Portland walking tour

On my last day (my flight was at 6pm) I did a walking tour with Jenny around downtown.

Our guide and one of the original drinking fountains.

"High water line"

Portland has the official world's smallest park, home to a little leprechaun. It is in the middle of the road so the photo was rushed.

It was also clear enough to see one of the mountains (not sure which one; there are 4 you can see in theory). 

On the way back I had a window seat (and one not over the wing) so got some nice pictures from the plane.

Not sure what the circle fields are.

Birthday 2019

On our last night in Reston, we found a wine bar which did a half price bottle of wine happy hour. We had planned to go for tapas afterwards but never made it out of the bar. We managed to get a $55 bottle of wine, half price. It was well worth it. 

On the Thursday we flew back to the UK. It was my birthday that day and not the worst birthday I have ever had. The seats weren't as good as on the way out but the plane was practically empty with only 40 onboard so we all had a row to ourselves. Even Demi's new little friend, Slouthicorn, had his own seat.

However this was officially my worst birthday meal. The breakfast was edible (not great but I could eat it). But the afternoon meal was disgusting. I got a pot of half cooked dry rice, with a sliver of tomato. It was inedible. Thankfully I had a glass of wine at least. 

My birthday meal. :(

I had brought myself a 'birthday cake' protein bar. I had a little bit but it was so sweet. But at least I got to spend my birthday watching movies and got the Friday off work as a day in leui to recover. So not a bad deal overall.

My 'birthday cake'.

Last week in Blacksburg

The last week has been a bit stressful with the move. Everything had to be sorted, sold, packed, shipped etc within 10 days. Plus sorting a bunch of forms for the next job. Thankfully I sold all of my furniture. Which did mean for the last week I was sleeping and sitting on the floor.

My "sofa"

 And then there was all the cleaning. I spent Wednesday and Thursday (when not working) just cleaning. It was made more bearable with some music and a great bottle of wine!

Bribery to clean

 On my last day at work, the weather was gorgeous and I got some nice last pictures of campus.

Burruss Hall

War Memorial 

VT (and road works)

The campus is definitely the prettiest I have been on. (Minus all the current road works.)
For the past week I have been helping the VT police department with orientation, doing demos of the RAD stuff. I am really going to my police department and my friends there.

Watching the presentation

 The last night was exhausting but I managed to get everything done. And finished off in the morning.

My last BB breakfast

I got a lift to the airport from Nicole and we had a lovely lunch before checking in. (My luggage was exactly at the maximum weight.)

The first part of the trip from Roanoke to Washington Dulles was mostly uneventful though we did have some serious turbulence thanks to thunderstorms. And I managed to be leaving Dulles from a food dead zone it seems. The flight out was delayed. First, they hadn't stowed the luggage. Then the electrics kept crashing through the cabin and then the cockpit. They had some great movies but I ended having to restart and fast forward the avengers film about 5 times as it kept resetting. Then they couldn't detach the outside stairs from the plane. Thats a new one!

I was hoping to catch up with Caroline at Heathrow as we both landed at the same time. But you needed a boarding pass to get to where she was leaving from! :-( 

I am now home, after a lovely English breakfast in the sun (it has, of course, since clouded over), a shower and a nap. The main reason I am updating this is to stay awake! I have to stay awake so I avoid jet lag. Which considering I got no sleep on the plane is not easy! 

But it's good to be home even if it is only for a short time. :)

Last day

 Friday was my last day at home for this trip. :-( After lunch and packing we decided to go out for a bit so we didn't end up just sitting around moping. Which we would do. So we headed to Bewdley, mainly because they have Teddy Gray's sweet shop there. The weather was nice though cold.

By the river

Seagull craziness.

 Teddy Gray's is the best. It's an old fashion sweet shop and used to belong to my great Uncle who created it. Unfortunately it no long does so we don't get any discounts. But it is still very cool and only in the Midlands! I stocked up on some cinder toffee and some more herbals (a very Black Country thing - I love them!) while mom and dad got ice-creams. It was too cold for me!

Teddy Gray's

Lots of sweets 

Enjoying their ice-creams.

 Bewdley is very nice though it appears they have to chain their recycle bins to the rails, which doesn't say anything good.

In case of theft!

 It was a nice walk along the river, but we headed back early as it was getting dark and cold.

Sunset on the river

We had to be up and at Birmingham airport for 6am to check in for my flight on Saturday morning so we didn't do much on Friday night. I always hate going back. It never seems like long enough. It is so nice being home with my family and I really miss mom and dad when I leave. It's hard when you are completely on your own and I worry about mom and dad and really miss them. But I need to get paid! 

I flew to Newark, a long 8hr flight with the same movies as the way there. However I did get my first ever free upgrade! I was so happy. It was only to economy plus, but hey, I'll take it. I got extra leg room. I didn't think a free extra inches leg room would make that much difference. But it does!

Luckily I had packed a fair amount of food as the GF meal was minimal. This time they didn't even try to substitute things in. My desert was a juice box! And they feed us lunch at 10am, an hour after take-off. It was a very long 6 hours until the snack (2 suspicious tasting sandwiches in my case.) 

I had an 8 hr layover in Newark, NJ (though it was only supposed to be 6). At one point I got a little worried as the weather turned and I couldn't see the end of the nearest planes wing, let alone the runway.

The snow descended.

Luckily it cleared. Because of the extra delay I didn't get to my hotel in Seattle until 1am, 28 hours after leaving home. A very long trip!

Flying lesson

On Saturday Cissi and I finally got to go on our flying lesson. (The first time we tried it was cancelled due to the weather.) But this time the weather was beautiful, though a little windy!

Cissi with our plane.

Flight controls

Cissi went first and got to take off. We did a circuit to the mountains and along the river. Normally he lets people try to land but the wind was pretty strong. Turbulence was impressive and a little scary in a tiny plane! But the views were amazing.

Cissi looking forward to flying

More flight controls.

Concentrating 

View

Sunny mountains

James river

Then we changed seats and I got to fly. I love it!!!!!

Flying!

Pleased with a safe landing!

It was so much fun, and if I am ever rich, I'll take it up as a hobby. But that's not likely to be in the near future.

Cissi with out pilot 

Pleased with ourselves.

After a few Lego related trips on the way back for Cissi, we went to the house of some of her Chinese friends for dinner which was great fun. Everyone was really nice and the food was great. Real Chinese food and very tasty. (Though no chicken feet this time which is a good thing!) :-)