konfessions of the Koog

Well, I never thought we'd say we woke up in a castle but we did! Mrs. Koog found a super cool castle that was converted into a hotel for our last night in the Inverness area. In keeping with kooky things on vacation, the castle check-in ranks up there. After our long but awesome day yesterday on Skye, we drove to our castle hotel. Grabbed out bags and walked into the very grand check-in desk and gave our name. The nice lady behind the desk said, "Welcome, we have both rooms ready for you!" Mrs. Koog and I looked at each other and then the nice lady and said "hmm, both rooms?" The lady explained we had booked and pre-paid (non-refundable) for 2 rooms. A family room with breakfast included and a king room, no breakfast. So, 2 rooms it was! The family room would have been plenty big enough with a set of bunk beds and a king. The other room was just a king bed and bathroom with a soaking tub. We decided to let the boys stay in the family room and we took the king...

What a difference a day makes! While yesterday was rain, wind and cold today was sunny and beautiful. Cetainly wasn't summer warm, but it was the most confortable temperature. We woke up in the Inverness townhouse at around 6am so we could pack as we only booked for one night. Why? When we booked the cruise the boys and I will be on the last 10 or so days of this trip, Isle of Skye was a port call. After our final, non-refundable payment Skye was removed from the itinerary and Dublin added in it's place. Happy to see Dublin, but Skye was where we really wanted to visit. Mrs. Koog made some changes to our Scotland itinerary and Skye was back on our list! Unfortunately, in that time the Inverness townhouse was rented and we needed to find another place. Alas, we move again. After packing up our stuff, we headed to the train station where we would meet our tour to the Isle of Skye. Mrs. Koog and B-Koog dropped E-Koog and I off at the station to get snacks for the 12 hour round...

So, it's been a week since we've landed, can you believe that? I look back at our travels and I'm grateful and tired! This morning we woke up in Ballach, Scotland. Our place there was fine for one night, but the lobby smelled like the inside of an ashtray, YUCK! The apartment itself was fine, but the 2 flight up walk was very stinky. The theme of today is driving! Anyway, we left this morning around 8:30 and headed north toward Inverness. It was a rainy and windy day. Mrs. Koog fortified her lady-balls-of-steel on the drive. It was blind curves and swithbacks for hours with the added bonus of blinding rain and wind. At one point, a car coming toward us was trying to pass several cars and was in our lane. We were nearly hit head on. It was scary. After the near death experience, we continued on our way. I didn't take many photos on the way because I was super car sick. Like really car sick. It was stick my head out the window kind of car sick. It lasted about 2 h...

It seems that turning 51 requires an earlier bedtime regardless of where one is, I fell asleep at my birthday dinner table. No joke. Barly making the one block walk back to the hotel, I showered and hit the bed. At 7:30pm. I woke up this morning at 7:30am refreshed and ready to trek on. We had a decent hotel breakfast. I tried Marmite and I liked it. All others in the Koog family gagged as I ate it again and again. To each there own and more Marmite for me! After checking out and packing up the car, we headed out of Liverpool toward Scotland, with a few stops along the drive. (Our stay in Liverpool was way too short. We are returning later on in ths trip.) Mrs. Koog really owns driving on the left! So much so, her speed at roundabouts make the rest of us feel like we are in a centrifuge. B-Koog audibly screamed today because he thought the car was going to flip. She also takes this confidence and speed to the single track roads with blind curves. Come to think of it, she accelerate...

Everyone was up early this morning to pack our clothes, car and memories from our amazing visit to North Wales and head north to Liverpool. Mrs. Koog and B-Koog again made breakfast for us to use the remainder of our eggs and bacon rashers. We finished breakfast, finished packing and loaded the car for a quick stop in Conwy. I needed Welsh whiskey (don't judge me) and wanted to get freshly baked Welsh Cakes for the road. There was agreement from the boys to stop back inside the castle walls because they needed one more pass through...wait for it...The Knight Shop. I prepared them and Mrs. Koog (not that I needed to tell her how to say no) that under no circumstances was a purchase of a Katana, suit of armour or marble statue of a wolf approved. I headed down the street to the Crafts Cymru store to grab Pendaryn Whiskey samplers. The shopkeeper was such a nice lady. We talked for several minutes and she said she grew up in a small house inside the castle walls and has never left...

Today we leave North Wales. They say you should never meet your heroes because they will always disappoint. I was anxious that this place I've always wanted to visit and built up in my head would somehow let me down. It did not. In fact, it was quite the opposite, I'm more enammored and in love than before. For those friends that had a glimpse of our itinerary, there was concern it was too aggressive. You were correct, it was. But as I sit here this morning reflecting on our time spent, I find myself focused on each experience we enjoyed without a thought of the items on the list we couldn't see. I think of all the people we met and all the beauty we've been so blessed to see and experience. It's only added to the love I have for Wales and the Welsh people. As we were finishing our hike from Aber Falls yesterday, B-Koog captured my feelings perfectly. "Everyone here in Wales is so happy. I know why they are happy, look around here and see all the beauty they li...

This morning we slept in a bit. I didn't get up until 7. I'm not usually a morning person, but I haven't wanted to waste a moment of time here in North Wales. Even having morning tea and hearing the sea gulls seemed like an event to be witnessed. Today we got a bit of a late start as our tickets to Halen Mon were not until 11am. It's about a 40 minute drive along the coast and across the Britannia Bridge on the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon in Welsh). Halen Mon is a sea salt company that takes water from the Menai Strait and through science-y processes makes fantastic sea salt. After a beautiful drive along the coast of the Irish Sea, through a mountain tunnel and, of course, Wales' single track yet 2 way streets, we arrived at Halen Mon. https://www.halenmon.com I had heard about Halen Mon from a podcast called "Adventures in North Wales" with Megan Llyn. She had done 2 of the things on our itinarary today. Check out the Podcast, I really enjoyed it. I w...

We started the day very close to our house, Conwy Castle. Morning: We decided (it was too late last night to drive to Tesco) the night before to have breakfast in town. While we are close to the Castle, we decided to drive to the Castle car park so we'd save time on the back side of the day to head to Llandudno and the Great Orme. So, I've lost 50lbs (50 US lbs, lol) since November. I'm thrilled about this but my shunning of most carbs makes it hard on the Koog family when it comes to finding a spot to eat. I'm sure this goes without saying to most, but Conwy is not at all like NYC. There was no diner to pop into with a poster-sized, 30 page menu. Our breakfast dilemma would not have been an issue if I were still eating everything. There were at least 5 local bakerys that had the most delicious looking and smelling pastries. Before anyone assumes I pulled the kids and the Mrs. out, I didn't. I was happy for them to eat at any or all of the bake shops. They did...

A quick note: The water pressure in North Wales is amazing. I mean, I need a Welsh plummber to come to Maryland and perform their magic in our home. Accomodations in Conwy: We checked into our accomodations in Conwy the afternoon of Day 2. What a nice place! Besides it being on the narrowest street with bi-directional traffic and cars parked on the left side of the road, it's really awesome. You enter into the family room with a fireplace and comfy couch and chairs. The eat-in kitchen is pretty spacious and has everything a family of 4 needs to feed itself. And it has an electrtic kettle for me and B-Koog to make our morning tea. Going up the very narrow, winding and steep staircase is the master bedroom. Perfectly appointed for me and Mrs. Koog and the bathroom. Again with superior water pressure and radiant heat floors. The only downside, it is the only bathroom. Going up the most narrow staircase you find the loft with 2 twin beds for the boy koogs. Morning at the Conwy ho...

While the saga to get to the apartment we rented in Bath was drama filled, I can honestly say it was worth the struggle. Perfect location, perfect size, excellent water pressure and radiant heat in the bathroom floor. We slept with the windows open as it was a perfect 60 degrees outside. The amount of sea gulls in Bath is almost equal to the amount of sheep in Wales. A lot. They made their laughing noise all night long and surprisingly, I didn't feel like hunting them! It was cute and nearly endearing but I had not forgiven nor forgotten that one of their brethren made multiple attempts to steam my Cornish Meat Pie. After my appropriately pressured shower, I got dressed and packed up as much as I could with out waking Mrs Koog and the kids Koog. I blogged and checked work email (don't judge me) and sat in our apartment enjoying the sounds of 3 snoring Koogs, laughing Seagulls and the dragging of barricades across the street we were staying on to re-close it for the day. Appa...

Well, we made it safely and soundly across the pond. Flight was fantastic, E-Koog and B-Koog went to the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot seat. I was remarkably sober having taken only 2 anti-anxiety pills (tranquilizers) and was actually able to sleep for an hour or so on the flight to London. Flight: Not sure if it's a scientifically proven, but Koogs HATE flying. Maybe it's a generalization since the rest of my family seem to actually enjoy it? Not sure, but I do not enjoy any part of it. I know, it's safe...it's a control thing for me and I could write thousands of blog posts about my control-freakiness... Anyway, not much to say here except the food and the service on Virgin Atlantic was spectacular. The flight stewards work so hard to accomodate even the most, ahem, needy passenger. Rental Car: We originally rented a Vauxhall Minivan from Costo's travel program. About 2 weeks ago I wanted to confirm with Mrs. Koog the specs of the automobile. It went li...

We are off for a month (a month!) in the UK! Most of you know this Koog needs heavy sedation to fly. For some reason, I'm calm about this flight. The calmness is creating anxiety because I am not used to being this zen when facing an airport. Anyway, I've held off "Benzo-loading" and I'm stone cold sober as we wait for our ride to the airport. Now, Mrs. Koog has gently and not so gently reminded me to pack light as we have laundry facilities in each house we are renting. She even went so far as to find Rick Steves packing shows on YouTube. Rick and I have very different points of view about many things like fashion, hair cuts and of course, packing. He believes packing the absolute minimum (and the ugliest possible) clothes and shoes. This is not the mindset of Koog. My default is prepare and pack for every contingency and every contingency of those contingencies. Alas, the airlines dictate one can only be prepared 2 checked bags worth of contingency supplies!...

Most of the Gen Z and Milenials won't get the reference to Welcome Back, Kotter. It was an awesome show, use the Google machine. It's been a long time since I've written something fresh and fun. I love writting, so I'm using this month long break from reality to recommit to journaling. And lucky for all you Koog-fans out there, I will be publishing the good the bad and the ugly. So, watch this page for daily musings of our 30 day UK extravaganza with me, Mrs. Koog and the twins E-Koog and B-Koog. I will document my random thoughts, possibly pictures and probably foul language. Feels good to be behind the keyboard again. Oh, and don't forget to let me know what you think! Leave a comment or email me at koog.rules@gmail.com.

Long time, no write! Lots has happened since I last checked in with the residents of Koogville. Not much has happened, except we got pregnant, moved into a new house in a new state, changed jobs and had twins. Yes, TWINS!So, how did THAT happen? Let's start from the beginning. So, we had been trying for a baby for a while after losing one in December of 2009. We decided to switch to IVF to improve our chances. IVF is EXPENSIVE. Then I had a thought, "If we could buy in bulk the per unit price is lower, you know like buying a case of toilet paper at Costco." Mrs. Koog looked confused and briefly, terrified. I explained that if IVF costs $35K for the procedure, why not put like 4, 5 or 6 embryos up in there to decrease our chances of having to pay another $35K when we wanted to have another kid? Obviously, Mrs. Koog was not down with the idea of using her uterus as a "wombing house". She didn't like my puns about it either. Hey, she married me! ...

We did it! Mrs. Koog is pregnant with twins! Yay 2 little Koogs, coming in May 2011. I can't express how happy, relieved, terrified and overjoyed we are. Mrs. Koog is taking the 1st trimester in stride, although she is not vertical very much these days. Fatigue is setting in and so is a bit of the queasy's. All to be expected the Dr says. I'm keeping up with her appetite by planning ahead. Precut celery stuffed with peanut butter is the craving of the week and As for me, I'm profoundly in love. I can't stop thinking about them. I can't stop looking at her. I'm sunk. How am I dealing with it? In my usual neurotic Koog way. Plan, organize, replan, and reorganize. My current project is taking the A-ratinged Cribs, Strollers, High-Chairs and car seats from the "Baby Bargains" book and creating spreadsheets with the product name, manufacturer, price and local store information. What good is this information? I'm not sure, but it makes me f...