South Carolina 2010 Highlight Reel from Jonathan on Vimeo.

(Music: Your Hand in Mine by Explosions in the Sky.)

We got up Friday morning, picked up Jojo and headed to the historic downtown trolley:

A & K on the trolley

C & J on the trolley

 We had some delicious lunch, then wandered around and looked at little things in shops. Because I was (and still am) a little freaked out about the idea of wearing maternity clothes, we all went together to try them on. Here we are (just to clarify, I’m the only one who needs them, but who wouldn’t want to try on a fake prego belly with your friends?)

Joanna=not pregnant

Carrie=not pregnant

April = not pregnant

me in three months time!

We didn’t buy any of the clothes, but we had fun! THEN we went to Chuy’s for dinner!

Queso bar in the back of a cadillac? YES PLEASE!

Mmm. Queso!

Thanks for dinner!

We went back to Toby and Joanna’s that night where I saw one of the creepiest sculptures ever:

Saturday night we went to Plano and partook in the hot air balloon festival. It was great AND I tried fried pickles! They were excellent. Nice and salty and delicious.

Sunday we went to church with April and Toby and Joanna and then got to go to the mall and see the miniature basketball player!

and the ducks and turtles with the volcano style fountain:

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!

Monday morning we awoke and took the tube to Bethnal Green to meet Rachel, who was staying with some friends in that area. The cafe her friends recommended for breakfast was closed for the bank holiday, but we did see a sign that said “Cafe Open” so we went to Cafe Open, which was really called something else and run by a delightful Turkish couple. We had delicious coffee (not Nescafe!) and our first taste of traditional English breakfast.

Mom and Dad and Grandpa with their breakfast plates (please notice the beans, black pudding, fried tomatoes and the bubble and squeak-mashed potatoes, peas, carrot and cabbage all mixed together then fried up):

Jonathan won the prize for most beans consumed at breakfast (please also note Erik and Rachel in the background enjoying their breakfast):

Then we headed to Piccadilly Circus to buy our tickets for the hop on hop off bus tour. We were also able to purchase our tickets for the Tower of London from the guide, which saved us one line!

We took the original tour route, which gave us a pretty good idea of our bearings in the city and we were able to see Hyde Park, St. James Park, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Victoria, the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Marble Arch, Shakespeare’s Globe, the back of Buckingham Palace and hear quite a bit of history. Since it’s hard to take photos from a moving bus, we don’t have much from this. But here are photos of us on the bus!

We hopped off the bus tour at the Tower of London and toured around there a bit. Here are some photos:

(Just as we’re going into the Tower of London. This is one of my favorites from the trip)

Mom and me with Tower Bridge behind us. Mom caught on with British smiling!

Jonathan and a Yeoman right after we saw the crown jewels.

After the Tower of London, we got onto a boat to Greenwich (it was included in our bus tour) and went to the Prime Meridian Line. Erik and Grandpa stayed closer to the pier where they didn’t have to hike up a steep hill and bought some figs and probably picked up girls.

Mom, Dad and Rachel at the Royal Observatory at the Prime Meridian Line.

Then we hopped the boat back toward Westminster Pier.

Mom had tea on The Thames.

Then everyone took naps. I’d forgotten we saw so much stuff our first day. No wonder we all wanted to nap!

Grandpa yawning, Mom and Rachel resting. Hilarious.

Just to familiarize you with the people you’ll see here:
Jonathan, world’s best husband, married into the family and still likes us.
Kelly, narrator; oldest and shortest child of Ron and Linda Eskesen.
Dad, um, he’s my dad.
Mom, you can guess that one.
Rachel, younger but taller sister (she’s the blonde one).
Erik, younger and also taller brother.
Grandpa, 88 year old traveling man. Father to seven, grandfather to way more and great-grandfather too. He’s up for more adventures and I think we might need to make that happen.

We departed Seatac Saturday May 23rd  and arrived to London Heathrow May 24th where Rachel was waiting for us. This is probably going to be several posts of info because I want to write everything up while it’s still in my mind and really, this blog is as much of a journaling exercise as an effort to entertain the tens of readers we have every week.

Here is a photo of me and Mom waiting at the gate before our flight:

and me and Jonathan on the plane before take off:

Dad and Erik discover the “goody bag” on the airplane:

Once we arrived in London, we changed into our matchy t-shirts so everyone would know we were together and we’re Americans. It worked like a charm! Also, the shirts were very nice to change into after a nine hour flight.

We made it to our hotel and found some dinner then basically went straight to bed. Travel can be hard work! Whew. And since I like suspense, I’ll end this post now. You’ll just have to wait to see what we did with our time in Jolly old England.

Eskephersons livin' it up

Well, more good times are soon to be had with this crew. Needless to say, one of us who happens to lean more to the type A side of the spectrum has been busy planning, packing and communicating. No specifics until we can show you photos later, but rest assured I’m ending my 20’s with a bang my friends. More later!

It had been on the list for a long time for two reasons:

1. It is owned and operated by the man who pronounced us man and wife – none other than Mr. Josh J.; former pastor and now a full-time restaurant operator; and
2. It is, like, 2 and a half hours away, on the other side of the state.

So we got a tank full of gas and made a day trip out of it. It was a lovely day–well, lovely in that sort of Northwest late-winter sort of day. Here are a few snapshots from the drive:

And here’s the restaurant itself:

Now one thing you might not know about Josh is that Asian-inspired cooking is figuratively in his blood. The man’s father was a chef and his family owns a few restaurants. We ordered our food–some chow mein noodles with General Tso’s chicken and sweet-and-sour pork–and I got to watch Josh slinging noodles like a professional. Wait, not like a professional. Josh is a professional. Look at this man in action.

OK, so we drove two and a half hours to Quincy to go to this restaurant. Was it worth it? Well, this was our appetizer…

… and when the main course arrived, I’m afraid that it smelled so good that taking pictures of it was the last thing on our minds. Yum!

I must reserve special compliments for the chow mein noodles, which were freshly cooked and had far more texture and flavor than the glistening, tasteless stuff you often see in takeout. And for the General’s Chicken, a dish that is rather easy to prepare ahead of time but had obviously been golden-fried just before serving. Bravo.

So, there you have it–if you live in Quincy, you owe to yourself and several thousand of your tastebuds to visit the Bamboo Palace. And if you don’t live in Quincy, it’s a good excuse for a roadtrip.

Just call us first, so we can go back.