Today was all about Kevin...well, not really but this has been a dream of his since we've moved to England...to visit St. Andrew's. The place where the history of the game of golf started. Our intention was to get a look at the 1st, 17th and 18th holes of the Old Course. I had called a lady about a tour and she told me that tours weren't until June/July but if we got out early enough we could hope on the course for a few pictures. We got a lot more!!!
Here is Kevin standing in the waiting spot for those ready to head out on Hole 1. The caddy's "shack" is behind him.
The famous little stone bridge on the 18th Hole which runs parallel to Hole Number 1. Famous golfers like Jack Nicklas, Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, and more have crossed this very bridge that my hubby proudly stands.
Here is look back at the 18th Hole. We had a really tough time grasping that this was the very same place that all the greats play and with all the bleachers set up we tried to imagine thousands and thousands of people in them and along each hole. We also tried to figure out what we were actually seeing versus what we normal see on TV. It just didn't seem like the back drop was quite right when you see the 18th on TV....until we kept moving on almost way past the 17th hole which followed along a road then to a path...
Come to find out from two older gentlemen who were jogging towards that the path was a public footpath that went along the side and back through the middle of the whole Old Course and by the New Course and another of the courses. So we actually got to walk the Old Course essentially without playing or stepping on any of the grass. It was amazing!!! Kevin kept stopping people and asking if it was okay that we were out on the path and they said "Oh yeah, just keep going and you'll go right up through the middle." We thought it would be bad to disrupt any of the golfers by doing that but they all seemed like it was a normal thing.
The sand traps are deeper than they appear on TV and a few of these holes just look treacherous!
Here is the path heading right down the middle of the Old Course.
A beautiful view back into the town from on the course.
A group of golfers fighting the crazy winds!
Kevin proudly shows Addison his dream course and she had a blast watching the golfers tee off. We try to explain what Daddy does when he goes golfing all the time when we watch it on TV but today she got to see it in real life.
A picture in the National Golf Museum of Nickolas standing on the stone bridge. Wish I would have see this picture before I went to take Kevin's so I could get him doing the same pose....but without thousands of people in the stands.
After our wander around the course we were pretty hungry and were lucky enough to find a restaurant in the Best Western Hotel just 100 feet from the clubhouse. We had a wonderful lunch and afterwards the kids got some of the best strawberry ice cream ever. I don't really like strawberry ice cream but this tasted like real strawberries.
Harry wasn't as in the mood for it, but I think he's a vanilla with chocolate sauce kind of guy like me. But today while changing him I noticed what looked like his first few chicken pox. No wonder he took that 2 hour nap while we walked the Old Course.
Next we visited the National Golf Museum which was actually pretty interesting. They talked about the history of the game and how even Mary Queen of Scots used to play and did so just before they took her away to prison. I really like the old golf clubs and golf balls that they made.
People actually used to make there own balls and the early, early ones were even stuffed with feathers. You could buy your own mould kit to make your own balls. I thought it was neat to see the progression of ball styles.
This was one of the first golf bags...it even had wheels and a stand.
Kevin posing with his all time favorite golfer - Mr. Mickelson.
At the end of the tour the kids even gave putting a try.
The Open (as it is called here - not the British Open) is actually at St. Andrew's this year. It was last here 4 years ago I think and after this year they are going to rotate it every 6 years. But this was the clock at the time I stood there for the count down. They had a big timeline of what all needs to be done to prepare for the event and they start years in advance with some things and all the electrical boxes and media centers and TV camera towers were all starting to be installed for the July event.
We did a little shopping for a new golf cap for Kevin which took a while because there were so many and I was keen on the very first one he looked at and we tried to find on that came close and didn't after 10 stores so at the end of the day he went back and bought the first one I liked!!! While walking about the kiddos both fell asleep which was great because then we could walk about the town and check out a few things. Funny thing was that Kevin actually got a call from a colleague from work who was in the States the time and it was funny to here him say "Yeah, I'm on holiday right now and just got done walking the Old Course at St. Andrew's" His colleague was actually a big golfer and had been to St. Andrew's as well so it was kind of funny that his response was "Why aren't you out playing?!!!"
We walked around the St. Andrew's Cathedral grounds and then made our way up on the very, very windy ridge to walk along the beach/rock coast towards St. Andrew's Castle. Our day in St. Andrew's and beautiful Scotland was now done and we had a long 3 hour drive to Carlisle, England.
The drive was actually really nice with motorway driving the whole time and it was funny now seeing signs that said "The South" when coming up the A1 you always see "The North". It's not a specific place or anything but you are obviously going North or South on these roads...guess if you forget which way you are going you are reminded. We also noticed a lot of tree harvesting that is done in this area. It was weird to just see whole hillsides of tree stumps and then some with seedling trees.
For some reason I thought we were actually staying right in Carlisle, but once "Jane" had us only 3 miles from our destination and no city was to be seen I figured we were out in the boonies. Kevin made some comment about "How do you find these places?" Good question but Trip Advisor and Booking.com have been my comrades in finding places to stay on several of our vacations. Now this place was out in the middle of no where but it was SO cool. It was a 17th century stable that was converted into an inn.
Our room was super cool and I had to take a picture of this...the Free Wi-Fi security code is 26 F's long.
Also in some of the really old places that we've been staying, we get these really cool looking keys. One for our room and the other for the front door of the inn.
Breakfast was super cool as well because the presentation of the table was super fancy with gold chargers under our plates even. We've been so spoiled the past week with such great breakfasts and this was our last one! Gotta love those English/Scottish breakfasts!
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