On a Train to Edinburgh

Today we checked out of our Hotel in the Kensington area of London and are heading to Edinburgh via LUMO or LNER. We booked LNER but ended up on a LUMO train. 

We caught the tube to Kings Cross Station. The station is very cool looking and large. There is a Harry Potter store here and you have to wait in line to get in. You can take a photo at Platform 9 3/4.  

Our train leaves at 10:15am and arrives in Edinburgh at 2:35pm. Our trip is about 4h15m and driving would take 7h45m. We are currently cruising along at 123 mph. 

Its novel to take a train and actually have it be faster and cheaper than driving. I think our tickets one way were about $45 each. 

During our trip we got a welcomed visit from the passenger sitting in front of us. They let us pat their head and scratch their neck. 

During our journey we experienced some delays due to something getting caught in the overhead power lines. When we arrived in Newcastle, we were about 32 minutes late, which by US standards is great, but here in England, if the train is 30 - 59 minutes late you get 50% of your fare back and if it is an hour or more late you get 100% of your fare back. We were going to Edinburgh so if the train could make back a bit of time we would be late but wouldn't get any of our fare back. It turns out they didn't make up time and we were 36 minutes late. When we got to the hotel I went through the process of applying for our refund. 

Even with the delay we averaged 81 MPH over the 395 mile journey. 

Edinburgh Station!  Our time in Edinburgh starts now. 

Grocery Shopping, A New Brewery, Pinball, and A Walk to the Power and Light District

 Kansas City, MO

Francis enjoying the grass at the Penn Valley Off Leash Dog Park

Penn Valley Off Leash Dog Park

This morning we had our coffee and then went to the Penn Valley Off Leash Dog Park to celebrate the cooler weather.  It didn't get above 80 this morning and it was overcast.  The park was pretty empty because it was a Monday morning.  Francis did get to meet a few dogs but mostly had the giant park to himself so we got him to run around and tire himself out.  

He moves quickly and is hard to photograph sometimes.

Doggie meet and greet

He stood still for a second so Donna could snap this photo

Francis playing keep away with me.

So we have taken Francis to an off leash dog park in Denver, McKinney, and Kansas City on this trip.

Grocery Shopping and Navigating the Highway System

After the dog park, Donna and I dropped off Francis and then hit the road to pick up groceries.  We decided to try out Aldi which is about 2 miles away. Aldi is known for being cheap and no frills.  When we got there we realized we needed to use a quarter to unlock a shopping card.  You get your quarter back when you return your cart but when you don't have a quarter, you don't get a cart and they don't seem to have hand baskets so it was a bad start for us.  Aldi has a minimum selection of brands per item too so they can save money.  They have their house brand and then 1 or 2 more brands and that is it.  If you go to the chip isle you have like 3 choices of brand and 5 choices of styles so each section in the grocer store is pretty small.  They don't have an entire isle of chips and pre-popped popcorn, just small section.  As we carried groceries around in our arms we realized that we wouldn't be able to carry it all and we wouldn't find everything we needed so we put back the perishable items and just bought a few things.  

We went to the car and looked for a "regular" grocery store on our phones and found Price Choppers about 7 miles away.  We set directions and headed out.  It is really hard to navigate KC if you don't know where you are going.  All of the highways converge at KC so it has one of the most dense highways systems.

At one point the phone was giving us directions and couldn't keep up with them.  The interchanges were coming faster than the phone could talk so I ended up headed down the wrong freeway.  As we were circling back we found Sun Fresh Market.  We abandoned the Price Chopper idea and found our way to Sun Fresh Market and we are glad we did.  It was a great Mexican market with good prices and a really great selection.  This will probably be our new grocery store while we are here and we get to to to Kansas every time we go there which is novel.  

The Tortilla Maker at Sun Fresh Market

New Brewery and Pinball in KC

We made the trip home without getting lost and put away our groceries and then headed to the River Market area to pick up a few things at the Chinatown Grocery Store and then pressed on to River Bluff Brewing.  They have great beers and 3 pinball machines.  The Star Wars machine had a free game on it and we figured out why, it was very generous in giving away free matches and the high scores for free games were pretty low.  Donna and I got to play about 3x the number of games we would have if we didn't win free games.

Evening Walk

When we got home we grabbed Francis and went on a long walk to and through The Power and Lights District because it was so nice and cool.  It was a Monday night so nothing was going on.  It gave us a chance to see this normally hopping place empty.  

Reflection Selfie

It felt a lot like City Walk or Downtown Disney or something like that

The liquor law has a special carve out for this district that allows open containers.  More on that when I get to my MO Liquor Laws post.

The KC Streetcar cuts right through the district

Today was a great day in KC and it marked our first full week here.  There is still so much to do and see.  If you missed yesterday's adventure, you can find it here.

Bonnie Wenk Dog Park and Game Night

 McKinney, TX

Bonnie Wenk Dog Park

Back to the Dog Park

This morning we took Francis back to Bonnie Wenk Dog Park.  He enjoyed running around and smelling other dogs.  It was pretty warm so all of the dogs were pretty mellow.  I looked up Bonnie Wenk and found out she was a local environmentalist and was active in the local City Council.  The park opened in 2013 and Kyle Brooks & the Rhythm & Beards performed on the lawn that evening.  It appears that the park has outlasted the band because I can't find anything about Kyle or the Beards.  You can read about her here if you are interested.  

They have a place where kids and dogs can play in the water.  I waited until the kids were out of the shot to take the photo.

Donna and Francis enjoying the shade

Francis keeping his distance

Errands and Game Night

After dropping Francis off at home, we went out to run errands.  I mailed my big camera to a friend to borrow / check out to see if he wants to buy it.  I am not using it and it is taking up a lot of room. We also picked up dessert items for tonight.  Sharon and Erika came over for game night.  They brought dinner and we provided the dessert.  There are a few board games here at the house so we played Clue.  In the end I lost.  I knew the killer and the weapon and was down to 1 of 3 rooms and I guessed wrong.  They were all closing in so I felt I had to take a chance.  I didn't feel so bad because I only wrongly accused the location, I still got the right killer.  

The rest of our stay here consists of packing up on Friday and leaving Saturday morning.  We are ready for a new adventure!

If you didn't read about yesterday, you can see it here.

Some Photos of Francis

On a Couch in McKinney, TX

Francis isn't a fan of the air conditioning, or the fan.

Do Nothing Day

In the past I have said that there have been days that we have done nothing but we usually do something that isn't very interesting like grocery shopping or laundry.  Today we actually did nothing.  I took a nap, we made some food, I watched the World Series of Poker all day, and I took a few photos of Francis.  We still have more plans and goals but today wasn't the day for them.  

Nose and toes

He happily sat next to me on the couch all day

That's it!  That's all I did.  Oh, I also paid our auto insurance but it was on auto pay so does that count as doing something?

If you didn't read about our action packed day yesterday you can see it here.  It was a really fun day.

Francis Photos

Denver, CO

Kicking Back

Down Day

Today we relaxed most of the day and then went to Arvada, CO to have dinner with friends and intended on going roller skating at a nearby rink.  We walked to the rink and it was PACKED with young adults waiting to get in.  It seemed less like our scene than we thought it would be so we changed plans and turned back.  I didn't take many photos so I will enhance this post by including old photos of Francis.

The skating that didn't happen

Check out the mini golf adventure we had yesterday.