OXFORD AND WIMBELDON!!

Tuesday...........

Well, after a great night sleep at the Travel Lodge, we decided to go see what all the fuss was about in Oxford. Apparently all the smart kids go to school ther. Whatever.....i are smart, i ain't no dumbe. I are smart two ain't no one tellin me different!!!

Ok, so Oxford is freakin sweet! The town is absolutely amazing. So many different buildings that are beautiful. Dad suggested that we go on the city tour and it was so great. We got to see all the main sights in Oxford and hear all about the history. We all decided that we could of easily spent an entire day there looking around. However, with the two hours we gave our selves, i think that we did quite well.

OXFORD...

ME AND MOM ON OUR TOUR BUS

MORE PRETTY IN OXFORD

LOOK, WE GOT HEAD PHONES TO HELP UP HEAR ALL THE HISTORY......

Oxford was awesome and it made me seriously re-think my theory that all academics are boring and no fun. I'm not saying that I'm going to start dating an Oxford man any time soon..........it just means that maybe I'll not poke quite as much fun at the super smarty pants anymore. I'll give em a break.

Wednesday...........
I just have to say that this morning I woke up at 5am without an alarm to assist me. What in the world? My folks are definetly wearing off on me. I mean for cryin out loud.......i was back in my own room, with my blinds shut and I still woke up early. AAAGGGHHHH!!!!

However, this morning we decided to test our fate and go and stand in line for Wimbeldon tickets. I left my place at 6am to go and meet my folks (i mean when you wake up at 5am......6am is no problem......which is riduculous) so that we could make it to wimbeldon before the crowds. We figured that if there were any a day for the Proctor's habit of being on time would pay off........then this would be the day. Well, let me tell you..........we waited in line for 3 hours before we got to the ticket office. But, we got in and it was awesome!!!! There were 19 courts where tennis matches were being played and we just hoped around from court to court to watch the matches. It was great. The only problem was that it was freakin hot and I now have sunglass face. But, we had a great time and I think that I wished I were better at tennis.........but, i super suck at it.

OUR SEATS WERE GREAT

(LOOK FOR MORE WIMBELDON PHOTOS WHEN I GET MY FOLKS CAMERA TOMORROW MORNING)

INTERNET CONNECTION FINALLY!!!

So, it's been a while since I could find an internet connection, which has been very frustrating, but i finally found one........yea. I told Erin that I would blog every night so that she could keep up with what we were doing on our trip.......but i didn't think that I would have such a problem finding internet access. But, like a good sister, i've been keeping my word, so here is a play by play of our trip thus far.......

Monday June 19, 2006

Started out freakin early this morn to make sure we got to our rental car and out of the city before rush hour………good plan eh? However, we got lost about 3 minutes into our trip, so our early start ended up being pointless. Today we drove for about 5 hours to get to Windemere…..which is a small city in the lake district. It is beautiful.

Our rental car is a ford focus diesel, which pretty much rocks! My dad was mad at first because apparently I had rented a tiny compact car which wouldn’t have even fit our suitcases…….so he upgraded it to the focus. Picky, picky! Mom couldn’t stop talking about how great the rental guy was and now wants me to marry him and produce little enterprise rental kids………she thought he was cute. I will admit that he wasn’t all that bad looking and his teeth were even straight…….i mean as much as an English guys teeth can be straight. Also, my dad and I have had to talk mom out of purchasing a go England flag for our rental car. The world cup fever has hit everyone.


DAD DRIVING


DINNER AT WINDEMERE

We did walk down to the lake this evening and scoped out tomorrows boat ride and shopping spree that we are going to go on. Windemere is definitely a beautiful place…stay tuned for more pictures of our adventures.


ME AND MOM ON THE WAY DOWN TO BOWNESS

Tuesday June 20, 2006

Started today by the sun peeking through the window at around 4:30am…….this is because my folks don’t shut the curtains in the room so as soon as the sun comes up so do we.


THIS IS OUR BED AND BREAKFAST WHERE WE STAYED IN WINDEMERE.

We headed down to the dock this morning to get on the first boat down the lake. Lake Windemere is the largest lake in England, apparently, and is some 200 feet deep. We took a boat named the Swan towards Ambleside (another cute little city in the lake district)….we then took a smaller boat to Wray Castle where we hiked for 4 miles along the lake. It was beautiful. Don’t worry, we took plenty of snack breaks to keep up our energy. Once we hiked 4 miles…….we then took the ferry back across the lake to Bowness (the city) and desperately searched for food! We had worked up quite an appetite and were in need of nourishment before a hard afternoon of shopping.


US ON THE BOAT RIDE ON LAKE WINDEMERE


DAD GETTING OUT OF THE BOAT BEFORE OUR HIKE.


HIKED UP TO THIS CASTLE.......WRAY CASTLE.


ME AND MOM HIKING THE TRAIL.


MOM WAS COMPLAINING ABOUT NEEDING A HIKING STICK........LOOK WHAT I FOUND HER!!


HOW CUTE WAS THIS? COULDN'T PASS UP THIS PHOTO SPOT


THESE ARE THE TYPES OF SCENES THAT WE HIKED BY......SO PRETTY


DAD HIKING.......HE WAS HOLDING ALL OUR MUCH NEEDED SNACKS.


MY MOM WANTED ME TO LEAVE THIS PHOTO OUT....I SAY IT'S PRETTY ENOUGH TO MAKE IT ON THE BLOG....WHAT DO YOU THINK?

After all this, we came back to the hotel and took a much needed nap. (FYI….it use to be my dad that snored, but now my mom does).

The Queen pub was our dinner destination where we watched the England vs. Sweden game along side all the Brits. It was roudy and crowded and was a fun way to watch the game. However, my mom was wishing she had an England flag to wave around (she wasn’t kidding), so my dad and I were glad that we put our foot down and wouldn’t let her purchase one.

Wednesday June 21, 2006
Happy Birthday Sean!!!

It is interesting to me that men have such a bad reputation about stopping and asking for directions………….my dad fits a whole new category. As we were getting gas this morning before our journey my dad was asking the clerk for directions. I was across the store and all I heard was this really nice guy giving specific directions and my dad agreeing and nodding and saying….oh that sounds easy…….thanks. As I approach him and ask where we were headed, he tells me that he has no idea what the kid was saying and is not sure where to go. I was like……what in the world dad? You made it sound like you knew exactly what he was saying………..anyways, I had to re-ask the directions and then we were off. (I tell you what……I have no idea how he gets anywhere!!!)

As we drove through the lake district today, it was absolutely georgous. Now, I know that there are some pretty places around the world, but heading through the lake district and then driving through the highlands of Scotland was fantastic. I even saw a cow with long hair. I will try and get a photo tomorrow…..we will just pretend that we are at Yellowstone National Park and pull the car over and snap the pictures that we want.

The stop that we made today was in Stirling to see the Wallace monument. It was really raining and windy, but we braved the storm and made our way up. And, when I say up….I’m not kidding. My mom was starting to re-think letting my dad and I come up with ideas, because we had made her go on a 3 ½ hour hike the day before and now we were scaling up a mountain to get to the Wallace Monument, where we had to climb 264 stairs to the top. The funny thing was that when we got to the top of the mountain…which was the base of the monument (we still had to climb the stairs), a free shuttle bus passed us that brought everyone from the bottom of the hill to the top. Me and my dad just looked at each other and started laughing really hard………….it was weird, my mom didn’t seem to find it quite as funny as we did. But, trust me, it was funny. Braveheart will be the first video that I rent when I get home because I’ve never seen it and the monument was great. FREEDOM!!! Apparently, that’s a big saying during the movie.


WALLACE MONUMENT.


TIRED MOM AFTER 264 + STAIRS.

Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe that I almost forgot the funniest part of the day. My dad drove all day (because he won’t let me drive even though we are paying 5 pounds a day to have me on the car as a driver….whatever) and I will admit that the roads that we were driving on were very narrow and curvy and did require a lot of skill to manauver around. However, there are some locals that drive a bit crazy and we were on a dual highway where cars were on a single track and this one little car passed very dangerously and dad didn’t curse….didn’t scream….but calmly flipped him the bird. It was so funny. I was like….dad. did you seriously just flip the bird? …..he was like…..well, what in the hell did he think he was doing?..........anyways…..super funny.

We stopped for the night in this town…..not city mom keeps telling me…..called Killin. The B&B that we are in is so nice. I even have my own room. It’s great. Well, I’m off to bed because my mom and dad get up at the butt crack of dawn and I’m trying to keep up with them……..we’ll see how it goes.


A MUCH NEEDED DINNER BREAK IN KILLIN


OUR ROOMS WERE SOOOOOOO NICE AND COZY.

Thursday June 22nd 2006
Left Killin this morning to continue our drive through the Highlands of Scotland. Let me tell you…..it is one of the most beautiful places that I’ve seen. I loved driving through the winding roads of N. Scotland seeing all the beautiful green mountains.

We stopped in Glencoe where apparently there was this huge battle years ago………of course, my mom told me the story, but I can’t really remember it now, but some British men ended up killing some Scots…..or something like that.


BEN NEVIS......A MOUNTAIN IN GLENCOE

Oh, guess what I learned today when we went to the Whiskey distillery?......that the word whiskey actually means “the water of life” in Gaelic. It was interesting to read how whiskey is actually made………..don’t worry, I didn’t try any, I just smelt it. P----U!!

Spotted a long haired cow………for some reason I can’t seem to get enough of them. They are everywhere up here in Northern Scotland and I think they are awesome. We got a good shot of them in the fields close to the whiskey distillery. I was Mooooo---ved. (he he he)


HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

From here we went to a place called Fort Augustis and watched the ships move down the lake by the locks. I don’t know about any of you, but I’d never seen this work before, but it’s pretty interesting.


LOCKS ON THE LAKE...

We then went on the Royal Scot (that’s what our boat was called) to see the loch ness monster. Did you know that he/she really exists? Here I thought it was a big myth……no it is not. And…….i have the pictures to prove it.


LOOKS CLOSE.........IT THE LOCH NESS MONSTER.

Friday June 23rd, 2006
My mom and dad let me sleep in this morning until 7:30….now usually this would not seem like sleeping in, however, when traveling with my folks I take what I can get.

We left Inverness this morning to drive across Scotland to Arbroath, where we are booked for 3 days. So, our plan was to stop along the road at anything that looked interesting. Our first stop was this beautiful stone bridge called Sluggin Bridge in a town called Carr Bridge. It was at this point that my dad actually handed the keys over to me to drive……..i couldn’t believe it. I think it was hard for him because it was so obvious that I was the superior driver.


SLUGGIN BRIDGE


CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT HE LET MET DRIVE?


WE SAW THIS CASTLE OFF THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS CALLED, SO MY DAD NAMED IT THE BEAT TO SH&% CASTLE AND IT SORT OF STUCK.

Blair castle was our next detour and it was fantastic. It was a castle that had every room filled with actual artifacts from the different eras of royalities that once lived in the castle. It was interesting and I enjoyed it very much.


BLAIR CASTLE

We then stopped in a little town called Pilarchy to eat lunch. We ended up eating in the park because it was so nice.


LUNCH IN THE PARK

Now, we are in Arbroath at our bed and breakfast and it is overlooking the Arbroath golf course and it is right on the north sea. It’s pretty breath taking. My dad also made a new BFF….the guy who runs our B & B. He is actually a really nice guy and his family has been really nice.


THIS IS OUR B&B IN ARBROATH.......GOOD CHOICE DAD!!

Oh, good news………my dad didn’t flip anyone off today, so we all thought it was a great success.


Saturday June 24th, 2006
So, I woke up at 4:30am this morning because my mom and dad would not let me shut the blinds in our room because dad used the window sill as a fridge so that his diet coke would be cold in the morning. Well,……….if you ever wondered what time the sun shines through when your right on the North Sea…………it’s 4:30am. So, needless to say it was an extremely early morning for me. Yawn!

We started out this morning by going to the library where we finally found some internet access. It has been amazing how no one has any sort of internet access anywhere that we’ve been. It’s a good thing everything has been so damn beautiful cause that makes it kind of hard to complain about the lack of the world wide web. However, it was very nice to once again be connected…….even if only for an hour.

The Arbroath abbey was our historical edujamacation for the day. This abbey was in ruins, which I loved, and was absolutely beautiful. In fact, did you know that the word monk (who is mainly lived in this abbey long ago) is a greek word that means alone? Interesting huh? I thought so. Anyways, we strolled around the grounds for a bit and took lots and lots and lots of photos. See below.


ARBROATH ABBEY


CAN YOU FIND MY DAD IN THIS PICTURE?


NOW....TRY AND FIND ME......I'M THERE I PROMISE.

Ok, now for the main event of the day……..my dad and I went golfing at the Arbroath Golf Club. This golf course is situated on the shores of the North Sea….it is absolutely beautiful. It was, however, a very difficult course that ate 7 of my balls and coincidentally it ate 7 of my dads as well. We had a great time however and are ready to take on any Scottish course that comes our way.


DAD GOLFING


IT WAS A SWEEEEEET SHOT!!


Sunday June 25th, 2006

We decided to drive to Aberdeen today to check it out. On our way we stopped at Donnettar Castle in this little town called Stonehaven. It was overlooking a cliff and it was one of those castles that was in ruins…….it was so great!! It has been by far the favorite castle for us all. In fact me and my dad wore out our little fingers because we took so many pictures. My mom was a little apprehensive because there were a lot of steps to climb and she’s getting pretty tired of climbing the stairs. Anywho, once inside the castle there were some pretty impressive views of the ocean…..i loved it.
Then, we made our way to Aberdeen, where we did a little shopping and ate lunch. Then, I got behind the wheel again and we drove up the costal route back to Arbroath. However, my dad suggested that we stop in Carnoustie, which is a famous golf town, to look around. Well, it was awesome. We ended up watching a world cup game in their lounge and then of course we shopped some more and got some pretty sweet Carnoustie souvenirs. Lets just say that Stacey now has a brand new golf hat…….watch out!!!


ONE OF THE VIEWS FROM DONNATAR CASTLE


PART OF DONNATAR CASTLE


US THREE AT DONNATAR CASTLE......IT WAS OUR FAVORITE.


DAD AT CARNOUSTIE

I’m exhausted this evening, my folks are really wearing me out, but we are sure having a fantastic time. We are driving all day tomorrow because we need to try and get back to London here soon, so none of us are really looking forward to it.

MONDAY June 26th, 2006

Drove all day...........9 hours...........yuke!!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADDY-O

Another great day with the folks. Man, are they ever wearing me out. I tell you what........We started our journeys today at Portobello Market. It wasn't quite at its full swing on Sundays like it is on Saturdays, however, my mom and I somehow still found things to purchase. It was quite hot and humid while strolling the streets o Portobello, but definetely worth it. And, dad found his favorite restaurant thus far on the trip........Subway (yea, that's right). He was soooooo happy that he could put ice in his cup, so he went back for like 4 refills. Since it was father's day and all, mom and I didn't give him a hard time.


PORTOBELLO MARKET



If you look closely......you will see me sporting my new ring (ok, you can't see it very well, but trust me it is FANTASTIC)!! And, mom is wearing her new necklace, which was a great purchase!

From the market, we went to Canary's Warf not really knowing what to expect, but it turned out great. Apparently, Canary's Warf is the financial district and it showed let me tell you. We found ourselves surrounded by big, beautiful and expensive buildings. It all looked new, which i'm not use to in London because everything is ususally so old and historic. It was quite posh.


SITTING TO DRINK OUR 6 POUND SODA'S AT CANARAY WARF........NO WONDER WHY EVERYTHING WAS SO BRAND NEW!!! JEEZ!

After taking our time with our expensive drink break, we took the train to Greenwich. There, we saw the Cutty Sark and ate at this delicious Itailan restaurant. MMMMMMM. Then, we took the boat back towards central london. Me and Dad kept napping, but i believe that mom made it the whole way.

Then, we saw the Parliment buildings.....you know the ones that got blown up on V is for Vendetta. ( i know that reviews were bad, but I actually liked the show). We strolled past Big Ben and then took the tube to St. Pauls to walk across the Millieium bridge.


DAD AT THE CUTTY SARK


US ON THE BOAT.........BEFORE WE FELL ASLEEP.


MILLENIEL BRIDGE

Tomorrow i have to be up freakin early...........so tonight i'm hitting the sack early.

THE FOLKS ARE HERE!!

I picked up my folks today at the airport. It was really good to see them. They are troopers, that's for sure. After being up for over 24 hours I was thinking that they would want to take a little nap before we went exploring (I mean, when the Smedleys' visited they took a 2 hour nap once they checked into their hotel). Not my folks. They threw their bags in their room and we were off. The adventure begins......

1) FOOD!! First things first, we had to eat. We found this little pizzeria where we could sit out and enjoy the sun. (it was a beautiful day..........there was one point during the day that I actually thought I was going to melt, that's how hot it was, but I'm not going to complain about seeing the sun!!

2) We then strolled around Holland Park and my dad was already complaining about the warm coke that he was forced to drink because of the lack of ice in the country. (I've adapted since I've been over here so long, but my dad was having troubles with it).
Holland park was beautiful today. We walked through the japanese gardens and saw a peacock actually spread its feathers. (FYI...did you all know that it's actually the male that has the beautiful feathers?.....yea, it's true, apparently they spread their feathers to attract the female.......who isn't really left with beauty since the male peacocks sort of have that market cornered).


JAPANESE GARDENS AT HOLLAND PARK


YEA......THIS IS A MALE!!! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I'M ATTRACTED! (WINK, WINK)

Picadilly Circus................shopping at lillywhites (i bought a bag....it's cute)..........strolling through Leister Square, and then finding a place to eat in Covent Garden. All in all it was a great day. We called it an early night because...........well the folks had been up for a long time. I will admit that I was impressed at their get up and go after landing. Stay tuned for more journeys tomorrow.........it will be a good time, that you can count on.


DINNER IN COVENT GARDEN