Knightshayes and Cousins! March 20

After our English breakfast at our hotel, we drove about 60 miles into north Devon to a National Trust property, Knightshayes Court, where we had arranged to met my second cousin, Sue and her husband, Andre, neither of whom we had seen for over 20 years.

It was a wonderful visit, despite some drizzle and chill.  We sat and chatted in the cafe for hours, catching up on our lives.  Sue has done hours and hours of Geneological research on the Fell family.  My gran was Hilda Fell.  Her gran was Clara Fell.  Sue gave us a pile of documents and family tree things.  Wonderfully, with her expertise and membership in Ancestry UK, she had also done some sleuthing on the Whites which took us back two more generations which will please Grandpa Cal a lot.

We also walked around the huge estate house.  It was a strange mix of eras, having been built in the mid-nineteenth century, but in. Medieval style.  And, it had two designers, quite different from each other after the first one, William Berges, was fired.  So, the result is quite odd...very ornate, overly decorated, very busy.  The grounds were lovely, but the rain prevented us from exploring.

Sue and Andre introduced us to their dogs before we left.  They were going to take them for a woods walk.  We took off to pay a quick visit to Buckfast Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, consecrated in 1932, where my grandfather, Charles Barber, spent months lodging there, working on the stained glass windows.

 

Then, we came back to the hotel, ate and read over the genealogy that Sue gave us.

Following the White family of Devon

We had a hearty English breakfast at the Moorland Hotel and then got quite lost trying to find an easier way out of the moors and down to Plymouth.  We were on narrow roads with hedgerows.  We found a lovely stream, bridge and mossy trees and rocks en route.  In Plymton we asked a policeman for help and he actually provided us with an escort into Plymouth.  After we parked by the "Hoe" which is the high ground of the fortress-dominated harbor, he even came looking for us to give us advice and information.  We walked a bit and decided Plymouth is worth a return visit.

Then we drove to Modbury, a little village that my cousin Susan says is in the White genealogy.  We found St. George's church, built in the early 1300's.  and, we found a book of the headstones with several Whites.  (Jeffrey).

Next we drove to Malborough, another little village en route to Salcombe.  We found All Saints Church, built around 1200.  There were no records, but we found Whites in the graveyard...Agnes and John.
Then, we drove to Salcombe on the water and got coffee and made ham and cheese sandwiches.  The weather was sunny and cloudy, but got to 50 degrees.  I think we had the best weather in the country.

Next, we drove to Kingsbridge where we saw the White family home that we saw 8 years ago.  From there we got rather lost finding the village of Sherford, where the Whites had a farm.  This time, St Martin's church was closes and we could not find the grave we found before,but they had really deteriorated.  We took a short walk and bought a book of the village in Frogmore, nearby.  We found a more straightforward way back to Kingsbridge, stopping to photograph spring lambs in the fields.

It was another adventure to get back here...more roads barely as wide as our Ford Focus.   But, we managed, although it was a full hour.  Poor Mark!  We ate at the hotel.

dartmoor! march 18

We said a said goodbye to Maura who was the perfect host...good food, conversation, including giving up her own bed to us.  We are very grateful.

We drove about 210 miles to Moorland Hotel in Wotter Shaugh in Dartmoor.  We stopped en route to view Stonehenge, which we visited when Nick and Jecca were little and nothing was then fenced off like it is today.  
We stopped at a Waitrose in Exeter to get groceries ans had a hearty chicken soup in their cafe.  The last 8 miles were scary - hedgerows, narrow, narrow roads, turns.  The hotel was booked on Living Social for £158 for FOUR nights, including breakfast.  We are on third floor with balcony and can see Plymouth and the sea.  We are eating on the room, catching up on email and entered March Madness Tournament.  (Go Miami!)
   

A quiet St. Patrick's Day, March 17

We had a needed quiet day.  Maura went to do volunteer work in a stables which teaches handicapped children to ride on Sundays.  Mark and I took the train to Wimbledon and sat at a Starbuck's having coffee and checking email and Facebook etc.  It is almost time for our family March Madness Tournament, so we wanted to be sure we were not too late to enter.  (We weren't.  In fact, it was a day too early.)

We did get on the wrong train and had to turn around, though!  (Different trains on same platform). No harm done.

Then, Mark made another nice dinner of rice, mushrooms, ham....

More theatre in London, March 16

Today was less busy.  We had a slow morning, complete with salmon and scrambled eggs, a la Mark.
Then, off on the train for a matinee of "Quartermaine's Term" by Simon Graywith the incomparable Rowan Atkinson.  This was a gift from Maura, which was incredibly generous     It was set in a rather run down language school in Cambridge in the 60's.  Atkinson played a sad, incompetent, lonely teacher.  Everyone in the staff room had dysfunctional and lonely lives.  We disagreed about the play.  Maura found it rather pedestrian and sad.  Mark quite liked it, especially the acting, and I guess I was in the middle.  It was written in 1987 and Michael Palin had played Quartermaine  earlier in the West End.

We went home after the play.

The weather has been cold, windy, but with just sprinkles, so we have not let it stop us.

Mark made a lovely dinner of rosemary potatoes, chicken, broccoli and garlic.

A full day in London, March 15

We had a busy day in London, which started with Mark getting everyone up at 5:15 instead of 6:15!  We got an early train into Waterloo, walked to the National Theatre to queue up for tickets for the night show of "People" by Alan Bennett.  Success!  And only £12.50.

Then to breakfast at Canteen and a walk across the river to the Churchill War Rooms.  Fascinating tour and Churchill Museum.  We spent hours there. The maps were amazing and left as they were when the war ended.  Churchill was not easy to work for and hard on his staff.  We had a coffee and snack in the cafeteria.

After that, we walked to the National Gallery where we focused on medieval art, including a famous "cartoon" by Leonardo DaVinci, probably a study for another work.

Then, a stroll back over the river, dinner back at Canteen, and to the South Bank.  Our seats were high up and on the side which meant a bit of a neck strain, but couldn't beat the price.  The set was a run down grand house, occupied by two old, eccentric ladies, one of whom was a recluse, former model.  The other, her companion, who turned out to be her half sister, the off spring of the father's affair with a maid.  Another sister, a deacon, wants the house sold to the National Trust.  In the course of the play, an old lover of the former model, now a porn producer shows up.  We all liked the play,but didn't love it.  Lots of food for thought on age, class, keeping up grand homes, jokes on the people who support the National Trust.  Then, train home, after being gone for 15 hours.  Jet lag!

A full, busy, stimulating day...thanks to Maura.

Arrival in London, March 14

We had a very early wake up for a 5:30 a.m. pickup in the dark, but all went smoothly.  There were light snow flurries.  We had an easy three hour flight to Heathrow.   It is so nice to bypass collecting luggage.  We got mini bus to Avis and picked up a Ford Focus diesel car, white.  Mark did a great job driving to New Malden, although we took one moisture and ended up in Malden, then misses the turn to Motspur Park and went through a long delay of roadworks that we had to turn around and go back through!  It probably took about an extra hour, complete with waiting for a train.  Sigh!

It was great to get to Maura's house and relax.  We had a local Indian restaurant deliver some yummy food.  It is good to be in England.

Reykjavik, March 13

It was a tad tricky getting from the airport to Reykjavik.  The airport is 47 kilometers away.  We bought tickets for fly us to get to town.  Luckily, I read in inflight magazine that it would only take us to the central bus terminal and then we would have to switch to a city bus, numb we unknown AND no change is given by bus drivers.  Mind you, it was 6:30 a.m. So, 2:30 to us.  So, fortunately, we realized our error and paid 2000 more Icelandic krona to be dropped closer to our street, Ranargata.  We found the little, one-room studio from the photo from HomeAway and a nice young man, Sebastian, was here to let us in and mercifully make us some coffee and point us to a little grocery store.  I bought some really good local yogurt, which the shopkeepers told us they mix with cream.  As they opened the store for us before it was really open, I took their advice and.....yum!

After a little lie down and a shower, we explored the city.  The sun came out and it was in the mid-forties...not bad at all.  We wandered the main shopping street, Laugavegur and had some fish stew, which we expected to be like soup, but was more like a casserole.  It actually looked like Mac and cheese.  It was good, but rich.  We also strolled the water front, saw eiders and cormorants and one bird we hope our birding friends will identify.  We bought a banquette, cheese and ham for dinner and early to bed because we have a bus to catch at 5:30 a,m.!!!!!

family day and off to Iceland! march 12

Half day for Otis and Henry and Jecca and Willy are on their Spring holiday.  We all went for Sushi and Chinese restaurant for lunch.  At 5 30, Jecca drove us into Logan in the rain and bumper-to-bumper traffic.  But, we still had plenty of time and checked into Icelandair quickly and got through security quickly.  Our 9 35 flight left right on time.  It was a smooth flight, but the seats were pretty uncomfortable.  It was about a four and a half hour flight.

puttering around Concord

We did last minute things today, repacked our bags, got tickets for the bus into Reykjavik.  We stayed with Otis and Henry so Jec and Willy could go to a movie.

Leaving Nantucket, march 10

A day after a three-day storm, we get the Hy-Line to Hyannis.  Stopped at LL Bean for travel jackets.  We have got our luggage down to three carry-ons.  Stayed in Concord with Jecca, Willy, Otis and Henry.

Goodbye Nantucket, Hello Iceland!

On the road with the Whites....Europe 2013

Week 8 - Last week of the trip

Winchester Virginia

    We drove from Morganton to Winchester, Virginia, not a long day.  The weather is still summery, so we have not given up the shorts yet!  We have stayed outside Winchester before, but have never ventured into town, but this time we did and found it to be a beautiful little Shenandoah town. The downtown is pedestrianized and very pretty.  The town changed hands in the Civil War - over 70 TIMES, which is remarkable.  We ate at a little Sushi restaurant and then strolled.  (We also did a load of laundry.)

Mom and Bob

   After Winchester, we drove to see my mother in Binghamton, NY and stayed with my best friend from high school, Kathy and her husband, for two nights.  We had a nice visit, although, have reluctantly had to give up wearing shorts.  Sigh.  There was actually a little bit of snow in the air the first night we were there.
   Then, we drove from Binghamton to Concord, Massachusetts for 3 nights with our daughter Jecca and her family.  On the first full day there, Mark and I drove into Boston to see if we could find English newspapers for the play Mark will be directing soon, Noises Off!  No luck, but, amazingly, we ran into two Nantucket graduates - Connie McDonough-Thayer and Gillian Paige.  We were only in Harvard Square for 45 minutes, yet managed to run into two people we know!   We made speidis from Binghamton for dinner.

Sturbridge Village

Saw Mill: Otis, Henry, Mark

Henry and Otis dipping candles

Henry and Otis being silly

Henry on play ox

Carding Mill

    But, the best day at Concord was our day with Otis and Henry in Sturbridge Village, a place we have never visited, but Jec and Willy are members.  We had a lovely sunny day and we had the place almost to ourselves as the schools are still in session. (But Concord had a teacher-parent conference day.)  We spent hours there strolling, watching the saw mill and carding mill; the kids hand-dipped candles etc.  We all felt that we learned a great deal about the every-day life on a farm in New England.  We lunched at Friendly's.  A good time was had by all.

Week 7 - end...steadily heading back east

Barbara at Ingrid's Kitchen

    We left Santa Rosa and had a windy drive across Texas and Oklahoma to Oklahoma City.  The land got flatter and flatter.  Oklahoma City was a pleasant surprise.  Mark looked up a good place to eat from the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" website and we found Ingrid's Restaurant and Deli, a German restaurant.  And, we let the Garmin direct us there.  We had a really good meal.  We both had weiner schnitzel which was yummy and split a German beer.

Bricktown, Oklahoma City

   Very full, we then went downtown and parked by the botanical garden and wandered around.  We found the touristy Brick Town which centers around a canal.  Along the canal are restaurants, bars, hotels and flower gardens.  We took a lovely stroll.  It was a great end to a day of driving.

BB King Statue

Beale Street of Blues, Memphis

   From Oklahoma City, we drove to Memphis, Tennessee, another city which we have passed by before, but never visited.  Once we crossed the mighty Mississippi, we pulled into the downtown tourist information center.  Besides information, the information center had two large statues of their most famous musicians - Elvis and B.B. King.  The people at the information center directed us to a trolley because they told us that it might be difficult to park on Beale Street, the famous street of blues.  So, we hopped on the trolley and got off at Beale Street. The part filled with blues restaurants and bars is pedestrianized.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and we strolled the street, eventually stopped at City House of Blues where Mark had ribs and I had a seafood gumbo.  We decided not to take the trolley back because we needed a good walk.

Mark and Cole, almost 13

Cole and Nana

     And, to end the week, we had a longest drive of the return trip - 580 miles from Memphis to Morganton, N.C. where our grandson Cole lives.  He turns 13 in a few days and we thought it would be great to take him out to dinner and give him his birthday present.  It was a lovely day and we ate outside on the river at a restaurant called "Judges".  It was great to see him.

Week 7 - middle days - starting back East.

On the road

   We left San Diego on Saturday, March 24.  We drove Route 8, across southern California and Arizona.  What a day of contrasts!  We had temperatures from the 30's into the 70's.  We had elevations from -44 to 4,000+.  We drove up arid mountain passes into the Sonora desert, through El Centro and Gila Bend.  We were so close to the Mexican border at two different spots that we could see the fence beside the road.  We saw ATV's going up and down sand dunes.  We turned north, passing Phoenix and got onto Route 17 where we climbed into beautiful passes into the mountains were we could see snow. 

Sycamores by Camp Verde, Arizona

"Montezuma's Castle" a cliff dwelling that has nothing to do with Montezuma!

"Montezuma's Castle" outside of Camp Verde

    We stopped at a hotel in the small town of Camp Verde.  Then we drove to what is called Montezuma's Castle, but which is a cliff dwelling.  As it is a national monument, we got in for free - our first use of our new card.  It was only a short walk, but lovely, along a rushing creek lined with Arizona sycamore trees which were beautiful.  When we got back to the hotel (Days Inn), we went in the outdoor hot tub, which felt great.  We had a nice chat with two Navajo boys from Tuba City. Then, we ate our supper which we got at the local supermarket: some fruit, ham, yogurt and bread for supper.

Rushing stream, sycamores by "Montezuma's Castle"

    On Sunday, we drove almost 500 miles, up I-15 to 1-40 outside of Flagstaff.  It was another day of gorgeous contrasts.  The mountains around Flagstaff are gorgeous with lovely high valleys.  We climbed on more than one occasion today to over 7,000 feet.  Mount Humphreys, outside of Flagstaff was impressive at almost 13,000 feet.

Mount Humphreys, outside of Flagstaff

 As we drove across the rest of Arizona and into New Mexico, it got drier, but remained at high elevations.  We drove around Albuquerque.  Along the way, we saw quite a number of wild horses and a few antelope.  We were lucky that the weather was mostly overcast with times of sun.  Again, it was a day of great contrasts - green and lush to sandy and dry.  We saw a temperature of 38 in the mountains of Arizona and a temperature of 88 as we approached our destination - the little town of Santa Rosa on Historic Route 66.  It is touted as a town of lakes and their advertising makes it look great, but...Santa Rosa has definitely seen better days.  The lake in town was mostly dry.  And, the much-advertised "Blue Hole" was interesting, but not terribly impressive.  It is a deep hole (81 feet) which scuba divers use for training, but it is not much bigger than a few swimming pools.  But, evidently, it connects by underground tunnels to other lakes throughout the region, although the connecting tunnel had to be grated off due to its danger.  Anyhow, after a drive around the town, we had Mexican food at Comet II, a diner on the old Route 66.  Then, a dip in the hot tub at the Quality Inn.

Along old Route 66, which has seen better days

Week 6 - second day in San Diego...an almost perfect day!

Cabrillo Point on Point Loma, outside San Diego

    Today was an almost perfect day!
    The day started out a bit overcast and drizzly which was a bit of a bummer as we'd planned to have an outside day.  But, our air filter needed changing in the Prius and Mark decided to tackle that first.  We went to a Jiffy Lube where he talked with a guy about it and the guy showed him how to take off the glove compartment door and remove the filter. So, we went to an auto parts store and Mark changed it in the parking lot. That was a good start to the day as we felt we'd accomplished something.  (Although I did nothing at all!)

San Diego Harbor from Cabrillo Point

   Next, we drove out to Cabrillo Monument at the end of Point Loma, despite the weather.  I applied for my Eagle Pass for the National Parks, which is good to have.  I guess there are a few perks for getting older!  Now we get into all national parks and monuments for free, which is great.  Anyhow, we walked around up there and the weather began to clear.

Mark eating on Coronado Island

   Next, we drove to Coronado Island where we walked around and check out places to eat.  We decided to eat at the grand old hotel there and got two pre-packaged meals at their deli.  I had a chicken caesar salad for half of what it would have cost to have it at one of their restaurants.  Then, we took our meals out on the lawn and had a relaxing meal watching people, the water, the palm trees.  There was a woman who had four birds of prey, too which she said they use for pest abatement at the hotel.
   From there, we headed down Coronado Island to the Tijuana River Estuary, about 3 miles from Mexico and had a 2+ mile bird walk down to the river's mouth and back. Unfortunately, we did not remember our binoculars, but the ranger there loaned us two pairs, which was very kind and trusting.  I thought the best bird that we saw was a Western Meadowlark.  The colors were amazingly vivid and the song was beautiful.  We also saw some hummingbirds, pelicans, cormorants, a few curlews and some avocets, along with unidentified ducks.  There were also many red-wing blackbirds.  Anyhow, it was lovely and sunny and warm.

Imperial Beach 'art'...

And...from another angle!

   Then, we went back to our hotel and changed for the theater.  We stopped not far from Balboa Park for some take-out sushi and ate it outside the Old Globe Theater, one of our very favorite theaters in the U.S.  We have never seen a badly done performance and there is not a bad seat in the house.  It is theater in the round.  We saw Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill.  It was powerful and well acted.  The set, which re-created a barge at sea was amazing, complete with pretty dense fog.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Red-winged blackbird

Meadowlark singing away

Avocets in Tijuana Estuary

Curlew (I think!)

   So....what a great day!!!!  So, while our stay in San Diego was WAY too short, it really was very, very good.