2010 Vacation – Southern England – Amesbury, Salsbury, and the Coast
The Beginning of our Adventure
This year, Karen and I traveled to England, Scotland and Ireland for our vacation. We decided on this trip because Grant and his family are currently living in Southern England. So this provided us both a base of operations and some local knowledge. The rest of the brothers and mom also joined for England and Scotland. Our trip began on Aug. 21 with a 6am flight from San Francisco to London.
Amesbury, Salsbury and the Coast
Grant, Evelyn, Kelly and Rory have been living in Amesbury for a little while now. Grant is flying out of the local RAF base. So, our first stop was to their home town for a little rest and then tour of the region. Also, our niece, Rory, was being baptized and we were so glad to make it “across the pond” for the ceremony. The baptism took place in the Salsbury cathedral. This is the largest church in the region and, amazingly, contains one of the 4 remaining original copies of the Magna Carta. Following the ceremony the whole group went to lunch in Lower Woodford.
The following day we drove to Boscombe, on the coast, and checked out the local surf scene. Nothing to write home about. Apparently there is a million dollar artificial reef at this location, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the surf this day. That evening, Grant and Evelyn took us over to Stonehenge, which conveniently is within walking distance of Amesbury, about 3 miles from their house. The site was closed for the day, but we could see the moon rising over the giant stones from the road.
All of us went to dinner for some traditional English fare and then out to a pub for our first British pint. Quite a full first day and a half.
