Grayslake Reunion Part I: Edinburgh

Megan and me before senior prom.

Based on my last post, I'm sure you could all tell that I was beyond excited for Janice and Megan to arrive. Let me give you a little background: Megan, Janice, and Elizabeth and I have all been good friends since about freshman/sophomore year of high school. We played volleyball together and that really allowed us to bond. We spent a good chunk of the week reminiscing about when we first met and our early days of friendship. Now, we're closer than ever. Many high school friends drift apart, but we somehow became closer in college. I have some friends from college that dreaded going home over break. Not me! I loved it! From our annual Thanksgiving and Christmas parties to summers spent lazing on Megan's boat and playing sand volleyball with the boys, every moment at home was a blast with these girls.

Elizabeth and me at our confirmation - we look so young!

Since we graduated from college, we've spread out a bit. I moved here, Elizabeth moved to England, Janice to South Carolina, and Megan to Grayslake and then Springfield. It has been hard being apart, but we've managed to stay in touch and maintain our friendship. This trip was a really exciting opportunity for us. It allowed us to bring our best friendships to a new, international level. It's the first time we've all really traveled together, so this week was especially memorable.

Janice and me at one of our many sand volleyball games at Jesse Oaks.

Anyways....

At about 5:30 last Thursday they stepped off the AirLink. After dropping their things off at my apartment, we made our way through the Meadows and campus. It's one thing for me to talk about school, but it's an entirely different thing for them to see it all in person. I was glad I got to show them my school, especially the very old and beautiful buildings that the university has to offer. 

The three of us in Doctors!

After a quick jaunt across the street, we were at my favorite pub, Doctors.While we ate our chicken pie and enjoyed some Crabbies, we chatted away. It was so nice to see them again and we couldn't stop talking. By the time we left it was about 8:15, but have no fear! There was plenty of sunlight left for the day. We were aiming to catch the sunset from Calton Hill at 9:48. (More on the late sunset later) After a quick stop at Tim Riddel's grave in Greyfriars and a visit to Bobby's statue, we slowly made our way to Calton Hill. On the way we also checked out the Scotts Monument, which looked great against the blue sky. Somehow the girls brought amazing weather with them. It was beyond crappy crappy crappy right up until they came, and then BAM! Blue sky. I'm sitting here in my room right now and grimacing at the overcast sky outside my window. The girls had two days in Edinburgh, and they got the two nicest days in the last month.

Waiting for the sun to set.

Calton Hill is always a stop on my tour of Edinburgh. It's one of my favorite spots in the city, especially when the sun is setting. After a short but steep staircase, you're at the top and left to admire the beautiful view. Plus, there are plenty of quirky monuments that you can play on - like the National Monument. It is forever unfinished. After running out of money, they decided to just leave it. It's a rough climb to get on the National Monument, but I highly recommend it. Besides, it is highly entertaining watching others try to get down. It may not be far, but it sure feels like it!

A very zoomed out but cute picture of us on the National Monument.

Meg and me, excited that we made
it onto the National Monument in
one piece!

Fully exploring the self-timer
function on my camera.

Our night ended with a drink at the Pear Tree. This is a pub right by campus with a beer garden. Since the weather was so nice, we couldn't resist. We got home and in bed by midnight, but that didn't mean we actually went to sleep! We hadn't seen each other in person for months, so we had a lot of goofiness and girl talk to catch up on. Despite the lack of sleep, we woke up bright and early the next day, ready to take on the castle. On our way there, we made sure to stop at the Elephant House for breakfast. Although Megan is not the biggest Harry Potter fan, I still consider this to be a must for any tourist. Not only can you feel the magic, but the food and coffee are pretty good.

Getting ready to head inside the castle!

We luckily had perhaps the best tour guide I have ever had at the castle. He was very funny and knowledgeable, so the girls really enjoyed the castle. As I have told you, the castle is a massive place. You can get lost in there for hours, and that's just what we did. 

Jammed together in a guard booth.

Climbing on the canons inside the castle.

After frolicking around the castle for a good long while, we went in search of some lunch. We settled on Deacon Brodie's Tavern for some sandwiches. It was a fairly warm day for here, so we were happy to get out of the sun. I will admit, I got a bit sunburnt. Without a cloud in the sky, I had nothing to protect me against the mostly weak sun. After our food and plenty of water, we were ready to tackle the elements once again. 


The afternoon was spent shopping on the Royal Mile. The girls had plenty of souvenier shopping to do, so I gladly brought them around to the many tourist shops in the area. I may live here, but this is one of my favorite things to do. I love finding something new and quirky and I especially like finding the most ridiculous thing that Scotland has to offer. For example, does anyone really need that highland cow hat? Or those socks with thistles all over them?

We found our very own Braveheart impersonator on the Royal Mile. Huzzah!

After a stop in St. Giles Cathedral, we were ready for dinner. Sami came to meet us at Deacon Brodie's (again!) for dinner. At lunch the fish and chips looked really good, so we faced potential embarrassment and went there for a second time in one day. Turned out that their fish and chips WERE super delicious, and it may be where I bring all of my visitors from here on out. 


After an excruciating walk home in which we all realized we had to go pee 5 minutes in, we began getting ready for our trip down to London to visit Elizabeth. It was another night of late night chatting and giggling. Since we knew we were soon going to be reunited with our long lost fourth member, we were a bit anxious to be on our way already! Make sure to come back again in the next few days to read about our time in London.

A final shot of our little group, enjoying the lit up skyline from Calton Hill.

Be Back Later....

I'm off to reunite with some of my favorite people in the world! As I write this, Megan and Janice are already in the UK and they will be in Edinburgh in approximately 16 hours. As of Saturday, we will be commencing with a group hug at the base of Big Ben with Elizabeth. The UK is about the experience a plethora of cuddling, Grayslake-style.

I will see you all next week with a rousing blog entry regaling our adventures.

John Lithgow Palace

Mom Picture inside
Linlithgow Palace.

Alright, I know this post has been a long time coming. I mean, Kari and I went back in FEBRUARY, so stay with me here while I struggle to remember the details...

Sadly, Linlithgow Palace is not named for the actor John Lithgow. Kari and I kept on accidentally saying Lithgow Palace, so it became a sort of joke for the day. Linlithgow is only about a 20 minute train ride from Edinburgh, so it made a great day trip. It has always been on my list of places to visit in Scotland, so I was glad to finally go! We were really lucky and had gorgeous weather. There was nary a cloud in the sky, so we were perfectly happy to spend the day traipsing around the castle.

You're missing something...oh, that's
right....a ROOF.

The town of Linlithgow is pretty small. There was one main road, so it wasn't too hard to find the palace. The palace itself is mostly in ruins, so it's a lot of individual exploration.(From the outside, the palace is largely intact. You only really notice the ruined parts when you enter and discover an entire floor is missing.) There were plenty of dark corridors that we (bravely!) ventured down. At the entrance there was a sign warning us of bats inside the palace. Not gonna lie - I was really nervous that some big bat was gonna come flying out at me from the darkness. 

Looking down one of the
many corridors.

The palace itself was built in the 15th century after the original fortress was burned down to the ground. It is where the infamous Mary, Queen of Scots was born in 1542, which gives it special importance. During the Stuart reign it was built up even more, during which time it was used for a "fun" alternative to Edinburgh. After the 1600s, however, it remained largely unused and began to fall into disrepair. Its fate was firmly sealed after a fire in 1746, bringing it to its current state. 

After searching for quite a bit, Kari and I were finally able to find the (looong) spiral staircase that led to the top of one of the towers. We were pretty much alone in the palace, seeing as it was February. We spent a good half hour sitting on top of the tower admiring the view and taking plenty of silly pictures. 

Looking at Linlithgow Palace from the water's edge.

Mom Picture on top of the tower.

And then the silliness began...

I don't even want to tell you how long we laughed at Kari's face in this one.

We did manage to get in a nice picture eventually.

The view from the top. Not too shabby.

Doing her best Mary, Queen of Scots impersonation.

Do I love Scotland? Oh, yes I do.

Haggis soup from a cafe in Linlithgow - surprisingly delicious!

Silly Pictures on top/in front of Serious Things

Silly Pictures on top/in front of Serious Things: A phrase used to denote the fine and not-so-subtle art of taking ridiculous and hilarious pictures on top of or in front of serious things. These things may include, but are not limited to, palaces, castles, famous landmarks, statues, fountains, churches, etc. These pictures often elicit a sense of euphoria or extreme giggling. Be sure to have many silly and expressive faces at the ready.

Warning: once the pictures begin, it is often hard to stop. Be prepared to take many in a row and laugh loudly obnoxiously at the results.

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Duomo, Florence

Doctors Pub, Edinburgh - only famous to us, but still...

Manneken Pis, Brussels

Linlithgow Palace, Scotland

State Street, Chicago

Monticello, Virginia

Capitol Building, Washington D.C.

The Bean, Chicago

Cambridge

Punting is one of the many
things a visitor can do in
Cambridge.

One of the many medieval
streets in town.

During my week down visiting Elizabeth I decided to spend a day in Cambridge. Only about a 30 minute drive from her town of Bury St. Edmunds, Cambridge is primarily famous because of its ancient university. I'm sure you all also now know it because of the newly titled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 

The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209, making it the second oldest university in both England and the English-speaking world (the oldest would be Oxford). The town of Cambridge itself is half medieval historical area surrounding the university and more modern streets filled with great shopping. Besides shopping, I would recommend walking around Kings College down by the river. When I was there it was closed to visitors because of examinations so I only had the exterior to admire. Otherwise, there is also a punting tour down the river which is supposed to give you great views of the university.

There is a market in Market Square every day of the week except for Sundays.

Queens College, right across from Kings College.

The famous Kings College.

Happy Mother's Day!

It’s hard to believe that I grew up liking dresses or the color pink at all. I grew up in a masculine heavy household. With two brothers – one older, one younger – I was surrounded with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and baseball mitts from a very early age. For as long as I can remember, I followed my older brother and his friends around. Summers were spent at the baseball diamonds by my house, and winters were dedicated to snow football…and yes, that’s a real thing. I was the only sister in the group. It was like I was a novelty. I was a girl, and yet I could take down any of those guys in a game of football with one swift tackle if I wanted.

I had never had a problem with playing sports. I loved running out onto the soccer field, and I loved that rush when you realized that it was your turn up to bat. When I was in the fourth grade, however, a lot of the girls in my class became obsessed with the idea of being a girl. They began to notice boys, and they saw gym class as an opportunity to flirt with boys rather than play a game. I began to feel out of place. Coinciding with all of this was the introduction of Colt’s Cheerleading. Pee-Wee Football was big in our town. Most every boy played, and girls clamored for a spot on the cheerleading team. With my time spent on my sports teams, I began to feel like I was doing something wrong.

I begged my mom to let me join, but she (wisely) refused. You know that moment, when you get the feeling that your parents were going to say something so profound that they must  have mind reading powers? Yeah, this was that moment. Her eyes were boring into my soul, catching every single insecurity that I had been struggling with for the last few weeks.

Very softly, she asked, “Do you want to be the one on the sidelines doing the cheering, or do you want to be the one on the field that they’re cheering for?”

Even to this day, I remember her words so perfectly. Word for word, they have been chiseled into my being. I don’t think I will ever forget this moment, because it has come to define my entire person. It wasn’t a moment in which I had to choose between being a girl and being a tomboy. Instead, it was a moment in which I was challenged to recognize my own direction. My mom challenged me when I was still a young girl and she still challenges me to this day.

So Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Thank you for giving me the strength to always be the person that I wanted to be.

In Maine, summer 2006

At the Statue of Liberty, 2009

In Key Largo, spring break 2010

Bury St. Edmunds

The entrance to the Abbey
Gardens.

Bury St. Edmunds is the small town in which Elizabeth resides. When visiting her for a full week, I got to explore it quite a bit. It is a market town, so make sure and try and catch the market on either Wednesday or Saturday. There you can find plenty of fresh produce or little things for around the house. There is plenty of shopping in Bury otherwise and everything is pretty much centered around Buttermarket. Once you head into that area you are bound to find plenty of stores or little coffee shops. For myself, I settled on Thorntons Cafe. There was no way they could go wrong combining their famous chocolate with coffee! I'm a really big fan of sitting outside with a cup of coffee and a book, so I was pretty much in heaven here.

Abbey Gardens

Besides the market the other main event is the Abbey Gardens. There was once a magnificent and massive abbey in Bury, but it is pretty much all gone now. In the grounds that is once occupied there is a beautiful park. There are still some remains of the abbey, so you can grab a picnic and eat lunch alongside the crumbling walls. Otherwise, it makes for a really nice walk among the vibrant flowers.

Pretty much what remains of the abbey today.

Little fountain area in the Abbey Gardens.

The Abbey Gardens have plenty of beautiful flowers to get you in the mood for spring.

There are plenty of fun little nooks like this in the grounds.

I really love the people chilling out by the ruins.

The view from my bench as I read. Not too shabby.