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Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Milestone passed during York visit

We passed another milestone as we made the car journey back from our family getaway to York, England.

It might not seem like much of a milestone, but we purchased gasoline, or should I say petrol, “on the economy.”

Somehow I have always managed, though many times on fumes, to make my way back to base to fill up.

That had allowed us to do a lot more sightseeing, as gas “on the economy” last week cost us 1.10 pounds a liter, which times the typical exchange rate of $1.70 means we were paying about $1.87 a liter.

Add to that equation that it takes almost 4 liters to make a gallon of gas. Well, you do the math.

After a year of running the roads visiting everywhere we can fit in, I am proud to say we have managed to see as much as we have without pulling into a British gas station. I must confess it helped that a few of our longer trips were via train or coach.

In all fairness, though, we only put a few liters in the tank, enough to make it back to base to fill up.

After four days of “brilliant” sightseeing around York and the many necessary evils of traveling — you know, food and lodging — we couldn’t afford to fill up the tank on the British economy.

And who wants to waste their vacation money on fuel if they don’t have too?

We didn’t waste any fuel in York as we walked everywhere, starting with the city’s medieval three-mile wall walk. We also visited the Jorvik Viking Center, where we were transported back to Viking times.

Then there was York Minister, where Avery participated in the “Big Draw,” a campaign encouraging children to draw, drawing one of the cathedral’s walls. He was, however, disappointed to learn at 5 he was too young to climb to the top of the Minister tower.

But all was not lost because he was big enough to make the climb at Clifford’s Tower, the former central stronghold of York Castle.

Both of the boys loved the National Train Museum and couldn’t get enough of the trains and train-related activities.

We also got to participate in Illuminating York, where new technologies were used to light up various picturesque views throughout the city, though I think all of us fancied watching Avery “get a go” writing with a tagtool on the Multangular Tower in the city’s Museum Gardens the most.

The hardest part was not finally giving in and buying fuel but, as always, finding kid- and budget-friendly places to dine, because you can only eat sausage rolls and jam doughnuts from the local grocery store so many times.

Minus the long walks searching for the perfect place to eat, we had a great time learning about the history of another great English city and exploring some of the many things it has too offer.

We even managed to mark off another National Trust location on our way home.

Amanda Creel, who was a staff writer at the Robins Rev-Up newspaper on Robins Air Force Base, is married to Staff Sgt. Justin Creel, stationed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Contact her at acreel@macon.com.