They're changing the guard at Buckingham Palace...

Buckingham Palace by A. A. Milne

(from When We Were Very Young)

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace - Christopher Robin went down with Alice. Alice is marrying one of the guard. "A soldier's life is terribly hard," Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace - Christopher Robin went down with Alice. We saw a guard in a sentry-box. "One of the sergeants looks after their socks," Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace - Christopher Robin went down with Alice. We looked for the King but he never came. "Well, God take care of him, all the same," Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace - Christopher Robin went down with Alice. They've great big parties inside the grounds. "I wouldn't be King for a hundred pounds," Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace - Christopher Robin went down with Alice. A face looked out, but it wasn't the King's. "He's much too busy a-signing things," Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace - Christopher Robin went down with Alice. "Do you think the King knows all about me?" "Sure to, dear, but it's time for tea," Says Alice

I had a lovely day in London. The weather was wonderful as you can see from the photos. I had perfect timing to catch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was very crowded. I was lucky to get a spot by the fence. The crowd was at least 3 rows deep and once you were in the front, you didn't want to leave because you might not get back up there again. The queen was not in residence. The Union Jack was flying over the Palace. If the queen is at home, they fly a different flag, called the Royal Standard. It is much like standing around and watching a parade go by. The guards march up and down and to and fro, it gets old after a while. I took the videos by holding my hands up through the bars of the fence. The last video of the guards leaving reminded me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz when they sneak into the castle.

Going Dutch

Ryan and I are getting ready to leave for our vacation to the Netherlands, Holland, the land of the Dutch, Amsterdam....all of the above.

HUH?

I have been there several times before on layovers, but I haven't been into Amsterdam proper. I usually just hang around the layover hotel in the Hague near Scheveningen beach. My good friend, Jenny just moved to Holland last year and they live near the Hague, so we will be staying with them while we adventure around the country. So watch this space for information about our adventures in the land of Windmills, Tulips, Wooden Clogs, Anne Frank and Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates!

Ireland is 40 shades of green!

I just found out that there is a Johnny Cash song called 40 shades of green about Ireland. I had a 4 day trip with a two-day layover in Limerick, Ireland, so I convinced Ryan to come along with me. He has already told most of the story on his blog:

Ireland in Two Days or Less

But here are some more photos, this first one is of the street. If you have been to England where they drive on the left, there are often words like this as you step off the curb, reminding you to look right or look left. These words are in the Irish language and mean, Stop, Look.



And of course we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher and at first the cliffs were totally socked in by fog. From this photo you can tell it was like a total white-out!




but in only about 30 minutes the fog cleared and we were able to get some great views of the cliffs and the crowds of people from all the tour buses! :-)



We did alot of walking in Ireland, but none of it counted towards hike-a-thon for me. For those folks waiting for the last minute to pony up their pledges, just go to the WTA website link here:

Amanda's WTA Fundraising Page

Thanks so much for everyone's support this year!

50 miles and counting!!

Lots of great hiking done this week. I am up to 50 miles hiked and 7 pounds lost! Whoo hoo! First of all, Ryan and I drove out to Tiger Mountain and the Tradition Lake Plateau in Issaquah, WA. We hiked a few miles and found some letterboxes. Along the Bus trail, we stopped to check out the remains of an old bus that is there....
Bus Trail 2007 Hike-a-thon

I had stopped by there last year on a hike-a-thon hike. It seems that each year, there is less and less of the bus left. Could it be rusting away?

We hiked up to the Talus Rocks. I was wondering if this was a specific kind of rock....for example, what makes a talus rock different from a glacier erratic?
Geologically, talus, or scree, is the accumulation of broken rock that lies on a steep mountainside or at the base of a cliff. Ryan had heard of Talus Caves before, caves that are formed when rocks are piled up together. It seems that Talus Rocks could be Erratics. What makes them Talus is the way they are scattered along the sides of the mountain.


Then I flew off to London for work and took time out to hike along the Princess Diana Memorial Walk in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. According to wikipedia, "The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk is a 7-mile trail dedicated to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales. It goes between Kensington Gardens, Green Park, Hyde Park and St James's Park in a figure-eight pattern, passing five sites that are associated with her life: Kensington Palace, Spencer House, Buckingham Palace, St. James's Palace, and Clarence House. It is marked with eighty-nine individual plaques and has been described as "one of the most magnificent urban parkland walks in the world"."



People still leave bouquets of flowers as tributes to Diana here at spots along the walk and by Kensington Palace. With the anniversary of her death approaching, (August 31, 1997) there were flowers stuck into the ornate black and gold palace gates.

My fundraising page at the WTA website:
Amanda's WTA fundraising page

Some East Coast Hiking

I have to fly back and forth from Seattle to the East Coast for work and I was able to sneak in a few little hikes the last couple of days. In Charlotte, NC I hiked for 2.8 miles along the Torrence Creek Greenway and another mile on the Duke Energy Explorium Nature Trail, which is located at the McGuire Nuclear Station on Lake Norman. Lake Norman is the state’s largest man-made lake and was built by Duke Power in 1963 by damming the Catawba River with the Cowans Ford Hydroelectric Station. At the Explorium and the Nature Trail there are signs about what to do if the warning sirens go off! Luckily there were no incidents while we were walking around the nature trail and I didn't have to worry about evacuating the area. :-)

The next day in Pennsylvania, I hiked along the Radnor Trail in Wayne, PA.
This is another "rail-trail," always a favorite of mine! Electric trolleys, part of a railroad leading to 69th Street Terminal in Philadelphia, once followed this path. Today, bridges, supports that once elevated stations, and a substation building are all that's left of the "Strafford Branch" of the Philadelphia and Western Railway.



The Railway operated through the towns of Wayne, PA and Radnor, PA for fifty years. After the trains stopped running, it sat vacant for almost as much time. Now the right-of-way is in active use once again as a hiking-biking trail.

After a quick jaunt down the Radnor Trail, it was off to Valley Forge National
Historic Park. I climbed up Mount Misery along the Covered Bridge and Horse-Shoe Trails. The Horse-Shoe Trail is a 140-mile hiking and equestrian trail that runs from Valley Forge to the Appalachian Trail in southeastern Pennsylvania.
I had no idea that this trail existed. I think it is a pretty cool idea that it runs all the way out to the AT. Like standing on a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail out here in Washington State and imagining that you could just start walking and end up down in Mexico! :-) Not that I would ever do anything like that....Ryan would, but not me! :-) Also while at Valley Forge, I climbed up Mount Joy! I couldn't end the day on Misery ya know!


Many thanks to Sheba and Miz Scarlet for squiring me around in Pennsylvania.

Antiquing in North Carolina

This month, I went to visit my mother in North Carolina and I visited the Metrolina Antique Show. This is a huge Antique and Collectibles show at the Fairgrounds near Charlotte, NC. There was quite a long line to get into the fairgrounds even though it was a chilly November day.

http://www.metrolinaexpotradeshow.com/

I have to explain that when I was a child, I was dragged to every antique shop and antique show in the North Carolina and South Carolina area. Any kind of car trip often involved stops at antique shops. Hours and hours of my life, my formative years, were spent wandering around dusty old antique shops, looking at furniture and doodads. I was not alone, my sister and my cousins all suffered the same fate.

The highlights of many of these trips were the shop cats. Most antique shops had a resident cat who would let bored young girls pet and play with them while their mothers were shopping. We didn't see a cat on this outing, but there was one Antique Dog on display! So now that I am an adult, I too think that going around looking at antiques is a form of recreation.

My mom and I arrived at the Metrolina Antique Show at 9am when they opened and we did not leave until around 3 pm that afternoon! And wonder of wonders, we did not buy much. I bought a couple of antique postcards and she bought some plants. But we saw so many wonderful things (and some not so wonderful things...check out the ugly snake lamp picture)

We had a steak sandwich for lunch. They have a lot of state fair type food pavilions with hotdogs and hamburgers, BBQ, and yummy funnel cakes. We had the steak sandwich with fried onions and peppers.

There were prom dresses and jewelry and christmas ornaments, linens and dishes and crystal. There were farm implements and old political prints and old wooden and block printing STAMPS! Just about everything imaginable.

The next day, after the antique show, we went to the Farmers Market at Yorkmont Road near the Airport. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, many from North and South Carolina Farmers were available in addition to other crafts, bakery items and wood crafts!