Month: June 2022

We aren’t in England anymore. Today was a travel day. Beginning at about 9:30 this morning, we took a series of 3 trains from Bristol, England to Hawarden, Wales. We took a Cross Country train for an hour and a half ride from Bristol to Birmingham, then a half hour wait before we caught a Transport for Wales train for another hour and a half ride to Wrexham, Wales. Then another 30 minute wait before a quick 25 minute ride on another Transport for Wales train to Hawarden. All on time and we were able to find room for our big bags and our big bottoms on each one.

But why all this “effort” you ask to get to this small town (population just under 2,000) in Wales. I was very anxious to return to the Gladstone Library, a library started by William Ewert Gladstone, former Prime Minister of Great Britain (on 4 separate occasions between 1868 and 1894). This is not just a library, but it’s a library with hotel accommodations. We had read about and visited the library on a prior house sitting tour pre-COVID. We enjoyed our visit, and Bob got on their email list.

During COVID, the library and hotel accommodations were shuttered along with everything else, so they had to find other ways to make money to keep staff and maintenance. They offered their email list the opportunity to purchase a shelf in the library for a loved one. Bob decided to take them up on this and for a Christmas present last year sent me the notice about the shelf. As a literary bookie, I was thrilled and have been eager to come see it. They only reopened to the public a few months ago, so we decided to take a couple of days before our house sit in Scotland to come visit.

The library has a number of reading rooms. My shelf is in the Theological Room, section I 58-59 on the upper level of the lovely room.

They don’t have a fancy name plate, and they didn’t include Bob’s sweet note, but I am still very happy to have a shelf. I would stay and read through the books and dust the shelf if I could. Bob and I both noted (he saw it first) that one of the books on my shelf is “Letters to a Sister,”letters from Rose MacCauley to her younger sister, Jean. It felt a bit like a sign.

My name is on the green slip of paper. See noted book about 6 in from my name. Bob’s dedication read, “On behalf of my language-lover wife, who introduced me to words and libraries and the amazing Gladstone’s Library.”

We’re currently in the lounge having a pre-dinner wine on the honor system before eating dinner here tonight. We didn’t do dinner here at the first visit, so we’re interested to see how the food is. A quick look at tonight’s menu showed a lot of vegetarian options as well as fish!

Warning: Long post. Non-useful heart emojis and respect points for slogging through.

Bob and I had a great day exploring Bristol. We headed out after a lovely breakfast at the hotel that was included in the room rate. Our intent was to see the Art Museum building, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the SS Great Britain, and the Cabot Tower. We ending up seeing a bit more and learning something about the history of Bristol in the process.

We found a number of cute finds on the way to the Art Museum, including a cafe that caught our eye and a combination almshouse and chapel (may be a first) founded by John Foster, the Mayor of Bristol in 1483.

The Art Museum was a lovely building and probably has some great exhibits, but we didn’t go in as we were trying to at least see as much as possible during the day.

One of the highlights of the day, there ended up being a few, was the Clifton Suspension Bridge which opened in 1864. There is a 1 pound toll required of all cars that cross, which supports the maintenance of the bridge. Pedestrians and bicyclists can cross for free. The views from the bridge were lovely, and we did pop into the Visitor’s Center where we learned about the interestingly named designer of the bridge, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He also designed the SS Great Britain, the first propeller-driven iron ship, but sadly died before the ship had its maiden voyage and before the bridge was completed.

We saw signs for an observatory close to the bridge, so we stopped there for a great view of the bridge as well as the surrounding area.

We then headed down hill and across a bridge to Spike Island to get a photo of the SS Great Britain. We were prevented from an easy free photo op, as it is a museum and they have it placed it in amongst buildings so that you can’t really get a photo of it without paying the 20 pound entrance fee. Not being that much of an old boat fan, we passed on that, but then took note of a different type of boat that did interest us. We paid 9 pounds apiece for a 45 minute covered harbor cruise, which provided us with a great view of the harbor and kept us out of the rain for a bit. We also enjoyed our witty narrator. Oh, and we were the only riders at the 12:30 slot, so it was a private tour.

We then headed off to climb Cabot Tower in a lovely park back on “our” side of the Bristol Avon River (called Bristol Avon to distinguish it from other Avon Rivers). On the way we popped into the Bristol Cathedral and strolled around the small, but lovely gardens behind the church building.

The Cabot Tower was built to honor the discovery of Canada by John Cabot in 1497. Cabot sailed from Bristol hoping to find a shorter route to Asia, instead he “found” Newfoundland.

Finally, sometimes you just stumble onto some interesting facts as you explore. Three finds from today’s outing.

Virgin Atlantic Airlines did their job and got us to London on time (12:45 pm) with no issues. We were in a 3 person row in economy. Bob had got us the 2 aisle seats hoping no one would take the middle. It was still showing as empty when we went to the airport but got filled before departure. We sat next to each other and gave the nice young lady one of the aisle seats. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the customer service with Virgin even being down some staff. Bob and I each managed to catch a few winks, but the hotel bed tonight will feel great.

The only travel issue today was a 45 minute wait for our luggage, which took away from the speedy trip through customs. Anyway, the bags are here with us, so all good. From the baggage pick up area we went downstairs and walked through a number of long hallways to the Heathrow Central Bus Station where we had about a 20 minute wait for our direct bus to Bristol where we’ll be spending 2 nights.

I should note that it was sunny and a warm-feeling 65 in London when we arrived. The clouds increased during the almost 2 hour bus ride to Bristol but no rain yet (6:45 pm).

About 5:15 after getting settled in the room, we decided it was definitely time for dinner. We decided quick and easy sounded best, so went to a street food Asian shop for bibimbap — beef for Bob and tofu for Beth. Hit the spot. Chilling in the room now and getting thoughts together for tomorrow.

Bob and I arrived early into San Francisco from Redding yesterday afternoon. Bob had made us reservations at the Grand Hyatt at the airport, so after picking up our luggage (first bags off!), we headed to the AirTran station to catch the airport red line to the hotel. Very easy peasy. The most surprising thing was the brisk (65 degree) weather after the heat of Redding.

The hotel was great with a lovely restaurant, market, and an awesome fitness room. We didn’t eat at the restaurant, but we did get food from the market for dinner and breakfast and were pleasantly surprised by the reasonableness of the prices.

Bob and I started the day with a workout in the fitness center before working in the room, packing, and heading to the international terminal via Air Tran (blue line this time). We had been reading about the staff shortage at this airport and the problems it has been causing. We saw a bit of this firsthand with a long wait to check-in (bag drop, really) and then a chaotic TSA security experience. However, it’ll all be fine, as long as the plane leaves on schedule and takes us to London.

It looks like the UK will be greeting us with brisk springlike temps (highs in 60s), rain for the upcoming week, and a possible train strike for good measure. We’ll keep you posted. I’m just wishing I had some of our Canadian home owner’s ability to sleep anywhere. If I sleep for an hour or two that will be more than my last few overseas jaunts.

Bob and I just completed a transition with the next house sitters that are going to finish the sit for our home owners. The home owners weren’t sure they would get takers for a month-long sit, so they had posted it as two sits. This is only the second time we have done this type of transition, so we’ve been a bit stressed about it. However, Jason and Amanda (school teachers from Tucson) seem great, and we’re sure that Jaxon, Peaches, and Leo are in good hands.

We had a Uber ride to the airport from a very friendly driver, named Bob. He and his wife moved here from Sacramento, but he’s originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan. We now have about an hour wait until we can check in for our flight to San Francisco. We’ll be there over night and then catch an early evening flight to London for a few days of traveling before our house sit in Scotland.

We were both pleasantly surprised with the Northern California area. We love the natural beauty, the abundance of trails for hiking and biking, and the really minimal car traffic. We would definitely love to come back.

Today, I’m going to try to not be as verbose and just let the photos speak for themselves. We had an awesome (especially for the hot temps) hike on the Crags Trail at Castle Crags State Park (about a 50 minute drive north of Redding). While, we had a challenging uphill hike, rewarded with great vistas, the hardest part of the day was the windy, narrow, partially one-laned drive through the park. Drives that make you go, whew!

On the way to the park, we stopped at a vista point just off Highway 5 for this pic.

From the vista point, we drove a few more miles into Castle Crag State Park. It was $8 for a day use pass. Very worth it! The trails we were on were clear and good signage throughout. After the challenging drive noted above to the Vista Point parking lot, we headed to the actual vista point for another quick view of Mount Shasta and the castle crag before starting our hike.

A couple last fun facts about the park. The Pacific Crest Trail (Mexico to Canada) runs through the park, and we crossed it on the Crag Trail. Also, as you ascend up the mountains, the state park ends and becomes the Castle Crags Wilderness and is part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Wow!

We are in full-on California heat mode now. We have had really great weather (highs mostly in 80s/27C!) but that changed overnight, and we’ll be in above 100/38C temps until we leave. Because of that, we thought we might try some indoor activities today. Not much to choose from since we’re not shoppers, and we did want something local, so we Googled and found a couple of free options.

The first is a private home that has been converted, by the former owner’s request, into a Victorian museum. The house is in a cute area of Redding, just a few blocks west of downtown proper. It is the Behrens-Eaton home, and though it was the home of Judge Richard Eaton (who wanted the home to become a museum) we learned a bit about him, his family, and his more famous uncle, Earl Behrens.

We were led through the home by a very nice docent after ringing the bell for entry. (After trying to open the door a few times, before noticing the sign about ringing the bell. Luckily, the front door has a good lock.)

In a nutshell, Richard Eaton was a Shasta County Superior Court Judge in Redding who died in 2003. He seemed to be a nice man who was raised by his grandmother, mother, and aunt after his father died during the flu outbreak in 1918 when Richard was 4 years old. Besides the fun facts that he served in Africa in WWII, liked frilly wallpaper and collecting paintings, never married, kept $100,000 in a safe in his closet, and wanted his home to be a museum, we didn’t learn much else about him. His widowed mother and his unmarried aunt both worked. His mother served as the County Treasurer for 13 years, and his aunt was one of the first female bank tellers in Redding.

Judge Eaton’s mother, Edith Behrens, was the oldest of three children. Her sister, Edna, lived with her and Richard. Her brother, Earl Behrens, graduated from Stanford, served as the Athletic Director for Stanford before serving under Hoover in his Food Administration, and then going on to be editor of the San Francisco Journal and then the San Francisco Chronicle. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his journalistic work from President Nixon in 1970.

We also stopped at the Shasta County Historical Society to see what they might have. They had an exhibit on pollinators. Very important, not so exciting. We will resume hiking, even with heat, tomorrow.

Beth mentioned I was making the above so I thought I would provide a few pics and do a blog.

Happy Father’s Day to any fathers reading this! Bob and I had a relatively quiet weekend. Saturday morning we headed for the Farmers Market that is held weekly in the parking lot of the Redding City Hall. It wasn’t large, but it was fun to peruse the market and the grounds of City Hall, where they have a sculpture park. Very nice!

In the afternoon, we went to the historic Cascade Theater. They had a series of three dance recitals going on by a local dance company. Not something we would normally go to, not being parents or relatives of the dancers, but we wanted to see the inside of the theater and thought it might be interesting. I would describe it as a cute hot mess — sometimes cuter and sometimes hot messier. In any case, it didn’t seem like there had been much teaching going on in the classes, as the instructors usually performed with the students and seemed to serve as a reference point for those old enough to realize they should be following them. The age of the performers ranged from four maybe to teens. All well made up, as I guess that is what you do. The most surprising part was the audience “participation.” In between performances, the auditorium would go dark to change the set or something— not ever really much set to be changed. During this time, the parents or other relatives would yell out the name of their child, as if it was a wrestling match or something. Anyway, we were glad to get to see the theater and experience a little local color.

Today, we got back into normal mode for us and did a 2 hour hike up and down the Chamise Trail. It provided great views of the Sacramento River and the Shasta Dam.

Bob is making Pasta in Squid Ink Sauce tonight. It’s one of our favorites. We buy the squid ink packets from Amazon, when we’re someplace long enough to order (not Prime members). I am a spoiled woman.

After a run and another near run with our dogs (they pull like crazy on the lead), Bob and I headed off to the Top of the World. We feel like we have already been on the top of the world two other times.

Being on the top of the world is usually how we describe our time in Orkney, Scotland. Orkney, or the Orkney Islands, are some lovely islands off the northern tip of Scotland. They are known for their many Neolithic ruins, and the area just has an otherworldly feel, especially since it is so far north, and it takes a bit of an effort to get there.

The first time we were at the Top of the World (actually billed as The Top of Europe) was in the Alps during an inn-to-inn hike for my 40th birthday. On one of our non-hiking days we took a train up the Jungfrau mountain, near Interlaken, Switzerland. We went through a long tunnel near the top and came out near a building that we entered on foot through an ice tunnel. The area was covered in snow and ice, which we could only see as the clouds lifted. It truly felt like the top of the world, or at least as high as we may ever get while still on land.

Today, we hiked up to Redding, California’s version of the Top of the World (their term). It wasn’t that much of a climb. (We passed an older gentleman and his tiny dog who were on their way down while we were going up. They probably do the hike daily.). However, the hike did provide some lovely views of the surrounding area.

We thought Mary’s Lake looked lovely, and we had seen it on our trail map, so we decided to hike down to that and do the .7 mile loop around the lake. On our way down the mountain, we saw another hiker, a couple of mountain bikers, and lots of very nice-looking houses. The lake itself was as attractive up close as it was from a distance.