Kate in the UK!: LakeLand

Oh myyyyyyy goodness. Have you ever heard of The Lake District??? Well, let me tell you about it.... it is the most INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL place ever!!!! And maybe some of you are thinking, well Kate does exaggerate quite a bit on most things... but you guys i'm not this time, i promise. This place is seriously phenomenal!

Okay so first rewind a little bit. So we left early yesterday morning and hopped on the one and only Coach! We named it the Caterpillar, because it has antennas. So we drove and drove and drove, and our first stop was Chorley! It was a quick stop, but a great stop! Chorley is where the England MTC is, as well as the Preston Temple! Betcha thought the Preston Temple was in Preston huh? Well, fooled ya! Its not, its in Chorley! But so we got to take a quick tour of the MTC, which was so cool because i got to see where Tys stayed and learned! And i also met the President and his Wife and they remembered Elder King and loved him! So that was very fun. The Preston Temple is beautiful! I love being on temple groups because you can just tell how sacred it is! Next we got to see the River Ribble. This river is veeeeery significant because this is where the first English converts to the Church were Baptized! SO cool! The church is true! Even here in England! haha

So we got back on the Caterpillar and headed to Ambleside! Ambleside is in the Lake District. Like i said earlier, the Lake District is probably THE most beautiful part of England. It is mountainous, and green, and lake-y, and just breathtaking. So another reason why this place is so awesome, is because this is where THE great english poet William Wordsworth lived! This is where he wrote the majority of his poems. Its no wonder his poems are so brilliant, even I was feeling my creative juices flowing. Its impossible not to be inspired here! But of course, he is a genius. So we went to Dove Cottage, which is where he and his family lived! Our professor has some connections with the people in charge of the cottage, because he is super awesome, so he hooked us up big time! We were able to not only tour the cottage, but EAT dinner in the Cottage! Yes, i ate dinner in Dove Cottage! They made us food from authentic 18th century recipes! We ate a meal that Wordsworth himself ate all the time, in the same place he ate it! It was quite the experience. My favorite was this Lemonade that was deeeeeelicious. The secret to it, is its made with brown sugar instead of white! Whoa. Cool huh. The gardens at Dove Cottage were really pretty and had an incredible view of one of the lakes! I could have stayed there the rest of the time and been completely happy. After this, we went down to the Lake and did some exploring! I LOVE exploring.

So today, first thing in the morning we went back to Dove Cottage and did something really special. Our professor hooked us up again, and got us a nice little session, you could call it. In this, we got to see and hold the original first edition copies of Lyrical Ballads, (the book of poems written by Wordsworth and Coleridge) John Keats first addition book of poems, and many others. We also read and studied letters written to and from Wordsworth, his wife and sister, and friends. I felt so lucky the whole time. Because these things are seriously treasures. They are absolutely priceless treasures. And not many people get to see these things and have a hands-on experience with them! It is so different reading a poem in its original book, or even in the poets handwriting than reading it from a textbook. And when i say different, i mean a million times better! We've been studying Wordsworth poems, and just romantic poetry in general in class, and so coming here just made it even cooler. I can really appreciate his poetry now. I am really getting into this stuff! I absolutely love it.

We also went on two hikes! Two beautiful hikes. The first one we went on took us to the most incredible view of the mountains and lakes. I may or may not have had another moment. It was breathtaking. Also, i just love hiking. Its the best because: you can engage in great conversation, see beautiful scenery all around you, and be getting exercise all at the same time! What more could you want? The other hike we went on was more of an obstacle course. It wasn't steep or hard, just muddy. So it was fun to find ways to avoid it and maneuver our way through the trail. This led us to a mini waterfall and river! We waded in the river, which took me down memory lane and reminded me of wading in the stream in Park City with my Papa Ted! I loved it.