glorious England!

I left for a trip to Southwest England, in Dorset, near Wimborne, with my friend Karen August 11th and was gone for 10 glorious days touring the English countryside. Truly the best part of the trip was our wonderful hosts and tour guides, Clare and her parents, Pete & Maggie, whom we stayed with. I absolutely adore them, and am so thankful for their willingess to entertain my love of history and put their lives on hold to drive us all over the place, cook, treat us to real fish & chips, a whiskey lesson, 'cream tea', and help us plan our few days in London on the way home. We visited castles, historic homes/sites, visited their favorite pubs, and celebrated with Clare and her husband Calum as they had a gorgeous reception in honor of their recent marriage and birth of their son, Thomas.

Karen and I braved London on our own... and we only got lost twice! :) We managed the buses, taxi's, the "Underground" or "tubes" and saw nearly everything. My favorite part of this day was walking through the Buckingham palace gardens, just taking it all in. The Tower of London and crown jewels were pretty amazing also.

Though I can't do my entire trip justice with this post - I thought I'd share a few pictures (about 1/3 of what I took), to get a taste of the fun we had. The memories and laughter were wonderful - thanks Karen for allowing me to stow away and be your companion for such a fun trip.