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Our trip to Wales originally was designed to be a weekend trip to climb Mt Snowdon, but it eventually turned into a week-long tour of Wales, beginning in the south and ending in the north.

Day 1 1. St Fagan's Museum of Welsh History Day 2 2. Caerleon Roman ruins 3. Blaenafon Big Pit 4. Llanthony priory Day 3 5. Hiking Brecon Beacons 6. Pony trekking Brecon Beacons Day 4 7. St David's Head

Day 1
We left home on a Saturday, around 800am, reaching our first stop, St Fagan's Museum of Welsh Life (just west of Cardiff) after three hours of driving. The museum is a collection of over 50 buildings from all over Wales, disassembled from their original spots and reassembled at the museum (very similiar to Greenfield Village, for those from Southeast Michigan). The buildings represent various occupations, levels of wealth, and historical periods. At some places, workers do the jobs in the same way people did them centuries ago - baking, making pottery, smithing. And at most of those places, the completed goods are for sale. Our favorite was "cheesies", a large doughy roll topped with cheese, baked in a salty oil (similar to Common Grill rolls, for those from Chelsea). We took our time and learned a lot - for the first three hours anyway.

One of the more interesting buildings: a 17th century cockpit. Before it was outlawed in 1849, people from every social class were entertained by cockfighting.

Day 2
Our next day began with a visit to some Roman ruins. The Roman army had a settlement near present day Caerleon (then Isca). The most significant remains are the baths, an amphitheatre, and barracks.

The baths have little remaining, other than the bottom walls of the main bath, with some of the drain work exposed in another section. Nothing remains of the actual building - the entire ruins are enclosed in a modern building, which allows the visitor to walk on a platform around and above the ruins.

The amphitheatre looks very little like an amphitheatre, but its oddness makes it worthwhile to see - there cannot be an amphitheatre as green anywhere else.

The only parts which remain of the barracks are the very bottoms of the walls - one can tell the floorplan, but that's about it.

After Caerleon we travelled to Blaenafon to see Big Pit, a tour of a coal mine, once South Wales' main (almost only) industry. The tour is very informative, especially so since the guides are former miners (ours started at age 15). They are able to explain any detail and answer any question, because for so many years, mining was their lives. Even after working in the conditions they did, they retain their sense of humor (our guide said it was necessary to survive). He said you can always spot the miners in a pub. Erin wasn't sure the humor was so great, because he picked on her most of the tour (it didn't help she didn't laugh at any of his jokes).

Since we had some extra time after Big Pit, we stopped at Llanthony Priory on the way to our bed & breakfast. The 12th century ruins are now just a quiet place to relax, picnic, or whatever.

Day 3
Monday was a very active day, especially considering Erin was four months pregnant. We started by climbing the highest peak in South Wales, Pen y Fan (2907 ft) in the Brecon Beacons national park. The trail was very easy to follow, and gave us some excellent views along the way. The weather was perfect, until we neared the summit and the fog overwhelmed us. It was very windy and cold, with visibility around 40 feet. Eventually the fog cleared for a few minutes; we took some pictures, then headed back down.

As soon as we reached the bottom we hopped into our car and rushed over to go pony trekking. It was ok; we were the only two, and the ponies were occassionally uncooperative. The skies were very clear, which gave us more great views of Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains, including Sugar Loaf. It was nice to do something different, but it got a little boring at the end, walking on a road back to the riding centre, and Erin didn't enjoy all the bouncing and refused to trot.

Day 4
Our final day in South Wales we spent in Pembrokeshire national park, at St David's Head. Erin found a brochure at our bed & breakfast which detailed a two mile hike along the most famous part, which exactly fit our schedule. The weather wasn't great - windy and overcast - but the rain stayed away, and it was almost empty. The views of the coastline and the cliffs were great. At the end we hiked a large hill which gave us even wider views of the area; we didn't stay long, but we were glad we made the detour.