(Backup) Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

The parting between humans was sad. The parting between furry creatures sad, but not as much as the human parting. I like Fred the frog, but leaving him/her home didn't matter much.

Fly CWA to O'Hare, O'Hare to Manchester. Train Manchester to Carlisle, Carlisle to St. Bees.

Fortunately O'Hare has good food options, and healthy.

There was even a dinosaur!

And what would Chicago be without the Joffrey Ballet Company?

Urban Gardening in the airport.

Travel is exhausting. 7 hour layover in Chicago. 4 hours in Manchester. At least Chicago has plenty of seating for tired humans and lots of electrical outlets for charging devices. Manchester had basically Zero.

My seat mate had colorful hands

Flying. Watched "Hidden Figures" about a group of elite black female mathematicians who worked with NASA to work on the race for Space, sending John Glen into that first orbit of earth. Strange because there were complications of the capsule entering back into earth's orbit, and here I was flying across the Atlantic Ocean in a long thin tube the size of 3 city lots. Trust this flying tune will come down as expected in England!

Noticed the first potential Coast to Coast couple at the waiting area for the train in Manchester. LOUD Americans. At Carlisle the backpacks began to be plentiful. Departing the train in St Bees there were about 20 who trudged up the tiny street. 3 couples are staying here at Stone House Farm.

Pets are very welcome on the train.

Ruined castle out the train window.

Learned one man's name so far - Jean Pierre. He is from France. When I asked if he had done any other long distance walks, he smiled and said "I live in the Pyrenees!"

The daughter of my hostess made this unicorn cake.

Chicken and mushroom pie from the Post Office (not very good).

Nice vehicle for hauling their horses out my bedroom window (they were hauling the horses to some show or sale, BUT, were not hauling the horses physically out my window) - it was just my view.