Happy birthday, america, megan.

I had a birthday week. Or, at least a birthday weekend. First, I had a few packages arrive from the USA (thank you!!). Then I initiated a pub visit for the first time at work (as opposed to simply going along), so almost the entire office headed out on Thursday for birthday and 'not leaving' drinks (rather than the leaving drinks I was expecting around now). A little bleary-eyed, my half work day on Friday led to a Fourth of July picnic with some fellow Americans, and then Saturday Josh turned up with car keys after breakfast! We took our newly hired car North for the day to Holy Island, not that I knew where we were heading until 45-minutes into the drive.

Find out why it's holy...Holy Island is where Saint Cuthbert lived and worked in the seventh century. After death, his body was carried to Durham and now resides beneath the cathedral. The island is also where the famous illuminated manuscripts, the Lindisfarne Gospels, were made. It now has some ruins from the monastery, a nice village, and a small castle, along with some colonies of sea birds (puffins, even!!), some seals, and handful of sheep.
While our visit was nice, we decided that other than the history, what makes the island the most interesting is the getting there. You can actually drive to the island... but only when the sea lets you! The causeway is covered under high tide, so tide tables and signs showing flooded cars are everywhere. Apparently every year, some fool decides to risk it, gets stuck, and ends up getting winched away by helicopter. The last time someone was on the news was when my parents were here in March, so we were hoping for some excitement...
At high tide (3 hours before it would be safe to cross again), we took a drive to see just how high the water got. This eager driver must have thought we were trying to cut in line, because he actually pulled into the water up to his front bumper. We weren't about to get in his way, so we snapped some photos and waited for the helicopter. A little disappointing when the car wisely stayed put... but you can see from the photos below how much the water changes.
This is the same spot 3 hours later:
Again, high tide:
Low(ish) tide:
Despite it being the coldest birthday I've ever experienced, Josh brought a summery surprise in the boot... a grill! We had our own private barbecue on the beach. Thanks for the paper plates, Mom...
I think the best part, though, was the S'mores! Brilliant, Josh! Plus, I'd been wanting to try them out with a digestive... it's round already, so worked well instead of a graham cracker. A little thick, perhaps. The cadbury chocolate was great, except for the first time in my life, I missed Hersheys- we needed something thinner that would melt before the marshmallow dripped away!

Yum. Nice surprise, Josh. I love birthdays (except for the getting older part...).