Saturday, November 11th

On Saturday we headed to the Atlantic Coast. We started out going to a private beach of a huge estate. The owners allow the public on the beach every weekend and one day out of the week as long as they don't have any need for it. The beach was great. The Earth Scientist came out in me and I took pictures of just about everything. The other guys with us were even picking up rocks for me and pointing things out for me to take pictures of. It was wonderful! Mike was not really excited about all the rocks I grabbed for souvenirs, but at least it was a small bag. We spent quite a bit of time on this beach looking in at the rocks, climbing them, and looking in the tide pools. We even saw very tiny sea anemones!

Then we drove over to the town of Dartmouth which is another fairly small town (but much larger than Modbury.) Dartmouth harbor actually docked the Mayflower before it headed to America. Apparently it needed repairs and there is a plaque commemorating this event. There is also a pub that dates back to 1380 called The Cherub. Since I was there with three history geeks, we went. The bar still had a lot of the original interior, complete with low ceilings and doorways (for Mike, not me -- although I am 5' 3'', not 3' 5'', Steve!!) And of course, there was a fireplace. Both Mike and I enjoyed these small pubs a lot. The atmosphere in them alone could tempt you to stay in them all day and just watch the people. We then headed over to Dartmouth Castle. Unfortunately, it had just closed, but we were able to walk around outside the castle. The Graveyard was beautiful with all the celtic crosses and the views across the river and over to Dartmouth were stunning. The view was especially great as we were walking back and all the lights were starting to come on across the river (it was already getting dark.) We did stop at yet another beach so that James, Justin and Mike could through stones into the ocean. I have no idea what it is with grown men that makes them ast so young when they all get together, but it always makes me laugh.