James and I met Michael Waltrip in the Charlotte airport before we even got on the PLANE to England and at that point we knew: it's gonna be a good trip!! :)
England has apparently soldiered on without me all these years, but I'd like to think that once in a while people there get that feeling that SOMETHING is missing, so they count their kids, check their keys etc............ only to find KELLIE is missing - I'm sure our friends Mark and Laura would agree (while patting my head and lauging :)
Those of you who have been to England will appreciate the fact that every single day we were there, starting with Wednesday at 7 am, there was blinding blue sky and sunshine and according to locals each day was "the warmest day of the year"! That means every day was blue sky and sunny and warmer than the day before. We went in March not July. It was a Welcome Back Miracle. I told James it's England trying to suck us back in..... and convincing James "hey, come on over and bring the kids, the weather is ALWAYS like this!" Quite an advertisement ......... :) The only mist we saw was at Stonehenge at 6:45 AM and that simply stands to reason. It's a good backdrop for photos. By the time we were back at the Stonehenge Inn having our gigantic full English breakfast (James is hooked on the fact that the English have figured out a way to FRY EVERYTHING! Ha...) it was blue sky and sunny again, perfect for our half an hour walk to and from Woodhenge which we could see from our pub. If you don't know what Woodhenge is, google it :) And yes, James walked. Voluntarily. WITH a proper walking stick. Those of you who know he's not a big walker and used to drive the "yard car" from the house to the shed will be dead impressed.
The Mermaid Inn in Rye was the highlight of our trip, and on top of our list when we go back. Any time you have a bunch of Brits walking around taking photos and saying "wow that is DEAD OLD" you know it's good. The original structure of the Inn and a lot of the town was built in 1154 - then the French came up the river on one of their many attempts at raiding the town and succeeded in burning it all in 1377 (one of the many reasons the English SO adore the French ...... ha) so the town including the Inn was rebuilt in 1420. Those of you who have visited our bathroom in the last five years will recognize the name and date from the photos in the black frame. Rye was good fun from the Bell to The Standard Inn. On the way from the Standard to the Queens Head we apparently crossed a ley line which resulted in the date of our camera being inexplicably changed to 2/2/2033 for the rest of the trip. When we got back home and I took 3 photos of the girls before uploading the camera to the computer, the date was back to normal. Top THAT. I didn't notice any of the dates until I uploaded the memory card to the computer on our return. Oh and by the way, we were informed after checking in to the Mermaid Inn that it was featured on the very first episode ever of Most Haunted....... James gave up running because where do you go when everything was built in 1420? HA@! Hey James.... I called the Mermaid Inn to thank them for their great hospitality this morning and found out..... they don't HAVE a night porter, but they had an old man who worked there for years up until his death in 1979.........
In the next issue: Lewes, Brighton, Stonehenge and The Inn at Broadmere
KND
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