Scrabo Tower

When I was in P2, someone came into school one day and said they'd gone to Scrabo Tower over the weekend and they got to climb up inside it and see the rooms.  I was instantly struck by the green eyed monster and I remember that I used to whine about going to Scrabo on a semi regular basis.  Then, one time we went and hiked up to it and of course it was closed.  This year, it was on The List. 
Of course, it was not a beautiful sunny day when we got there.  It was drizzly and windy.

So drizzly, that when we got out of the car, we could hardly see Strangford Lough.  Neither could we see much of the tower.  Can you find it?

How about now?

We made our way up (no photos, Carys was throwing a fit) and finally, finally, I got inside Scrabo.  Yay! 

Look, a stone staircase, all worn in the middle.  The tower was built in 1857.  There's more info on the tower and the park here.

We made it up to the top! 

I bet the views can be fantastic, but we hit it on a typical NI day. 

This one is looking towards Belfast. 

There are some good information panels in one of the rooms as you climb up, with the history of the tower, and the geography and flora and fauna of the area.  We learned a lot about the Scrabosaurus. 

Cole's face in this photo just makes me laugh.

This photo was Cole's idea and he staged it.  I was merely in charge of pressing the button.  He wanted it to look like they were standing on the edge of a cliff (they were).   The town of Newtownards is behind them.

And I know this one is out of focus, but on our way down the hill, the mist had lifted and we were able to at least see the tower from the car park. 

So, there you have it.  The realisation of my childhood dream.  LOL. 

After all that nature and history, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the play park in Bangor, and then stopped at Marks and Spencer on the way home for retail therapy.