Memorial Day Weekend 2012 (Sunday/Monday)

 Wolf Trap held a free Memorial Day concert Sunday evening, with music from the President's Own Marine Band.

 Where's Dustin?

It was a beautiful evening........until it wasn't.  Halfway through the performance we noticed a quiet rumbling throughout the multitude sitting on the grass.  Everyone seemed to be looking to the rear of the area.  I looked back and saw huge, dark clouds moving toward us.  I thought, "There's only a 20% chance of rain today.  Nothing's going to happen."  Boy was I wrong.  All of a sudden we were the recipients of an east coast downpour.  Sam and Dustin tried to stay as dry as they could (with Sam's little umbrella) while I ran to get the car and Dustin's wheelchair.  Long story short:  We drove home drenched.  Is that a sign?  Was I not keeping the Sabbath Day holy by attending a free concert to honor the men and women who sacrificed for my freedoms?  Ha!  Well, it makes for an entertaining story.  It stopped raining before I arrived home, so I left the windows down all night in an attempt to dry out the inside of the car.  It took about 12 hours to dry out completely.

Monday - Memorial Day:  Rest, relaxation, and Texas Roadhouse.  God bless our troops!

Memorial Day Weekend 2012 (Saturday)

Early Saturday morning Dustin and I drove up to Sharpsburg, Maryland, and visited Antietam Battlefield, which is the site of the worst single-day loss of life in America's history.  More than 23,000 Americans were killed, wounded, or missing after a 12-hour period during this Civil War battle.

Bloody Lane - More than 5,000 Americans were killed, wounded, or missing in a three-hour battle in this area.

This thing landed on my hand while I was pushing Dustin around.

We drove over the border into West Virginia and found a great place to eat.  Home cookin'!  Love it.  Best crab-cake sandwich I've ever had.

Betty's Restaurant - Shepherdstown, WV

This is the longest-running parade in America.  145 years this year.

The popular, homemade ice cream parlor in Sharpsburg.  The ice cream was good, but nowhere near as good as the stuff I had on the Isle of Man.

After a couple of hours of rest in the afternoon we headed back out to pick up Sam and we drove down to National Harbor.

Representing the Irish flag in our unintentional choice of clothing.

Is it obvious that I like the "Panorama" setting on Dustin's camera. :)

Washington Nationals vs. Baltimore "Oreos"

 Saturday night Dustin, Sam, and I went to a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles.  It was sold out because the two teams are rival neighbors, but we were able to get three wheelchair-accessible seats.  This photo is the view from where we were sitting.  I took these pictures with Dustin's new camera.  Pretty impressive photos for a point-and-shoot.

 The zoom on that little camera is awesome!

 Halfway through the game Dustin and I went to grab something to eat.  We ordered about $20 worth of food. I ordered a veggie burger because this particular place made the veggie burgers right there (in other words, they aren't frozen and packaged).  I had to wait a while to get the burger, so the man running the place walked up and told me, "Because you've been so patient, all your food is on me tonight."  That was a nice surprise.  

Three Amigos (and an old man standing in our picture).  The Nationals weren't doing very well throughout most of the game, so every now and then we would join the Orioles fans - "Let's Go O's!"  Hey, when you don't care about baseball you cheer for whoever wins and you leave happy. :)

At the beginning of the game we were wondering what an "Oriole" is.  Dustin, clearly disappointed in our lack of intelligence, responded, "It's a cookie."  Ha!  He was thinking of an Oreo.  Turns out it's a type of bird.

Nationals vs. Orioles

 

Daniel, Dustin, Sam

Stake Priesthood Meeting - Outdoors

 We had our Stake General Priesthood Meeting this morning at a campground.  That was a first for me and I really enjoyed it.  The weather was great and the Spirit was at the meeting.  We were told NOT to dress up, but to bring our beach chairs, hats, and sunblock.

The man in the purple shirt (I can't remember his name) is heading out to be the new New York, New York South Mission President next month.  He spoke to us about putting on the whole armor of God and not succumbing to the fiery darts of the adversary.

Did you know that Bermuda is included in the New York, New York South Mission?  He told us that he jokingly asked President Uchtdorf (during his interview) if he could move the mission home to Bermuda.

Last Day in England

 We attended the Chorley 1st Ward this morning before heading back down to London...

...stopping along the way for a stroll around Cambridge.

Some people come here to study.......and then there's this guy.

Cool?  Weird?  Creepy?  I think it's pretty impressive.

Okee dokee (a lady in Scotland told us that phrase is Scottish), [we've] got a ticket to ride.....home.

Day 15 (Hadrian's Wall & Scotland)

We got up this morning, did a little more work at the Preston temple, and then we drove up north.

Shout out to Danette and John!  Close to the border with Scotland.

We stopped at Hadrian's Wall to get out and walk around a bit.

Then we drove into Scotland.

I'm laughing (in the video) because we had actually just crossed the border back into England a mile or two before I made this video.  Ha!  Hey, we DID drive in Scotland, I just didn't think to make this video until it was too late.

We visited a little memorial to those whose lives were cut short by that act of terrorism.  Google "Lockerbie bombing" if you don't know what happened that day.

Ecclefechan!  My favorite place-name in Scotland.

And here's my new favorite animal.  The Highland Cow!  Check out that red hair. :)

Day 14 - Isle of Man!

I dedicate this post to my awesome brother-in-law, Jarem, and the wonderful people of the Isle of Man.

I tried the Manx Kippers (a type of fish popular on the island) with eggs this morning.  One time will be sufficient. :)  It's too salty and left a........wait for it..........fishy taste in my mouth all day.

We walked a couple of miles from our hotel to Onchan, to visit St. Peter's Parish Church.  This is a view from the promenade in Douglas.

Shout out to Granny!

Coolest little house (cottage?) I've seen the entire trip.  That's St. Peter's in the background.

From St. Peter's we walked a mile back down to the train/bus station and took the bus up to the Great Laxey Water Wheel.

Largest continuously-used water wheel in the world!

We walked back to the Laxey Station Cafe, met one of the people Jarem brought the gospel to, and had some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted.

I tried the wild strawberry and crunchy honeycomb.  So good!

With Yannina Grove

Then we hopped on the Manx Electric Railway and enjoyed a fun ride back down to Douglas.

Back at the train station in Douglas we were met by Peter and his wife.  Fun people!  They took us to see some other friends of Jarem.  I can't speak highly enough of the people here.  Our one-day trip was definitely too short.  It wasn't even one day!  We arrived last night at 10:00PM and now I'm sitting in the ferry terminal at 3:00PM the next day.  We did our entire Isle of Man experience in five hours today.

This is the coat of arms of the Isle of Man.  Quocunque Jeceris Stabit translates to "Whichever way you throw, it will stand," meaning that wherever you put a person from the Isle of Man, that person will do well.  Jarem, correct me if I got that wrong. :)  Maybe you can comment on here and tell everyone if the triskelion means anything else.  I really like it.

Slane lhiat (goodbye) to the people of the Isle of Man.  Hee'm shiu (I'll see you) soon!

Gura mie ayd (thank you) for the excellent treatment.