being british.

for two weeks jon and i were blessed to take an amazing vacation to visit friends of ours in england. its not every day that you know two fantastic couples in a foreign country willing to open their houses up to you. it was a ridiculously awesome experience, one that i won't soon forget.

the trip started at courtney and brady's place outside of huddersfield. this is the view from their balcony at sunset. i think i ranted for an hour about how i'm pretty sure they don't make colors like that in the states.


we took a day trip by train with courtney to leeds. we saw this sign near the royal armouries that i thought was pretty hilarious. it's evidently part of an art installation.


after huddersfield, jon, courtney, brady and myself hopped a short flight over the sea for a weekend in dublin where we met up with dan and becca. this was malahide castle. it was lived in until the 1970s, which is pretty crazy. the family had to sell it to pay the taxes so now it's open to the public. it's surrounded by some of the coolest playgrounds that i've ever seen.


this is a seal. he's smiling, even though we didn't feed him. he was just hanging out in the irish sea.

after ireland we went to stay with dan and becca in harrogate. this is where they live. yes, it's a castle. their apartment includes the tower at the front, which you access by a hidden door. it's pretty incredible.


there are cows right outside their kitchen window. just hanging out. its nice to sit and watch them while drinking your morning coffee.



this is what's left of middleham castle. it was really ruin-y and awesome. you could climb around and try to imagine what it once looked like. my favorite parts of england were the old parts. the parts that looked like adventures were once had there.


the views that day were amazing. so much green as far as you could see. we had very un-english weather while we were there. it was sunny and blue almost every day.


we took a day trip to york. the york minster was really incredible. its the kind of church that makes you keep quiet inside not because you're supposed to but because it takes your breath away.


clifford's tower, which is part of york castle, stood on its own tiny hill in the middle of the city.


and this i'm pretty sure was my favorite place of the whole trip, fountains abbey. sadly for the pictures we went on the only truely british day that we had--grey and dreary. i liked it like that though. it added to the feel of the whole place.

it was also ruin-y and incredibly large. the grounds that it was on went on forever. we spent an entire afternoon there and only saw a fraction of what there was.


it was originally a monastery. the monks there earned a living raising sheep. i think i would have been content quietly raising sheep in such a beautiful place.


it was a truly spectacular vacation. everything we saw and did was great and to be able to do it all with great friends that we haven't seen in a while made it even better. hopefully we'll go back someday. i feel like we only got to see a glimpse of england.