in which i actually go to cymru

and during which i never manage to post on this blog, despite its title. sorry.

also--this is actually posted on my family blog as well. so, family, this is review.

part 1:

background: i went with byu study abroad to wales this summer in order to be their van driver. so, wrong side of the road and the car with a stick shift. and 17 passengers. it went incredibly, miraculously (and i mean that literally) well. there are drivers in this world and then there are drivers. anders taylor and tom taylor, the other drivers, are in the latter category. and i am in the former. i can drive, but i'm not a gifted driver, you know? i still can't believe how quickly i felt comfortalbish on the road. when i first wrote this post, we were on our week long trip through the uk. we had just driven from the southern tip of wales to the northern tip--a totally beautiful drive. also, there were several tight spots, that day and everyday. we really went all over the place. here are some picture highlights of my favorite things on the trip:

these first couple were from our trip through cornwall. we were down there for two days. it is probably my favorite part of the uk and it was also the most intense driving. lots of really really tiny roads and having to do lots of backing down steep hills in order to let cars pass. at the end of the cornwall tour we were behind tom when he had to back up for cars in his van and he mentioned how crazy stressful it was later. we had done it in our van about five times. still, great great trip and we made it!

merlin's cave.



landsend--the western peninsula of cornwall and western most tip of the uk. one of the most beautiful places i have ever, ever been. we walked along the peninsula at sunset. the photo doesn't do it justice--it was painfully beautiful.




the motor boat we drove at st ives. it was SO slow--four horse power engine and i think at least 2 of the horses were out for the count. we were cracking up. st ives has beautiful white sand blue water beaches (also very good looking guys, it turns out, running these boats). i have put a vacation there on my bucket list. for the beaches rather than the boys.



we took the train to london and spent the day there, ending with a show at the globe (tom, zoe and i actually did a double header. henry iv part 1 in the afternoon and henry iv part 2 in the evening). the globe is perhaps the number one top thing to see in london. it was great as usual.



then we didn't quite make the last train back to cardiff so we spent the night (from 11:30pm until 5:30am) in paddington station. it was actually a great adventure. everybody took it like champs and had a great time. i didn't sleep at all until the train ride home.