Scotland

We just had a great whirlwind of a trip to Scotland. Scotland is beautiful though it was overcast the majority of the time we were there. It didn't rain too much. Thankfully it rained mostly while we were driving. Speaking of driving....we did A LOT of driving. We always try to squeeze way to much into our trips. You would think we would have learned our lesson by now. To top it off, Scotland is a 5 and a half to 6 hour drive -- 10 hours when we get to the Highlands.

Our first stop was Edinburgh.

Craigmillar castle is right on the edge of the city. This castle is the perfect castle for hide and go seek. So many nooks and crannies. No rhyme or reason to the layout. It was seriously like a maze because of all of the additions and changes that were made throughout the years.

view of the city from the castle

Then we went into the city. We headed straight for the Royal Mile and walked to Edinburgh Castle.

 

Another view of the city.....from Edinburgh Castle

We actually went to the castle both days we were in Edinburgh. I love this picture. The kids got along SO well this trip!!

 

We ended our first day by going on a hike that has a spectacular view of the city. You have to imagine, it had already been a long day for us. We started our day at 4am. We had walked around the city all afternoon and now, dinner time (and we are all quite hungry mind you) we start this hike. We had to bribe the kids with ice cream to do it because they were less than thrilled. It was a brutal hike! It was all uphill with no leveling out. My calves were killing me not even half way in. I was getting super exhausted --paired with the tight calves and being hungry it wasn't a fun hike. It's always worth it when we get to the top though and quite rewarding. The girls actually did very good on this hike. After their ice cream they didn't complain once and they were racing us to the top.....and beat us! The girls did some serious bonding on this trip. It was so cute to watch them.

 

 

Close up of the castle from the hill

View of Carlton Hill

The next day we visited the National Museum of Scotland, St. Giles Cathedral, Camera Obscura (an optical illusion museum), Museum of Childhood and hiked to Carlton Hill.

The next day we saw some AMAZING castles. The first one was like from a fairy tale. Just a gorgeous setting. Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven -- Aberdeenshire

She thought she heard a dolphin so she set out to look for it.

We found a cool playground on our way to the next castle so we had to stop to play.

The next castle was Slains Castle. It is an abandoned castle and was a bit tricky to find, but so glad we did! It's another one right on the edge of a cliff with fantastic views. This castle is in Crowden Bay -- Aberdeenshire. It is said to be the inspiration behind Dracula's castle because Bram Stoker visited it frequently.

 

 

 

Then we made our way to our lodge in the Highlands. It wasn't quite what we expected and it seemed to be kind of dirty. Luckily we weren't in it much. It was late when we arrived but we squeezed in a quick hike.

It was a steep and slipper one!

The next day we went on a hike to Steall's Waterfall. It was a fun hike through the gorge and then as soon as you step out of the gorge the waterfall is right there in the distance!

Allie was the smartest of us all and wore her wellies.

 

 

If you wanted to get closer to the waterfall you had to walk across this.

The kids weren't big enough to go across the wire bridge to the waterfall so they tried their best to make a way to get across the river.

 

The next.....and last stop of the day was Urquhart Castle, which is right on Loch Ness.

This girl knew nothing of the Loch Ness monster before this trip and now she is obsessed with Nessie! She kept saying she saw her and wanted us to pull over so she could take a closer look. She also wanted us to take a lot of pictures of her with the loch in the background in hopes that Nessie would pop up and she could make lots of money! haha

The next morning we checked out of our lodge and we saw this on our drive.

First stop was Stirling Castle.

Next stop: Caeverlock Castle

Last stop of the day before continuing home was Hadrian's Wall in England.

Final Verdict: Scotland is beautiful but we probably won't go back unless we have family or friends visit that REALLY want to go there. It's just such a long drive and we actually still like Wales better and it's much closer.

This was the story of our trip: !!!!!!