Some pictures from our misc. travels.





One of my uncle's dogs was nice enough to find a hedgehog for us. They're cute, but quite sharp. They're also alive with lice and fleas...



Yesterday we headed out to Castle Rising. This castle was built in the 12th century and home to Queen Isabella. You can see my grandma down there by the castle.



My cousin and I walk through Rising Castle. This is the small passageway leading up to the Priest's chambers.



My uncle sitting in the same passageway.



Me outside the castle. The castle has fallen into disrepair, but its still pretty impressive...



This is the main entrance to the castle. The archway my cousin and I are standing in was formerly the entrance to the great hall, but the floor of the great hall caved in a few hundred years ago. The entrance was then turned into a fireplace.



The large chasm we're looking over was formerly the great hall. The square notches in the walls once held crossbeams which held up the floor. On the very SPOT that I'm standing Queen Isabella may have very well thrown up after a night of heavy drinking. Isn't history cool?!



A group photo in my uncle's living room after returning from Castle Rising.

So today I shaved my head. Not for fun, not for style, not even to be rebelious.

One of the guys at work recently was diagnosed with cancer, so the folks from work held a fund raiser. The prize for every hundred dollars raised? One shaved head. All total many many heads were shaved. Unfortunately I am on vacation right now in England. Of course, I couldn't shave my head with my coworkers, so I'll have to make do here in the UK. Anyways, lets get to it.

My shaved head....

Before I started...


Half way.... I figured I may as well try out a mohawk before it all went away....

The completed product... Wow, I look... different.

Check out my sassy new hat...

ENGLAND: Day 1, morning.

So I got up at about 5:15 am with the light. A person doesn't normally realize how far north England is, but its quite a way up there. Hence long days during the summer. Anyway, I got up and decided to go for a little jog. I left around 5:45 and decided to pick a direction and run that way. The direction today was "uphill". This took me to a large old cathedral in the dead center of Ely. One thing I noticed on my jog uphill; the roads in England aren't the straight, block-style roads I'm used to. They twist, turn, circle and snake their way around in a most perplexing manner.

Ely is a fairly small town, with the large cathedral dead center. The cathedral is also on the top of the hill the city is built on, which makes it visible from most places in town. Anticipating getting very lost, I memorized the way from the cathedral to my uncle's house. I did indeed get lost on my jog, but was able to head to the cathedral and find my way back.