5/27/15 A long day in the car, long lines at rental return and a short flight & 5/28/15 in Bournemouth.

Goodbye Avalon House. It was pretty, clean and had modern hot and cold showers. The beds were uncomfortable, but the staff and breakfast were nice.

No pictures, but a story.  Avalon house is in Glenties, Co. Donegal (northwest Ireland) and we needed to get back to Dublin to fly to Southampton, England.  Dublin was a 3.5 hour drive, so we gave ourselves 5-6 hours. We thought we got to the airport with plenty of time to drop off the rental cars and catch our flight.  Bob and I waited to turn the cars in and sent the girls ahead to the airport.  Well, it took forever to check in the cars, the girls refused to check in for the flight without us, and we ended up having to "run" through the airport to catch our flight. They held the plane ~9 minutes for us.
 
After the most disappointing Italian food ever in Bournemouth, we walked the boardwalk and went down to the water. Then we saw this sign and decided it was time to get back to the hotel.

5/28/15 a new day, let's see the ocean in the daylight.

Cutest couple ever, huh?  It was a nice beach and could be a lot of fun on a warm day.

We all enjoyed the sun, and lack of rain, as we wandered in the sand a while.

Lots of cute changing houses for rent.

We headed into the New Forest to visit Beaulieu Motor Museum and meet my Cousin Mandy and Family for a meal.  
The New Forest is famous for horses. The New Forest breed runs the forest grounds, they are owned by commoners (no Royals allowed) and are raised for sale. True to the tradition, we had to stop for a herd to cross the road. As a non-royal, I figured I was allowed access to the horses, so I caught one.

Melissa was pretty happy to meet our new friend.

We then headed for the Motor Museum, which happens to have amazing grounds and a beautiful estate house.  Bob, Janell and I hit the museum while Grandma, Tracy and Melissa went to the house and grounds.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, one of several used in filming.


Melissa's future ceiling?

Hit by a double decker bus, what a way to die!

"I want to see castles, that's all, I just want to see castles," Tracy. Turns out she was ok with estate houses, too.  Looks happy, doesn't she. 


The house is still lived in, but they allow tours.


The museum had a Top Gear section. Bob and I enjoyed getting to meet some of the cars we've watched on TV.


We then met Mandy's family (Jess, Bethan, Mandy) at The Hare and Hound, Sway, New Forest. Emily and Pud were both working and couldn't make it.

But Nickle was there! The pub allowed dogs, so there were pups all around.  Melissa's family just couldn't get over it.  They thought it was so weird to be eating in a restaurant full of dogs.
The food was good and it was really fun to see Mandy and kids apart from the rest of family, so we could have time to talk.  When Mandy and I were chatting and catching up in the first few minutes, Janell stopped us to ask how many times we had seen each other before (cousins growing up an ocean apart after all). Mandy and I thought a moment, only to realize this was the second time we'd ever seen each other. Family is family, we had only spent a few hours together in our lifetime, but we were comfortable and happy to be together.

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