London, at last

Our train arrived at King's Cross, platform 9 3/4. 

We got a taxi right away to our flat at 83 Gloucester Terrace in the Paddington part of town.  

View from our front door. 

It is cosmic how sometimes worlds merge and you're surrounded by what could be your own family's stuff.  Here is some of the decor in the flat:

You get the idea. I think my favourite part is that the owners have two little kids, so it feels very familiar having their little furniture and books and things about. This makes me melt:

We have a picture like that by our Frances too!☺️

 

York, condensed

Next trip, we're starting in York. It is so gorgeous and vibrant and user-friendly, and their hospital is excellent!  I have so little to share about it because I was feeling really awful when we arrived. I made it to dinner but couldn't eat, and it went sideways from there. I did manage to get these snaps:

We went to the Lamb and Lion, where we sat outside upstairs on this gorgeous patio. 

 And look what was on tap!

Special shout out to brother Bob and his Black Sheep Morris dancers!

Farewell Dumfries

In the end, Dumfries is set back in time a bit. Dig the decor at the bar downstairs. You can't really see much of the artwork, but from the carpet you can understand that Scott and I felt a bit like we were going to grad. 

And this was the hair dryer in our hotel room!

Its power was sort of like the "damp dry" setting on a clothes dryer. 

Threave Castle

(FYI, the last sentence of the previous post should say "Bit nipply at the top....")

Laggan Outdoor was so great. So, what to do when you're done?  It's early-mid afternoon, so do you end on a high note and quit while you're ahead, or look for more?  We opted for the latter and ended up on one of those wonderful unplanned discoveries, Threave Castle. 

You can only access it by boat. You walk about ten minutes on a lovely path (which happens to be a bat habitat; we didn't feel the need to learn any more about them since we're experts already).

Besides the bats, there's a pair of osprey that have returned for the summer. That might be one flying on the right. 

And ladybugs. ☺️

But the best part is when you reach a wee dock, and you ring the bell for the boatman to come and get you. 

The nicest bloke around!  You even get kitted with a Mustang PFD. The ride is all of 3 minutes. The water level in the River Dee rises and falls frequently during the day, depending on the rains, so the docks are designed with different heights to get on or off. 

Next thing you know, you're over there, you've paid your £2.50 at the tiny ticket booth, and you can explore this amazing 15th century fortress (I may have my century wrong--just know it's REALLY OLD).

The dungeon, complete with super-creepy figure. Can you see him?

It once had four levels. The engineering is mind boggling. 

The well. 

Isn't it pretty?  And the views from the castle were too. 

But this is my favourite view--happy sister time:

Rewind a few days

Where were we?  Ah, yes, Dumfries!

We drove through exquisite countryside to Laggan Outdoor, an adventure park created by a young guy looking to diversify the farm. I was anticipating a huge, obnoxious, Whistler-esque commercial venture, but it was the exact opposite. 

A nice small car park, a couple of small buildings (one having a fantastic cafe with  just about the best brownies ever), loads of super-friendly staff, and a very well-oiled machine. And people with their gorgeous dogs (alas, no pics, but you can imagine a pair of hyper-friendly black labs just hanging). 

After determining our weights and availability of activities (no Segways available, darn it) we ended up doing two things. This is sledging:

No rope tow; all on your own steam!

Scott

Frances

Caroline

It's like a toboggan with hand brakes. Now, I'm sure I'm not the only mature woman who has had trouble wedging her hips in one of these. Simply looking at it and then my girth shows that the math doesn't add up. Suffice to say my rides down the hill were a bit slow. 

A break for lunch, then ZIPLINING!!!  800+ meters, thank you very much!

Brave girls getting ready to jump. 

Captain Scott, ready for action. 

Even more incredible than the fun zip line was the view. I mean, come on!!!

You even fly over sheep and cows!  I tried to have a chat with them as I flew over, but they were otherwise occupied. 

Great weather that day, too. (But nipple at the zip launch.)

Back on track

After the unanticipated delay in York, we're on our way to London!

Unplanned excitement

I started feeling grim yesterday around 1:00, and by 3:00 I was REALLY grim. I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say I ended up in York Hospital with DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis). It means really high blood sugar and really high ketones, and it's a nasty gig. I came in the middle of the night here, so I've been over 12 hours. The care has been exceptional. They're still bringing my bs down, and they won't let me out till I'm free of ketones. I'm getting there. Dear Scott and girls have been amazing sports, taking care of changing our train and flat reservations for York while being worried and exhausted.

You can tell we're in England because they spelled Monroe wrong. 

Now, where did this font come from?!