Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Like a rock...

Had to get a picture of this...


Can't you just hear Bob Seger singing about it? I've now seen 4 huge American vehicles over here...guess that averages 1 every 2 weeks. First was a Cadillac Escalade with 22" blingbastic rims. Next came a huge Dodge Ramm 4x4. Then a Ford F150 Harley Davidson edition. Finally, the Chevy full size conversion van. There is also a common thread, they are all black. Though the others didn't have the rivet wrap around look.

Don't worry about the parking job, everyone parks crazy over here. Can't imagine the cost in gas...my jaw about hit the ground when I first filled up my Zafira. 50 pounds, that's nearly $90 folks!

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Weekend log...

Friday night, Dominos pizza party at the Myers household

Saturday we visited the Catalyst science museum here in Widnes. It started off great, with some great interactive exhibits for the kids. Made it through the first floor, onto the glass elevator all the way to the top. This gave a nice view of Widnes, Runcorn, the Mersey River, etc. There are no tall buildings in Widnes, so this 5 story view is about good as it gets. To our dismay, we found that this science museum only had 1 more floor to explore, and the place isn't exactly sprawling like COSI.

So by 1pm we were finished there and looking for more to do. Decided to head down to Wales and take Megan and the kids to a place I had already been... Conwy. We didn't go inside the castle there, but we spent some time walking the town. You can't go very far without being harshly reminded that this is a medieval town from the 13th century! I didn't really know where I was going, but headed back towards the bay. We slowly drove past 4 people riding these huge beautiful horses. The road started narrowing, and sloping, and winding. We rounded a corner that went steeply down to an old wall section of the city. The road lines followed right on through an opening in the wall, but it looked only to be 6 feet wide and 5 feet deep. No way I'm getting my van through there. So here I am in my 6 speed Zafira (that I'm in love with), burning up the clutch in reverse trying to find an area to turn around. More people are coming down this road (albeit in tiny cars). I managed to turn around and take a different tunnel back into the town (easy, we had at least a foot of space on either side of the van). The streets of town are very tight, winding, and confusing. Down one street I met a huge bus face to face. The driver just stopped, and motioned that I must turn around. Once again, I find myself backing this thing up and turning around. We found that there was a small blue arrow indicating that section of road as one-way, but very easy to miss. Normally here you would see "No Entry" written on the street where you are not supposed to turn in. I decided to give up driving and found a parking spot. We walked the town center, bought some pastries, saw a creepy old church, browsed some shops, had some ice cream (ask the boy about the dungeon), and then were on the road again.

Next we stopped in Llandudno, a great seaside town right next to the Great Orme Head. This town would be a great place to stay at a bed and breakfast for a relaxing time. There is a long pier that you can walk out on the bay with some midway style amusements. There is a cafe, bar, and arcade at the end. It is very scenic.

At the end of the day, near sunset, we drove around the one-way marine drive (in the proper direction). It was so beautiful. Some mountain goats were trotting up the road, when they saw our car, they hopped onto the stone wall out of site. We assume they knew what they were doing (not committing suicide?).



On Sunday we went on a smoothie making adventure in Lymm. My friend Bob has lived in Lymm Hall for the last 6 years. He made this great little map and 30 point plan for my son to follow. It included things totally unrelated to smoothie making but the kids didn't take notice. In the end we finally arrived at a field with wild black berries, a plum tree, and an apple tree. The formerly majestic estate of Lymm Hall is in "gentile decay" as Bob puts it.

Monday, August 14, 2006

weekend update...

Spent most of the weekend unpacking and truly moving in. Took a break yesterday to see the Knowsley Safari Park. When we approached the baboon area we saw some people driving on the exit road (at a more than moderat rate of speed) with the primates hanging onto their their cars! After we drove through we could tell why...it was like a drive through chop shop! They had absolutely no fear of vehicles, tearing off car parts and running off with them to the bush. Crazyness.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Our stuff came today, I'm so happy!

When they said 3 to 6 weeks for our ocean shipment, I think they meant to say 3 + 6 weeks, because this is week 9 that we've been without the bulk of our 'stuff'.

The kids are elated that their old toys and beds made it safely. Luckily Megan and I just bought a new one when we arrived.

Got the kids computer configured and seems to be happy running on 240v. Looking forward to re-assembling my rig...I'm going through BF1942 withdrawal.

Will still keep filling in the blanks from our Paris trip and other items I noted but didn't have time to finish journalling yet.

One interesting thing I noticed tonight is that my amazon rank is about 68,000. Have gotten some decent approvals of my reviews, but people seem to really hate my review of Raising Victor Vargas. I really like artistic, creative, dark films...but this one just wasn't that good. Can anyone give me an amen? Oh well, can't win em all.