Home in San Diego

We landed in San Diego at 1733L.  We had a great time with a lot of wonderful friends.  Having said all that, we are happy to be home!

We stopped at IN-N-OUT, a few Doubles, fries and off to home at last after three weeks and a day!

On Southwest 910!

Airborne and headed home!  We should land about 1720L on Tuesday 13 April 2010.  As a matter of interest, Mad and Mrs. Uek are in Chicago, headed to Texas and eventually California.

Back in the USA!

The intrepid duo landed at Houston Intercontinental at 1236L, two minutes past schedule.  Not bad considering the average for the flight has been two hours late.

Out of York, Coningsby and Heathrow!

Monday, our intrepid pair headed towards Heathrow Airport and their hotel right on the airport, the famed and fairly unique Yotel.   They stopped at RAF Coningsby where they saw some RAF aircraft like the Harrier GR9, Tornado GR4 and the Spitfires and Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and, of course:

Typhoon, the Royal Air Force’s most modern and versatile fighter aircraft.  

The best part was getting to see the Hurricane and Spitfire actually fly.  Both were veterans; the Battle of Britain (the Spit) and D-Day (the Hurricane).  They wanted to stop at RAF Bentwaters, the Twin Beak Complex where Hap was stationed in the 1970s with the91st Tactical Fighter Squadron flying F-4Ds, but it was going to add about five hours on to an already eight hour trip. Not this time, maybe next time.

Anyway, they made it safely to Heathrow and the Yotel!  Bunks and changing lights!  Dinner at the Windsor Castle Pub (in the Terminal).  Up at 0Dark30 for a 0840 departure on Continental Flight 35 to Houston Intercontinental.  Then, somehow home to San Diego.

Flexibility is the key to tactical travel power.

The best laid plans of rodents and men … A pint is not really just a pint!

       Today was a day that we didn't do what we had planned, but we had a great time anyway. We got up at 0830, skipped breakfast at the hotel, had hot (actually cold) cross buns without butter, on the way to Paul and Emma's house.

Mom dropped off Jack to hang with Jack Langstaff, while she went to look for an extra suitcase to pack stuff in. Jack and Jackal had a great time, hanging with each other. The great huge Chinese van was loaded up with Paul and Emma, and Paul and Emma, and Jack, and Jack, and Eve!. The Van departed Paul and Emma's around 1145, and Paul driving the back roads with reckless abandon, made it to the Stone Trough Inn at about 1215.

Everybody was there, except for Dru, Kay and Len, who got caught in traffic on the A64, due to the MIddleton Point to Point race. It is sort of like a steeple chase.

At 1300, Dru was the last one there. She had a pint of beer called Landlord. A pint of beer is big!  Twenty Ounces (20 oz), not Sixteen like in the USA.   Jack and Jack were drinking shandies!!!  We ordered; Jack and Jackal had fish and chips, Jack A with mushy peas, and Jack L with non mushy peas. Len and Dru had roast pork with Yorkshire pudding, Emma and Paul and Eve had roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, and Mrs. Kay had a curry dish. 

We all had a good time, even though Paul wasn't feeling well due to a dodgy sausage he had eaten in Whitby the day before. For dessert, we had Sticky Toffee pudding with toffee pudding and ice cream! We all drove back to Mrs. Kay's and had coffee and tea and biscuits.

Then it was time to go, hugs, and tears and see you soons all around, and we left to go to the hotel to pack up. Mrs. Kay stopped by to drop off some more sweets and chatted a little bit.

Jorvik, Bob, Italian food and Evensong!

We started out today by gassing up the car, then we went to drop it off at the park and ride, to take the bus into York. We were hungry, and we saw a crepe stand, which sounded really yummy! Jack had a Nutella crepe, and Mom had a banoffee crepe, which is banana, toffee and cream. 

We wandered around for a bit, then it was time for Jack to go to his Viking Experience, at the Jorvik Viking Centre.   Jack was taken with Bob, the Viking, a skeleton of a Viking between the age of 18-25, who was between 5'9" and 6'2".  He had some axe cuts in his pelvis and leg. They don't know who he is, but he was apparently buried in a coffin. His teeth were well preserved!  People speculate he died in combat.

        We had pre-booked, so he jumped the line! 

        Dru wandered around shops while he was in the Viking Centre. We walked around and watched street musicians and looked in little shops.

Around 2, we decided to eat lunch and we found a very nice Italian restaurant. After lunch, we went and visited the York Castle Museum. They had set up different rooms from different time periods, including a Georgian dining room, a cottages on the Moors around the 18th century, and several others. There was an exhibit on cleaning, and the first vacuum cleaners just took the dust and blew it into the room, and they said it made it easier to pick it up. The last part of the museum, we walked through a street, Kirkham in the late 19th century, early 20th century. We took a picture of a rat outside of a boarding house. 

Then it was time to head to the Minster for the 5:15 Evensong service. There were lots of important people this time, including the Lord Mayor! There was a French minister who said the last prayer in French. 

      Back to the bus, and over to ASDA, the 24 hour super center near our hotel, where we purchased Jacob's assorted cream crackers, goat cheese, Shippam's Chicken Spread, and Clementine tangerines for dinner. Excellent!

North Yorkshire Moors Railway

Today was the North Yorkshire Moors Railway day. We drove about 30 minutes to the Town of Pickering, to catch the train. Minor problems with finding a place to park.

The station at Pickering is lovely.  We got the Rover tickets, which meant we could take any of the trains.  

The steam engine pulled into the station about 1145, and we boarded. At 1200, at the blow of the whistle, we departed.  As we chugged along, the landscape began to change, from almost flat, to high hills. The trip to Grosmont was about an hour. 

We departed at Grosmont, and walked over to the engine shed. To get there, we walked through a stone Tunnel, possibly the first train tunnel in England, designed by George Stephenson, builder of the “Rocket” steam engine, in 1829.

The tunnel was used for horse-pulled carriages.  In the shed were several engines that men were working on.  

Back to the refreshment room for Weynsledale cheese and bacon sandwiches, cups of tea, and crisps, one Beefy and one Salt and Vinegar. Most excellent!

We found historical information about the steam engine that pulled our train today. REPTON, a SR V School class 4-4-0 engine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Schools_class#Operational_use), made a speed record for it's class of 95 miles per hour, pulling four coaches.

It is the last running member of it's class, the others all scrapped or in museums. I have seen CHELTENHAM, one of REPTON's brothers, when I went to the National Railway Museum.   For video of him look here: REPTON underway

On the train again, back down to Pickering. Back to the hotel, with one roundabout mishap.