England Trip: Garstang and Liverpool

We have just returned from a very fun trip to England. We spent about a week with my family (the S family) in Northern England, and then just our little family spent a few days in London before flying home home. We took lots and lots of pictures, but I will share only some of my favorites here. Sam was a fantastic little traveler and really loved playing with my littlest sister L. I feel really lucky that we were able to go on this trip, and I imagine that we won't go on another fancy trip overseas for several years.

We rented a car! I took this picture before J even started to drive it. He was a bit nervous to drive on the other side of the road (and on the other side of the vehicle), but he did a great job. The narrow country roads (with all of their hedges and fences which limited visibility) were a little nerve-wracking, but we were just fine.

My dad found a very charming cottage in Barnacre (near Garstang) for all of us.

Our bedroom

The sun room (called the "solarium" by the English). V is pointing to the chickens which often congregated by the back door (in hopes for handouts?).

Look at the ivy creeping up the side of the cottage! It was such a charming building.

Although we were all tired from jet lag, we forced ourselves to stay awake by visiting a local fair in Garstang. Sam liked the curlycue horns on these rams.

 After going on this spinning ride, J decided that it wasn't a good idea to spin so much when he already felt wonky due to jet lag. Sam and L loved the ride, though.

That evening we went to support V's good friend, Alex, who wrote and directed the British Pageant. We were all still tired, but we managed to stay awake for the show. Alex put a lot of work into this show, and I'm glad that we were able to support her.

On Sunday we visited the River Ribble, among some other sites in the area that relate to LDS history in England. These were some trees that were along the bank of the river.

 On Monday it was my brother A's birthday, and we decided to spend the day in Liverpool. Since we drove in two separate cars, we ended up having trouble meeting up at the Beatles Museum (which resulted in my family waiting outside the museum for an hour to meet up with us, since we unknowingly went inside the building). Other than that, the day went fairly smoothly.

 Me with Sir Paul. I accidentally dropped my favorite black cardigan in the permanent museum exhibit, and I never was able to get it back. I decided that the cardigan became my offering to Sir Paul, since I had made this pilgrimage to Liverpool so I could pay homage to the Beatles.

Sam with Ringo, his favorite Beatle. Sam is wearing his new Yellow Submarine t-shirt that we bought in the gift shop.

 We barely had enough time to quickly, quickly hike up to the Liverpool Cathedral before we went on a tour of the city. We didn't have much time to look at the building at all, since we had to rush back down to meet the tour bus.

 

The birthday brother, A, with our not-so-little brother, C.

Aside from Penny Lane, on the tour we also got to see some places in the city that relate to different Beatles songs or actual Beatles members themselves. We saw where George Harrison was born, Paul McCartney's childhood home, where John Lennon grew up, Strawberry Fields, and different structures (like a bank and barber shop) that form part of the Penny Lane lyrics.

After the tour, we went to some type of Indian fusion restaurant for A's birthday dinner. It was fancy! We drove home after this point, and Sam was so tired that he fell asleep in the car (which rarely happens). In fact, Sam usually fell asleep at least once a day on our vacation, which is unusual for him. He almost always woke up cheerful and ready to move onto the next adventure.