Newquay 2010

The last few days were full of sun and surf and football and friends and they were incredible! A group of girls from OUWAFC as well as some "ringers" from Oxford and Liverpool went to the 2010 UK Beach Sports Championships, a huge tournament featuring 1000 athletes playing beach football, beach rugby, beach netball, beach volleyball, beach ultimate frisbee, and beach cricket. We started out from Oxford, stopped in Exeter to get barbecue stuff for dinner, arriving at the camp site just in time for dinner.

We set up camp, 7 tents in all, cooked up some dinner (lots of burgers and sausages... too many sausages...) and got ready for the first night out. First night was Commando Night (commando as in military, not as in wearing no underwear...) and we all dressed the part. I was quite excited about it, even busting out my boots and blousing my pants! We camo painted up (using the paint I have leftover from Basic and GE) and took the coaches from the campsite to the centre of Newquay and the club they had reserved for the UK Beach Sports participants. It was a fun night but the thought of football and surfing propelled me to head back fairly early and get some sleep.


The tournament took place on Fistral Beach, home of British Surfing. The day was BEAUTIFUL and the surf was going off. We had 4 games on Saturday but in between the matches I managed to get some good surfing in. The surf was really clean 3-4 foot waves coming in pretty even sets. The outside sets were a bit big for me considering I hadn't surfed in almost a year, so I stayed a bit inside and had the best day of surf I've had in, no kidding, 3 or 4 years. I didn't quite think I could top it, but the next day was even better. I'm getting ahead of myself though. The games went pretty well, getting 2 wins and 2 losses, but playing on the sand is quite rough. All in all, a good long day in the sun during which nobody got too burnt or fried or, as the annoying commentator referred to it, cooked.


That evening we again had a barbecue. This time, there really WERE too many sausages. Instead of going out for "UV Rave Night" a group of us stayed behind, roasting marshmallows and keeping our fire going by burning every single piece of cardboard in our entire camp. It was a pretty low key night because the sun and football took a toll on us and we went to bed pretty early to be up for the next day.

Day 2 we arrived at the beach to find out that one of our teams was in the "Plate Final" (the game between the bottom 2 teams) and the other team was in the Quarterfinal. This meant that, potentially, we could have had 3 more games throughout the day. Unfortunately, we lost our first game which meant we were out, but it was nice because it gave me the rest of the day to surf. I got an amazing 3 hour session and and I stopped counting waves after ride number 30! It was absolutely AMAZING and totally topped the day before. I even tried to teach a few of the girls the basics of surfing by pushing them into a few of the waves and trying to help them stand up. It was amusing if nothing else.

The rest of the day we just relaxed in the sun and in the clubhouse/bar area, watching some World Cup, eating some ice cream, enjoying the sun, playing some beach volleyball, enjoying each others company. It was really nice to be out on the water all day but it was a but hot and I'm glad I didn't get too burnt (apart from the back on my neck from when I was surfing).

Back at the campsite we got some food at the restaurant at the site while watching the Argentina game, and it was nice to eat something other than barbecue. That evening, we had some epic waterballoon attacks, one of which was fairly haphazard and poorly planned, the second of which was amazingly well planned and executed. Good to know that my military training is put to use!

This morning we woke up, took down the campsite and got an early start so that we could make it back to Oxford for the England game. My teammates and I are now watching England on TV, US on my computer and two wins would make these last few days absolutely perfect.


Also, my camera died which is why I have no more photos. Kind of a bummer but Butz took a ton so I'm sure I'll get some of hers.

Revolutionary War, part 2

So, ever since December when the World Cup draw occured and the US and England were drawn in the same group, I have been waiting for this day. England vs the United States in their first game of the 2010 World Cup. Now, in the past weeks, the press in both countries has been hyping this up. References to the Revolutionary War have abounded. Americans were pretending to care about soccer and recalling the 1950 WC in which the US stunned England beating them 1-0. England has been going on about how the US knows nothing about football and England will have it easy in the match. High quality journalism and commentary all around.

Now, to be fair, pretty much both sides are completely wrong. Going into the match, England was coming off a strong qualifying campaign but was lacklustre in their warm up matches. That being said, they are still considered one of the strongest teams in the world and have a good chance of going all the way in this tournament. On the other hand, the United States has developed nicely in the last four years. Their 2006 World Cup disappointment has fueled their desire to prove their worth on the big stage. Despite an iffy start, they performed well at last summers Confederation's Cup, famously ending Spain's unbeaten streak and then forcing Brazil to come from behind in the final. They are a strong team with a core of players with big international experience. Less than 10 spots separate the two teams in the world rankings and it really wasn't a "done deal" for either team.

Now that I've set the stage (although unless you've been living under a rock for the past 6 months you didn't really need that), I will say that I too was very very excited about this match. However, this wasn't because of any existential or actual battle between the US and England. It was simply because these are the two teams that I support most vehemently in international football. Furthermore, as I am currently living and playing football in England, I have a vested interest in both American and English football and have lots of friends who feel the same. I was very excited to watch this match with my English and American friends and teammates and simply enjoy it for what it is.

And now, for the pregame setup. I was expecting about 20 people at my house for the game. My house isn't small, but its not really ideal for 20 people watching a sporting event. However, we fixed this problem by borrowing Neal's giant tv. We moved some tables around in the house, taking the big dining table outside (and turning it into a beer pong table) and moving the smaller patio table inside to leave room for people to sit. The set up worked well and I think everyone was able to see the screen and didn't miss out on the match. For decor you can see our lovely American flags.

The Americans of course got the Beer Pong going. I need to take a moment and comment on the fact that Ian K Helms is wearting "Jorts". Yes, those are cutoff jeans that he made into disgustingly short shorts. That ensemble turned Ian into his alter ego, Chuck Thunder. Since his creation, Chuck Thunder has been a sports agent (I'm apparently his first and only client), an owner of a Car Dealership, and at certain times a super hero. I don't know, I've stopped asking when it comes to Ian.Jeanie brought facepaint, so of course that had to be busted out. Yes, I am quite proud of our american flag faces. It did, however, take ages to wash that off, especially the blue. I may still have some blue in my hair.


Now, the reason that this whole event occured in the first place: the game! It didn't start out well for the US or for me. I was very very emotionally torn throughout the pregame and the match itself because I am invested in both teams. That didn't help when, 3 minutes into the game, England scored. Not just that England scored, but that Steven Gerrard, my all time favorite player of all time (yes, thats redundant but thats how much I love him) scored to put England ahead. I had to be happy but couldn't be happy but still sort of wanted to be happy. Anyways, I was torn. It didn't look good for the US and they looked disorganized and unsure of themselves. We all got really scared (or maybe just the Americans or Everton fans) when Emile Heskey slid into American goalkeeper Tim Howard and he lay on the ground in considerate pain for quite some time. Thankfully he recovered because, were it not for good old Timmy, the score would have been extremely lopsided in England's favor.

Just before half time (with England having the slight majority in terms of possession and overall chances), Clint Dempsey took a shot from outside the box that looked like an easy save for English keeper Robert Green. Well, I guess not because the poor poor man had the ball spin out of his hands and into the net, tying the score. All I could think about was the absolutely dreadful attention he is going to receive in the disgusting British press and I feel so bad for him.

The second half had a few chances each way (again, with England as the slight majority) but with the exception of a few players (Stevie, Clint, surprisingly Steve Cherundolo, Michael Bradley, Glen Johnson) it looked like nobody really wanted to win the game and they were sort of going through the motions. I was disappointed by the performances of several players (Wayne Rooney, Landon Donovan, Frank Lampard, although I shouldn't be surprised by that) and on the whole was hoping for a slightly better match. Granted, with all the hype leading up to it, its quite possible that only a thrilling 4-3 victory for one team or the other would have lived up to the pre-game attention the match got.

After the game, most of my teammates left, leaving just a few Brits and the lovely loud Americans. Simon and Liz got their first taste of Beer Pong and Liz was quite the rookie threat, giving Neal and Blaine a run for their money. By the end of the night (and if you want to know, I'm completely sober throughout this entire event), this is what Neal, Blaine, and Ian had degenerated to....

On the whole, quite a fun evening. Neal cooked up some AMAZING food, it was a good atmosphere in the match with lots of fun banter, and the result was a good one for both teams and I got to see my boy score. So, I was quite happy with the result of the epically ridiculous night that I was foolish enough to attempt to pull off.

To end, I'd like to show you all my favorite moment of the evening. Following international matches, players tend to exchange shirts with the other team. Usually, they just go straight into the changing rooms so they walk in shirtless. However, Stevie was asked to do some interviews on the pitch (oh the burden of the Captain) and so he put on the US jersey. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is Steven Gerrard wearing an America kit. Gotta love it.... :)

Newquay is my Waterford

So, I would like to tell you all about the awesome (in more ways than one) weekend I just had. First of all, I need to preface this blog by saying that were it not for the one and only Kristen Joy "Puff"** Wolverton, this weekend would have never happened. Even if this weekend had happened, it would not have been nearly as entertaining or exhilarating. Now, onto the weekend.

For the entirety of the time Michal has been here, she has wanted to travel to the southwest of England and see the Devon and Cornwall area. Considering she had 1 free weekend left (because next weekend is the US-England World Cup game and therefore we will be partying it up watching that) it was about time that happened. Also on the docket for the weekend, the Dartmoor, famous for its role in both Conan Doyle's the Hound of the Baskervilles and Laurie R. King's The Moor. Kristen drove down from Cambridge on Friday and, after planning our trip out, we went to sleep planning on leaving the house by 7:30 the next morning.

We actually made it out of the house by about quarter to 8, which was a good thing because it turned out to be quite a long day. Equipped with a roadmap and the handy Vodafone SatNav, we started driving. First on the agenda was Cheddar. Yes, like the cheese. We didn't really have any plans for what we'd do while in Cheddar but figured it was on our way so we'd check it out. We arrived in Cheddar and realized that there is a large gorge there. Rather than pay 4 quid to climb the >250 steps to the top, we just opted to drive through the gorge. The drive through the gorge should have been a harbinger of the roads to come but we didn't realize it at the time. We were quite taken aback by the narrowness of the road and the sharpness of the turns but it was beautiful and now we can say we've been to Cheddar.



From Cheddar we continued our drive through Exmoor National Park. It wasn't really anything all that special or out of the ordinary, but it was nice I guess. By this point it was about 1 or 1:30 and we had been driving since 8 that morning so we were getting a bit hungry and wanted to get out of the car and just arrive in Newquay already. Although, now looking back, if Kristen had anything to say about it, she would probably have prefered if we had just skipped Newquay altogether and gone straight onto Lands End. But I'm getting ahead of myself. When we could finally see the ocean we knew we were getting close.

We finally arrived in Newquay, very hungry and very restless. First of all, I'd like to say that I LOVED Newquay. I loved the beach city feel to it and the fact that, were it not for the accents, we may has been have been in any number of California beach towns. I'm so excited to go back for the football tournament we have there in 2 weeks.

Newquay is where our.... shall we say..... troubles began. We were trying to find somewhere to park so that we could go out onto the beach and eat our long overdue lunches, and when we finally found a parking lot it was extremely extremely tight. We had, shall we say, some "car trouble" that may or may not have involved another car and extreme embarrassment for us all. If you'd like to hear what actually happened you'll have to ask me or Kristen personally because its not exactly something I will admit to on the internet. When we finally got parked and escaped all the eyes in the parking lot we enjoyed a great picnic lunch on the cliff above one of Newquay's beaches.
After we ate we went down to the water. I had to sit idly by and watch as the students at the surf school missed some of the best waves of the sets by completely neglecting to paddle and just hoping the wave would pick them up without their doing anything.... but I digress. The beach was great and sandy (unlike most of the beaches in the UK) and I really look forward to coming back and actually getting to surf.
While I would have liked to have stayed in Newquay a bit longer, we were attempting to get to the Minack Theatre before it closed so we had to leave. While driving out of the parking lot (yes, the same parking lot that had already caused us some trouble) we were forced to drive up a very steep hill into oncoming traffic. A very nice old man with quite a large moustache stopped so that we could get out, but seeing as Kristen drives an automatic car and we were significantly sloped, we inevitably rolled backwards as we started driving. However, we rolled back quite a bit and the look on the old man's face was absolutely priceless. I've never seen someone's eyes get so big and mouth get so round. Its ok, we didn't hit the car behind us or stall or anything, we just gave him quite a fright. Kristen was glad to put Newquay in her rear view mirror forever. (Incidentally, this experience is where the title comes from. It also involves Waterford in Ireland an a Napoleon reference. Ask me if you care to understand.)

We did make it to the theatre in time, and I'm quite glad we did. The Minack Theatre is an open air theatre that is built directly onto the cliffs outside of Penzance. It was supposedly built singlehandedly by Rowena Cade, but I'm not sure I believe that. Regardless of who built it, it was really beautiful and I think it would be quite cool to see a show there.
The view from the theatre was beautiful and the Atlantic/Channel, at least on this side, was very clear and a teal/aquamarine blue.


From the Minack we backtracked a bit to get to Land's End, the westernmost part of the UK. It was pretty crazy to think that at one point, just a few hundred years ago, people thought that this was indeed the end of the world! There were a lot of people there preparing for bike rides from Land's End to John O'Groats (the north-eastern most point of the UK). We took quite a few "Lands End" modeling photos (all of which are unfortunately on Kristen's camera) before continuing on to Penzance.


The only thing I know about Penzance is that it is featured in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. The only thing I know about Pirates of Penzance is the a) "For He Is An Englishman" is not in Penzance (its in Pinafore) and b) Its about duty (because they're all about duty). If you don't watch The West Wing, that reference will be completely lost on you. Even without any knowledge of Penzance, it was still nice to be at another beach town. This beach was again a pebbly one so Kristen and I enjoyed skipping rocks (or attempting to do as such). Also, because the beach was completely deserted we took a jumping picture or two. I was quite excited that I was capable of doing it because a few weeks ago my ankle would not have allowed me to jump up and down on a pebbly beach as many times as we did. We also saw some "pirate" ships so I feel like we got what we needed to out of Penzance.

From Penzance we started the final leg of our drive on day 1. We FINALLY arrived in Plymouth about 9:45 and all we could think about was food! We were hoping to find a pub and get some good old Fish n' Chips or some other pub grub but the pub in the vicinity of our hotel was no longer serving food and had the LOUDEST live music ever so we settled for Chinese food (which was actually really good) and collapsed into bed at our cute little B&B about a block away from the harbor in Plymouth.


We woke up suprisingly early Sunday morning and therefore started our day about an hour and half earlier than we had anticipated. This was nice because it allowed us to wander around Plymouth a bit before we headed out. On a sadder segue, I woke up to learn that my friend's brother was found dead the night before (at the age of 22), which was pretty rough news to take. Just remember to tell your friends and family how much you love them because you'll never have enough chances to do so.

Back to the happier parts of the weekend. We walked from our hotel to the Plymouth Hoe. The Plymouth Hoe is the large south-facing part of Plymouth bay that has a large war memorial, Smeaton's Tower, the Plymouth Dome, and the Tinside Pool.


We walked towards the harbor and saw the Mayflower Steps where the Mayflower set off towards the new world in 1620. Also departing from Plymouth were the voyages of Captain Cook, Sir Walter Raleigh and others.

From Plymouth we drove inland and onto the Dartmoor. First of all, let me explain what the roads on the moor are like. They are, in a few words, narrow and windy. Two cars don't fit on them, let alone two cars and the cows, sheep, and ponies that wander the moor without abandon. I'm surprised the Kristen still has circulation in her hands based on the deathgrip she had on the steering wheel throughout the entirety of the drive.

The Dartmoor was amazing and we spent WAY more time there than we thought we would. We started in Tavistock, hoping to find tourist information. Unfortunately, the tourism information centre was closed so we just sort of ventured onto the Moor to see what we could find. Before we left Tavistock, however, we were told off by some old British ladies. Again, ask Kristen why, I'm sure she'd love to relive the experience by telling you all about it. Anyways, we pulled off onto a little carpark before Princetown and just wandered around the Moor. It was really foggy, which totally added to the ambiance on the moor. It truly was what I imagined it would be based on the different descriptions I'd read about it.
It was really windy on the Moor but we wandered and explored a bit. One thing that really struck me was how easy it would be to get horribly and irrevocably lost on the Moor. Its really hilly but there are few landmarks to speak of. When its foggy its even worse in that you can't see very far and have no sense of distance or direction. We didn't wander very far and even so we got a bit turned around trying to get back to our car. We also discovered that Kristen knows how to speak sheep.
We arrived in Princetown (where there was an information centre) and passed by the Dartmoor Prison, a 19th century prison that used to house prisoners of war in the 1800s from the French and Indian War. The prison is still in use today but houses a fraction of the prisoners it held at its prime. This prison also featured in the Hound of the Baskervilles (-SPOILER-an escaped homicidal prison from the prison was loose on the moor and was found dead in Sir Henry's clothing. Watson thinks that Sir Henry is dead when he sees the convict).
From Princetown we continued through the Moor past Two Bridges (where we were going to try a small hike but got discouraged by the complete lack of parking anywhere in the vicinity of the trail) and then drove through Dartmeet where they had a really cute shop that sold Pixies and Garden Gnomes. From Dartmeet we continued on towards Widecombe-in-the-Moor where we visited an old church, St Pancras Church. This church had a tall tower that, during a service in 1638 was hit by lighting. Several parishioners were killed and many more injured and the townsfolk blamed the lighting strike on the fact that the devil must have been visiting the village. This served as a warning for the villagers to, shall we say, shape up.

From Widecombe we continued to Haytor Rocks, one of the more famous landmarks on the moor. These rocks were amazing and provided an incredible 360 degree view of the Moor. Thankfully the fog had lifted, but the wind had picked up, making standing on top of huge rocks several hundred feet up an interesting prospect. We made it to the top of both (took Michal a bit longer than the rest of us....) and got some great pictures. We had to take one with The Moor, (since it was in fact part of our inspiration for going to the Moor in the first place) and ate our lovely picnic lunch on the grass in front of the rocks (shielded from the wind).




From Haytor Rocks, we continued north, leaving the Moor in Exeter and driving straight through to Oxford where Kristen dropped us off and continued onward to Newmarket. All in all, it was a great weekend with some incredible sights and amazing memories. Again, I'm super glad we did the trip and that Kristen joined us and made it at all possible. I quite liked the south-west of England and am excited to see it again (Newquay in two weeks, the Dartmoor when Youval comes).


** I didn't do a "lost in translation" on my last blog but I'll do one here in honor of Kristen. Here in England, "puff" is a term for a gay man. When I use it to refer to Kristen, I clearly mean nothing of the sort. It is merely our term of endearment for Kristen because of her adorable little blond puff of a ponytail. :)

A Very English Bank Holiday/Memorial Day Weekend

While most of my friends will have spent this past weekend enjoying the fact that they have a day off from school/work and having nice barbecues and enjoying the newly arrived spring/summer weather, I spent my weekend in a decidedly English fashion. So here goes:

Friday. Arguably, Friday wasn't very English, but it was still quite fun. On Friday I spent most of the day up at RAF Croughton, the Air Force base where Neal works. Friday was Neal's Promotion Ceremony during which he became a First Lieutenant (or, if I'm continuing with the English theme, as they pronounce it, 'Leftenant'). Interestingly enough, because we were officially on an RAF base, they played God Save the Queen before they played the Star Spangled Banner. Afterwards, Neal (or as I now have to refer to him 1st Lt Wendt) put his entire monthly raise down on the bar and, as you can imagine, some drinking ensued. It was great to get to meet Neal's family including his mom, godmother, father, step-mother, sister, and three half-siblings. Upon our return to Oxford we continued to drink but I managed to leave and go home before Ian (1st Lt Helms), Blaine (LT JG Moore), and Neal (1st Lt Wendt) found the fight they were desperately looking to get into. Brian (2nd Lt Mueller) had to deal with them....

Saturday was meant to be very Oxonian, with the final day of Summer 8s, the annual intercollege Trinity term boatraces. However, it was English in another way-- grey, dreary, and rainy. So, rather than leave my warm house and go all the way down to the river, we just stayed at home. We made Shepherd's Pie (thanks to a lovely recipe supplied by Rescue Chef Danny Boome) and sort of overdid it in the sense that we now have enough Shepherd's pie to feed a small army. Oh well, it was REALLY good anyways. We then watched the Cambridge Footlights Revue on Michal's A Bit of Fry and Laurie DVDs while at the same time watching the US-Turkey game on our computers. The game was ok, not great, but the US got a very necessary come from behind win to lead them into the World Cup on a good note. I'm SO excited for the World Cup! That evening we watched Jeeves and Wooster and went to bed.

Sunday was, thankfully, very sunny and beautiful. So midday we took a nice leisurely walk through Port Meadow. The sky was blue and it was a really pretty day and it was nice to just walk around.

We got the end of the Meadow and went towards The Trout, a lovely little pub on the northern end of Port Meadow. Walking over the canal from there we discovered the remains of a Nunnery that we didn't even know was there! This of course got us quoting "Get thee to a nunnery" in unison as well as some of the better Sound of Music quotes regarding the abbey and convent. We also discovered a little community orchard with apple and cherry trees that I can't wait to go back to once the trees start bearing fruit!

When we got back we watched the England-Japan game and I was able to witness a first in terms of my football watching days. First of all, England won despite not scoring a single goal and missing a penalty kick. Secondly, Japan scored 3 unanswered goals and lost the game. How does this happen? Thats right, Japan scores and then scores 2 own goals on itself. England may as well have not been on the pitch! Well, thats not true. Again, England played a slow first half and then picked it up in the second half. Do you think the fact that both Jamie and Stevie were on in the second half is a mere coincidence? :) Anyways, I now have to stop rooting for England until June 13th (or after the England-US game). Not do give up on the England thing, we ended the night like we do most Sunday evenings, by watching the previous day's episode of Doctor Who. --Spoiler alert-- RORY!?!?!?!

Monday turned out to be quite the adventure. We decided to go the Isle of Wight and see, among other things, Yarmouth Castle. We took a ferry from Lymington which turned out to be the slowest ferry I've ever been on. However it wasn't too cold and so we got to sit on top and see where we were headed.

Once we arrived in Yarmouth we went looking for the castle. We did a lap of the city (it was pretty much 2 square blocks) but somehow missed the castle. How do you miss a castle you ask? Well, when the castle is, arguably, the LAMEST castle in existence, it is pretty easy to do. We decided on this nickname because of the fact that, from the pier, you could pretty much see all of the Castle and what it entailed. Which was pretty much nothing. See for yourself. Would you pay 5 quid to get into this lovely brick building? Well, we didn't. If anyone has been to Yarmouth Castle and can prove us wrong, please do. I may even go back to see it if you say its worth it.
Because we were disappointed by the castle, we decided to take the Coastal Path along the coast (yeah, you'd think that would be obvious but we soon learned otherwise) to the Needles and Alum Bay, two of the more well known areas of the island. We estimated it to be about 4-5 miles, a perfectly reasonable little jaunt. Oh boy, were we in for a treat.... It started off well. After a little walking inland, we got onto the Coastal Path and walked on the water alongside the Victoria Fort, heading down the coast towards Needles.
Following Victoria Fort, we reached a small town called Cowell Bay. We were told in the Visitors Information centre that we would go off the coast once we reached Cowell Bay and so we weren't too concerned when the Coastal Path took us inland and through some nice fields and around pastures.
We began to get slightly concerned when we continued to walk pretty far from the coast for quite the extended period of time, but eventually we made it back down to the coast where we were greeted by this big boardwalk with a large pier in the distance. At this point we could see the Needles and thought that we'd be walking along the water until we reached them. Again, we were in for quite the suprise. Also, as we were walking on the boardwalk, we caught up to and passed a couple walking with their two dogs. Strangely enough, we had passed them shortly after Victoria Fort. How on earth had they reached this part of the walk before us? Did they know something we didn't? Clearly they did, as you will find out.
We reached the end of this long stretch along the water and found that you could no longer continue along the water towards the Needles. So, we took the only other option and started climbing the stairs that were conveniently placed at the end of the boardwalk. This began our epic adventure. Pretty soon we found ourselves in a forest. Now when I say forest, think Narnia + the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter + Jurassic Park. Thats what we mean. What looked like a path soon turned into a sort of maze-like series of things that looked like they might maybe be something similar to paths. We wandered in a very serpentine way through the trees, knowing that if we kept the water on our right (well, where we though the water was. The forest was too think to see it) we would be going in the right direction. Each time we made it to a clearing we thought we were back on track, but soon enough, another forest would appear in front of us... Also, when we actually could see the beach, the Needles were no longer in view. We pretty much just kept walking, assuming eventually we'd find the darn Coastal Path again.
After hours (literally) in the forest (where, thankfully, we avoided the Calormens, the werewolves, the crazy teachers drinking unicorn blood, and the dinosaurs) we emerged into an area full of brush and small bushes. Finally, we could again see the Needles and as we rounded a corner, saw the car park of Alum Bay. Never have I been so excited to see a Parking Lot! However, we weren't done because we had to hack our way through some extremely violent and vindictive plants to get there, a battle that I'm afraid to say my lower legs lost.
Finally, we made it to Alum Bay and descended to the waters edge to sit on the pebbly beach and eat our long overdue picnic lunch. After enjoying our sandwiches, Goldfish, Cheez-its, and apples, we lay down and both wound up taking a short nap. I love being on the beach and really miss being somewhere were its a mere 15 minute drive to the shore. We stayed at the bay for longer than we anticipated, but considering everything that day was taking longer than we meant it to, we didn't mind.
After enjoying the bay a bit, we walked up the 186 stairs to the top of the cliffs to the Needles Amusement Park, a sort of Coney Island/Balboa Island fun zone with food and rides and games. We walked along the (clearly deliniated at this point) Coastal Path to the Needles Battery where we were hoping to get a good view of the Needles. However, because it is a National Trust site, you have to pay to get in and at this point we were both completely over it and so we just went up the new battery site.
At the New Battery they had a cool exhibit (well, I thought it was cool, Michal maybe didn't) about the rocket testing range that used to be on the Isle. It was interesting to see the documents, including blueprints and layouts of the site, that they used, as well as models of the rockets and the Propsero, the one British satellite that Britain itself launched into orbit.
Finally, when we finished in the battery, we got on a bus to drive back to Yarmouth because there was NO way we were attempting to make our way back on foot. The ride was nice, despite the overgrown trees along the side of the road threatening to take Michal's head off.However, when we arrived back in Yarmouth on the bus we were greeted by one more suprise... the couple with the dogs walked past our bus as we were pulling in! How is that possible? Where did they go? Did they have some sort of teleporting ability? Did they just know where the actual trails were? Why did we keep seeing these silly people and their silly dogs!!

Anways, we took the ferry back to the "mainland" and the train back to Ox and, after a long long day, enjoyed some leftover Shepherd's pie (still good) and watched a bit more Jeeves and Wooster to finish off a lovely English weekend...