Yorkshire

NOTICE- PHOTOS WILL BE POSTED FROM THIS WEEKEND'S TRIP IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS

So, we took a two day trip up to Yorkshire. Starting off on Saturday, we hit up the National Coal Mining Museum. It seemed like it would be really lame. In actuality, it was really cool. We went down 450 feet in a real coal mine, and a old miner gave us a tour. It was rather difficult to understand him, as he spoke with the thickest blue collar Yorkshire accent you can imagine, but I think I got the jist of everything. It was really wild, just being down there, and imagining what it must have been like back in the day. Anyways, the rest of the weekend was mostly spent in Haworth, a small town outside of Leeds that is prominent for being the home of the Brontes. For those of you who aren't up on your 19th century British novelists, Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre, and Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights (which we're now reading for class). Important books, masterpieces, yada, yada, yada. We checked out their house, and sort of milled about town for a while. Stopped in a semi-ghetto coffee place. The thing was, it was quite cold out, and it had snowed. Since snow removal is nowhere near as efficient (or existant) over here, we had the good fortune of snow, rain, ice, slush, cold wind, you get the picture. Most uncomfortable. We ate dinner in the hostel, which was pretty sweet. It was housed in a huge Victorian mansion, the home of a former mill owner. No one wanted to leave again, so we just sort of hung out there for the night. Brandon and I played some foosball, and after some uncharacteristic slacking, I regained some skill and defeated him. After that, we just sort of hung out in the room.

Anyways, today, got up, ate breakfast, played another game of foosball, then headed out. The object was to go hiking on the moors made famous in Wuthering Heights. This term always confused me, especially when reading Wuthering Heights. What the hell is a moor? Simple answer, a moor is a large undulating hill. Moorland, as it were, is a landscape made up of large undulating hills. The beautiful conditions (snow, damp ground, water, etc) managed to even penetrate my Gore-Tex trail hikers, so I (along with everyone else) got to chill out in wet socks all afternoon. The hike was good though. I enjoy being outdoors, and even with the crappy weather, it was nice. It actually cleared up as we made our way back. Anyways, after removing socks, we headed out for a quick stop at Saltaire. Saltaire is a 19th century mill town, famous because the owner of the mill, Titus Salt, did a bunch of cool stuff for the workers. The old mill was transformed into an artsy gallery sort of thing celebrating a local artist, David Hockney (he's famous now). Anyways, hit it, then left, now back here.

There is a bit of incredibly awful news coming out of this trip however, besides my missed orchestra concert. That would be the fact that I'm fairly certain my iPod is in its death throes. It has served faithfully for 2 or 3 years, but the control wheel is becoming nonresponsive, and the battery life sucks down fast. I'll have to find a solution to this hearbreaking event sometime before spring break. I was quite happy to hear about the new 4 year contract that Joe Mauer signed today. Good move Mr. Ryan, I'm in agreement. It's important to lock up some of these players, make sure everyone knows we're serious. Now, we need to start thinking about Morneau, not to mention Santana. In other Twins news, I've been very distressed at the issues surrounding the land acquisition for the new stadium. It appears the current owners are renigging on their original prices, and screwing everything up for the timetable. Anyways, as the preeminent Twins fan in the United Kingdom, I'm going to officially declare my adopted country's dismay at your business practices. Might have to send some redcoats after them. Anyways, I'm out. Wuthering Heights to read, 24 to watch, trombone to practice, other crap to distract from said activities. Later.