sunsetsanddragonflies: Blackpool, Beaches and Burning!

Hey guys!

Over the weekend, I was up north in Preston and Blackpool, so I had some posts scheduled so I didn't have to find wifi and stuff to blog. Now I'm back, here's my post about the weekend, with pictures included too! I hope you enjoy it!

On the journey up, I met one of my cousins, Carl, who was lovely and didn't mind me and my brother blaring out some Avenged Sevenfold on the journey (it was pretty much on full volume and he didn't mind, that's awesome in my book!) and he also didn't mind when I vetoed far too many service stations because they had Costa instead of Starbucks and I was craving a cool lime refresher (my all time favourite summer drink!) so the journey up on the Friday was mainly bearable, apart from the massive amounts of roadworks we seemed to encounter. When we finally arrived at the hotel, we only had time to chuck our bags in our rooms (and I quickly changed out of a thick sweatshirt and boots into a thin cardigan and plimsolls because it was so warm and sunny - when we left, it was cold) before we headed out to Chorley, so my dad could show us all his old haunts from when he used to live there, and so we could head into town and pick up some flowers, get a pie (yep, when you go up north you have to have a proper pie, apparently) and quickly look in a few shops! I ended up in Rymans (I am a stationery addict, whoops) and bought some pens, a sketchbook and a new blog planning notebook, as my old one didn't fit in my bag and this one is smaller! I also picked up some new earphones from HMV, as I've had my current ones for a while and I like to have a spare pair at all times.

After shopping, we went on a guided tour of Chorley, thanks to my dad, who pointed out all his old haunts, houses and more, before we headed out to have a small family get together. I met some of my cousins, who I hadn't met before, as long as uncles and aunties, and it was so lovely to meet them - I also have a soft spot for Northern accents (and I really wish I had one!) so it was nice to be surrounded by them too! We also had a LOT of family photos, which I don't usually like but these ones all make me smile. Eventually, we headed back to the hotel, but first we stopped for fish, chips and gravy (in my case) and steak and kidney pudding, peas, gravy and chips (for my brother and dad)

The next day, we woke up bright and early to head to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. When we arrived, the first thing me, my dad, brother and aunt did is queue for the Big Dipper, as we mistakenly thought it was the massive ride and we wanted to get it over and done with - as it happens, it was not, but it was a good warm up ride to go on! After that, we headed for the Pepsi Max ride - which was the massive, terrifying one - and my brother and dad ended up sitting at the very front, with me and my aunt sitting just behind them. It turns out that me and my dad got the short straw with seats though, as we ended up sitting on the side that dipped inwards, so I felt like I was falling out the whole time - it was terrifying but also kind of amazing, so I'm glad that I plucked up the courage to go on it, although never again! Next, we decided to go on the Wallace and Gromit ride (which was a welcome break from the bigger rollercoasters!) and I think I spent most of the ride laughing! The Wallace and Gromit shop was also amazing - I think I wanted pretty much everything, but I just ended up buying some Wallace and Gromit "Cheesy Moon Rock" instead - one for me, one for my dad and one for my mum. The final ride I ended up going on was the log flume, and got soaked in the process (mainly just my legs though) before we headed off for lunch (which I'm not really gonna write about because it was absolutely disgusting) and my dad and brother decided to go on InFusion - literally my two worst thing about rollercoasters were involved, dangling and going upside down, so I sat out of this one.

After that, we decided to head down to the beach for a while (mostly my idea - you can't go to the seaside without going to the beach!) so I took my shoes off and made my way down to the beach, where I sat and listened to my iPod while looking out to sea for a while before heading to the sea to paddle. The sea was surprisingly warm, and my leggings ended up getting soaking, so me and my brother just decided to go swimming in the sea - neither of us had swimming gear with us, so I went in my leggings and jumper (my family thought I was mad, but come on, the sea was warm and it seemed like a waste NOT to go in it) so we were in the sea for ages before eventually coming out and heading back to the car, as we had to head back to the hotel to get ready for the 60th wedding anniversary party. On the way back, we stopped for ice cream, and I also bought some cockles (another necessity when I go to the beach) and my dad and brother got some fudge.

When we'd all got ready and arrived, we found that we didn't know anyone at the party apart from immediate family, so it was a fairly awkward night, but it was still enjoyable and the entertainment was top notch - they also had a beautiful blessing, and it was touching and wonderful. We headed back before too late, as we'd all somehow managed to get sunburn and possibly sunstroke during the day, and we were shattered (I ended up watching tv in bed for a while, as I was sharing a room with my aunt and 2 cousins and they stayed for a while longer and I had the room key, so I couldn't go straight to bed)

The next day was pretty much just packing and heading home, so I won't bore you all with the details of that, but the weekend was amazing and I'd like to thank everyone I met and everyone that invited us up for the weekend - it was amazing, and I had a lovely weekend, despite the tiredness and sunburn - although I'm now constantly craving Starbucks and missing the Northern accent terribly! (as well as reaching the stage of peeling sunburn - yeuch!)

I also included some pictures below, so I can remember it visually and look back at the pictures as well as the blog and smile ^_^