Monday we headed for Blackpool, England along the Irish Sea. It has an amusement park which I thought would be fun for the kids.  However, we had no reservations and had to start by going hotel to hotel trying to find a room(s) for 7.  Plus we arrived later than planned, imagine that.  The 3rd hotel, The Claremont Hotel, had rooms but later we found it had no AC. Mine, Derek, and the little girl’s room was above the kitchen in the back and the floor was warm. The window only opened a little and I banged up my finger trying to get it open. We drove back downtown and went to play games at the arcade. We never found the amusement park but did find a coin operated laundry and spent a couple of hours there! Katelyn stumped her toe and fell down again. The hotel served breakfast and an evening meal with the room so we lucked out.  We stayed 2 nights there which was not planned but seems we can't get anywhere at a decent time - even with Duane driving.

Photo right - Silbury Hill

Up the road toward Scotland we stopped at Hadrian's Wall. It was built by the Romans as a border between Scotland and England, stretching all the way across England. We climbed to the top of one of the hills through a sheep pasture. Zack and Alexa had fun atop one of the rock walls and running down the hill. Katelyn did pretty well with the height but was careful to stay away from the edge. Lauren wanted to chase the sheep. We did a picnic lunch outside but Lauren didn't get what she wanted to eat so she pouted and stomped.
 
We are now out of England and into Scotland and heading for Caerlaverock Castle, home of the Maxwell's!  We had visited the castle in 1974 but it has been fixed up a little more since then and a cafe and shop have been added. The kids wanted to buy things with Maxwell on them so we were here several hours.
 
Family Trip Review continues: Scotland

Next: The Festival of the Gods - Oktoberfest

Related Article: A wee bit of liquid gold: Scotland's "Whisky Trail"