wildlife

so on friday i formally entered what my friend jo calls "the flirty thirties". i approached this milestone with a bit of reluctance. okay, a lot of reluctance. thirty sounds awfully grown-up, and i don't feel it.

lucky for me, bryan took me on a surprise trip up north where i could gawk and squeal at animals as if i was three, not thirty.

big sur is an absolutely stunning place, where dense forest follows a rocky, mountainous coastline. the five-hour drive felt like two, it was so beautiful.


on the way up we passed a sign for "vista point - elephant seals". a quick u-turn and...






so many harbor and elephant seals - i'm amazed that they're still there, protected - that we haven't driven them all off. and they just lay there happily, burying themselves in the sand and honking at each other.

best. birthday present. ever.

we spent saturday at the point lobos wildlife reserve hiking around their unbelievably gorgeous park.








point lobos is known for their sea lion look-out -


- as well as coves full of sea otters. but they slid and somersaulted around so quickly i couldn't get a good photo! we did have an up-close experience with a lovely dear though -


that's, like, zero zoom on my camera. she was right in front of us.


also, there was knitting! see that hat? sort of? it's the felicity hat by wanett clyde (ravelry link). i wanted a new, slouchy hat and i wanted to use a skein of gorgeous sheepy linsmore sheep farm pure wool that malaraky gifted me last year. close-ups!:




the color is more accurate in that second photo - it's a deep brown with red, purple, and green hues very naturally wound into the yarn. i love it. i added a few rows of broken rib around the band so it wouldn't curl, and otherwise knit per the instructions. a quick knit, and very cute!

it's bryan's birthday today, so send him some b-day wishes!

wool & bears, everywhere!

although we were only there for one and a half days, b and i managed to see quite a few of my favorite things with the family while we were in the NEK.

farmers' markets there know what's really important - cinnamon rolls and warm mittens!




the awesomeness of "downtown saint johnsbury" - handknit socks and bears in hats!




b and i rode the horse at polly's pancake parlor -


and climbed around the basin and lost river -







all in all, a quick but wonderful trip. i can't wait to go back in the winter!

one more stop

i was telling a colleague the other day - i've been procrastinating. i don't want to type up this last post because then i'll be completely done. the trip will be behind me and there's only looking forward. well, i've procrastinated long enough and here it is, my favorite part of our trip: wales.

b's conference was located in bangor, a small, hilly city on the sea. it was ideally located for a day of driving through snowdonia, the most beautiful countryside i've ever seen.






yes, it was overcast, and that's normal for this part of the country. the near-constant drizzle creates a landscape so green and lush, it's just astounding. and perfect for grazing sheep!


sheep were grazing the countryside everywhere - in the fields, up the mountain slopes - everywhere. bliss!

sheep = woolly fiber goodness, of course. i wound my way through the mountains via back country lanes and found myself at the trefriw woolen mills.


unfortunately, the working mills and museum were closed but i did pick up some lovely grey-green aran tweed - enough for a sweater. then it was off to ar-y-gweill in llanrwst (don't you just love these names? don't ask me to pronounce them.)




have you ever seen a 400g ball of wool before?! me neither. apparently they're quite common in this neck of the woods but wow - HUGE! my purchases here include a sweater's worth of dk weight wool/alpaca/silk (deep brown) from sirdar, which i rarely see in the states. i wanted to only buy yarn i can't easily find at home and the lovely shop owner was gracious enough to 1) help me, and 2) allow me to photograph her store. (thank you to the menai knitting group on ravelry for the recommendations!)

besides sheep, the other wonder wales has to offer is a proliferation of ancient, mossy castles. of course i couldn't turn down the opportunity to run around castles so i set off to explore a couple nearby. first up was beaumaris, and you're going to have to excuse me here because i just couldn't possibly choose between my favorite photos. beaumaris, on the isle of anglesey, was built by edward i - as many of the welsh castles were, in order to "stamp his authority on the welsh". this one was was never actually finished but boy is she gorgeous:
























*sigh* too beautiful. i was in heaven.

i found myself with a little more time on my hands so i decided to go and explore caernarfon - headquarters of the prince of wales! this castle was definitely a little less rustic - and a little more touristy - but was very cool nonetheless. they let you climb all of the turrets!
















and then my camera battery started dying, and we drove back to london and came home. good-bye, europe! i'll see you next year!

back to our regularly scheduled BATH

so, back to it? we flew from santorini to london without any hitches, and spent the night near the stansted airport, where we'd pick up a car the next day. there was lots of drama about the car, but whatever. i'm not going to relive it but i am going to remember to reengage alamo's customer service. anyway. the nice thing about stansted was...


bunnies! there were bunnies hopping around outside EVERYWHERE!

after the car-drama, we set off across the country. please now picture me driving on an unfamiliar side of the road for about 250 miles (day 1). (i only had one big almost-wrong right turn, yay me!) we decided to drive for a couple of reasons. the first?



ever since eighth grade, i've dreamt of visiting stonehenge. for one of my math projects in middle school, i built a to-scale model of the ruin out of clay and foam board and through my research fell in love with this crazy druidic mystery. and it did not disappoint!


also? there were bunnies hopping amongst the rocks!

from stonehenge we drove on to bath, where back in the day b spent a summer at the local university. this time, instead of staying in a dorm, he found an amazing deal at an equally amazing b&b called aspley house, which apparently used to be a mansion some wealthy brit built for his mistress.






that is the most comfortable bed i have ever slept in - EVER. seriously, if you go to bath, you need to stay here. the complimentary breakfast is absolutely brilliant and the rooms are phenomenal!

okay, anyway. the next day b showed me around his old haunts.

the jane austen center made me sad. do not go to the jane austen center. trust me.

but the playground made me happy!

random statuary?


the herman miller factory!


more swans!
we also decided to tour the roman baths, after which - of course - the city is named. i'm not sure what i expected, but this place was really cool.
















and then we were off - driving again! - to magical, castle-rific wales!