Scotland Revisited

I miss Scotland.

the tiny, gas friendly cars

so gas friendly in fact, we thought our fuel gage was broken since we'd drive miles and miles without it moving... at all. Worried that we'd run out of gas, we stopped to fill up and over filled it. No broken fuel gage, just an extremely fuel efficient car and two silly Americans that could not believe how far one tank could get them.

remembering to drive on the left side of the road

and being thankful for a husband who's willing to do the driving

 don't worry, I contributed too by yelling "LEFT, LEFT, LEFT!" 
Phillip found this extremely helpful.  

spray painted sheep that smile for photos

and picturesque towns

 dressing up in suits for the speed boat tour... one size fits... most?

 Loch Ness

and bagpipers at every corner

hunting for Nessy

got her! kinda...

watching the rain roll in

videographers...

 finding love in unusual places

and castles

the Cuillins 

mysterious doorways

 monkey puzzle trees

going to the end of the earth

and running into a couple highland "coos"

...that sometimes hang out by the road

sigh*

quiet sunrises in the countryside

comfy cozy

standing at the edge

solitude

 eating yummy scones

  carbs. lots of carbs.

and reflecting on an incredible trip

This is why I love photography. At any moment you can be transported back to your favorite memories and relive them all over again.

Scotland Trip Part 2

As promised, a slideshow of our Scotland adventure. Hope you enjoy!

Whirlwind Tour

I don't know that I say this out loud enough even though I think it constantly, but I am lucky. Like, really really lucky. A lot of this "luck" has to do with a certain man (i.e. husband) who, as luck would have it, is a "planner" just like me, and happened to plan one of my favorite vacations EVER. Yes, he packed in a lot (620 miles in just the first 4 days of our trip), but that's just because he's so excited to see and share his love of Scotland with me - and his enthusiasm is pretty contagious. Phillip studied abroad in Scotland at the University of Stirling while his was in college and fell in love with the country. The hospitality of the Scots is unlike anywhere I've been - which says a lot since I live in the South. For example, we were in our rental car and not exactly sure of which road to take, so we decided to pull over before we committed to one when the car behind us pulled over too. This made us nervous. We had been driving a bit slower than everyone else as we adjusted to life in the left lane, so I was kind of afraid they were going to yell at us, which seems silly now, but when a car pulls over behind you, your gut reaction is not that this is a good thing. Boy was I wrong. The gentleman had just stopped to make sure we were okay and after we explained our indecision, told us to just follow him and he'd show us the way. He did and we made it to our next destination very easily. So nice! 

This set the tone for the rest of our trip and we definitely made the most of it. A speed boat tour of Loch Ness, getting up at an ungodly hour to catch the sun rise over Isle of Skye, a night cap with a bit of Scotch before heading to bed... we tried to make the most of every moment we were there. It was extremely hard, but I narrowed the thousands (yes, thousands) of photos I took to my favorites. I did, however, lessen the blow of having to choose favorites by creating a slide show so that I could show more photos to anyone willing to subject themselves to it. The slide show is to come, but for now, here are a few photos of our great adventure.

Thistle - Scotland's National Flower

Loch Ness - no monsters... in view...

Highland cows or coos as they say

Kilt Rock

Hamish the Highland Coo

And it ends with the wheat fields outside a home in Carnoustie where we were graciously allowed to stay and as a bonus, eat their delicious blackberries and raspberries that were plucked daily. So lucky.