Geektacular Adventuring

Whoops. This blog has fallen by the wayside a bit as I've gotten deeper into Youtube. Sorry. Hoping to fix that in the next few months.

As you may know, I've been using this year to read through ALL of Roald Dahl's books. I've been posting updates over on my Youtube channel. For July's wrap up, I also made a special announcement...I will be going to the UK in September to join in the events happening for Roald Dahl's 100th birthday! And adding in other geeky things! If you missed the announcement, click here. 

I. AM. SO. EXCITED. 

I will be there for nearly two weeks, hopping around to a few cities and events, and I thought I would share what I'll be going to, in case you're curious (hi Mom and Gran!) or are in the area and want to join in. 

These are in no particular order, other than being grouped by city. Links are in the title of each event.

LONDON AND VICINITY 

Stonehenge

Okay, so this isn't necessarily geeky. But I've been to England twice, with Stonehenge up on my list of things I want to see, and I still haven't done it! So I'm making it a priority. I'm going the day I get in, so I'll be EXHAUSTED and sleeping on the bus, but whatever. I am going to see Stonehenge this time.

Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre 

This is about an hour outside of London and is the official "home" of all things Dahl. It seems to be mostly geared towards children, but I still think it will be fun. And worst case, I can explore a new town.

Dinner at the Twits

Besides hotels and flights, this is the most expensive part of the trip, but I could not pass it up! It's an adults only dinner theatre put on by the disgustingly gruesome Dahl characters Mr and Mrs Twit. It sounds absolutely amazing and I'm so excited to have the opportunity to see this.

Dahl Afternoon Tea

I almost didn't get in on this. When I found out there was a true English Afternoon Tea service, at The Shard, with a Dahl theme, it was at the top of my list! But when I went to book, the website wouldn't let me book a party of one. So I sent an email playing the YouTube card (not that I think that mattered), heard back within 15 minutes, and one international phone call later, I've got a reservation. This looks amazingly delicious and whimsical, and I absolutely can't wait.

Harry Potter Studio Tour

I did mention "other" geeky stuff. I figured if I'm going to England for one geeky reason, why not just capitalize on the geekiness and do it all? So I am fitting in Harry Potter. I have not heard a single bad thing about this tour, so I'm excited to get my Hogwarts Pride on. I really wanted to get in to the Cursed Child play, but tickets are NOT going to happen :( 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical

How fun does that sound?! I also managed to score second row seats for about $30 because it has "limited leg room". But all the reviews of the seat online said if you're under 5'5'' you'd be fine, so...yay me! 

CARDIFF

City of the Unexpected

This is the biggest thing happening in Cardiff for Dahl's birthday. The weekend of the 17th will have all kinds of activities and readings all around town- including a Pyjama Party! There are a few things listed on the website, and others will be announced as we get closer. Plus, I think a lot of it will just be up in the air (to visitors like me). 

National Museum Cardiff

There's a special exhibit on Quentin Blake at this museum, so a trip is in order!

Wales Millennium Centre

The Wondercrump World of Roald Dahl is taking place here. I don't know what it means, but there's a photo of James' Giant Peach with kids playing in it, so I'm totally game.

Cardiff Castle

I've heard this is wonderful, so I'm going to work it in somewhere. I have two full days currently with "nothing planned" so we'll see how it works out. I've also read that with a ticket to my next adventure, you can get a discount to the castle.

Doctor Who Experience

There was no way in the multiverse I was going to Cardiff and not going to the Doctor Who Experience. I even reworked my itinerary to include a day when they do walking tours to filming locations. I may have also splurged for the merchandise pack, which includes a t-shirt, tote, other goodies, plus- the part I'm most excited about- A COMPANION TARDIS KEY. I get to be a companion! I also read on their website that sometimes the BBC allows ticket holders for DWE to go tour the ACTUAL, CURRENT TARDIS set. So, prayers that it happens the day I go :)

Ianto's Shrine

This is an unofficial landmark that is a must for the Torchwood fandom. And warning-this entry contains spoilers. When character Ianto Jones was killed on the show fans left flowers, notes and the like on the pier. Now 7 years later, the tribute remains as a wonderfully weird memorial to our coffee boy.

Wonderman: Cardiff
I literally JUST learned about this while getting the link for something else. It seems to be a show of some kind (?musical?) based on Roald Dahl's adult stories. That is all I know at this point; going to do more research and see if I can squeeze it in.

CHESHIRE (I THINK??)

I say I think because I've seen it listed as Cheshire but also Knutsford, so....whatever.

Tremendous Adventures at Tatton Park 

From what I gather, Tatton Park is a fancy old property with a grand house and garden and...a farm? Around the property are all kinds of Dahl-related exhibits. For example, the Enormous Crocodile is lurking on the grounds and Danny is hunting pheasants with the guests. It sounds totally magical. 

Write Like Dahl

Also taking place at Tatton Park is a special daylong workshop for adult writers to learn to create characters and stories like Dahl. There are two different dates for this, and I believe I did see a children's course at one point, too.

Phew! I think that's everything...at least for now. They keep adding events! I'm going to run out of time and money before this is all through, but I'm really excited about this trip. 

It's going to be deliciously geeky in all kinds of ways.

Which of these events would you like to see covered in depth on this blog? 

Do you have a favorite Dahl story?

Dublin's Best Kept Secret Museum

This last trip to Dublin I discovered the best little museum! I hadn't seen it advertised anywhere, not even on the grounds. How did I find it? Checking the hours of the main museum on the grounds.

Okay, that is a little vague, I'm just going to tell you what this amazing little place is: the Zoology Museum at Trinity College! I have never seen it mentioned in a guidebook, visitor center, or even at the college. When I went online to see when the Book of Kells and Library opened on the bank holiday, they listed the hours for the Zoology museum, so we decided to check it out. We stopped at one of the information booths outside the library to ask where it was, and they were so happy and surprised that we asked! Apparently no one knows about this museum, and that is a real shame, because it was one of my favorite things of the trip.

Located WAY at the back of the campus, the building is beautiful, like most on the grounds. The only acknowledgment that the museum exists is the small chalkboard sign out front.

Follow the signs to the second floor and you find the museum. It's two fairly small rooms, but they're packed with really cool things. The student guide was so nice and helpful! Instead of just answering questions, he helped us figure out the answers and was a fount of knowledge on all things animal.

The first thing I noticed was a giant horn on the table. I immediately knew what it was: A narwhal horn! One of the coolest things about this place: anything on the table you can touch and pick up. INCLUDING THE NARWHAL HORN! 

I would've held it up on my head except it's surprisingly heavy (also, ceiling). But seriously cool. I'm still really excited that I held a narwhal horn.

I had to ask what this next one was and was surprised because I didn't think it'd be so small! Can you guess based on my clue?

While we're talking about bones, you can play with lots of bones here! Like, look at this bucket of vertebrae!

Or this tray of chimpanzee bones for you to reassemble:

You can pretend you're Brennan working on a special case for Booth...or is that just me?

There's a complete elephant skeleton, too, but already assembled.

These were some of the mystery objects to identify. The top right you could pick up and handle to help figure out what it is (and no, I'm not telling you).

 Now, on to the teeth! There were plenty of different kinds to touch.

How cool are humpback whale teeth???

And finally, I leave you with these teeth and my lovely face. 

Help! I've been eaten by a Great White Shark! 

My Intro to Iceland, and Gorgeous Gullfoss

One year ago, I went to Iceland for an awesome whirlwind of a long weekend. And for some reason, I never shared it here on the blog! So here's my first post about the gorgeous country of Iceland! There's not a whole lot of information in this post. But there's a bunch of pretty pictures. The adventures and stories will be coming in future posts.

This first photo is right around the corner from our hotel (Icelandair Reykjavik Natura).

Obligatory money shot (Icelandic Krona):

Picturesque random street downtown Reykjavik:

Our giraffe friend:

The Hallgrimskirkja. This church holds the record as the tallest building in Iceland, at 244 feet.

The interior is pretty sparse and basic, but houses a beautiful pipe organ. It's rumored that the bell tower has the best views in the city, but we were too late in the day to find out.

This may seem like a random photo, but it's the one that best captures the strange feeling I had the whole time. Unlike any other place I've been, the sky in Iceland seemed so close, the clouds so low, like I could reach out and touch them if I wanted to. Like the sky loved Iceland too, and was giving it a big hug.

After this little walk our first day in town, we were exhausted, but it was too early to go to bed. The hotel TV only had 5 channels (only 2 in English), so we were going to crowd around the Kindle except...

Sad day!  We wasted away the hours flipping the channels and trying to figure out how to order a pizza. That was our first adventure in Iceland. The website was only in Icelandic, so we called, and the man who answered the phone didn't know our hotel by name. So he asked for the address....which we couldn't pronounce and I attempted to spell....until: "umm, I don't have that letter in my language. It's like a curvy 'd' with a cross?" Thankfully, someone there knew where we were and we got our pizza!

Our first excursion was to the Gullfoss waterfall. But even before we got there, we had beautiful sights! Like these random hot springs seen from the bus:

The tour made a quick bathroom and coffee stop at this little strip mall that happened to be the victim of an earthquake several years back. The powers that be made the best of it by lighting the crack, laying some thick glass, and making it a tourist attraction. I felt super brave standing over this 6-foot-deep crack!

Then it was onto Gullfoss!

Fun story: see the first group of people in the above photo? That's approximately the spot where I slipped on the ice and slid downhill a good 10 feet, briefly wondering how Chrissy and Kathryn would explain my death-by-icy-Icelandic-waterfall to everyone back home (this would not be the last time this trip I had that thought...but those stories are for another post).

It's easy to see why this place is one of the top tourist destinations in Iceland. It's stunning.

So. Stinkin. Beautiful.

So I leave you with a group shot.

Have you been to Gullfoss (or Iceland in general)? What did you think?

Giant's Causeway and Northern Ireland

This post is part of my British Invasion 2014 series. For all posts in the series, click here.

We've reached the end of my Ireland posts (for this trip anyways). I think that's why this post has been so delayed. I felt like writing it means the trip is officially over with a capital "O". In reality, this isn't true, because the best trips never really end. They live forever in the mind of the traveler, replaying the memories over and over. So allow me to share my last day in Ireland with you, the Giant's Causeway/Northern Ireland day tour with Irish Daytours and our driver Bud. 

Warning: this post contains lots of pictures because they were all beautiful and I couldn't narrow it down to just a few.

This was a long day, since it's a lot of driving to get to Northern Ireland from Dublin, but it is a beautiful drive. The day started off rainy and foggy, so you couldn't see much of the scenery, but it made for it's own type of beauty. There's a big hill behind those clouds.

The rain and the twisty roads made for a bit of motion sickness, but the iconic Irish vistas helped a little.

We made a stop in this sleepy little riverfront town called Carnlough....or Larne. There were signs saying both, so I have no idea what it was actually called, but I enjoyed it.

They have a monument to a pigeon named Paddy here in Carnlough/Larne. It's got a plaque as big as the one commemorating a shipwreck.

Even in the fog, this is a beautiful and serene place.

After another while in the bus, the sun finally broke through the clouds, just in time for us to venture across the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is suspended a hundred feet over the water, connecting the main land to a small island. In the past, this bridge (the scarier version, anyways) was used by fisherman. Currently, it's purpose is to make tourists like myself feel brave and daring. 

The noise of the waves, and the wind whipping my hair around made it a scary walk, though not as bad as I expected it to be. If you look closely at this picture you can see both the terror and excitement in my eyes as I cross. 

 Once you make it across, though, you're rewarded with beautiful views and the most stunning colors I've ever seen in real life. This whole day was like walking through a 120-count-box of Crayola crayons.

 I'd love to come back here someday with more time to explore the hiking trails all around the area.

Lunch was a quick stop at the very touristy -but delicious- Chilly McCools. I've seen mixed reviews online, so here's my two cents: It's Irish fast food. It doesn't claim to be anything super special, and it's obviously a tourist stop, with a cafeteria style. But they did have good food. I had the Steak and Guiness pie. Yum.

Then it was on to the main event: The Giant's Causeway! FYI, when I have a husband and kids, I plan to be this family:

As hard as it is to narrow down my favorite part of this trip, Giant's Causeway (this whole day, really) comes close.

It's so classically Ireland, and there's just something magical about it. So unlike any other place, while still being familiar. 

I mean, it's basically a "beach", right? Ocean meets land, just like home. But the rock formations make it something so different, so foreign, unlike anywhere else. 

Then there's the little surprise ecosystems happening in some of the crevices.

I can't put my finger on why I loved this place, I just did. So much. 

 Really wish I could've stayed longer, just relaxing on these rocks. Someday.

I couldn't resist putting my feet into the "wrong" side of the Atlantic, thinking about how crazy it is that this same water touches the shores of my home state.

Some visiting tips: Avoid the visitor center. According to Bud (we didn't test it ourselves), the visitor center charges just for admission to the building! We just headed straight to the Causeway. There is about a mile walk from parking to the Causeway. They do have a shuttle service for a pound each way, if you need it, but if you're able, I recommend the walk. It's gorgeous, and not difficult.

Our last stop of the day was in Belfast. We didn't have long, and we arrived late in the day, so almost everything was closed, even the church-headquarters-turned-mall. All we did in Belfast (besides take a few photos of the gorgeous architecture) was eat dinner at the famous Crown Liquor Saloon.

On our way home, we had to stop for a few minutes to let the cows cross. It was a great way to end our first Irish adventure!

Have you been to Carrick-a-rede or the Giant's Causeway? What did you think?

Disclaimer: I am not cool enough to have affiliate links or sponsors (at least not yet). All opinions are strictly my own, and all links are shared because I think they're awesome.