Bret's visit: Part one

Bret safely arrived in Harrogate on Friday, October 13th. The good news is that he did make it here. The bad news is that it wasn't the smoothest journey. His first flight, the connection to his international flight, was running late. (Hmm... sounds familar.) I believe he said there was running and worrying involved on his part. (Yep, I remember going through that.) But thankfully, he made his flight with only MINUTES to spare! (Deja vu!) But this is where our stories differ. Then, due to heavy fog in England, his plane couldn't land. This allowed Bret to unexpectedly travel to an additional country that day. The plane made a quick trip to Ireland to refuel while they were waiting for the weather conditions to improve. Amazingly, Bret traveled to 4 countries (the US, England, Ireland and Scotland) in one day! Eventually, when the fog cleared, he landed in Manchester, England where Brandon was waiting to pick him up. Since we were already running behind schedule, we didn't have a moment to spare. Bret showed up to our flat and we were out the door and on our way to Scotland in no time.

It was a 4 hour drive and we made it JUST in time to get to our ghost and ghoul tour that started at 8:00 pm. (Unfortunately, there was more running involved.) It was a lot of fun, and our guide was very entertaining! Our second day in Scotland included the Edinburgh castle, a whiskey tour, lots of shopping, and LOTS of picture taking. We saw William Wallace, a musical performance by a bagpiper, and a grim reaper! See below for the pictures. After a full day of activity and excitement, we headed home.

On Sunday, we traveled to our second destination, York. It's about 45 minutes east of Harrogate. (This is where Brandon and I went on our 1st year anniversary when we were here last year, if anyone remembers.) We went to the must-see York Minster where Bret and Brandon climbed 275 spiral stairs for some amazing views of the city. Maybe if my body wasn't falling apart I could have gone too. I sadly had to stay behind and wait for their return. But it's okay. I was able to go last year... back when I was young and healthy. :) York was a blast as always. As Bret will tell you, each place is very unique and has something special to offer and different things to see. We traveled back home and went to Graveley's for the best fish and chips in the country! I'm pretty sure Bret can testify to that because I think he just about had fish and chips at every restaurant, heehee. :)

Anyway, that covers the first 3 days of his time here. Because there's so much to tell I have to split his visit up. This officially ends part one of three.

I'll write more later. And trust me, you won't want to miss out on what's soon to come! Catch ya later.