To Liverpool We Go.......

The time has come for our annual pilgrimage across the Atlantic. For those of you that followed along with us last year, you know there will be a lot of golf, a lot of spas and no doubt some interesting stories along the way. For those who know me well, you know golf is my passion and I love sharing the golfing lifestyle with my wife Kristen. This wonderful game has taken us to some beautiful places and we have seen and experienced some amazing things. This year's trip promises to be no different. We arrived this morning into Manchester Airport and made our way over to the western port city of Liverpool. The English Coastline here holds several of the UK's top links courses and I am anxious to have at them. After several days here, we will make our way back up to Scotland where I will be playing several new links courses for the first time. I have some special surprises in store for Kristen along the way. Shhhh! When it is all said and done, we will be flying home from Edinburgh on Labor Day after spending 13 days in this wonderful place. First things first though.... I needed to reacquaint myself with how to drive over here. Most of it came back pretty quickly for me as we rolled along in our new Volvo XC60 (Thanks Hertz). However, once we got into Liverpool I began to challenge our navigation system's control of the situation and that's when things went a little awry.

After weaving through the streets of the City Centre in Liverpool, I see the hotel. The Liverpool Marriott City Centre will be our home for the next several days and we were so close. Keeping my eyes on the hotel, I took my eyes off of the roundabout as well as two separate traffic signals. Not to worry though, as the two police officers that pulled me over right in front of the hotel lobby new exactly what color those lights were, red! After some deliberation they decided not to ruin our holiday within the first hour of our arrival. With tail tucked I said many thanks and quickly made my way back to Kristen who sat laughing at me in the car the whole time. When asked what she was laughing about she said she told the officers she said she wasn't worried about me. She was more concerned about how she was going to get to her spa appointment and her hot yoga class. 

Upon getting settled in as well as taking a bit of a rest, we set out, on foot so as not to violate any more statutes today. Liverpool has so much history, ranging from its key role in the Industrial Revolution as well as maybe more famously being the home of the Beatles. Check out a couple of shots we took today during our walkabout. More to come tomorrow as I hit the links at Royal Birkdale, home of Paddy Harrington's 2008 Open Championship win.