this branch was awesome) dropped us off in Llandudno (pronounced klan-did-no) where we took a tram up to the Great Orme. Which was breathtakingly beautiful.
The Great Orme is home to a Bronze Age copper mine whose 1980s discovery changed what archeologists knew about ancient British history, so obviously we had to go explore that.
Lori was cool until we got to the plaque that talked about how some of the shafts were so small that they could have only been used by small children and then she started getting the heebie jeebies and was startled on multiple occasions. Luckily that was toward the end of the path and we all made it out safely.
After that we just sort of wandered around enjoying the sea view and the green hills and the fresh air.
And then we took the cable cars back down to civilization.
Have I mentioned that the landscape was stunning? Seriously.
After dinner at a local pub, we headed back to Conwy and attempted to do laundry. Except that Conwy is teeny weeny and it was Sunday so the nearest laundromat was closed. Luckily, in the meantime our new friends from the Colwyn Bay branch had called and invited us over and said we could use the washing machine at their house. So they picked us up and drove us around to see the Isle of Anglesy which is where the Duke and Duchess of York hang out and also the site of the unfinished Beaumaris castles, and also has a lovely beach promenade, and also where I took zero pictures because I was too engaged in chatting with our new friends. Then we went back to their lovely home and enjoyed each others company while starting laundry. (This is the beginning of the Great Laundry Debacle. Turns out the family did not have a dryer, which I guess is common. They offered to let us leave the clothes at their house while they dried overnight and then we were to phone them when we'd gotten back from the next day's adventures so they could drop them off. In the meantime, at some point during the next day's adventures we'd lost their phone number. Which meant we couldn't call. Luckily, we'd exchanged email addresses independently of phone numbers, so I sent a email, but that meant a couple of very stressful hours of waiting and praying while feeling bad that we were imposing on this generous family and also stressing out because we were leaving the next day and sort of needed our clothes back. Finally, as I was lying fully clothed in bed with the covers over my head resolved that if we hadn't heard back from them that I would by the $15 for a skeevy Internet "get someone's contact information" site, there was a knock on the door letting us know that "a man with a case" was here to see us. I'm pretty sure that I actually shouted "hooray!" and flew down the stairs with great relief. It was a laundry miracle! About an hour later the email letting us know that he was coming came through.)
The original plan for the next day was to hike up Mount Snowdon, but Lori had been complaining about walking so I let her know that there was a train that we could take up if she wanted, and she opted for train. Which meant that we had to fill a few extra hours that morning. We opted to spend some time in Betws-y-Coed, described as the gateway to Snowdonia National Park. It was adorable, but there was not much to actually do/see so we found ourselves in a model train museum. Lori loved it.
Some of the models were quite realistic looking, and one of the plaques said especially to notice the detail on the toilets in this one. You can't see in this photo, but the toilet were remarkably detailed.
The museum also sported what I think was a 1/8 size train which we decided to spend the pound to ride.
Finally it was time to catch our real train up Mount Snowdon. It took us about an hour to get to the summit and there was probably interesting narration going on, but it was really hard to hear. But it didn't matter since, oh yeah, Wales is gorgeous.
One thing we hadn't really counted on was the fact that the summit was going to be FREEZING!!! Seriously. A walking skirt was totally inappropriate attire, and so although at first I was a little sad we'd only have a half hour on the summit, that's actually about all we could handle.
The views, though? Totally worth it. Although, you almost don't feel like you've earned them when you take the train up instead of doing the hike. If there's ever a next time, I will totally be hiking.
Our last morning in Conwy we finally went over to explore Conwy Castle. This was one of the two most gorgeous days weather-wise that we had while in the UK. I even actually took off my jacket for a good part of the day.
Conwy Castle was our favorite of the ones we saw -- I think mostly because the walls are still mostly intact, but since it's not been restored, it's pretty relaxed and you can do a lot of exploring. There are also some... odd art pieces scattered throughout.
After visiting the castle we took a walk along the castle walls, toured a Tudor-era house, and popped in at the smallest house in Great Britain.
And then it was time to leave Wales behind and continue on our way.
We didn't have time for much more than settling in to the hotel and eating dinner, but we kind of needed the time to just chill. The next day was Sunday so we looked up the nearest branch and grabbed a taxi over to Colwyn Bay. Lori really wanted to attend all three hours of church, so we did. Afterward, the branch was having a bit of lunch and my theory on that was "free lunch" so we stayed for that as well. While mingling I happened to mention that one of the things I'd loved about the journey up from the South was the distinctive shift in architectural style to the architect in the room. That spawned a fantastic conversation about the various influencers of British architecture and languages and led to and invitation to join one of the families for a private evening tour.
But first! Another of the members (seriously, this branch was awesome) dropped us off in Llandudno (pronounced klan-did-no) where we took a tram up to the Great Orme. Which was breathtakingly beautiful.
The Great Orme is home to a Bronze Age copper mine whose 1980s discovery changed what archeologists knew about ancient British history, so obviously we had to go explore that.
Lori was cool until we got to the plaque that talked about how some of the shafts were so small that they could have only been used by small children and then she started getting the heebie jeebies and was startled on multiple occasions. Luckily that was toward the end of the path and we all made it out safely.
After that we just sort of wandered around enjoying the sea view and the green hills and the fresh air.
And then we took the cable cars back down to civilization.
Have I mentioned that the landscape was stunning? Seriously.
After dinner at a local pub, we headed back to Conwy and attempted to do laundry. Except that Conwy is teeny weeny and it was Sunday so the nearest laundromat was closed. Luckily, in the meantime our new friends from the Colwyn Bay branch had called and invited us over and said we could use the washing machine at their house. So they picked us up and drove us around to see the Isle of Anglesy which is where the Duke and Duchess of York hang out and also the site of the unfinished Beaumaris castles, and also has a lovely beach promenade, and also where I took zero pictures because I was too engaged in chatting with our new friends. Then we went back to their lovely home and enjoyed each others company while starting laundry. (This is the beginning of the Great Laundry Debacle. Turns out the family did not have a dryer, which I guess is common. They offered to let us leave the clothes at their house while they dried overnight and then we were to phone them when we'd gotten back from the next day's adventures so they could drop them off. In the meantime, at some point during the next day's adventures we'd lost their phone number. Which meant we couldn't call. Luckily, we'd exchanged email addresses independently of phone numbers, so I sent a email, but that meant a couple of very stressful hours of waiting and praying while feeling bad that we were imposing on this generous family and also stressing out because we were leaving the next day and sort of needed our clothes back. Finally, as I was lying fully clothed in bed with the covers over my head resolved that if we hadn't heard back from them that I would by the $15 for a skeevy Internet "get someone's contact information" site, there was a knock on the door letting us know that "a man with a case" was here to see us. I'm pretty sure that I actually shouted "hooray!" and flew down the stairs with great relief. It was a laundry miracle! About an hour later the email letting us know that he was coming came through.)
The original plan for the next day was to hike up Mount Snowdon, but Lori had been complaining about walking so I let her know that there was a train that we could take up if she wanted, and she opted for train. Which meant that we had to fill a few extra hours that morning. We opted to spend some time in Betws-y-Coed, described as the gateway to Snowdonia National Park. It was adorable, but there was not much to actually do/see so we found ourselves in a model train museum. Lori loved it.
Some of the models were quite realistic looking, and one of the plaques said especially to notice the detail on the toilets in this one. You can't see in this photo, but the toilet were remarkably detailed.
The museum also sported what I think was a 1/8 size train which we decided to spend the pound to ride.
Finally it was time to catch our real train up Mount Snowdon. It took us about an hour to get to the summit and there was probably interesting narration going on, but it was really hard to hear. But it didn't matter since, oh yeah, Wales is gorgeous.
One thing we hadn't really counted on was the fact that the summit was going to be FREEZING!!! Seriously. A walking skirt was totally inappropriate attire, and so although at first I was a little sad we'd only have a half hour on the summit, that's actually about all we could handle.
The views, though? Totally worth it. Although, you almost don't feel like you've earned them when you take the train up instead of doing the hike. If there's ever a next time, I will totally be hiking.
Our last morning in Conwy we finally went over to explore Conwy Castle. This was one of the two most gorgeous days weather-wise that we had while in the UK. I even actually took off my jacket for a good part of the day.
Conwy Castle was our favorite of the ones we saw -- I think mostly because the walls are still mostly intact, but since it's not been restored, it's pretty relaxed and you can do a lot of exploring. There are also some... odd art pieces scattered throughout.
After visiting the castle we took a walk along the castle walls, toured a Tudor-era house, and popped in at the smallest house in Great Britain.
And then it was time to leave Wales behind and continue on our way.
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