The Land of Fire and Ice

The Land of Fire and Ice

With a couple of days left in England, we continued east toward Dover. Quinn found that the Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch Railway was on our route, so we planned a stop. The RH&DR is a one-third-scale railway. Not full-sized, but not a toy either, it features rail...
The Emerald Isle

The Emerald Isle

From Edinburgh, we drove to the town of Cairnryan where we had a ferry booked to Larne, Ireland (just north of Belfast). We were due on the ferry at 8:30 am, long before Quinn awakes. So we camped in the ferry terminal parking lot the night before and let Quinn sleep...
A Few Sunny Days in the Highlands

A Few Sunny Days in the Highlands

Leaving Inverness, we headed southeast toward the coast. On the way, we decided to stop at Balmoral Castle, the Queen of England’s country estate in Scotland. It’s apparently the Queen’s favorite place to be, and she almost always spends a few weeks...
Glasgow and Western Scotland

Glasgow and Western Scotland

Our first stop in Scotland was at one of the “7 Stanes” mountain biking centers. Jen and I braved the rain and rented bikes for a couple of hours. Riding through the misty and moss-laden forest in the rain was very different from the desert biking...
The Lake District and the Queen’s Jubilee

The Lake District and the Queen’s Jubilee

With the Queen’s Jubilee weekend approaching and since we were heading for the Lakes District (one of the most popular holiday destinations in England), we decided to book some campsites ahead of time. We don’t like doing that as it interferes with our...
Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales

The tunnel under the English Channel is cool. You pull up and buy your ticket, go buy a bunch of cheap French wine at the duty-free, and then drive onto a train. The train disappears underground, and 35 minutes later, you pop out in England, never having left the...
Bavaria and Prague

Bavaria and Prague

Our next destination after leaving Switzerland was Prague – Quinn found a restaurant where the food and drinks are delivered by model train, so that’s a must-visit spot on our itinerary. On the way, we stopped in at the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, one of...
A brief visit to Italy and the Swiss Alps

A brief visit to Italy and the Swiss Alps

What’s the first thing you do when you get to Italy? Have a pizza, of course. Quinn has been looking forward to Italy for a while for that reason alone. After driving through an 8-mile long tunnel crossing the French Alps we stopped at the first Italian town we...