Scotland recap

Where to begin...we had an amazing journey through the green hills, rocky mountains, single track roads filled with sheep, majestic castles, and distilleries of Scotland. All of our travel and lodging was prefect and no mishaps, well serious mishaps at least. The food was spectacular and we had our fair share of fish and chips, and at one cafe the biggest single piece of fish I've ever seen, I had tea one afternoon and Sam was on a quest to find the best hot chocolate in Scotland. Buttered scones and jam were our favorite snacks along with a biscuit or short here and there from a coffee shop. At each meal we would share each of the dishes to be able to experience a greater variety of local cuisine. Our favorite combined meals was at a local pub in Edinburgh, consisting of fish and chips and what can only be described as a meat-box. It was similar to a chicken-pot-pie filling only with beef, served in a pastry box.

We visited five castles and our now self proclaimed castleologists (Edinburgh, Cowdar - best garden, Broadie - best tour & 6,500+ books in the library, Dunvegan - best overall grounds area, and Armadale), Catlon Hill, the Scottish Whiskey Experience, Tartan Weaving Mill, Loch Ness (no Nessie sittings), climbed to the top of Old Man Storr in Skye and several other places in Edinburgh and Skye.

Some highlights include:
We both found some really good deals at the local Salvation Army in Inverness. I now own a designer Scottish dress.

Our first night in Inverness we met some local boys, Chris and Russel at our 2nd bar of the evening and spent sometime talking and learning about the town and places to see. They were just barely 20 and 21. They pointed us to some late-night snacks as we were leaving and strolled back to our B&B laughing and eating fries along the river Ness.

The 2nd night in Inverness I briefly danced to a Scottish gig before we moved to another establishment. There were several door-man looking fellows outside and after milling around for a minute, because we thought they might be checking ID's, I asked, "is there something you need from me?" To which one man replied, "a kiss on the cheek." While inside there was a 50-something couple sitting in front of us celebrating their 30th anniversary and their flirtations were enduring. However, as the night progressed, they got a little vulgar, and he was sticking his hands down the back of her pants and grabbing at her chest. Needless to stay, we didn't stay there long.

Our first night in Skye we met other guys, James and Jason, who are traveling wind-mill engineers. While waiting in line with them at a 2nd bar, Jason struck up a conversation with a local man, Neil, and within 10 minutes we were all in our car out to his place, as no one wanted to wait in line in the rain. He was an interesting character with lots and lots of CD's and thoughts on politics. While backing out, Sam when over the embankment as deep as the tire, and the car was stuck! The boys got out and tried to figure out how to get the car back up, because continuing to back up was out of the question. In a wine and whiskey haze, I jumped in the drivers seat and floored it forward. The boys were in the back and realized what I was doing, and pushed. Needless to say, we got it home in one piece with minimal damage. When we returned I could not find the keys to the B&B and thought maybe it got left at Neil's. Thankfully our new found friends were gracious enough to offer a place to stay and I found the key stuck in my wallet in the morning.

Our last day in Skye we drove around to see the sights on while on a single-track road that was merging in to a dual carriage-way I went off the road just slightly on the left and no curb, we hit something and ended up with a flat tire. Neither one of us has really changed a flat, let alone on a hill. A Swedish couple came of our rescue and he changed the tire for us. The whole rest of the drive to Glasgow we couldn't go over 50mph puttsing along the whole way. After stopping at the closest thing to a truck-stop, driving in the night, it took us 1.5hrs to go 60 miles!!

We arrived in Glasgow around midnight on Monday and didn't need to be to the airport until about 7a. When we did not find any 24h diners, we drove to the back of a hotel parking lot and slept in the car for a few hours before returning to the airport.

Driving on such narrow roads there were some close calls with trucks passing, but we never drove on the wrong side. It took a while get used to looking for on-coming traffic in the opposite direction and the set-up of the sifter and seat-belt. We fell in love with all the sheep and cows long the roads, and had to stop several times for the sheep to cross.

I am very thankful for the time I had to spend with Sam as well. We had hours upon hours of conversations about our childhood, family, religion, boys, our futures, etc. It was priceless to have this time with such a wonderful friend.