Welcome to the Jurassic Coast

Having Irish roots, I have long desired to visit Ireland. Finally the time had come and we scheduled a weekend trip over to the Emerald Isle, but, Aer Lingus had other plans for us. Apparently there was some kind of error with our booking and they canceled our reservation (without notifying me). Lovely. But, as with most things it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Instead of Ireland, I put together a quick road trip for us, which meant I'd have to "master" driving in the UK:

Driving on the left!

Roundabouts!

Shifting gears left-handed!

It was sure to be an adventure. We would leave London, drive South & explore an area known as The Jurassic Coast. This area is known for the discovery of many fossils, dinosaur bones, and generally being one of the few places on earth where you can get a glimpse into 180 million years of history. Oh, it's also a World Heritage Site (that makes 13!). So, we headed out, with a rough idea of where we were going, hoping to see some cool parts of England. We weren't disappointed.

After driving for a bit we came across these ruins perched up on a hill. Turns out this is Corfe Castle, which was built by William the Conquerer in the 11th century. It's all in ruins today, but it was still really cool to see. Plus it gave us a chance to explore the quaint little village of Corfe.

The village is full of these cool old houses

Tiny door is tiny!

From there we headed out to see the real stars of the trip. Big ass rocks!

Wait, not big ass rocks. Old Harry Rocks. Seriously. That's actually what they're called. They are these really cool chalk formations along the coast. The whole area is super picturesque and it's a beautiful landscape. 

We also found a place called Durdle Door.

Seriously, this place is stunning.

There's also a cove right next to Durdle Door that looks like something out of a tropical paradise.

We were totally blown away that these places exist in the UK. It's so different from the rest of the country. To put it in perspective, think about it this way: The UK is roughly the same size as Michigan. Now, Michigan is a beautiful place and does have some variety of terrain, but it mostly looks the same. It certainly doesn't range from things like the Scottish Highlands to places like this. It just makes this all the more remarkable.

After a sometimes harrowing 4 hour drive (Gloria may have had to warn me about drifting too far left while driving), we arrived at our home in Lyme Regis (a town along the Jurassic Coast).

Thatch B&B

This adorable B&B is run by Frank & Wendy, who are possibly the nicest people in the world. They were fantastic hosts and we highly recommend the place. From there, we set out to explore Lyme Regis. In case you're wondering, Lyme Regis isn't some kind of stone Philbin (hiyo!), it's a cute little town right on the coast.

It's also kind of the epicenter of the fossil hunting. It's probably most well known as the place where Mary Anning discovered most of her fossils. She was one of the first female paleontologists and is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of our understanding of fossils. Or as she might put it:

The town itself is a quintessential seaside community, with boutique shops and things. But the fossils are what really few us here. We actually did go on a fossil hunting tour, and it was legit.

So much room for activities!

Gloria and the kids jumped right in and started hunting.

Before long she started finding some good ones.

It's a swirly twirly one! (that's the scientific name)

She ended up finding a whole bag full of belemnites and a few ammonites (swirly twirlies). I have to admit I was unsure of what to expect, but there really are fossils all over the place here. One kid in our group even found a dinosaur bone (extremely rare). So for all you fossil hunters out there, keep looking. Interesting things are out there....

Having successfully completed our Fossil hunting mission, it was time to move on.

So long Thatch

we headed out further down the coast to check out Dartmoor National park before circling back to London. The scenery was beautiful.

Because everything looks better in the English countryside.

As we were driving along, the landscape changed very suddenly from lush farms and tree-covered hills, to a nearly treeless hillside with sheep and animals all around.

Sheep!

It's a whole farm of Li'l Sebastians!

It was quite striking. Supposedly this area played a part in inspiring Tolkien to write the Lord of the Rings, and it's easy to see why.

We carried on down the road, over a few more bridges and back to London.

A hobbit bridge?

As with many things in life, what appeared to be a setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We absolutely loved this trip, and it was completely unplanned! Well done England, well done.