Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon

Heading north out of London we began our 23 day adventure under grey skies but with good spirits, thanks to Dylan Jones, our loquacious Insight Tours guide, whose father had taught at Oxford University.  And then the sun came out.

"The College is Closed"

After lunch we traveled on to Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Upstairs in Willie's house

A cold one at the famous Black Swan

White swan on the River Avon

MORE LONDON

Early on May 19th we touched down at Heathrow Airport for a three week long adventure touring the UK.  We began with two days in London and ended there with four nights more, to recuperate from 4440 kilometers of running around, plus two ferry crossings of the Irish Sea, and overnight stays in 15 different hotels.  Whew!  At least the people there spoke English.  Sorta.

Insight Tours calls this tour Romantic Britain and Ireland but the early AM wake-up calls and bleary-eyed coach departures did little to encourage romance, seemed to me. 

Tower Bridge

As I mentioned previously ( http://itinerantdurangotangs.blogspot.com/2015/05/london.html  ) we had enjoyed a brilliant performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End before heading north toward Scotland....

...and on our return three weeks later we saw a fun version of The Commitments (one of my all-time favorites as a movie) at the historic Palace Theatre. 

And we walked and walked and walked, seeing the usual sights of this vibrant metropolis -- palaces, parks, pubs and restaurants:

Alimentary, my dear Watson

Wine Merchant

Reflection of The Shard, along the Thames

We spent a lot of time at the British Museum, #1 tourist draw in the UK -- with good reason!

The Rosetta Stone
Seriously, the original Rosetta Stone

Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Oh My!

STONEHENGE ROCKS!

25 days, 4440 kilometers by land coach, two ferry crossings of the Irish Sea plus two trans-Atlantic flights, and fifteen hotels.  Wow.  More -- much more -- yet to come.

Scotland

Haggis.  WTF, why not?  Not nearly as bad as I expected.

The Scottish Countryside

A Ginger Enjoying Gingerbread

And not just any ginger bread, but Sarah Nelson's Celebrated Gingerbread from Grasmere Gingerbread in Grasmere, the English Lake District, en route to Scotland.

Play that funky music, Whiteboy!

London

Here we are in England, hobnobbing with the Queens's guards' spectators' near neighbours (spelled with a u) and watching for Liz herself.  The flags said she was in residence at Buckingham.  She didn't appear.

Last evening, after eating at Le Escargot (which claims to be the oldest French restaurant in London [we had the fish and chips]), we went to see the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End of London.  Spell-binding.

Most Comical Park in America

Goblin Valley State Park

Years ago I had heard that this small Utah State Park was the most comical park in America.  At the time I had difficulty understanding just what that meant.

Now I understand.














Situated twenty-some miles north of Hanksville UT, Goblin Valley spreads these odd formations across the landscape, inviting comparisons to fantasy figures out of fairy tales.

The Henry Mountains in the background

A very entertaining place to take a walk, despite the crowds on Spring Break.

Then we headed back south to Cedar Mesa and camped at the head of Bullet Canyon, an arm of Grand Gulch.  We visited a very special place down along Bullet, Perfect Kiva.

Last stabilized in 1975, Perfect Kiva is in astonishingly good condition

East Toward Home

April Fools' Return

Leaving the extreme heat of Death Valley behind us, we spent a night in Cedar City UT and enjoyed dinner at the local classic Milt's Steak House.  Next morning, the last day of March, we journeyed east toward Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef NP, Goblin Valley State Park, Natural Bridges NP, Cedar Mesa, Grand Gulch, and eventually, home.

Bryce Canyon

"Hell of a place to lose a cow."  That's how one pioneer rancher summed up the topography of these tens of thousands of hoodoos.

 At nine thousand feet elevation Bryce Canyon had plenty of snow left on April Fools Day.  And a low morning temp of 8 on April 2nd.

According to the Paiute people, what we today call the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon were once the Legend People, and they were of many kinds -- birds, animals, lizards and such -- but they had the power to make themselves look like people.  For some reason, the Legend People were bad, and eventually Coyote turned them all to stone, just as we see them today, standing in rows, sitting, holding on to each other.

Quite the Crowd of Legend People

As awesome as the views are from the top, hiking down among the hoodoos is more awe-inspiring yet.

 Two nights at Brrrryce was enough.  Next, on toward southeast Utah.