Looping Lopez

Time for a mini break from the travel, so Karen and I chucked our bikes in the Cutlass and took off for the San Juan islands on a whim. Lopez island was our destination, tulip peekers were our enemies and time was against us – but we just made the lunchtime ferry with seconds to spare. That’s the island over there!

Lopez is an extremely sleepy, rural place overrun with sheep and B&Bs with ridiculous quantities of pillows. Viz.

How can you sleep on that? I think there were 18 pillows. And none whatsoever on the wooden porch chairs. Soft furnishing madness.

 

We took a gentle meander through the rolling countryside, stopping at Shark Reef State Park (no sharks, lots of seals).

 

Beautiful lady on a beautiful sunny day!

 

Mmmm, rusty old agricultural stuff. This was the village museum.

We wandered Lopez Village and had a great sunset meal at the justly celebrated Bay Café.

More cycling on the Sunday, including a walk along Wallace Spit.

Then we took the scenic route home from Anacortes, over Deception Pass and down through Whidby Island, including a lunch stop at the charming old mill town of Coupeville for fresh Penn Cove mussels and a spot of, er, totem wheel spinning.

A few odds, ends and pads

Here’s a few things I’ve been up to since I’ve been back from England. First off, Karen and I drove out to refresh my Northwest lungs with a hike up to see Wallace Falls on a lovely spring day.

The very next day, I had to get back on a plane (boo!) and fly to Boston to interview Dean Kamen for an Economist article. Hung out with Bill and watched the rain from some first class art galleries including the MFA and the amazing Isabella Stewart Gardiner collection – very much like the Sir John Soane back in London.

The next weekend was iPad day, so I spent an hour in a queue with 500 other chilly, rich, geeks waiting for our chance to buy another unnecessary gadget. Much whooping ensued.

More Nottingham nuptials

Sorry, headline-creating neurons not on top form this evening. So Alex’s big day dawned with both of us remarkably sober and, dare I say it, rather dapper.

We grabbed a cab up to the registry office and met the rest of the clan. Come on Alex, take it like a man!

A very ginger appearance from Alex’s sister, Helen, and her family.

And here’s the happy couple!

I’ll spare you all the posed family photos (available on request!) and skip straight to the dancing, eating and drinking… Here’s Adrian, Carol and Alex’s mum Jeanne.

Aimee making her speech (slightly teary, bless!).

The lights went down, the wedding disco came on and everything went a bit… bubbly…(thanks Lewis!).

Alex and Aimee show us their tiger feet.

All too soon, the evening was over, the last pints were being poured down throats and I bade Alex and Aimee farewell in their cab to their fancy wedding hotel.

Er, then welcomed them back to our hotel when it turned their room – on their wedding night! – had been double-booked. A couple of grappas soon settled their emotions.

BIll’s enthusiasm for the grappas was legendary.

Nottingham nuptials

At the weekend, it was the big event – Alex and Aimee’s wedding. Bill and I took the train up the day before and Emma joined us on the Saturday. Here are a bunch of photos from everything but the wedding.

Strangely, we did actually see a real-life Robin Hood, giving a talk to some American journos on the mythic qualities of the legend at our hotel. The Robin Hood frenzy has to be seen to be believed – especially as there’s a new film coming out shortly…

I think they did the new art museum sign like this just to make lazy picture editors flip the image around in travel supplements. At least I hope they did. That striking Victorian church behind is now a pub – more pics later.

Here’s Alex and his dad, Frank, enjoying a few beers the night before the wedding. Apparently, Frank taught him everything he knows about statue impersonation. Get some grey body paint mate!

 

The Sunday after the wedding, we enjoyed the quietest possible tourist sites – until Badger hit the commentary button whose ‘annoying local DJs blather about nothing’ label must have fallen off. That plus the sunshine? Not hangover friendly.

This is more like it – a superb day for one of Anish Kapor’s stunning Sky Mirrors, right by the theatre.

Then off to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem – a pub that is set right into the castle rock, complete with a bar right inside a cave.

And here’s that church/pub from the inside.

Stopover in York

Whoa, sorry I’m getting a bit behind with the blog. Let’s catch up. I flew to England, headed up to Scarborough for Alex’s stag – then stopped at York briefly on the way home. Here’s my old uni buddy Alison and her hubby Neil looking totally drenched in front of the Minster. Daniel is walking backwards in the background somewhere.

We took a great stroll along the walls and through the city, which I think is looking more beautiful than ever.

Then it was off to tea with Lou, a housemate from my second year. Jon and son Owen were off at the footie so we could enjoy civilised cuppa without talking about Man U or brain-melting compsci stuff.

And as if to bid me farewell, one of the best (double) rainbows I’ve ever seen – from the walls no less…