Birthdays and holidays......day 2

Apologies for the delayed post, but I had a rather big occasion to celebrate yesterday. It was my 30th birthday and blogging had to take a backseat. I used to think being 30 would be such an awful thing but thinking about it I rather prefer myself, my life and my general attitude at 30 compared to ten years ago. I has just gotten better and better. If I keep going in that direction, I am not scared of ageing at all. And oh well and those lines??? I'll deal with them later......

Back to where I left off on my last post: Our Isle of Wight trip

We took it easy on the second day and went to see Appuldurcombe House and the Owl and Falconry center near by. Appuldurcombe house is part of English Herritage so it was on our list of things to do, the falconry center was just a maybe. It turned out that the manor house was a bit of a let down. It's very impressive to look at but there was no information about it anywhere. Just a big shell with no roof.

Mr Redsquirrel came to say hi, too. There are no grey Squirrels on the entire island meaning these little fellas can live in peace and present themselves in all their glorious cuteness.

The owl and falconry center "next door" was great fun. I love owls and birds of prey and find them very fascinating creatures. Seeing them perform in the two displays we went to see, was amazing.

The first one was hawks, falcons and vultures.

Dave and his new buddies. The vultures were very tame and friendly guys. We took them out for a beer afterwards ;-)

The second display was owls.

This one was trying to befriend me. I instantly fell in love of course.

When it took off it proper slapped me in the face with it's mighty wings. I take an owl slap any day.

Our favourite little guy was the one below. This is Bandit, he's a spectacled owl and the cutest thing I have ever seen. He does this little dance and noise that is beyond cute.

They had afternoon displays too but we had more planned for the day. Next stop was Carrisbrooke castle which is also part of English Herritage. This castle was great. Lots to see and do.

The last stop of the day was Arreton Village, which was a place I wanted to go and see based on a brochure I picked up at the ferry terminal. It looked very cute and vintag-y. It was a cute place but basically just a bunch of tourist shops.

They had a little arcade with vintage fruit machines and all kinds of fun slot machines.

AT the end of the day wen went for a little beach walk in Shanklin and had dinner at the Steamer Inn, which is a great traditional pub right at the seafront. The food was amazing, so was the atmosphere.

And this is me happy on the beach being silly...just because.