Weekend Road Trip!

Since we didn't have church meetings this weekend, and General Conference airs so late over here, Brian and I decided it would be a nice time to get away. We found a good hotel deal in Preston, near the west coast, and took a little road trip Saturday and Sunday. The place we stayed was this fabulous Marriott in an old restored house. They had a great pool and grounds so we let Samantha walk around, and we had family swim time before watching conference and putting Sam to bed (in the pack-n-play in the bathroom, ha!).

The next morning we went over to Blackpool on the coast and walked along the pier and boardwalk. Blackpool was designed as an amusement center town -- including its own Eiffel Tower, back in the early 1900s. It's since lost some of its charm and now seems to be a hangout for the uncouth youth of Britain. Brian was tempted to nickname it the white-trash capital of the country.

After that we picked some spots we wanted to visit for the afternoon, and set off for a place called Styal Mill and Quarry. It was an old cotton mill, still in operation with machines from way back when, charting the progress of the cotton industry. Brian really enjoyed all the machinery, but Samantha thought it was too loud. The part she liked best was the fact that strollers weren't allowed in the building so she basically got to "roam free" for an hour. Here she sits on a huge cotton bale, just like down in Dixie...
Our next destination was the grand finale for me. Yes, some of you Jane Austen fanatics may recognize the house in the picture below or the quote: "I don't think I've ever seen a place so happily situated. I like it very much indeed."

That's right, we went to Pemberly! For those not in-the-know, Pemberly is the fictitious estate of the celebrated Mr Darcy in Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice.' Naturally, there's not a real Pemberly, but this house -- called Lyme Park -- was featured in the 5-hr A&E film version of Pride and Prejudice as Mr Darcy's home. Lovely place! Below, Samantha's dancing in front of the steps Darcy raced down when he went chasing after Elizabeth when they accidentally met at Pemberly.
Here's the front of the house, which isn't in the movie much. Sam loved that big grassy court in the front, and resisted getting back in her stroller after being free to roam about that big area! We visited the inside of the house, too, but no pictures allowed.
Here's my attempt to catch all three of us in front of the reflecting pool...
Brian's attempt was much better, don't you agree??
After our visit to Pemberly, we took a scenic bypass through the Peaks District on the way home, listening to a session of conference that we had downloaded onto the computer. (Sam screamed a lot during this portion of the trip, making us mildly concerned about our upcoming travel plans, hmmm...) We got home to listen in on the 9pm session and the end of conference. What a nice, fun weekend away!