Sept 24 to 30 = Lake District, Family Time

Okay, thanks Jim for the encouragement to find the time to blog.  I haven't forgotten about it but, as you could imagine, it's been a whirlwind these last few weeks.  We drove through the Lake District, stopping at an in near Ullswater.  The lake was beautiful with a layer of mist floating over them and the Cumbrian Mountains hidden with a coat of misty fog.  We spent the day winding through some beautiful sites; saw a Roman fort at Hadrian's Wall and pulled into a little village to spend the night.  We stayed at an adorable little inn.  The owner and his wife have owned the inn for 17 years, they live in their suite and rent out only 3 rooms.  After dinner, which was excellent- the owner is the chef - we were entertained by a couple of men throwing darts.  The rooms were immaculately kept and decorated to a "T".  Gorgeous is all I can say.
We did stop in Keswick to do our dirties.

We then headed out towards southwest England.  We were able to contact Richard's cousin, Ian, and managed to meet up with him in Manchester at the Manchester Arndale Shopping Centre.  We were first in line at a stoplight, talking with Ian via Bluetooth, and the light turned green for us to drive on but pedestrians continued to cross the street and people behind us were honking their horns.  What a treat.  We were offered a room for the evening at Ian's place, met his wife - Julie - and their three gorgeous children - Ben, Evie and cute little Daniel.

Next we headed down to Bath.  While driving down we were stuck on the interstate for about an hour due to a bus that caught on fire.  The good thing is we spoke with Hannah & Caitlyn thanks to Viber and the internet. :)  We made it to Bath with just enough time to get to Jane Austen Centre, shop was open but that was it.  The architecture in Bath is breathtaking.  In fact, almost everywhere we have been it's been incredible. We saw the outside of the Roman bath but we were so late everything was closed.

We then headed towards St Albans to meet up with Uncle Trevor and the cousins & 2nd-cousins.  We spent the night in a Holiday Inn on the way.  There was a tour group of Welsh and a wedding but they managed to find us a room.  Mel (the lady at hotel reception) was the sweetest.  We drank California rose' with dinner and headed to bed for a night's rest.

The weekend was spent with cousins and more cousins and Uncle Trevor.  We visited, laughed, walked, saw a little bit of St Albans and rested.  We had Sunday lunch at the Rose & Crown Pub.  What was most incredible about the pub is they allow patrons to include their furry family at the dinner table.  We even watched the Steelers - Vikings game that was played Sunday night at Wembly Stadium.  The "penthouse" suite at the Mills-Raffo house was the best on the trip only exceeded by the excellent company we kept for the weekend.