Scotland Memories

It’s already been a month now since my mom and I traveled to Scotland for Abby and Hamish’s wedding.  My how time flies!  I wanted to share a few of our photos from our jaunts around the countryside.  We only had a day and half of free time but we managed to pack in a lot of sightseeing in that short time! The flavorful trip was full of laughter and, as with any international trip, curiosities.  We met so many wonderful people, including our fabulous B&B host Douglas.  I managed to not kill us with my driving skills! We had lots of good laughs while finding our way around, driving a stick shift,  on the wrong side of the road.  That little Volkswagen was smoking a few times (not in a good way) but it  all worked out in the end!

On Saturday morning we went to the small neighboring town of Dundonald to check out their Highland Games and the Dundonald Castle. It was a fun day all around. There is something pretty special about standing in a 600 year old stone structure and hearing the beautiful sounds of bagpipes floating over the hills.

It’s amazing to realize how old everything is in the UK.  We New Englander’s tend to think of ourselves as living in historic, long-standing buildings.  We pride ourselves on having 100-200 year old homes and the best antiques in the country.  Then you get to Scotland and realize that you’re standing in a stone structure that was built (God only knows how) in the year 14th century!!!  Yeah.

I was enamored with the sky there.  The light was so pretty and the clouds were always changing.  We found a beautiful old cemetery in Troon just tucked away in the countryside and had fun photographing some of the stones.  We also loved all the cows (if you couldn’t tell from our pictures)! We spent a couple hours shopping and walking around the town of Ayr and then drove out to visit Culzean Castle on the water.  Culzean was incredible and completely different from Dundonald in that it was fully decorated and quite lavish.  You can even have your wedding there today if you want!  I’m pretty sure our tour guide was Rod Stewart.  Seriously.

If you’ve never been to Scotland I would highly recommend it!  Just one bit of advice if you do go:  don’t think about getting your regular cup of brewed coffee anywhere, not even at a Starbucks! And they don’t believe in “cream” for your coffee.  If you ask for “half and half ” they’ll look at you like you have two heads. Besides that, I’d say it’s pretty perfect!

Don’t worry, we were actually pulled over on a “lay-by” here.  I wasn’t driving and posing at the same time!

This was a very special trip and one that we will never forget.  Thanks to Abby and Hamish for getting us there.  Thanks to Mom for being an awesome co-pilot/partner-in-crime/ photographer!

XOXO

~Kate