Ray spotting

We just had a great meal at the Malt House in Birmingham by the canal and upon leaving the building we walked right by the man of the hour, Ray LaMontagne!

Lisa

Goodbye Belfast

As I write, Lisa and I are preparing to walk out the door of our flat in Belfast, and won't stop walking for another two weeks. After a night in Birmingham, England tonight where we will see two of our favorite musicians play (Ray LaMontagne and David Gray) we will get on a train and head to St. Bees to start our Coast-to-Coast walk. 190 Miles from the Irish Sea in the West to the North Sea on the east coast of England. Tally-ho!!!

1st Photos of the Trip

Hello Folks,
Here are the first few pictures of our trip. These 14 beautiful photos are accessed by clicking here. Hope you enjoy and please leave some comments on this page so we know who has visited.

Gordon and Lisa

Heeeellllllooooo over there!

Can you hear me from across the pond??

Day 3 in Belfast. We had a wonderful lunch yesterday after a long sleep, the infamous Ulster Fry. We headed over to the VINE, the community center where Gordon worked for a year as a volunteer and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Shankill Road where I learned some Northern Irish history. We bought Freddo's, chocolate frogs, at the wee store next to the VINE for 10p and ate them as we walked, Gordon's daily tradition. The lady at the sweet shop even recognized him after 2 years. Gordon makes a great tour guide and teacher and it was perfect weather for a walk. I am thankful to get a chance to understand how important Belfast is to Gordon and how important Gordon is to the people in the community that I've met. I am beginning to see how this community has changed his life and it is moving to be able to share that with him.

We're still watching as many World Cup games as we can and it's fantastic to be in a country that appreciates football as it should be appreciated. Had a lovely dinner with the pastor of Crumlin Road Presbyterian, Jack, and his family. Nice to share a warm meal in an inviting home.

Lisa

Yaaaaawwwwwnnnn!!!!

After a significant stay in the land of hibernation (14 and 1/2 hours to be exact) Lisa and I have awoken and are now ready to replenish our bodies with the warm fattening food of an ulster fry--second only to southern food in ratio of fat content to gross weight (and i really mean gross). Sausages, fried eggs, black pudding, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, soda bread and potato bread. Delicious!!!

so......very........tired.........

I'm writing this while working on a mere 2 hours of sleep after a 71/2 hour flight to Heathrow airport, a 6 hour layover and an hour and a half final flight to my second home Belfast, Northern Ireland. After arriving at the Europa Bus Station in downtown Belfast, Lisa treated the two of us to a beef and guinness pie with a side of garlic potatoes (for Gordon) and ham topped with pineapple with a side of no less than 10 whole potatoes (for Lisa). From the looks of our meal, there ain't gonna be another potato famine here anytime soon, and if there is, it's because they gave them all to us for the low, low price of £6.75, drink not included. We followed this by trekking 30 minutes across town to my old apartment (now housed by 3 new volunteers) and then watching the England v. Trinidad and Tobago World Cup game. Finally, we went to the place where I worked 2 years ago--the VINE Centre--where I reminisced (and Lisa met) the kids I knew from my Belfast days. Now I'm back and...my....concen..tra...tion is flail--i mean fail---ing....must sleep soon.........bye....bye.......goodnight......

Papa Bear Gives Gives the Signal.....

"Hooray, Hooray We're on Our Way;
Our Summer Vacation Starts Today!"

The Berenstein Bears

After an endlessly extensive and physically draining late-night packing session we both are ready to begin our little excursion through Europe. The goal weight of our bags was under 30 pound each (including purses and smaller bags) and I'm happy to say that after a night of purging all excess we have reached our intended goal. Weighing in at the middleweight division, the no-nonsense bag 'Eagle Creek' owned by Galavanting Gordon Pace weighs a mere shade over 28 pounds. In the lower division, the more pocketed and more compartmentalized bag with the moniker 'Gregory', owned by the Lovingly Loquacious Lisa weighed into the flyweight division at a miniscule 26 pounds.

At 6:30pm EST we depart from Washington D.C. and will arrive in Belfast Thursday afternoon GMT. How excited I am to visit all my old friends from Belfast. I've been removed from that troubled, yet lovable city for just about two years, and more and more I have been wanting to see how things have been going there. All the kids I worked with are now two years older, which is quite significant considering the rapid weedlike growth among kids aged 4-16. I'm not sure whether I'll recognized them or not. I've even found out recently that the old youth director at the VINE Center in Belfast has had two kids since I've been gone. I'm pretty excited to meet the progeny of Stevie.

We'll be in Belfast for the first five or six days of our journey before catching a David Gray/Ray LaMontagne concert in Birmingham next week. You will surely be getting some updates this next week as I reminisce with old friends and try to share how meaningful Belfast was to me with Lisa. If she gets bored with all my storytelling and exclusive conversations with old friends, then there's always the fresh Guinness and live World Cup games at every bar on every corner.
If we have a wish it's for relatively decent weather, as the U.K. can be as unpredictable as a grandparent's bladder.

Well off we go......

gordon and lisa