Day two…. We woke up early today excited to have a hot breakfast Hampton Inn style only to be disappointed. For some reason this Hampton Inn’s definition of a hot breakfast consists of fresh waffles, but microwaved pancakes, chicken biscuits and French toast. Not very hot and not very good. We were disappointed, but had a full day ahead of us, so we ate there anyways.At least the coffee was decent. We checked in at Biltmore, which was about a 10 minute drive from Flectcher. Very close and very convienent. Once we got past the front gates of the estate, it was another 2 mile drive thru the woods to get to the parking lot. In my mind, it was very Ireland-esque. You had tall trees, cobblestone bridges and lots of greenery…. All leading up to ... read more

Final day... boy what a quick trip this was... it seemed like just yesterday that we checked in... but I guess that's what weekend getaways are all about... activity filled and quick to end.... We had breakfast again in the lobby before checking out. Same stuff, still good. After breakfast, we hit the road. The game plan for today.... head into Old Port in downtown Portland, then head to airport for home. We parked the car along commercial street and walked around Old Port for a bit. Not much happening. Saw a cruise ship, went into a public market, saw few boutique shops, etc.... Portland is famous for their Whoopie pies, so we decided to try some. Bobby Flay had a Whoopie Pie throwdown with the Cranberry Island Kitchen... which just happens to be in Portland. ... read more

So the morning started with an early morning (by Sherry standards) start. Mary, Aunt Sue and I headed off to BWI to catch a 9:20 flight to Manchester, NH. I ran about 5 minutes behind and we needed to make a pit-stop at my Aunt's house, so that meant that Betsy had about 30 minutes of Betsy time before we all met up. It was about an hour flight from BWI to Manchester. So we got to Manchester about 10:30ish. We got our rental car and we were off. We decided to take the more scenic more coastal road to Portland. So Mary took us along Route 1, but before we made it to Route 1, we saw Kittery Outlets and we had to stop. Who could refuse??? Kittery was in the town of York and ... read more

Early Riser gets the worm? I think that's the cliche isn't it? Well, I was certainly amongst the early risers this morning. Miss guaged the time difference on my ipod and ended up rising at 5:30 AM versus my desired 6:30 AM wake up time. We needed to our tour stop no later than 8:20 today and we wanted to get breakfast first, so we agreed to meet up at 7:00 to allow for time to eat McDs and time for any delays on the tube station. We were being picked up near the Greater Portland Street tube station and it was a new line for us, so we decided to give it plenty of time. Today was the day that we had the guided tour to Stonehenge and Bath. We hopped on our luxury coach ... read more

In honor of the queen's birthday today, there were plenty of celebrations throughout London. We happened to be at the Tower of London and was able to witness a 62 gun salute. The basic Royal Salute is 21 rounds, but at the Tower of London, you add an extra 20 because the Tower is a Royal Palace Fortress and another 21 for the City of London. It was neat. Quite loud, but neat to witness the ceremony. No Queen though, but the guns were ablazin! Because our Tower of London experience centered around the salute as well as the desire to climb the steps of St. Paul, the Tower of London was a quick walk by. We walked along the perimeter of the Fortress a little bit. Was hoping to get to see the crown jewels, ... read more