Diggerland

First, let's talk about dad's job. He has to wear a tie. He sits in boring meetings. He talks on the phone a lot and he eats a lot of food on airplanes. Now let's talk about John's job. He gets to work diggers, race tractors and do other cool construction stuff. OK, John doesn't really have a job but he did get to go to one of the coolest birthday parties an 8 year old could wish for. His buddy William took John to Diggerland for William's birthday. As you can see, they did some really cool things including racing little front end loaders (with the scoops removed). They also rode the bumper cars and raced little trucks around a track. Not quite like the little birthday parties we used to have.

Wimbleldon

Had a nice 'bucket list' item ticked off last week. Vivian's friend showed us how to get into the lottery for Wimbledon tickets and Vivian scored nicely. The kids decided that they had 70 or 80 years before they had to tick Wimbledon off their list so they passed. Big miss. I am going to bore you with details but for the guys out there, it is worth it to either read or skip to the end. The grounds were fabulous. If I wrote about all the flowers etc., I might get kicked out of guy club so let's just say it was very nice. First match we say was mixed doubles. What is cool is that one of the girls (Shvedova) is playing in the women's doubles final as we speak. She won her mixed doubles match but they were defeated later in the week.

Match number two was excellent. What was exceptionally cool about this match is that that this pair (Melzer and Petzschner) just won the men's doubles a few minutes ago. Very very cool. We then made our way to Henman Hill. This is a hill behind Court 1 where there is a big Jumbo Tron Screen. Everyone sits around on the grass and drinks Pimms (we tried one) and they eat strawberries and cream (Wimbledon tradition). We went there to watch Serena Williams win. She went on today to win it all. We trolled around a bit, went to the museum which was very cool. Grabbed a bite to eat. And strolled around some more of the grounds. Then we made our way to watch Tracy Austin in women's invitational doubles. As the sweetheart of tennis from back in day, that was quite a treat. We strolled through and watched some great junior players. What a thing to participate in.

Now for the grand finale. The last match of the day on our court was Anna Kornikova and Martina Hingis playing doubles. Vivian's magnificent draw had us on the first and second row of that match, right at the service line. Most excellent way to close out a 'bucket list' event.

York - The North

Half term provided our last opportunity for a week long adventure. We decided to explore the north. First stop, York. This first stop had all the trappings one could ask for: Vikings, ghosts, and castles. Guy Fawkes, the man that tried to blow up parliament was from York. The street to the left is the Shambles. This was butcher's row and there are nice tails of gore. One of the ghost stories has a headless corpse searching for his noggin. The original castle was constructed by William the Conqueror. This wooden structure was burned down during the Jewish Riots of 1190 and was replaced with the present day stone version thanks to Henry III. The coolest attractions for those over 40 was York Minster. It is claimed to be the largest Gothic cathedral in England. Quite incredible inside. What was exceptionally cool was that beneath, they have uncovered layer upon layer of history dating back to the Roman occupation in 71AD. There was later an 11th century Norman cathedral and the present minster was started in 1220. I could ramble on about the cool gardens in the old abbey or the amazing walk around the old city walls or the cool nooks like the courtyard at St Williams College (small picture on right) but all that would be boring. The kids highlight was the Haunted York tour we took the night we arrived. York claims to be the most haunted city in the world. One particular story involved the basement of the Treasury House. It is quite documented and studied and is quite the compelling story involving a young plumber being in the deep cellar (that sits on top of the old Roman road - you can even step on the original road). He sees Roman soldiers and there are even ghost horses). Others have also seen them and all the stories seem to match. Here are the kids at the wall where the troops emerge.

Other finds were the worlds best milkshake shop. You can see us slurping down York's finest. You can also see that dad is on his phone. Go figure.

There was also a very cool old church hidden in a small lane off a side street. It has the old stalls that the wealthy church members would buy for their families.

Penzance and St. Michael's Mount

Penzance was a picturesque stop on our journey. Actually, it rained for one entire day and we gave up on touring and went to see Clash of the Titans. Doesn't sound like the perfect tourist vacation but the whole clan was pretty happy to have some quiet downtime. Even if we only gave the movie two stars. When the rains stopped, we had an exceptionally nice day on St. Michael's Mount. History here dates back to 500AD. There is a religious theme on the site since that time and like everywhere else, there is a strong military history. The journey to the mount starts with a walk across causeway. Unfortunately, this is only exposed at low tide and as you can see behind Vivian, the cobblestones disappear into the cold channel waters. Instead, for a pound or two, you can take a boat across. Cold and windy describes most days and this one stayed true to form.


The mount is noted at the first point in which a beacon was lit to announce the arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588. It later played a key role in the Civil War as loyalist held off Oliver Cromwell's forces. A Colonel John St. Aubyns was appointed governor of the mount after the civil war and 12 years later, he purchased the mount. It has been in the family ever since. In fact, the family still resides in the castle.

You can see the causeway in the shot from up on the mount. You can also see the houses where people still live to this day. One family can trace their roots back 300 years.

A couple of other shots were from our night in town. The lady at the B&B where we stayed recommended a Meadery in Newlyn, the next village over. We didn't actually know what a Meadery was but we were on an adventure so we hauled ourselves on over. Turns out, the name makes sense. They make their own brew and serve pretty traditional English foods. The place had a colorful history, including being a cinema at one time and the food was excellent. As an added bonus, as we were heading home that night, we walked through the harbour and off in the distance was a rainbow, a tanker, and a lighthouse. A nice shot as dusk started to fall.

The Ends of England

We were able to experience a unique double play. We were on the west most point of England and then we hit the southern most point. Lands End reaches the farthest to the west. Cold and windy would be the words to describe Lands End.

There was a working farm and it is interesting how the animal huts were dug into the earth, to protect them from the elements. You can look behind Maggie and see the ocean. The cliffs and rocks were spectacular and there was even a little light house, out in the middle of the ocean, perched on outcrop of rocks.

The last picture on the page is from Lizard Point. This is the southern most point in England. In 1588, this is the point from which the Spanish Armada was first spotted from mainland Britain.

1620, what a good year in Plymouth

As we ended half term, we spent our last night in the south in Plymouth. It was a really pretty port town and it was really cool to see where the Mayflower set sail in 1620. The site was actually pretty non-descript, sitting near the entrance of the harbor. The clan is all standing at the arch that is at the site where it set sail. There are flags for both England and the United States at the site. The original stairs are gone but there is supposedly a pub in town with one of the original steps. The hill behind the arch holds a very impressive citadel. It is still an active military installation so we can't tour but it is impressive on the mount.

There is a lighthouse on the far side of the citadel that offers marvelous views of the surrounding area. It was built in 1759 and was 14 miles offshore. It was dismantled and brought to the Hoe and was reassembled in 1877. If you look down towards the water, you will see the pool that sits along the coast that was built in 1935. Quite a view.

Plymouth was hit pretty hard during WWII and much of the city was destroyed. There is an iconic shell of a church that is left as it stood during the way, a gutted testament to the horrors of the war. The Barbican was an interesting area with windy paths and interesting stories. Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, and Captain Cook all walked the streets before setting sail for lands far away. For our one night there, we ate dinner outside in a pub at the harbor, just around the corner from the site where the Mayflower set sail. Pretty cool to see this piece of history from the other side of the pond.

Minack Theatre

While heading down to the southern most point of England, we discovered something that was quite the experience. In 1931, a lady by the name of Rowena Cade began to construct a theatre that is literally perched on the edge of the sea. With her own money and with limited help from a couple of tradesmen, she literally carved this venue into the rocks above Minack Rock. It is quite the story and except for a few years during the war, it was all her hard work and sweat. During the war, they set an anti-aircraft gun on the point and covered it all in barb-wire. She evidently used to sneak in and cut the grass. There is also a story of a ship wreck that happened on the shores below. This little determined woman drug 12 foot beams up the cliffs to use build the dressing rooms for the theatre. When Spanish sailors came looking for the remains of the wreck, they couldn't believe this little lady could haul the timber up the hill so they let her have what was up at the theatre. This was her life's work until she died in 1983.



Lucky for us, the owner of the B&B where we stayed had all the tricks for us. We were to pack a meal and make a picnic of the evening. The winds rising off the English Channel are cold this time of year so we put on most all of our clothes and she also gave us blankets. To be honest, it was almost not enough. Some regulars brought sleeping bags and climbed inside them to watch the show. This was the opening performance of the season and Beauty and the Beast was on the bill. It was very well done and we did learn that this is a very popular venue to play and groups from all over are lined up to get a chance to do a production here.



We were there early to set up for our picnic. We hiked down the hill to the seats and the usher really hooked us up. There are grass seats on one side and the other side has concrete seats that Rowena hand crafted with concrete and carved the names of each production into the seats over the years (see the Alice and Wonderland). They showed us a set of reserved seats three rows off the stage. If you look at the picture with Marshall Sr. you can see the little Skelton huddle right beside the box seat on the farthest point away in the picture.



Lucky for us, the rains held out and we had a great night. The hardest part was driving to and from the show. We took a picture out the car window. This was symbolic of many roads in Cornwall and my Volvo literally was all but scraping the sides of the banks as we went along stretches like this. If we met another car, I'd probably just have to go into 4 Wheel Drive mode because I am not sure there is another choice.

Charlestown, not Charleston

From Tintagel, we headed south. There are certain times during our travels that we have 'must stop' destinations. Charlestown was one of those stops. Even though there was no connections back to Charleston South Carolina (and it is not even spelled the same), the magnetic pull of this port town was too much for Vivian. It was a lovely little port town. Jane Asten's Persuasion was set here as was one of the Three Musketeer's movies. Part of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was set here as well.

It was nice and quaint but once you toured the harbor, ate ice cream, and toured the one museum in town, there was not much left to do except race power boats. This is probably all the kids will remember but they had fun.

Cornwall Coast - Tintagel

Our next destination was out on the coast. This turned out to be the kid's favorite spot on the trip. Legend has it that Tintagel is the birthplace of King Arthur (that of the round table variety). A lot of digging has pretty much confirmed that this is all just a legend to inspire the locals in time of dire straight but that didn't matter to the Skeltons, they loved it.


There are remains of a 13th century castle and there are all kinds of other ancient relics. The area itself is a fantastic collection of cliffs, waterfalls, caves and other opportunities for adventure. We climbed on cliffs and explored several caves. The shot is from Merlin's cave that is down on the water. We climbed into one cave and almost got trapped by the rising tide. On top, the views were magnificent.





The sun was shinning and the favorite game was a little like Where's Waldo (or Where's Wally if you are in the UK). We call it Where's Mommy. In the last picture, you can find her in front of one of the caves, stretched out in the sun, pretending she is on the beach in Wilmington.

Lydford Gorge

Papa bear is a bit behind in blogging. Who would have thought that a nice week long business trip to the US would turn into a three week non-vacation. We did finally hear what happened in Iceland. It was discovered that Iceland declared when their economy finally died, they wished to have their ashes spread over all of Europe. (bad humour is now an added bonus to the blog).

Our first stop on our school half-term adventure is in Dartmoor National Park. Beautiful country. We stayed in an proper pub in the middle of the moors. This is hiker's paradise. It has a nice historical angle in that it was an Anglo-Saxon settlement that was situated to protect the area from vikings. I like the sounds of this because it sounds like the makings of a future Russell Crowe movie. One particular adventure was into the Lydford Gorge. It is only a mile and half long but was absolutely beautiful. One end has a magnificent waterfall.
It is a nice steep hike down to the bottom. It is also known that the gorge was a hideout for a large family of outlaws in the 17th century. When the park ranger saw us coming, they just knew the outlaws returned. The kids had a blast as we stomped through the forest.

The other end has a feature known as the Devil's cauldron. There are several pictures of our hike. There is one point where the trail is about a foot and a half wide with no rail to keep you from falling. I had dreams at night of having to jump in for John. It really was beautiful. We capped off the night at the pub. The bottom picture is the place we stayed. We literally stayed upstairs, in the room on the left (you can see our open window). Quite the cozy set-up. A double bed, a bunk bed and a single bed. Almost like camping. The kids were so wiped that the owners let us send the kids food up so they could stretch out in front of a TV movie. Mom and dad joined the hikers, the locals, and numerous dogs downstairs. The fire was blazing and the crowd was lively. We hung out with the patriarch of the pub family (Irish fellow) that bought it years ago with his brother after the war. Now his son runs the place and he loved to chat as well. In the morning when we came down for breakfast, there were big Chocolate Easter Eggs on our table for the kids, which happened to be Easter morning.