Day 13 - Plymouth (Wotter)

Wow - I know I have said this before but it is scary how quickly our time in England is coming to an end.  I have loved England and will definately be back!

 

 

Today started with the most srcumptious breakfast here at the hotel before heading back up to our room and letting Tasha in on her surprise.  It has been bugging her for weeks - she knew we had a special treat planned and not knowing what it was has been driving her INSANE!

 

Okay a bit of background - a little while ago we went to the movies with Simone, Davina, Gail and Haylee to see movie called "We Bought a Zoo".  Tasha instantly fell in love with this movie and declared on numerous occasions "I am going to that zoo".  In the movie the Zoo is in America and I assumed that is where the original zoo was built.  However, when doing my research for this trip I found Dartmoor Zoological Park which is run by Benjamin Mee and it was his story that the movie was made on.

 

So I couldn't resist - we had to bring Tasha here!

 

Anway this was the expression this morning when we finally let her in on the secret.

 We headed off to the bus stop - literally across the street from the motel to a gorgeous little bbus shelter to wait for the bus (oh and we ran into Patty on the way out who we had let into the secret so she got to Tasha all excited to go out!)

The Dartmoor area is gorgeous.  I wish we had more time here to do some of the walks through the moors.  Next time!

 At dinner last night we had heard tales from Patty about the wild animals in this area and we loved seeing the sheep everywhere along the roadside (and on the road when they felt like it).  The funniest sight was this white horse in the middle of the road.  When the bus stopped this horse and another pony came strolling up the bus up to the drivers window to look in and have a chat.   Apparently these horses quite often will walk around to the open door and climb half in the bus.

 Anyway we headed off on another of those scary drives along country roads.  The photos do not show but the branches literally brush along the windows on both sides of the bus - and sometimes it is rock walls not just bushes.  You know the road is narrow when we had to stop the bus to give way to cyclists as thy would not fit beside the bus in these lanes!

 Anyway we made it to Dartmoor Zoo and had a great time wandering around.  Unfortunately they are doing a lot of upgrades to the zoo at the moment so there were  few animals missing but we still has lots of fun - We have been to numerous zoos over the years and were fascinated to find some animals we had never seen before.  Very interesting!  Of course there were plenty of the old faithfuls as well.

 All in all it was a great day and I am so glad we made the effort to do it.  Just the grin on Tasha's face was worth it!
Although I was disappointed that even though I looked I did not see Matt Damon anywhere!  Apparently Benjamin Mee was wandering the park but we didn't get a chance to meet him either.

We made it back to the hotel just in time to have a quick drink with Patty and her daughter before heading up to our room for a short rest and then went back down to the restaurant here for dinner.  If you ever get the chance you have to try the Phoenix Steakhouse.  YUMMY!

We said goodbye to Patty as we won't see her in the morning before we check out :(  I have loved spending time with her and meeting her girls.

Todays tally

Steps taken:  6869 ... light day
Times I have suggested moving to England: about 7 or 8
Times Tasha has said no way - she needs her summer and her beaches too much: about 7 or 8
New animals we saw today:  3

Next stop:  Salisbury