Tuesday, November 25, 2008


The alarm went off at an unearthly hour for someone who is still suffering every so slightly from jet lag. . . 5:30 a.m. which would have been 12:30 a.m. your time! You were all still tucked in your nice warm beds, or perhaps not even in bed yet! After checking our Facebooks really quick to look at more delightful comments from you all, we headed out on the road towards the Highlands of Scotland. We started in Edinburgh, through Perth, up through the mountains, stopped at Culloden Moore Battlefield, stopped in Inverness for a bit, continued on to the Loch Ness, headed through Oban and then back through country roads and mountains to see Edinburgh Castle and spend the night here! All in all it was quite a trip; breathtakingly beautiful with a few terrifying moments along the way!

Today's Major Events:

1. Spotting a fox in downtown Edinburgh. At around 6:30 this morning when we were driving through town on our way to the Highlands a fox ran across the road. Rather shocking for in the middle of a big city!


2. Seeing that our ancestors were part of trying to protect the Scottish clan and highland way of life. Never mind the fact that the entire battle was a complete massacre and the final defeat of the Scottish highlands. The English government disbanded clans, striped chiefs of their clan power and made bagpipes and kilts illegal. They ended up deporting many of the Scottish people to North America and other parts of the world. This outraged Ben and he is threatening to re-build Scottish pride in our family by wearing a kilt to our next family reunion!!

3. Driving down more little (by little i mean narrow, death traps!) scary, windy, winding country roads! However, Ben has really started driving like a local which is wouldn't be so bad except they all drive like freaking idiots here. We encountered snow, ice, rain, high winds, falling trees, sheep, stags (which are very, very BIG deer), huge buses (who really couldn't stay in their lanes!), and many more terrifying things!

4. Seeing the AMAZING mountains in the Highlands! It really was a beautiful sight to see!

5. Spending some time in Inverness, it was quite beautiful situated on a bay by the North Sea.

6. Looking for the Loch Ness Monster. I have to admit that i'm a skeptic of the whole idea. . i mean come on "Nessie" walked across the road? Yeah, so this creature can not only swim, but also climb up the mountains to get out to the main road. Maybe he was hungry for a sheep. . who am I to judge? Despite my skepticism, there is something about the place that gets a person like me all excited! After snapping pictures by the Loch and searching in vain for Nessie we headed on our way. Only to have me make Ben turn around so we could go in one of the many "Loch Ness Monster" gift shops or as my brother and Rick Steve's travel books call them a "complete tourist traps"! Ben struggled in vain to keep me from buying my very own stuffed Nessie! He was just too adorable to leave behind!

7. Ben's mountain road passing abilities! Amazing! We would get stuck behind huge semi's and piles of cars , in the dark i might add and he with thrilling deftness would manage to pass them with three or so locals following close behind. It really was really quite a site to see! Without his courage to lead them, those poor locals would have been stuck for miles behind slow moving vehicles!

Museums we passed up today:

1. The Scottish Deer Museum
It really sounded quite delightful. :-) I was sad to miss it! I am thinking of mentioning it to Rick Steves so he can perhaps check it out for his next book!!! lol!

2. Scottish Whiskey Museum
Since I've never tasted any, i kind of figured it would be pointless to go.


Best brush with a local:

I was sitting in McDonalds finishing up a quick lunch when i got up to throw away my trash. Coming back from the trash, to my horrori caught my foot on this poor Scottish guy's chair, pulling him a good 2 feet (i really had no idea how strong my feet were!)! I quickly turned towards him and said, " I am so sorry!" to which he replied, "Oh that's no problem then, It was great to hear more of your lovely American accent!"


Cheerio mates and hopefully i'll be checking back in with you all tomorrow from London!

~Kristi

2 comments:

Cour2ney said...

Wow, "your lovely American accent"! lol!
I can't wait to see your little Nessie!
~Courtney

Anonymous said...

If Ben gets a kilt I want to see it!!