We’re Back!

After a short trip to the US to visit K’s family and a jaunt to Ireland to attend a friend’s wedding, we’re back! Gone since the 18th, we’ve had a leisurely day catching up on chores, flying a kite on Primrose Hill (the weather’s more like Spring than Summer here…today’s high winds were perfect!) and a pub dinner with a bit of Pimms and lemonade. A perfect ending to a nice little break from our usual grind.

We had a great time visiting with K’s family at SML and were blessed with amazing blue skies during our stay. When we stepped off the plane in Charlotte for our connection to Roanoke, we couldn’t quite fathom the amazing weather. It almost felt tropical compared to our usual London rays. We woke in the morning to go for a walk then went out boating, fishing or shopping…all under the blue cover above. Amazing weather. And, believe it or not, we REALLY appreciated the humidity. It did our skin good. And, of course, it was good to see and catch up with folks and have some nice home cooked meals for a change. Our tiny little kitchen here won’t allow us to do the large batch cooking we did back home. We dragged out the grill for some steaks and fresh veg. Had nice salads, beautiful berries and lots of really good comfort food.

One highlight was going out on the boat for a bit of tubing with most of the family. I think everyone on the boat will remember the highs…first, great tubing. The high fuel prices have driven everyone else off the water. We had the lake [almost] to ourselves. Taking turns tubing, K’s dad noticed a grey cloud in the distance…at the opposite end of the lake from the dock, our sunglasses, the small windshield and our towels were our only cover from the drenching downpours from the early afternoon storm. Thankfully, we made it back to dock just before the lightning and big drops began to fall. Later, we took the boat out again and had the best tubing of the day. A great time.

And, lucky for us, K’s county just opened a new fishing pier and beach. We loved lounging on the comfy white sand and pretending to fish on the new pier…unfortunately, K’s professed fish Olga kept getting away.

IMG_2481.JPG
IMG_2470.JPG

G’s friend Paul (German Club, VT) was married in Clareen/Kinnitty Ireland on Friday. On our way back from the States, we swung through Ireland to attend. The ceremony was at a small countryside chapel followed by a reception at Kinnitty Castle (Irish Midlands–halfway between Galway & Dublin). We bookended the wedding with a bit of time in and around Dublin. We had a great time roaming the streets of Temple Bar (Dublin), sampling their local Irish Ales, and a bit of the local music.

IMG_2496.JPG

I ALWAYS love the water so on Saturday (before our evening flight) we checked out Dun Laoghaire (bay just south of Dublin). Though most of our stay in Ireland was a bit rainy, the sun popped out for the afternoon and we loved the beautiful, rocky, coastal views. And an ice cream for good measure :) While the last few months have been travel heavy, we’re ramping up for the long summer (hopefully) in town. Aside from a quick trip to Paris for my 30th in a couple weeks (wow…I’m getting old :) ) and a trip to Budapest (we think) in August, we’ll be in and around the UK until we leave for Tanzania at the end of September. It’s hard to believe that our two year visa is up for renewal already! So, we’ll submit the paperwork to renew later this summer and our wings will be clipped until we’re (hopefully) approved this August.

This entry was posted in Adventure Travel, United States, Virginia and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.