To The Lake District

It was a glorious sunny day, perfect for our drive up to the Lake District. Brad was able to take the day off work and drove us up and over the North York Moors in the morning arriving at Castlerigg Stone Circle just outside of Keswick around 10 a.m. There were only a few other visitors at the stone circle, so we had plenty of wonderful photo opportunities. We headed into Keswick where we took a stroll through the town admiring the green slate buildings. We popped into Bryson's Tearoom for a bite to eat. Everyone had scones except me. I opted for a local treat called plum bread. It tasted just like a slice of raisin toast and was yummy indeed. From Keswick we headed south to Grasmere, yet another charming Lake District village. After lunch in Grasmere we visited Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's home from 1799-1808. Even if you are not literarily inclined, a visit to Dove Cottage is a treat if only for the intimate view of life in rural England during the early 19th century. We all decided we are definitely glad to be living in the 21st century. From Grasmere we took the long scenic road home through the rest of the Lake District and back into the Yorkshire Dales with a few stops along the way for photo opportunities of stone walls and sheep. It was rather late when we were approaching Harrogate. I suggested we pop into the Hopper Lane Hotel for dinner. It's a quaint and cozy pub right on the road home. We all had a good dose of hearty British fare: Brenda had roast lamb and Yorkshire pudding while I had roast pork and Yorkshire pud. Domenica had steak and ale pie and Brad had pork medallions. Aside from our main dishes the rest of the table was laden with tons of veggies: chipped potatoes, potatoes au gratin, mashed potatoes, boiled new potatoes, broccoli, squash, carrots. Somehow we managed to find room to have dessert as well: the girls shared a Belgian chocolate steamed pudding and Brad had vanilla ice cream in a brandy snap basket.