A Little Bit of California

Saturday, the family ventured to Brownsea Island. This is a small island in Poole Harbour and the location where the Boy Scout movement began.

Sean, being a Boy Scout alumnus was interested in seeing the island during our time here and we couldn't have picked a better place or day to go.

We had forgotten how wonderful it was to smell the ocean and feel the sun and the 70 degree temperatures. As we hiked around the island (only about 3miles) through the pine trees it really made us feel like we were back in California!

It was also enjoyable eating lunch at there cafe since they seemed to have quite a population of tourist-fed ducks and peacocks. If you don't watch them closely they're likely to take your cracker out of your hand. In fact, Evan lost half a cracker that way. Of course, when he watched the duck push the cracker around the ground trying to eat it he thought it was so funny he threw the duck the other half as well. Then the challenge was keeping him from feeding the birds the rest of his lunch.

The place where you catch the boat to Brownsea is called Sandbanks. Strangely, this has become one of the most expensive places in the world to live (yes, it's oceanfront but it's still England and cold a lot). Recently, a home sold there for 10 million pounds. Sean's cousin's wife, Christine, told me that she rented there about 10 years ago and it used to be a really inexpensive place to live but there was a Cabaret nearby. The retired showgirls started buying property there, then word got out to the footballers, and now the house prices are astronomical. I wonder if the footballer's wives knew where they were getting their real estate tips.