A good example is the way that we approach picture-taking. Kelly and I both like to take pictures and share them with our friends, but we take pictures completely differently. Kelly’s great at getting people to get together and smile and at capturing memories. I, on the other hand, lug around a black brick of a camera and have a tendency to try to get all artsy with the scenery and candid shots. So, after a vacation or time with friends we’ve got both kinds of photos to remember it by.

I was reminded of this when I was going through my pile of photos from England this weekend, and I thought I’d share them with you all. Only… looking through other peoples’ vacation photos is so dull that it’s practically a cliche. To make it a little more interesting, I put some of my favorites into slideshows:

The Doors (and Windows) of England

Kelly and Jonathan: Together in England

Kelly: Looking Beautiful in England

The Best of England

Every Last Photo (organized by day and event; browse for hidden gems!)

When I looked out the window, I saw this in the garden:

Dad, Mom, Bara and a troublesome tree

My parents LOVE doing yard work and they did a little while we were in England. Later, Mom and Bara headed to the local garden center to get some (organic) spray for the tree.

Tim and Rachel did some work:

then we headed back into Leeds to see the Uni and generally hang out. Our first stop was the Library, (Parkinson Library? Sorry Rache, I forgot the proper name) and Rachel gave us tours. We got to see where she studies and the special collections and generally tour around. It’s a beautiful library with what I would call an art deco theme.

After the library, we walked to the English House, which is really a bunch of houses connected. I got to see the super special poster with all the photos of the students of English. Here is Rachel pointing out here photo:

We followed that up with some delicious lunch (sandwiches and milk shakes! YUM!).  At this point we were walking toward a park to enjoy our lunch and Grandpa stopped and said, “I”m not walking a mile to see some damn park” so we stopped right there and ate outside the engineering building, which is about as attractive as engineering buildings are apt to be.

After lunch, Mom, Dad, Erik, Jonathan and Rachel went to Carr Mills to see her room and where she lives while Grandpa and I chilled in the Library where it was nice and cool and oh, Rachel’s dorm is over a mile away so it was probably good that we opted out of that portion. This was one of my favorite parts-hanging out with Grandpa and asking him questions about his job and what it was like when he and Grandma first got married and how it was to have seven children running around the house all the time.

Upon the return of the rest of the group, Mom, Dad, Erik and Grandpa headed back to Bara’s while Rachel, Jonathan and I walked back to her dorm for my official tour and to hang out with Tim and get some groceries. After our adventure, we arrived back to Bara’s where we corralled everyone and walked to the nearest fish and chip shop and got our supper. Erik liked it immediately:

Erik digs in!

The men finished out the night with a rousing game of Settlers of Catan

It's about as exciting to watch as Risk

Meanwhile, Rachel and Terry enjoyed some good old fashined “rock, paper, scissors”

1, 2, 3, Go!

It was a very good day.

Out to dry

Maddy made delicious porridge for breakfast. Good job Maddy!

Then we went back to our favorite train stop at Woodlesford and caught the train to York! This was maybe my favorite day of the whole trip! Grandpa decided he’d rather stay back and finish a book he’d started the day before so it was a bit sad that he ditched us, but otherwise it was most enjoyable.

We arrived to York and walked along the old city walls. Jonathan was able to use the gorillapod to set up a sweet shot of all of us:

We went to York minster and decided we’d like to climb to the top! It’s not everyday you’re able to climb to the top of a cathedral! Regrettably, the line was long so we bought our tickets and then headed out to explore a bit more. We visited shops and looked around, the men went to a shop that really only sold meat and then we all took tea at Betty’s tea shop.

After we were filled to the gills with tea and food, we went to the Jorvich Viking Centre and learned of the Viking history of York! It was very interesting and a little creepy and maybe smelled a bit dodgy, but it was great! After the Vikings, we climbed the tower (which was really two towers) to the top of Yorkminster.

Mom and Dad-almost half way!

The view from the top was beautiful

After getting over the fact that we climbed hundreds of stairs while confined within a spiral staircase made of stone, we headed to one of the squares for the Historic Pub Tour of York (can you tell who picked which activities for the day? Mom and Kelly and Rachel=tea, Mom and Dad=climb the tower, Dad Dad Dad=pub tour). Oddly enough, the pub tour was very enjoyable, though I did ask for a coca-cola classic rather than ale. Because who wants ale when you can have a delicious coke? Not me.
It was just our family on the tour, which made it very nice and a little bit hilarious.

First stop on the pub tour-The Lion and the Lamb

The Lion and The Lamb was our first stop and the pub in closest proximity to Yorkminster. The church ran the pubs at one time, which must have made its location convenient!

It was very nice to sit and rest after all that walking:

And Dad and Jonathan enjoyed some bonding time:

Thankfully, the glasses of ale were small so everyone had their sample without incident (Big E and I skipped out on this one)

More pub tour photos:

After our historic pub tour it was time for dinner and since Grandpa wasn’t with us, we had Italian! It was delicious.
We were able to catch a glimpse of the sunset as we headed back to the train station for our train to Leeds.

Sunset in York

J&K with York sunset

Inside the Cottage Bakery, photo by Jonathan

One of the funniest things about the bakery is that everything had a label, just not what you could expect, and the labels were not readable from the distance at which we were standing. We just asked for a loaf of bread, yeah that one with the hatch marks on the top and some delicious ham to make this for breakfast:

Photo by Jonathan

Then we decided to head into town. One of the difficulties in traveling and staying in a place where one has only been taken by car is that the public transport is maybe not like a big city. In fact, it is more like Seattle in its frequency. So we waited for the bus we thought would take us into town, but the bus never did seem to show up. Dad bravely ran up to another bus and asked the driver which route we needed and where it stopped so we moved across the street and around the corner. After awhile of waiting, Rachel was able to send a text message and receive info from the transit authority that the next bus would not be for another thirty minutes. At this point, Grandpa decided he’d rather hang out in the garden for the day and the rest of us hoofed it to the train station.

Photo by Jonathan

The train station was called Woodlesford! It was really fun to say! We were on our way to Leeds for some fun in town! Once we arrived in Leeds, we headed to get some lunch (and a new mobile for Rachel as hers was busted). After lunch, we took the number 33a bus out to Kirkstall Abbey and toured the grounds a bit. It was kind of rainy and chilly by this point, so we didn’t stay long. We arrived back to Bara’s and had an adventure at the grocery store followed by dinner with Rachel’s Uni friends so we could all meet them and hang out. It was a delight! In addition to the beautiful house, there is a newer barn in the garden and we were able to dine outside for the evening:

Fiona, Tim, Rachel, Maddie and Terry just before we dive into dinner

Grandpa, Erik, Bara and Dad before dinner (Jim joined us later)

The food was delicious and the company very enjoyable. It was good to meet Rachel’s friends and know that she’s in good company while she’s away from us!

One of my favorite things about newsstands in the U.K. is the offering of a free item with your magazine. Mom picked nail polish!

I got a really cute Cath Kidston bag which now houses my pens and pencils and assorted relevant Bible study materials.

Here are the McPhersons on the train from London to Chester:

We had a transfer in Chester and enough time that we were able to get out (meet Tim!),  stretch our legs and walk around a bit. Chester is a beautiful little city, surrounded by Roman walls. The Eastgate Clock in Chester is the second most photographed clock in the world (after Big Ben, which is really the bell, not the clock but I can’t remember the name of the clock in the tower in which Big Ben is housed). I digress, here are Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Erik with the Eastgate Clock in all it’s Chester beauty:

We walked around a bit and took in the sights of Chester. Saw the cathedral, had tea at Hattie’s tea shop, walked along the walls and visited Chester’s oldest pub (or one of them).

tea at Hattie's

outside the Chester cathedral

Ready for pints at Chester's oldest pub

Cheers!