The Kell Blog

I’m a little late in the telling, but here goes…

We went to England to visit Granny and PopPop in June. We left on the 15th at 7:30 pm, and arrived at 8:30 am on the 16th (Alex’s birthday*).

Right off the bat, I’d forgotten the travel pillows I’d purchased specifically for the trip, but I knew I’d need them, so I spent the exorbitant sums they were asking at the airport gift shop. When I went to buy them even the clerk asked if I realized how much they were.

Link did amazingly well on the flight. We watched part of a movie after they let us turn on our electronic devices in the air, but he got tired and asked to go to sleep. We tried to make him sleep with the seatbelt loosely around his lap, but eventually he got too cranky, and we let him take it off. He stretched out across our laps, and we all tried our best to get some shut eye.

When it was time to wake up because the plane was landing, Link was surprisingly chipper. He declined the Corn Pops he was offered for breakfast (Next time, I think I’ll order the child meal for myself too!), but ate his banana and soon we were on the ground.

We waited to get off the plane until everyone else had, and by the time we got to the Passport check area, it was emptied out. After about 4 unsuccessful attempts to fill out the entry forms (apparently the sleep deprivation got to us), we were allowed into the country.

Granny and PopPop were waiting, and off we went. The drive back to Bedale from Manchester was a couple hours. The countryside was beautiful. Granny entertained us with stories about the local areas as we drove through, but after a while I fell asleep. Link, however was unaffected.

When we got to Bedale, Alex and I took showers and got settled. Joan’s neighbor graciously offered to let us use their flat, as they weren’t home. It was great having the extra space. While we showered, Link ate two bites of a grilled cheese sandwich. It was an omen of things to come. Joan made the grown-ups wonderful grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches and we headed into Bedale proper.**

It was Tuesday, which is Market Day in Bedale. We walked by the stalls, and went by the butcher to get some meat for dinner, and the coop for other grocery type items. Link convinced Granny to get him some cherries, which were grown in the USA! We walked down to the town hall, but the museum was closed. The library, however, wasn’t. Granny and PopPop signed up for cards, and Link checked out some books.

For Alex’s special birthday dinner, we had Toad in the Hole and roasted parsnips. It was fantastic. Link, of course declined to eat that, or his left over grilled cheese. Alex had a fun Spiderman cake, and then we tried our best to stay awake until 9pm when we went to bed.

Day 2

Wednesday morning it was a little drizzly, but we loaded up and headed to Castle Bolton.

Link was excited to be in a real castle, and we explored and took pictures. There was a hedge maze outside, but it was too rainy to explore. There were some school children there on what seemed like a class trip. They were in period costumes (peasants) and it seemed like the lesson was about life in medieval times. One adult had a stuffed rat, and she let Link pet it. On the way out (through the gift shop, of course), I got a nice antique print of the castle to hang in the dining room. Link wanted something, but I enticed him away with promises of cupcakes. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone working at the cafe, and we had to leave without one.

* It was his 40th, and I’ve been teaching Link to make jokes about his old age. Somehow I fear that’s going to come back and bite me in a few years.

** I didn’t bring my camera the first day, so I took these later in the trip.