The Lake District

On to the Lake District!

Kaylin and Carrie on the ferry ride back to England. This ferry wasn't quite as fancy as the Mannanan, but I still thought it was really nice. Wimbledon was playing on all of the TVs and people kept asking us the score of various matches. I felt a bit out of the loop, not being a follower of tennis in a country full of fans.

Allyson

Minty (nobody could say her name of Mindy and Rocksana, our Polish friend on the Isle of Mann, asked if she could call Mindy Minty. Now Mindy is forever known as Minty.

One of Carrie's mission buddies, Sheldon, took us on a tour of the Lake District with his wife and two boys. His wife is one tough chick as she was 8 months pregnant at the time and ready to pop. It was so hot outside I just wanted to fan her with palm fronds, or even the book in my hand.

This is on the way to the Lake District. I wish I could tell you the name of this place. It's funny, you think you'll never forget and then you find you have.

This picture is fuzzy, I know, but I hope this gives you an idea how narrow the roads were. We rented a Volkswagon Golf, a regular-sized vehicle, and as we drove along these roads it was fine . . . until oncoming traffic approached. I don't know how the Brits do it. The roads were so narrow and when there were two cars on the road it just seemed impossible to fit them both without a car getting smushed in the process. Crazy thing is, they always fit.

We had actually had a semi truck (called a lorry over there) come barreling towards us, and it just seemed that we were headed for disaster. All five of us, as the lorry hurtled past, sucked in as it drove by. It's so funny to me that I sucked in my stomach and sat a little straighter, as if that would do anything. You know that scene out of The Holiday when Cameron Diaz is driving on the road for the very first time? Yeah, it was a lot like that.

At Coniston Lake, one of the lakes of the Lake District. Fun fact for you: Elizabeth Bennett travels to the Lake District with her aunt and uncle just before she runs into Mr. Darcy--the fateful meeting where she falls in love with him. Just saying.

The Lake District, in general, felt a lot like we were back in America. It was kind of a nice taste of home.

The small towns here were so quaint and cute. I loved them. Beatrix Potter (of Peter Rabbit fame) had a home in the Lake District. There was a lot of Beatrix Potter stuff to see and buy (which I didn't, although I was tempted . . . but if you can get it at Barnes and Noble then there's no reason to pay 50% more in England than in the States).

We took a boat tour on Windermere Lake which is the largest lake in England. The boat ride was great, but once again we were in a sea (or should I say lake?) of old people. Hilarious.

And those swans were too close for comfort. I just knew one was going to find a reason to be pissed at me.

See what I mean? I didn't know that swan was there when I took that picture. They just sneak up on you.

Has anybody seen the Haley Mills movie In Search of the Castaways? If you have, you'll know why I thought of that movie when seeing that tree.

I really wanted a sailboat.

William Wordsworth, a British poet, is famous for many poems he wrote that were influenced by the countryside of the Lake District. This is one of his more famous poems. I love the meaning behind it and think it illustrates a bigger picture than just my time at the Lake District, but my time in England overall.

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.