Caernarfon Castle.

The day started out kind of dreary -- we even had some sprinkles. But this castle was so fun even in the gray weather. (Although the weather didn't really help with the picture taking.)




This castle was so cool because you could walk up the spiral stairs to explore a section, then walk up and down a different flight on stairs and end up on a completely different part of the castle grounds. It was so fun!

This picture is totally blurry, (because it was so dark in the staircases) but it shows the steep stairs and the rope you have to hold onto to even walk up.





Afterwards, we found a cute place to eat and then had to use the bathrooms. I'm only telling you we had to use the bathrooms because this is what we saw in each stall.




No smoking, yet you can shoot yourself up with who knows what. (I know the "sharps" dispenser is probably for diabetics, but what kind of message does it look like they're sending?)

When we finished eating, the sun decided to come out. How nice! Right after we leave the castle with all these gray pictures, the sun decides to pop out. Couldn't it have come out just 30 minutes earlier?



These pictures are from the parking lot. It was right next to a little stream that lead into the ocean.




Oh, and here are some pictures of the signs as we were leaving. Do you see what I mean? You get caught up in reading "ARAFWCH NAWR" and then it's too late to read what the sign is actually trying to say!


And then my favorite photo of the day. These adorable elderly people were sitting on a bench by the castle talking away. I hope I'm that cute when I'm old.

Dolwyddelan Castle.

Yet again, we found this castle in our British Heritage Pass pamphlet. This castle is on some one's property. They must have bought the castle grounds and kept it open to the public. We had to walk up this long, steep gravel driveway. . .only to find nobody around but the sheep.



We had to walk up to their kitchen window to buy the tickets, but no one was around. We heard voices up on the hill, so we decided to open the gate and hike up to the castle.




This was another ruined castle, but it was so pretty. Once we got up there, the other visitors left so we had the whole castle to ourselves. It was so windy, though. We had to have our hoods on just to save our ears!

Then we looked over the cliff and found mountain goats/sheep. It was classic England. (Even though this was in Wales.)

:)

Denbigh Castle.

This was BY FAR one of our favorite places on our trip. We found this place in our British Heritage Pass pamphlet. We noticed it was 15 minutes away from our B&B and figured we should go and see it since we arrived in the early evening and still had plenty of time to accomplish things.

We had to drive up these tiny streets that could hardly fit one car let alone two! And we were really in trouble if somebody had decided to park their car on the side of the "road."



Up and up we drove until we saw the most beautiful views. (The sun was in the camera lens, so it was really hard to capture what we saw, but I think this picture is pretty darn close!)



This castle was clearly a ruined castle, but Emily and I have so much fun climbing and exploring old castle grounds. Mom also LOVES taking pictures of her girls!




When I look at these pictures I realize how truly blessed we are. Not many 16 and 20 year olds can say they've climbed castle ruins in Wales. We're so lucky to have the discipline it takes to save for a trip like this and we truly cherish the opportunity we have to visit such beautiful places.

Eyarth Station.

We successfully found our B&B -- no thanks to the navigation system. Eyarth Station used to be a train station! It was so beautiful and the views were breathtaking. If we stay in Wales again, we will definitely stay at this B&B again!

The breakfast room was amazing! The views were unbelievable. If I could, I would soooo live there.

Ruthin.

We headed up to North Wales to stay for 2 nights. The little town is called Ruthin but pronounced Rithin. Don't ask me why. There's a town called Llangollen and they pronouce it "Tlangotlen." Who in their right mind would do that?!?!?! In Wales, all the signs are written in Welsh with English subtitles. By the time you've been confused by the Welsh, you've already passed the sign and never got to read the English!

Here are a few pictures of our trip from Southern England to Northern Wales. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive.

We had to drive on these tiny roads to get to our Bed and Breakfast. They hardly have any main roads in Wales. . .they're all teeny-tiny.

We couldn't find our B&B, so we decided to take a little rest in the town near it. (Ruthin) Here are a few photos from around the town.