Becca Jane St Clair

[This entry refers to a trip taken in March 2009. As requested, I will be going back and blogging the trips I only posted vlogs about January – April.]

I’m still playing catch-up on my UK trip. Tim arrives in 25 days for his US visit, so I thought I ought to try and get things caught up!

Tim had a long weekend coming and we were trying to decide what to do on it and where to go. He handed me this big map book he has of the UK (complete with a mini visitor guide. This book is amazing and helped us plan several of our other trips!). I opened it up to the front page that shows all of the UK, and after two “splashes” (finger pointing at the Irish Sea), I landed somewhere in the Northeast. I think I landed specifically on Newcastle-upon-Tyne, or it might have been Durham. Either way, it sparked off a weekend in the Northeast! I was googling for things to do, and Tim remembered a place called Beamish. One look at the webpage, and I told him we had to go there!

Our weekend started off the day after one of the snow storms that swept across the UK. Actually, the storm that hit London the day before we left was the first big snow storm to hit London in 18 years! Since it wasn’t too bad in Lincoln, we decided to head on out anyway. I scored us a great deal on a hotel again, this time staying at a Holiday Inn a little bit north of Newcastle, for about half the price of even the local bed & breakfast! We settled into our hotel that evening, and planned on heading out to Beamish in the morning.

It snowed overnight, but only a light dusting. We headed out to Beamish, and right when we got there it started snowing harder! What perfect conditions to explore 1913!

Beamish is an open air museum designed to give you a glimpse of life in 1913 Northeastern England, and 1825. During the winter months, the 1825 section is closed, so you can only visit the 1913 town.

Fortunately, the trolley was running, so we hopped on the trolley and it took us back in time to 1913. Our first stop was a masonic temple, originally from Sunderland. The front of the temple was brought over brick-by-brick, but the inside was built new from the old plans. Our guide told us all about the secret society and talked about how to join the Masons. It was pretty interesting, but I lost interest after being told women couldn’t join! They also offered the opportunity to go upstairs, but I didn’t want to climb the steps.

Next to the temple was a branch of Barclay’s bank. A teller sat behind the counter working on needlework, waiting to show off the coins and bills used previously in England. We also took a trip downstairs and got to see the old fashioned vaults and deposit boxes. Wow, glad I wasn’t a banker in 1913!

After a stop at the (thankfully modern!) toilets, we moved onto some of the shops in town. The people in the confectionery told us to come back later if we wanted to watch a demonstration, so we headed to the Pub for a cup of tea to warm up with before heading back in. We got to watch how Toffee is made,and got samples fresh off the block! Tim and I picked up some old fashioned candy (at old fashioned prices!) to nibble on for the rest of the trip.

Across the street was the large co-op, where people could buy everything they needed for their homes, from washing machines and dishes to food and clothing. The shopkeeper explained everything to us, and showed us a very clever way of taking cash from customers. The shop had an overhead system of “rails”. Run completely by gravity (no electricity here!), the counter person was able to put the customer’s bill and money into a hollow croquet ball. Then, she’d put it onto the “track” and the ball whizzed it’s way back to a separate locked office where the cashier would take out the money, put change and a receipt in, and send it back to the counter person. This way, all the money was kept behind a locked door and it was actually a lot safer than most stores today!

Further down the block was a printing shop, where we got to watch the typesetter set the newspaper, and then used the press to make a “I’ve been to Beamish!” sign for a souvenir.

We skipped a few of the houses/offices and some of them weren’t open, but we did get to glimpse in the law office, and into the kitchen of a typical 1913 home.

Further down the block, we got to the Railway station – Tim’s favourite place! The station wasn’t open, but we took a few photos and got to see the Westoe Netty – and outdoor public toilet for men made famous by a 1972 painting. The toilet was built in the 1890s (and also the third old-fashioned toilet display we saw on my visit!).

On our walk back we stopped in at the stables and the garage before taking the trolly back to the entrance. We packed a picnic lunch, but supplemented it with some soup from the cafe.

We both had a great time, and I look forward to going back with Tim next Summer when we can see everything else!

The trolly we rode on

The Westoe Netty

For more photos: http://photos.beccajanestclair.com/uk-trip-2008/beamish/

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I’ve been seeing the commercials since I got back from the UK for a new energy drink from Ocean Spray called Cranergy. Cranergy boasts 50% fewer calories and less sugar than “traditional energy drinks” and contains “green tea extract & B-vitamins”. First, I need to correct something. One serving of dragonfruit flavoured Vitamin Water (the bottle is technically 2) also only has 50 calories, and Vitamin Water now makes a new 10 calorie version. If you purchase the 4C brand Vitamin Stix or Energy Rush, those actually have 0 calories. But we’ll forgive Ocean Spray.

I love anything cranberry flavoured, so I really wanted to give this a try, but at over $3 for the large bottle, I wasn’t willing to purchase it in case I didn’t like it. I was going through the coupon offers on coupons.com on Friday, and I discovered a $1.00 off ANY Cranergy item coupon. Then while we were at Weis, I saw the 4-pack on sale for $2.99, making it only $1.99 with my coupon, and each bottle only $0.50.

So we picked a pack up, and I cracked open one of the 12 oz. bottles around 10PM when I was feeling a bit tired and still had a lot of work to do. The first thing I noticed was the overly sweet taste of sucralose. As I said above, I love cranberries, and what I especially love about them is how tart they are. It goes without saying that I was a little disappointed with the sweet taste of Cranergy. It tasted just like the Diet Ocean Spray (a product I dislike for it’s overly sweet taste). I couldn’t taste the green tea or the grape juice the ingredient list claims it contains.

As far as the vitamin content goes, it has 100% Vitamin C, but it also lists 70% for Niacin, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, and something called Pantothenic Acid, which I’ve never heard of before. A quick search on Google tells me that it’s simply another name for Vitamin B5. The only other vitamins mentioned on a regular bottle of Ocean Spray are 1% Iron and 1% Calcium, both missing from Cranergy. The small print on the side of the nutrition facts also tells me that due to the green tea content, Cranergy has 83mg of caffeine. A strong cup of hot black tea contains between 50-100mg of caffeine to give you a comparison.

Around 11PM last night, I decided to go to bed. I was still tired, and was going to chalk up the Cranergy as just another gimmicky product. But as I was checking e-mail and other things for the last time before bed, I started to feel a bit more awake. I got into bed and started watching Season One of Eureka and stayed awake until past 2AM. I blame this entirely on the Cranergy, as I’ve been in bed lately by 11 or 12!

Today, I foolishly drank 2 bottles – one this morning at breakfast, and one in the early evening. I completely forgot it was an “energy” drink and grabbed it for the cranberry flavour. Whoops.

So I think I would recommend this drink if you can handle the sweet cranberry taste and are willing to wait an hour or so for the energy boost to kick in. I still think the regular price for the bottles is a bit steep (the large bottles are smaller than regular bottles of Ocean Spray, yet cost more), but if they plan on offering $1 coupons more frequently, I’ll continue to pick up the 4-packs. But if you’re looking for a beverage that will provide energy and more vitamins (and still don’t mind the taste of sucralose), I’d go with Vitamin Water or 4C Vitamin Stix, personally. If you’re looking at it purely in terms of cost, Vitamin Water frequently on sale for 10 for $10, making it the same cost as the Cranergy 4-pack at regular price. Vitamin Stix are sold 14 to a box and cost around $4 for the box, making it less than $0.30 per bottle. Of course, with Vitamin Stix, you have to have a bottle of water to mix it into, and if you don’t have a bottle to fill with water, you could wind up spending more than $1 on a bottle of water, which would significantly up the cost.

Wonder how long I’ll be awake for tonight?

Today (well, Friday), my mom and I went to apply for her first passport. The only traveling outside of the US she had done in the past was to Canada, which formerly only required a driver’s license. I’ve had a passport since I was a minor, and was able to renew my passport as an adult since my former passport was less than 15 years old, so I was unfamiliar with the process for applying. To assist my mom, and so I’d know what to expect, I started reading up on all the current requirements on the Department of State’s website. A few things I learned today I thought I’d pass on to you, some of which are not on the DOS webpage:

1. Make sure you have a valid birth certificate. Your birth certificate needs to have a raised seal on it and most likely comes from your state’s department of health. If you do not have a certified copy, you’ll need to get one. It will cost about US$10 (fee varies by state), and might require you to drive to an office to apply in person. We went to Harrisburg last year to get a certified copy of my mom’s birth certificate. It took us about an hour between filling out the form and waiting for it to be processed. (please note: this only refers to US citizens born in the United States. For details on how to apply as a naturalized citizen, you will need to check the Department of State website.)

2. Get your passport photos taken. If you are a member of AAA, you can get passport photos for free with AAA Plus, or for $6.99 as a regular member. This seems to be the cheapest way to get passport photos. Walgreens, CVS, etc. charge between $8-12. (Note: AAA price may vary by region, as a friend of mine has AAA Plus and was charged $8.99 for her photos two years ago in Upstate NY. We’re part of Central Penn AAA, so check with AAA first!)

3. Know your parent’s birth dates and birth places. We were shocked to find out that even as an adult, you still needed to fill out that section. We had to make an emergency call to one of my aunts because neither of us were positive we knew the town my Nanny was born in. Turns out, you only needed to know the county or state. The woman working behind the counter told us that some people just make a random guess because they don’t know and don’t think to call a relative.

4. If you are divorced or widowed, you still need to provide information about your former spouse. Their name, the date you got married, and the date you were divorced or became a widow. You do not need a copy of your marriage certificate, divorce decree, or spouse’s death certificate. Even if your birth certificate has your maiden name and you are applying in your married name. As long as your married name is also on your driver’s license, you do not need your marriage certificate for your first passport. You will, however, need it if you are changing your name on your existing passport after marriage. (Thanks to mirrajay on UK-Yankee for answering this for me!)

5. Your driver’s license needs to be at least six months old. If it’s new, then you either have to bring along your expired license, your social security card, or another form of ID. The woman behind the counter was explaining to the people ahead of us that this is to make sure people aren’t just getting an ID for the sake of applying for their passport.

6. You must apply in person for your first passport, and you have to pay a $25 fee on top of the $75 application. These fees are paid in separate transactions, and the $75 needs to be paid either by cheque or money order. Conveniently, the post office sells money orders if you do not have a chequing account.

And that’s about it. It literally took less than 15 minutes after Mom filled out the application to hand it in. We were told to expect her passport in 4-6 weeks. We’ll also get back her birth certificate, and apparently it might even be mailed out separately.

For more information about applying for a US Passport, please see the Department of State‘s website.

Please note: All information in this post is current and valid as of 6/2009. If you are reading this post as an archived post, requirements may have changed, so please check the above website for more information.

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If you’d like to chat with me, I can now be reached on AIM as BeccaJaneStClair, and on MSN Messenger as BeccaJaneStClair(at)hotmail.com. Don’t worry, my email is staying the same!

[This entry refers to a day trip taken in January 2009. As requested, I will be going back and blogging the trips I only posted vlogs about January – April.]

Back when Tim and I started planning my trip, he asked me to make a list of places I’d like to see. The list was in no way a guarantee that we’d go, but it was a good jumping off point for making plans. I can also proudly say that after 6 months, we did nearly everything on the list!

One of the places on my list, was the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The map geek in me was overjoyed that I was going to be traveling from 100 degrees (when I was in Manitoba last summer) to 0 within a matter of weeks (and, at the beginning of 2008 I was almost at the Equator, too!). When I was doing some research for my UK trip, I discovered that you could go to Greenwich and stand on the Prime Meridian…thus being in both the West and the East at the same time!

When Tim and I planned our weekend to London this past January, we included a trip to Greenwich. We started our trek by taking the Docklands Light Railway, which is a light railway that does not have any drivers on it! (You might remember my vlog I made that day, viewable here.). The DLR doesn’t drop you off right at the observatory, of course, so we had a bit of a walk through Greenwich (though we could have taken the bus, we opted to walk). Once we got there, I also discovered you need to walk uphill to get to the observatory. By this point in our weekend, my legs were really hurting from the prior days, so we took it slow, stopping to sit on benches along the way. Our goal was to get to the Prime Meridian before 1300 GMT, as we wanted to watch the red ball drop at 1300, but we had plenty of time.

Believe it or not, I was actually pretty awe-struck finally getting to see the world clock and getting to stand right on the Prime Meridan. There are few things that can excite a map geek as much as being able to be both East and West at the same time!

We went into the observatory and got to see a huge display about clocks, and learned about the first clocks ever built. After we watched the red ball drop, we decided to head to the Maritime Museum. Tim wound up going through this museum mostly on his own. My legs were just too tired to take it all in, but the museum had a small cafe, so I was able to sit at a table with a drink and I read and listened to music (and I think I might have even fallen asleep at one point!). I felt bad leaving Tim to look at the museum on his own, but I was glad he was able to get the chance to do it.

After closing time, we decided to take a bus back over to the DLR (yay!), and then the Tube back to Victoria Station for the short walk back to the hotel.

The Royal Observatory

I’m standing in the East and the West!

More Photos

I ♥ travelocity. Let me back up. I ♥ moneysavingexpert.com.

Moneysavingexpert.com is a UK site for cheap bargains. I signed up for the weekly newsletter in the hopes that I’d find some good deals for Tim and I…and I have.

First, I discovered that for every £10 in Tesco vouchers we earn, we can trade it in for £40 in hotel vouchers instead of using it at Tesco. £10 off your groceries is nice, but if we can get a hotel room for free, we’ll take it! On our last Tesco statement, we had earned £12 in Tesco vouchers (which Tim used to get money off his groceries now that I’m back in the US), so we should be able to get ourselves £40 in hotel vouchers once every three months (Tesco earnings come out quarterly).

It also had deals on things that don’t apply to us, like credit card deals, deals on Sky+, etc. But this week, it had a link to their section on travel and tips on finding inexpensive hotels (which apply worldwide, btw). Since I have an upcoming trip to Ireland in September, I’ve been hunting for an inexpensive hotel.

I opened all their suggestions in tabs and compared it with the hotel I had already found (a self-catered place for ~US$250/3 nights). Travelocity found a fantastic deal. The Ardmore Hotel for only US$48/night! The hotel is a few miles from both the airport and the ferry port, as well as the train station. There’s a bus stop right in front that will take you into the city center….and the hotel has decent reviews on TripAdvisor. The other great thing about Travelocity is it will charge in USD, so we won’t have to worry about a currency conversion fee.

The minus to staying at the Ardmore is going to be that it’s NOT self-catering. It’s iffy if breakfast is included (hotel site says it’s available, but a review claims it cost €12 (~US$17) and apparently a cheaper breakfast can be had in town at Debenhams for €7 (~US$10)), but there IS a hotel restaurant/bar and they have daily dinner specials for €10 (~US$14) as well as room service, so if we can’t find anyplace else to eat, we can use the hotel as a fall-back option. But I can’t see us spending more than ~US$150 on food for three days (the price difference between the Ardmore and the self-catered place is ~US$150, and that’s before we’d have to shop for food for meals, too.)…if even that. Especially if I still head to a Tesco when we get there to stock up on some non-perishable snacks. If we eat a big breakfast at Debenham’s in the morning and pack snacks for the mid-day, as long as we eat an early dinner, we might be able to skip lunch (Tim and I did that frequently when we were traveling).

Do the discount websites work? Well, not always. And it’s always best to compare several in different windows or tabs to ensure you are finding the best deals. When I was searching for our flights I managed to find flights for $100 less through Priceline than even Kayak or Cheap Tickets was linking to (and those sites are my first stops for cheap air fare)! I also always open a direct link to the hotel or airline website to make sure there isn’t a better deal through booking direct. And if you’re looking at hotels, make sure you read the reviews or check Trip Advisor. Sure, a hotel for under $40 is nice, but is it going to be clean?

I also try to take advantage of membership cards. Obviously, airlines have frequent flier cards you can earn miles on for future trips and even spend buying other things. But did you know that many of the hotel chains have their own rewards system? Some even as easy as stay three nights in any of their hotels, get a one night stay for free!

Inexpensive travel is out there. You just have to be willing to search for it!

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Today, I received this in my inbox:

Dear Ms. S,

I apologize for our vector security guard asking you to check in empty plastic bags at the customer service desk. I talked to the security guards supervisor, and made sure he covers with all of his guards, the necessary policies Weis Markets has, which doesn’t include empty bags.The next time you visit our store ask for me, Carl Zartman. I would like to meet you, and apologize in person. Thank you for your continued patronage.

Carl Zartman
Store Manager Weis #41
Phone [717] 392-6511

Good to know that barring reusable bags is NOT Weis policy and was just the security guard being a moron. I haven’t gone over to that Weis since the incident happened, but I suppose I’ll go over there next time and ask for Carl since he wants to apologize to me.

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I am not a gamer. I’ve never been able to get into gaming the way a lot of other people do. Even when I was in high school, I think the longest I lasted at a D&D campaign was maybe 2 or 3 meetings. I thought I finally had caught onto gaming while I was visiting my friend A in Ann Arbor. His sister, V, came over and brought along the PS2 game We Heart Katamari. After spending several hours rolling up stuff in the Katamari balls, I thought I finally found something I’d like to play more of. I also would occasionally watch A play one of the RPG games for the PS2. One of the Final Fantasies, possibly Kingdom Hearts, but he usually was in the middle of something when I visited.

I eventually purchased a Playstation 2 (which I’m now trying to sell, along with We Heart Katamari if anyone is interested*) and I honestly think I played with it a dozen times. The controller hurt my thumbs, so I could only go at it for an hour or so before my hands would hurt (I have small hands!). While playing the game was fun, it often cut into my time for doing other things – reading, crafting, other hobbies – but it was still a nice distraction. I even bought a used copy of Kingdom Hearts (which I never played).

Another friend of mine, D, plays Second Life. Since Second Life had a free version, I thought I’d try it out. I also discovered another friend of mine, (another) D, also played it, so I spent some time hanging out with whichever of my friends was on at the time, met some of their in-game friends, and did a bit of exploring on my own, going so far as to create a character for myself that had fairy wings. I think I lasted about 10 days before I deleted the program off my computer and gave up.

Ditto for the Sims. I had the original Sims installed on my laptop when I was in college, and I sporadically played with it so much that my people kept dying on me from neglect. When I got a new computer 6 months later, I didn’t bother re-installing The Sims.

I think I might have even had a Tamagotchi at one point,or at least a cheap knock-off. My pet “died” because I neglected it. Even the hand-me-down Furby a friend gave to me stopped responding the way it should because I lost interest. Funny, I love my real cat and pay attention to him all the time!

Even online role-playing games. I was in 2 Harry Potter related games, and 3 Torchwood games. You would think with HP and TW being two of my main interests that playing an RPG and getting to be one of my favourite characters would hold my attention. Nope. Although, in all fairness, most of these games fell apart on their own through everyone’s lack of participation, and not just my own.

Recently, several of my friends started sending me invitations to play Farm Town on Facebook. I checked it out, and it looked like fun. You set up crops to grow, harvested the crops, and then sold them for “money” which you could use to improve your farm – buying fences for your animals, planting new crops, and when you have enough money (and a high enough level), you can even purchase things like houses, barns, silos, and windmills. You also earn points and money by visiting your friends farms or by helping other farmers harvest their crops. I’ve steadily gotten myself up to level 10 in the two weeks I’ve been playing….and I’m ready to quit. The game is so monotonous – plant, visit, harvest, sell, repeat. The levels are a bit ridiculous, too. You can buy a house at I think it’s level 7…but only if you have 70,000 coins. Since most crops give you 50-200 coins when you sell them, and you have to “buy” the crops to plant, it seems near impossible to get that many coins…yet I know friends who have houses and barns (and even windmills and silos) on their property, so it must somehow be achievable. Then, there’s the “get more coin” offers, which almost ALL require you to purchase something off another site…or you can even buy your coin. $10 gets you 10k coin (I think that’s the correct number). I really don’t see myself lasting much longer. The past two days, I’ve logged on maybe 3 times and that was just to harvest my crops so they didn’t “go to waste”. I didn’t even visit any of my neighbours.

I am not a gamer**. I will never be a gamer. So why do I insist on getting involved in games?

*Playstation 2 comes in the original box with one controller, an 8MB memory card, and We Heart Katamari. I was asking for $75 with local pickup, $90 if shipping is needed, but am considering knocking $10-15 off the price. E-mail me if interested.

**Board games and card games on the other hand….I love.

[Image used at the top of this post is a screenshot of my farm in Farm Town, and is © slashkey.]

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This morning, my mom and I went to the Bird in Hand Farmer’s Market to pick up some vegetables. Since we were on that side of town, we decided we’d go over to the Strasburg Railroad and take a ride….only, we got to the parking lot and discovered that neither of us had managed to bring along a camera, so back home we went. We weren’t really planning on going back out today, but I was checking the Strasburg Railroad website to see what times the train was running on a Sunday, and discovered tonight was a Wine and Cheese train. I also discovered the Wine and Cheese train would be running on both our birthdays, but since Mom’s birthday is near Independence Day and my birthday is near Labour Day, we figured it’d be busy on those days, so we called up and got tickets for the 6PM train.

We boarded at gate “0” and were at the back of the train for the ride over to Paradise. They brought around trays with cubes of cheese, grapes, and strawberries for us to get what we wanted. I think we had four choices of cheese, but by the time the tray got to us, there was only Gouda, Cheddar, and an herb cheese to pick from. Our crackers were from a small basket sitting on our table. 4 Carr’s Wafers and 2 wheat crackers for the two of us to share. We had a choice of 4 wines – Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot, or Strasburg Red. I was a little disappointed there wasn’t a blush/pink option. A Zinfandel would have rounded out the choices nicely! We picked the Riesling for starters.

The train got going and it’s a fairly straight 20 minute ride through the Amish countryside between Strasburg and Paradise. We passed the Red Caboose Inn and the site of the Amazing Maize Maze (currently being grown), as well as several Amish and non-Amish farms. in Paradise, we briefly meet up with the Amtrak line and the engine loops around to hook onto the back to pull us back in the other direction, so for the ride back, we were now the first car.

While the engine was being moved, we were offered our second glass of wine (this time we picked the Strasburg Red) and the platter of grapes and cheese went around again. We happened to be in the middle of the car, so by the time the trays came by this time, it was really slim pickings! We each managed to find a few pieces of cheese and some grapes. We were not offered seconds on the crackers. The group sitting across from us decided to order non-alcoholic drinks. 2 colas and a bottle of water. I was surprised when the gentleman on the end got out his wallet and needed to pay for the drinks. I think it would have been nice if they offered the non-alcoholic beverages for free (or at least, offer free water) since you pre-paid for your wine and if you weren’t going to drink the second glass, why not?

The train soon re-attached and we were headed on our way back to Strasburg. They came around for a third time offering wine, and I decided to try a bit of the Chardonnay. Mom opted to skip on her third glass. This time, the grapes and cheese were not offered.

We made it back to Strasburg a little before 7PM, which leads me to believe we must not have left right at 6, since it’s supposed to be a 45 minute ride total.

After a visit to the restroom (I had to, I had too much wine in me!) and some more photos, we headed to the car and decided to round out our little trip with dinner at Willow Valley.

Amish Farmland

Shadow of the Engine on the way back.

More photos are available at my Facebook page, which can be found here.

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Tonight, my mom and I went over to the Weis Market in the Manor Shopping Center (Lancaster, PA). We usually grab one of the mini-carts and put our reusable bags on the bottom half while we shop. As we walked in the door, the security guard stationed by the door tried to tell us that we needed to leave our bag(s) with the customer service desk while we shopped. We explained to him that they were our grocery bags, and his comment back to us was “people still could use them to steal stuff”. The overall impression I got off this security guard was that he somehow thought Mom and I were going to steal groceries and that’s why we were bringing in bags. I’ve never felt so offended before going grocery shopping. If this is going to be a trend with that store, we simply won’t shop at it anymore!

And then when we were checking out…it seems to me that if you bring in your own bags, the cashier doesn’t make any moves to assist you with packing up your purchases. Even if they have finished ringing you up and you have paid and the remaining items are out of your reach. No, you must stretch yourself to try to push them down to where you can reach them.

I compare this type of service to the service I regularly received at Tesco in the UK. Never once were we stopped by anyone for bringing in reusable bags, in fact, they encourage reusable over plastic and offer you 3p off your order for every bag you bring in. If you need plastic bags, you need to ask the cashier to give you some. Also, as soon as you start packing your groceries, the cashier always asks if you need help packing and will do their best to ensure that you can reach all your purchases.

I could be looking at grocery shopping in the UK through rose coloured glasses, but I never came across a rude cashier or stocker in any of our trips to Tesco. Matter of fact, I even received help finding an item in the store from an employee who was off-duty doing her own shopping when she heard me tell Tim I couldn’t find an item off our list!

I wish Weis was more like Tesco (and I wish they didn’t charge over $7 for the tiniest bottle of Ribena you can get for under £1 in the UK!). I’ve also sent in a complaint via the Weis Market’s website. I had wanted to speak with the store manager, but there was a long line at customer service and only one woman behind the counter. I didn’t want to cause a huge fuss asking for a manager to complain to when clearly, they needed help dealing with all the customers.

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I’ve edited the “about this site” page, and thought it was worth sharing on the regular blog. I put it behind the more tag, but I don’t think those tags work on the RSS feeds. Sorry!

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[I was asked to post this somewhere where it could be linked to, so apologies to anyone reading this who saw it on FB or LJ who is also seeing the RSS re-posts.]

I took the train out to Philadelphia mid-morning. I couldn’t meet up with Erin until later in the afternoon, but I got a ride to the train station, so I had to go when the ride was offered! My plan was going to be to just plop myself on a bench in 30th Street and read for a few hours. I went into Cosi to get some tea and my iPod beeped with a discovered open wifi at the Cosi, so instead I grabbed a comfy booth and alternated between being online on either Jack (the N810) or Ianto (the iPod) and my book (Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry). I even managed to catch Tim for a bit on Skype before Erin was out of bar exam prep class and she finally met up with me.

We were only a few blocks away from WXPN, so we headed over there to pick up the tickets for the show. Surprise, surprise, guess who we bumped into? None other than Barry,who was going out to the van to get something as we were walking past. We stopped and chatted with him for a few minutes and had a fun moment while Barry tried to remember my name and all he could tell me was “you sell merch for us sometimes, but I didn’t need you tonight….” until I took pity on him and reminded him of my name.

Tickets procured, it was time to find dinner. They serve food at WXPN, but we both agreed the prices were a bit on the high side, so we opted to walk around until we came across a food court and got pizza slices the size of my head. I’m not kidding, they were huge! and cheap. We headed back over to WXPN, even though it was early, and got in a small (but growing) queue for the door. Most of the people ahead of us were older adults (which I now suspect might have been the family members of the new bassist) and they all went and sat at the tables to order food, so Erin and I were able to grab prime real estate at the front of the stage. We were *really* early, so we opened a bar tab, ordered some beer and just caught up on a lot of things. Nicole texted me at this point, so we made plans for her to meet us when she got there. I saw someone from S&D III who recognized my kitty ears, but I can’t remember who it was (Sorry!)

The opening act, Alternate Routes, was a lot more than I expected. I know I should give openers more credit than that, but more often than not I wind up not being overly impressed with openers. But Alternate Routes rocked, and the lead played a tool box. I’m not kidding! We saw this tool box on the stage with a cord sticking out of it and had no clue what it was and then the lead picked it up and started shaking it for boom effects. After the opener was done, I made a beeline for the bathroom. Erin and Nicole asked him what was in the box, and apparently it’s just a lot of junk that makes noise when you shake it. Still, pretty cool!

Soon it was time for Carbon Leaf! 😀 I received nods/grins/acknowledgment from Barry, Terry, and Carter (several times), and Barry kept focusing on our group. I don’t know if it was because he talked to Erin and I before the show or if it was because I was one of the few recognizable faces in the front, but no complains from me…until Barry almost took me out with his mic stand, that is.

Barry uses a cordless microphone and he has a stand for it. The stand can be batted around and will (usually) pop itself right back up, sort of like a boxing dummies. Well, a weight must have fallen out of it or something happened to it because Barry batted it and it stated coming down straight at me! If I hadn’t stuck my hand out to catch it, it would have cracked me (and possibly the person behind me) on the head! Erin and I tried to get the thing to go back on stage, but it bounced back and almost hit her, so then we just got it to lay flat on the stage. Whoops. After the song, I shouted “are you trying to kill me?” and Barry grins back at me and mimes being smacked in the face with a mic stand. Thanks.

Later in the show, he had a piece of paper with someone’s birthday on it, and he was trying to figure out if the date was the 26th or not. He claimed his watch said it was the 21st and everyone is laughing at him and people are shouting that he must be drunk, so he comes over to the edge of the stage and leans down at Erin and I to show us his watch to confirm the date. LOL. (and sure enough, his watch said the 21st)

But the funniest part had to be the re-telling of what happened at the Philly Diner. For those of you who follow CL and Terry on Twitter, you might have seen the posts about a guy passing out in the bathroom. Well, Barry proceeded to show us exactly how the man was laying on the ground:

and flops down with his butt right in front of my face (yeah, thanks for that “/)

The BEST part of the show was the encore. A reprise of Learn to Fly unplugged:

Absolutely beautiful.

After the show, we headed outside to the lobby where Erin got to talk to the lead from Alternate Routes a bit more while we waited for the crowd around Carbon Leaf to thin down. Finally it thinned down so we went over to talk to them and so Erin could get her CD signed (I recommended she start with Indian Summer, since she was familiar with a few songs off that album to begin with). Barry apologized for almost whacking me with his mic stand, and then decided it was better it was me and not a new fan, because then there might have been a lawsuit. I told him I’d have PTSD now and dream about mic stands flying at my head. LOL. We also found out that Carter’s banjo is broken! 🙁 He was playing his guitar as if it was a banjo for a few songs, so Erin asked him about it and he told us that it was broken. Oh noes! So I hope he can get it fixed soon! I got a big hug from Terry, and I talked to Terry about performing in the UK….he said maybe next year and asked me if I’d fill the bars with people I knew if they do. heh. I also found out that CL is NOT scheduled to be on ANY of Sixthman’s cruises in 2010, and Carter made it sound as though they had wanted to do BNL’s again before BNL decided to not do one. I asked about the rumors of a Celtic Cruise, and Terry said they’d probably do it if there was one….though there were questions on being able to fill an entire cruise ship, so we decided we ought to charter the Lewes-Cape May ferry for a show. LOL. Love those guys.

We made our good-byes and split off from Nicole. Erin decided since it was so late we’d just grab a cab back to her apartment and we were soon in Pajamas. I think we wound up going up to bed around 1. She has a studio loft with the bed in the loft. I woke up around 4/430 to use the bathroom and decided I didn’t want to climb up the ladder and try to squeeze my way back over to the bed, so I just crashed on her couch (and really didn’t get much sleep. Darn Philadelphia street noise!). I finally decided around 630 to just get dressed and I managed to make it to 30th street just as the 9AM Keystone was boarding. Woo.

So, fantastic day/night. I wish CL was playing more shows near me…they need to come out to Lancaster! 😀

[x-posted to facebook and LJ….with more photos on FB, so if you’re NOT on my FB, add me!]

(Amtrak commercial from 1985!)

I remember this jingle and I always want to sing it when I’m waiting to board an Amtrak train. Ironically, they started using the old Metroliner cars on the Keystone and Pennsylvanian service…or at least, they were yesterday and today. I amused Tim by calling it “the boxy loco” because the engine part looks like a box. Apparently they no longer need to change the engine in Philly and haven’t needed to since 2006….shows how often I’ve ridden the train since 2006. Shame, really, since I used to take it all the time to visit friends.

I was fortunate enough on both trips to grab express services. The Pennsylvanian only stops at Harrisburg, Lancaster, Paoli, and then 30th Street, and the Keystone “express” skips about half the stops in the middle, too. All-in-all, a pleasant ride in both directions, though this morning I sporadically napped since I was worn out from the Carbon Leaf show at WXPN World Cafe I went to last night with my friend Erin.

30th Street even has free pubic wi-fi at both the McDonald’s and the Cosi, and Cosi even has comfortable booths and tables to sit at. We saw a lot of people lined up around the perimeter of both restaurants “mooching” wifi. I went inside Cosi, ordered a hot tea, and sat at a table for hours using their wifi and reading while I waited for Erin. No one seemed to mind.

Unless something comes up, the next time I get on Amtrak it will be to pick up Tim! 😀 He visits in less than 2 months now!

[LJ users reading this on the LJ feed, please click on the link at the top of the entry to reply via my website]

On Monday, 11 May 2009, I had the opportunity to go down to Cape Canaveral with my mom and aunt to watch the shuttle launch. None of us had seen a shuttle launch live before, and we managed to score a really good view at Jetty Park!

Video of the launch:

My bog’s undergone a layout change, please let me know what you think!

(of course, now I have to change the rest of my site to match…..)

I’ve decided I’m not going to take the time to completely blog every single town and place we visited. I’ve been home for over a month, and I just haven’t had the time. BUT – I know I have some readers (i hope?) who want to read about things, so here is the list of places we were. If there is a place you’d like to see me write more about and I haven’t already, please leave me a comment.

Stamford
Liverpool
Lincoln (multiple times)
Stratford-upon-Avon
Hereford
Hay-On-Wye/Brecon Beacons
Cardiff
Bridlington
Scarbourough
Robin Hood’s Bay
Yorkshire Moors (and NYMR!)
York
Nottingham
London
Portsmouth
Stonehenge
Blackpool
Liverpool
Rainhill
Newark
London
Greenwich
Beamish
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Alnwick and other Castles in the North
Scottish Borders
Durham
Darlington
GCR
Bletchley Park
Leeds
Mablethorpe (and other seaside towns)

[LJ users reading this on the LJ feed, please click on the link at the top of the entry to reply via my website]

As posted to LJ and Facebook…

Top 10 Memories From the Past 6 Months:

10. The frog in the living room!
9. Seeing “Spamalot” and “Oliver!” in the West End
8. Getting locked in the loo on the train
7. Exterminate 45 with the Leicester Doctor Who Club
6. UK Ships and Dip get together in Liverpool
5. My Hovercraft is full of eels
4. Christmas in the UK, and being treated like family by Tim’s family
3. Spending six months with the man I love
2. Stonehenge at sunset
1. Hearing Tim say to me “I love you” for the first time.

Top 10 Things I’ll Miss about the UK

10. Boots
9. Primark (Where in the US can you get nice jeans for £6?)
8. Public transportation that works
7. BBC/BBC Radio
6. Ribena & D&B Soda (though not mixed together)
5. Tesco
4. Tim
3. My UK Friends & Family
2. Tim
1. Did I mention Tim?

—

My flight is out of LHR at 4:15PM BST tomorrow. Landing in IAD at 7:15PM EST…ETA back in Lancaster probably around 10 or 11PM.

Regular posting will resume at some point this week, and it will include the HUGE backlog of places I’ve visited…I think I have to backtrack all the way to London in January! But, it gives me something to do instead of moping about missing Tim, eh?

Travel blog is going on a short hiatus other than video logs until I am back in the states the first week of April. There’s so much I need to catch up on, I figured it’d be best if I wait until I’m home and not rushed!

There’s a frog in the living room!

I don’t want to take a picture of it and scare it with the flash, so I tried taking a video. I can see him if I look where he is, but I’m not sure if he’s visible on the video or not.

I texted both Tim and his sister, S, because I wasn’t sure what to do and sometimes Tim can’t reply to me from work. S told me how to catch it, but the darn thing crawled behind stuff and I don’t want to scare it if I move the bag he’s hiding behind.

Tim told me he’d take care of it when he gets home from work….unless Prudence (the cat) “gets to it first”…so I’ve been keeping an eye on the kitty and chasing her out of the living room. I’ve been trying to get her to go outside, but she won’t so far.

I have a LOT of posts in the pipe, including the rest of London (2 days), Newark (one day), and the trip North (4 days), but for now, I thought I’d share a recipe I created yesterday:

Sadly, I don’t have a photo of the finished dish because the day I decided to make this we happened to suffer a power outage…FORTUNATELY, the crock pot managed to stay hot for about an hour after the power went out, and the ribs were fully cooked!

I completely winged it on this recipe, adding things I thought would work, and the result is a sweet rib, which is a nice alternative from spicy bbq!

Ingredients:
Pork ribs bone-in or boneless (thawed)
ground ginger
black pepper
1 cup cider ( I used a cranberry apple version) (can probably substitute beer)
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup tomato sauce (canned or jarred, plain)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons golden syrup (can probably substitute honey) (optional)

Cut rack of ribs into separate pieces (I cut mine into 2-rib sections). If using boneless, cut into strips about an inch wide if not already cut
Rub ribs with pepper and ginger. I don’t have actual measurements for this, I just sprinkled some on and rubbed it in. (probably no more than a few teaspoons of each).
Spray crock pot with cooking spray and place ribs in crock pot. I made a layer on the bottom, and then placed the second layer cross-wise on top.
Combine cider, vinegar, and brown sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Add tomato sauce, ketchup, and syrup.
Pour sauce mixture over ribs. If there isn’t enough sauce to cover the ribs, add water one cup at a time until ribs are covered.
Turn crock pot on low and cook for 4-6 hours (depending on how hot your low is).