The LONG Way Around the World: Something New (Zip World), Something Old (Cotswolds & Oxford)

The past couple days has been a story of opposite extremes.

Something New - Zip World
After our Narrowboat "holiday" within a "vacation," we found ourselves in the Welsh National Park called Snowdonia. I suspect most people visit this park to take in the untamed wilderness of misty hills, ancient slate rock walls, and meandering sheep. (As we were driving through, I couldn't help but envision armor clad knights on war horses galloping through the valleys looking for some manner of mayhem... or the Holy Grail). We, however, chose to visit the recently opened Zip World for some good old fashioned modern fun.

Our morning started within an abandoned slate mine (it's clear now why every house and wall is made of slate in Wales), at an underground trampoline world, and zip line extravaganza. It's impossible to describe it in words, so here are a bunch of pictures. Suffice it to say, and I try to avoid lame superlatives, but it was AMAZING! And not the way people seem to call a pretty decent hamburger or a new app "amazing". It really amazed me how they could put it all together.

The underground lighting was always changing.

Part ziplining, part caving

After having been thoroughly impressed by being underground all morning, we then ventured to their second site, Zip World Fforest (The second F is not a mistake). Instead of zipping underground, now we were 80ft up in the trees. While this was quite entertaining, the main event was the Fforest Coaster - A 1 kilometer, self regulated, toboggan run, winding in and out of trees. Again...AMAZING! Why we don't have these in California is somehow criminal.

Roller Coaster type track weaving through the trees

Push down on handles goes fast. Pull up brakes. First run, lots of braking. Third run, no braking!

Zane zipping by in background....

Something Old - Cotswolds
Firstly, we nailed it again... Another perfect Airbnb accommodation. We stayed in the guest house (effectively a normal sized home) of a 1878 manor on a 3 acre compound, complete with massive treehouse, trampoline, tennis court, and staff. Yes, lovely live-in people that maintain the property. Oh, and the owners were totally cool and have two kids that loved playing with Zane and Bryce. This is the first Airbnb where we were greeted by an automatic gate that opens upon our arrival.

The treehouse alone could have been the Airbnb and we would have been none the wiser.

One of those trees that literally stops you in your tracks. Just somewhere in their backyard. The mushrooms at the base could have also provided shelter from the rain.

The Manor (not our cottage).

The Cotswolds is an AONB - Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. While "Outstanding" is a fairly subjective term, it is definitely very pretty. The rolling hills are a quilted patchwork of earth-toned fields of various crops, lined by slate stone walls, with small old-timey villages speckled at the intersections. The driving can be treacherous for us novice foreigners as the roadways were clearly created during horse drawn carriage days, and for single file tractor pathways. Making it worse is the fact that the locals treat the roadways like some manner of Indy 500 speedway. It's a down right mystery how we never saw an accident.

Typical roadside view

500 year old row houses. So weathered but still in use today. Weird to look in the windows and see a flat screen TV on the wall.

Cute village, regrettable name... Lower Slaughter

Visited a trout farm in Bibury. Surprisingly fun. Boys fed the fish.

When planted, I'm sure they thought these trees were plenty far away.

The pleasure drives through the country are definitely more to Nicole and my liking, and it was clear the boys would rather bounce on the trampoline with the resident children. Autumn is also feeling the weight of keeping up with school, her friends, and still trying to be a part of our daily journeys. She had a stay-at-home-for-some-quiet-time day so that she could get caught up. Her instinct is to do everything to 100%, and to do it perfectly. I know the type. We are doing our best to help prioritize and remind her that for some things... good enough, is good enough.

Something Older - Bath
Yesterday was a road trip south to the town of Bath, famous for it's....Bath. This is the site of the ancient Roman Bath first created some 2000 years ago. We did some wandering around town to fill some time until we hit the Roman Bath after 5pm, when they light the torches. It is a beautifully preserved archaeological site (made even better for me because the audio tour was narrated by Bill Bryson - Its become clear that this American born author is quite the thing here in England).

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The Bath Abbey Interior is stunning.

Providing sage advice as I am sure the Romans did 2000 years ago sitting next to these baths

More dress up. It's compulsory.

A bit of evening camera fun. (4 sec exposure)

Treated to a wonderful sunset as we left Bath

Something Old-ish - Oxford
We left the Cotswolds this morning to continue our Harry Potter trail at Oxford University. This is the inspiration for the Hogwarts main dining hall along with other choice scenes in the movie. I suppose this may sound sacrilegious, but I was a bit disappointed with Oxford. Its that kind of disappointment when something doesn't align with the picture in your head. Not having any clue what Oxford University would be, I expected some kind of grand entry gates that invited people into a vast and never-ending network of pathways that wind through ancient buildings, fountains, lakes, and statues. There would be preppy students pitter pattering about toting books and waxing philosophically about the long term impacts of our new digital economy. Instead, the university is a conglomeration of 38 colleges spread about a city with traffic, walking malls, and no clear understanding of who is a student, and who is just there to grab a scone. It's very old, and grew as a university symbiotically with the town. Despite my personal misalignment, we hit all the cool HP spots, and it was totally worth the visit.