Stonehenge and Avebury

When we told our daughter that we were moving to Europe last year, the first thing she asked was if we could go see Stonehenge. That trip didn't happen last summer with the move, finding a new house and the husband starting a new job, but, we made it happen this year.
None of my British friends were that excited when I told them that we were going to see Stonehenge on our trip to the UK. Actually, most of them have never seen it themselves, and think that it's overrated. Two of my friends actually suggested many other things that were less preserved and less touristy. Well, we did both.
The weather this summer has been horrible in both Belgium and the United Kingdom, so we have been forced to just don our rain jackets and get on with it. While we made the very rainy drive from London to Stonehenge, we were all pretty quiet. With traffic, it was a much longer drive than we were expecting and we were all very hopeful that the rainy drive was going to be worth it. As we topped a hill on this two lane highway, it all became worth it. On the hill in front of us was Stonehenge, huge, beckoning us to come and see what all they hype was about.
We parked, fed the crabby 4 year old a snack and then shelled out extra money for an annual pass for the English Heritage sights. We picked up our audio guides and followed the small crowd under the highway and up the stairs so we could see Stonehenge. It was so amazing. Our daughter is a pretty mellow girl, but she was absolutely awestruck with the huge, ancient stones. None of us could get over the size of these stones and how truly amazing it was that they were still standing after a few thousand years.
Because of the stones' importance to many, many people, the English Heritage group has given the stones a wide berth from would be souvenir hunters, and the closest we were allowed to come to the main group was about 50 meters. We followed the path around the stones, listening to the audio guide and sharing tidbits that we found interesting. One thing we all found so interesting, but hadn't ever heard before is that there is an "avenue" that was followed from the River Avon up to the site. Between the heel stone and the main stones, it is clearly seen, but in the winter, the path is more easily distinguished from the usual farm fields and sheep pastures. 
All four of us thoroughly enjoyed our visit and we excited to stop at the next location, a location that was recommended to me by the Air Commodore of the Royal Air Force. How could we not go?
Avebury, England is also the sight of some pretty massive standing stones. The stones in Avebury are not formed into specific shapes or in as tight as a group, but they are pretty impressive as well. Our son actually asked, "Daddy, why are those rocks growing out of the ground?" And that is exactly what it looks like.
These massive rocks in Avebury comprise 3 stone circles covering a few acres. The thing that we liked about this site is that you can go and walk among the stones and touch them and sit beneath them an ponder just how in the world they got there. The town grew up around the stones, and today, the stones are mostly found in fields and sheep pastures. The gates actually have signs saying that there are animals inside, please keep your dog on a leash and make sure the gate is shut. Really, how fun is that?
This area of England is full of amazing ancient artifacts that have been pretty well taken care of. They aren't pristine and commercial, but they are really, awesome. (to use my son's word of the moment) There was so much to do there, and we knew we had a pretty long drive to get to our next destination, but we will be going back to see more of the fabulous, unexplained places.
Oh yeah, and there are crop circles to go see too (easily explained crop circles, but I find it hilarious that they are there)