Julie and Brandon Visit! Part II

For the second part of Julie and Brandon's visit we planned a roadtrip to northwest Wales so that we could hike Snowdonia - the tallest peak in England/Wales. The trip didn't turn out quite as we had planned, but it was still SO much fun. Our first stop was at Caernarfon Castle, which was beautiful. We had a little picnic along the river and then headed in to explore the castle. We'd never been to a castle where we were free to just roam around the whole place on our own, so that was really fun. We could climb up in all of the towers and walk along the top of the walls all the way around the castle!

Welcome to Wales!

Caernarfon Castle

Where we had our picnic lunch

Me and Thomas inside Caernarfon Castle

Brandon and Julie

Great views from the castle

Bridge opening :)

Beautiful scenery on the drive

Next we stopped in a little town that my co-worker had told me about. It was called Betws y Coed and it was gorgeous! The town itself was so picturesque, and there was this great waterfall and riverwalk right off of the main road. We explored a bit and got some amazing fish and chips from the hole-in-the-wall restaurant. We got caught in some rain while we ate by the river, but we had a great view so we couldn't complain ;)

Thomas on the waterfall

Me and Julie!

Eating our fish and chips in the rain :)

We stayed at a cute little B&B and set out to Snowdonia in the morning. It was a pretty dreary morning, and we were having some doubts about hiking to the top when we arrived. When we pulled into the parking lot, the attendant warned us that it might not be the best idea to hike to the top if we didn't have ALL waterproof gear on. We thanked him for his advice but were still determined to try...until we stepped out of the car and it started POURING. We cecided then to take the steam train to the top ;) We couldn't see a whole lot (especially at the top) since it was such a miserable day, but it was still fun!

Yucky day!

Brandon and Julie at the top of Snowdonia - we were literally in a cloud and couldn't see a thing!

Summit

On the way down the weather cleared up a bit so we could see more scenery :)

Thomas, Me, Julie, and Brandon

Me & Julie in front of the train

Justin Bieber/Johnny Depp drawings in the gift shop...random!

Our last stop of the trip was at Conwy Castle - another gorgeous place! This castle still had most of the walls surrounding the city, so we could actually walk around the whole town on top of the castle walls! It was really cool and give us some great views :)

View from Conwy Castle

Me and Thomas in the castle

Conwy Castle

Julie and Brandon walking on the walls around the city

I found a boat for dad to buy and fix up!! :)

Me and Thomas in Conwy

We had so much fun hanging out with Julie and Brandon, now we just wish they lived closer so we could hang out more often ;) Thanks for coming to visit!