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Adventure In England: Part Two

Time for the second set of photos from our trip to England this summer! The first set of images below are from Sunday of our first weekend there. We completed yet another hike to a pub, this time starting at Castle Drogo and hiking to Fingle Bridge Inn for a simple lunch and some beers. The landscape on this hike was drastically different from the previous day; instead of vast, rolling hills and ocean views, we were treated to dense forests and lushly green landscapes. 

After Sunday, we took a slight break from going to pubs every night and had some lazier nights in with our friends that we were staying with (which was much needed and appreciated). After a few nights of that, we were off to exploring again and walked to the Turf Hotel which is right in Exeter. Once again, it was a drastically different type of walk and landscape than some of our previous adventures, but no less beautiful than any of the rest. 

At this point our time in Exeter, unfortunately, was winding down, leaving us with only a few more days to explore. Two of those evenings were spent, at least partially, in Exmouth. The first trip there was quite brief, but we did stumble on a local neighborhood party where the streets were decorated and there was a stage with music. We weren't there long, but it sure was a pretty little sight!

The next day we were luckily back to Exmouth for most of the day and were able to make time for the first item on my list of things to do in England: fish and chips on the beach. Unfortunately, it started to rain slightly right after we picked up or fish and chips, putting a slight damper on things. We made the best of it, however, and the rain cleared up rather quickly, allowing me to walk barefoot in the sand and get some photos of the beach. 

Next up: Images from the next portion of our adventure, which brought us up to Windermere!

St. Croix Garden Tour

A few weekends ago I drove up to Minnesota to surprise my mom for her birthday weekend. The surprise was a big success (the look on her face was priceless), and it ended up being a perfect, albeit short, weekend with my family. That Sunday, her actual birthday, we went on the St. Croix Garden Tour. My family generally goes every year, though it has been a while since I was able to join. We saw some beautiful gardens, and it was fun seeing my nephew enjoying it all as well.

This first garden was my favorite from the tour. It was located on a plot of land that used to be a dairy farm, and had massive gardens that sprawled through the woods, and included a perfect little creek, the old dairy barns, and a tennis court tucked in the back. It was stunningly beautiful. 

The gardens after that were a bit smaller, but each had their own charm. My family got lots of ideas for their own gardens from the tour, and I kept on dreaming about the home I will have someday. 

New posts over the next few weeks may be a bit sporadic, as I get ready to help Scott move to Colorado next week, and then move myself a few weeks after that. I will try to keep things up here, but if it go quiet, trust that I will get caught up again after I am settled in somewhat. 

Flashback Friday: Red River Gorge

It has been a few (okay, more than a few) weeks since the last Flashback Friday post. But, I am hoping to get back on track with them starting this week!

Every so often I find myself feeling extremely homesick for Kentucky. I lived in Lexington for four and a half years while I went to school at the University of Kentucky for my bachelor's degrees. Lexington and the surrounding areas took a piece of my heart during that time. The feeling of missing that area comes in waves, but for the past week or so I have found myself deep underneath one of them; this post is a result of that. 

One of the (many) great things about Lexington is that it was only around an hour and a half drive to the Red River Gorge. The Red was one of my favorite escapes when I was feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or just needed a break from people and the city. It is such a large area that when I went on my hikes, depending on the trail I chose, I would rarely see more than one or two people, if any. That fact, combined with the tall cliffs, vast forest, and towering trees made me feel small, and often helped put things in perspective as I hiked. 

I was obsessed with the trails there, and ended up with enough photographs of them to do an entire (and lengthy) series on that alone. They were often narrow, and would twist and turn allowing me to only see so far ahead before it disappeared into the woods. Perhaps as would be expected, they were quite symbolic for me. 

It was almost always incredibly humid in the summer, which I normally cannot stand. However, the past few days I have found myself even missing that heavy, moist air that I was bound to encounter on my summer hikes. It was also always incredibly green in The Red during the spring and summer months. The light that filtered down through the dense leaves had a sort of green tint to it, and everything was lush and filled with life. Ferns and moss are some of my favorite plants, and there would be expansive areas filled with both of them, much to my delight. 

I have many more images of the area (both The Red and Lexington) that I will likely be posting in the coming Flashback Friday posts, so be sure to check back next Friday to see another piece of what I have been dreaming about lately.

And with that, happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!