OnThe Road Again....

Our 1st date:
The Cliffs of Dunraven Bay, Brigend, S. Wales

Tomorrow is our 4th wedding anniversary and Will and I are going back to our early relationship roots and celebrating by taking a long-awaited road trip.

Will and I met in Ireland in the middle of February 2004 - sitting next to each other in the Dublin Airport. We arrived at the airport the night before our early morning flights (all the hotels in Dublin were booked, as there had been a huge rugby match that day) and we ended up chatting with each other for 10 hours straight. The thing we realized we had in common right off the bat, was our love for road trips. We exchanged contact information and from that moment on, we spent every weekend for 4 months road tripping around the UK together. And, as my study abroad program was only 3 days a week, our weekends were 4 days long.

Best college experience ever.

Taff Merthyr Colliery
Treharris, Taff Bargoed Valley, S. Wales

Our first trip together will always my my favorite. There is nothing quite like that awkward, yet exciting, first date... and ours was two days long.

Will was showing me The Vale of Glamorgan, and had planned the entire weekend with all the sights of South Wales to make it a memorable first trip to his country. He picked me up from my host family's home in Bath and we drove straight to a coal mine... if that isn't the perfect first Welsh experience, I don't know what is!

Ogmore Castle, Brigend, Wales

That day, we visited a few castle ruins, the cliffs of Dunraven Bay, had lunch in the pub where he had worked while he was in college, met up with his friends for a night out on the town, and stayed in a Welsh bed and breakfast - which was actually just someone's house... we even ate our Full English breakfast at a table in their living room while they watched TV. We ate burgers and chili cheese fries at an American diner in Cardiff (I was feeling a bit homesick), and then went to the Museum of Welsh Life before he dropped me back at home.

Best first date ever.

Date #3 picking me up from the train station
- sign says Yankee Doodle - haha, very funny.

The rest of my weekends were much the same as we traveled all over Britain. Hiking in the Lake District, walking along the coast of Brighton, down slate mines in N. Wales, to Snowdonia to see the resort of Portmeirion. We saw Stonehenge, walked all over London, and he drove me around all the villages he loved and past all the houses where he had grown up.

Portmeirion, Gwynedd, N. Wales

Our anniversary road trip this week isn't going to be exactly like the days of driving through the English and Welsh countryside. For one, we wont be watching the baby lambs frolicking through the green fields or stopping for Chinese take-away (they are best in the UK, trust me) or fish and chips with mushy peas. And of course, driving through the southern US, isn't quite the same as the British countryside....

But we will be listening to a lot of Beatles, Nat King Cole and Elvis, just like we used to. Are we excited? OH YEAH! Just to be alone for 5 days is one thing, but to be alone in a car, with the music cranked up, stopping at gas stations for chocolate bars and root beer, and eating a lot of take-aways, just like the good ole days of our early relationship, has us both giddy with excitement.

We are dropping the girls at their grandma's tonight, so we will be kid-free for the first time in 3.5 years... and we are going to Graceland, which is the #1 place Will - a HUGE Elvis fan(atic) - has wanted to go his entire life. I'll have pictures to show off, just you wait!

So off I go. I wont be blogging again until after Christmas, but I hope you all have a WONDERFUL holiday! Happy Christmahanakwanzaka to all!

xoxo,