United Kingdom - Day 11

We woke up and got ready, put our luggage outside and headed for breakfast. Cole and Reagan were in heaven b/c the restaurant had a hot cocoa machine. See a theme here? Hot Cocoa all the time, everywhere for everyone. It actually was one of the best breakfasts that we have had on our trip. It was a big breakfast area with big windows. Love it! 

After breakfast, we went and packed up our day bags and headed for the coach. Unfortunately, Reagan and I bumped on our way out of the room and spilled hot cocoa on her new, white shirt. We hurried and washed it, but it was soaked. All the luggage was already on the coach, so, she put on her sweatshirt and we headed to the coach with a soaking wet shirt. Ugh! 

During the time that Reagan and I were dealing with her shirt and the bags, Cole and steve went outside our hotel and took some pics. We were right across the water from the BBC Headquarters and there were other interesting looking buildings. 

We traveled about an hour to Gretna Green. This is a place in Scotland where couples would come to get married because they could marry at 16 without parental consent and anyone could marry them, so, it didn’t need to be in a church by a priest. The first stop across the border into Scotland was the Blacksmith, so, the Blacksmith’s shop became a tradition place for marriages. Now, there are over 3,000 weddings here a year (enough for every citizen of Gretna Green to marry twice). It was a cute, little town and we walked around and bought some souvenirs.

Then, we were back on the coach and we crossed the border back into England. We had a beautiful drive through the countryside. 

We went to a working farm and had a long lunch. They walked us around the farm. He had his sheep dog herd a bunch of sheep over to where we were.



He had fox hound dogs and then sheep and goats and puppies and cows and ponies.



More sheepdog puppies - Reagan and Cole were in heaven!!!!!

In addition to puppies, there were all sorts of animals to look at, touch and play with.

The farmer also had a herd of big bulls. They had long horns and were different colors. I joked with Reagan and Cole that the blonde-ish one reminded me of the Scottish bull on that movie Ferdinand. He had long hair that went over his eyes and he couldn't ever see. Plus, he had a Scottish accent. Pretty appropriate since we are in Scotland.

I'm sure that life here is complicated in that there are so many animals to care for and so many things to do, but in another way, it was simple and quiet and natural. It was wonderful to walk around the farm.

After we had seen all the animals and walked around the farm, we went in and had a 3 course lunch. It was so good. Steve and Reagan sat down but didn’t realize that others were sitting down and, before they knew it, there were no more seats at the table. So, Cole and I sat at another table with a group from Australia.

The food was great and we enjoyed it. There was SO much food!!! Afterward, Cole - of course - headed back out to see the animals. We finally tore him away to get back on the coach.

After that, we drove through the Lake District (a National Park – the most visited in the U.K. and is the most mountainous region in the country – and also has most of the significant bodies of water. Only one is called a lake – the rest are mere or tarn or water.). It has lots of flora and fauna as well as the red squirrel and gold eagles and Herdwick sheep. I was noticing all of these walls made from stones. They were everywhere. I don't know if they are dividers like a property line divider or to mark off a particular pasture for one set of animals. They went for miles. I can't imagine making these walls, but someone obviously did. The scenery here is so beautiful.

Then, we hit Liverpool. We only had an hour and so, we were on a dead run to get to what we wanted to see. We were disappointed as we had been originally scheduled to spend the night here. However, when we met Brooke on our first day, we learned that there had been some mix up with the hotel and we were now only stopping in Liverpool and then heading on to Chester where we would spend the night. Adding to that is the fact that somehow today, we got behind schedule and so now, we only had one hour to spend. This may have been the city that Steve most wanted to visit, so, to only have an hour was a huge let down for him. He was walking around angry, but we could only do what we could do. We hit The Beatles Experience first. It was basically a gift shop of Beatles memorabilia. They had some cool stuff. Reagan and Cole each bought a keychain and Reagan bought an umbrella and Cole bought a 3D picture of the famous picture of the Beatles walking across the road. It was cool.

Then, Steve wanted to take a pic with the statue of the Beatles. It was in a completely different part of the waterfront. So, we booked it down there. We took several pictures between the pics that this Asian lady took. I swear that she did the same pose with the same sunglasses on five different times – not sure what was different in the different pics, but ….. alrighty then. 

After that, Steve asked a local guy where the Cavern Club was that the Beatles used to play in. It was a 15 minute walk and his directions were a little hazy, but we booked it up the street away from the waterfront. We saw the Cavern Pub which was the sister club to the Cavern Club. We took some pics and then headed across the street to the Cavern Club. We went down three flights of stairs to the club. There was a band playing and it was LOUD!!!!!

I guess the Cavern Pub serves food while the Cavern Club is just music and drinks. Yep – just tables and a band and a bar. Steve took a ton of pics and then we climbed back out of the cavern. 

Then, we booked it back to the coach. Steve was so glad that we were able to do all three. I could hardly believe we made it – especially since we didn’t really know where the club was. We made it back to the coach with a few minutes to spare.

Then, we drove a few minutes to the cathedral. We had a super quick stop. Basically, we hopped off the coach, snapped a few pics and hopped back on. I guess this is the longest cathedral in Europe and it was really big and was made from the red bricks that are all around Liverpool.

After that, we headed out of Liverpool to Chester. We are so delayed that it was frustrating. We had originally planned to meet up with our friends the Coulsons in Liverpool. We saw them last year when we were here – we actually spent the night at their home in Long Eaton. Steve taught them when he was on his mission back in the day. We’ve kept in touch and this trip, Liverpool was going to be the closest we would be to them. Well, then our trip was changed and we weren’t staying in Liverpool – we were staying in Chester. They switched their plans to meet us in Chester (still a couple of hour drive for them). Originally, Brooke said we would be in Chester between 6 and 6:30 and that our group was being given a 3 course dinner at the hotel as compensation for the mix up on the hotels. Well, as it stood, we were just going to skip the group dinner and meet up with the Coulsons. We ended up getting into Chester at 8. Ugh!!! They had been waiting for us for hours and we made them wait even longer. We had told them earlier that it was such a bother for them to see us for just a little bit, but they insisted they wanted to come. Then, Linda Shepherd (whom Steve also taught while on his mission) and her husband wanted to come along, so, they all carpooled together and spent time in Chester while we were traveling there. We felt so badly to have made them wait. We were so excited to see them though.

Our group was scheduled to have dinner at the hotel restaurant that night. We had decided to just eat dinner with our guests at the hotel restaurant. Well, turned out that by the time we arrived, they had eaten already and the restaurant was completely full - no room for our guests. So, we decided to just forego dinner and sit in the bar area to chat with them. Well, the amazing people at the restaurant brought our dinner out to us in the bar area. They were so kind. We treated our guests to some hot chocolate and ice cream. We chatted for a couple of hours and introduced some of our tour companions to our guests as they all left the restaurant and headed to their rooms. Eventually, Reagan and Cole started falling asleep in their chairs. We sent them to bed and Steve and I continued chatting with our friends - after all, they had driven such a long way. It was wonderful to see them and to get caught up.

Whew - what a day. Well, every day on this tour can be described that way - what a day!!! We are over half way through our trip and loving every minute of it!!!!!

Here is the map of the UK that includes our travels yesterday, today and tomorrow.

United Kingdom - Day 10

Happy Birthday Steve!!!!!!

We got up and headed down for breakfast – everyone on the tour sang Happy Birthday when he walked in. It was fun. After breakfast, we had a bit of time before we had to leave. Reagan and Cole played pool at the hotel and looked out at the beautiful scenery. After that, it was time to go. We boarded the coach and headed out – the staff at the hotel lined the driveway and waved as we drove away.

We stopped at a WW II Commando Memorial and took some pics. It was raining hard and crazy windy. I swear, even though we had umbrellas, after that, my hair was ruined for the day. Ugh! 

Our next stop was in Fort Williams. We had an hour and a half to walk around (there was only one main street), but we were early and most of the shops weren’t open yet. We walked down to the end of the street where there was a grocery store. We bought snacks and soda because Brooke said that we were going to have a late lunch on the boat today. We looked for a kilt for Cole (Steve is convinced that Cole needs to wear a kilt and dance at our group dinner.) but were unsuccessful. After we had shopped all we could, it was still rainy and cold, but we had another 45 minutes to wait. So, we went to the coffee shop and ordered 4 hot cocoas. The large was only 30 pence more than the medium, so, we ordered larges. The guy behind the counter asked “Are you sure?” We said we were sure and we bought two muffins and got whipped cream (well, Cole didn’t) and marshmallows. Love it. Well, they were HUGE!!!! We had to use two hands to pick up the hot cocoa mugs. Crazy. Some of our travel companions came in and just laughed at us with these huge hot cocas. Oh well – we were cold and we love hot cocoa. Eventually, it was time to head to the coach. We got on, but two ladies were nowhere to be found. Brooke went looking for them and wasn’t really happy about it. Turns out that they thought we were leaving a half hour later. Oh well – we got on the road and on our way.

Then, we hopped back on the coach and stopped at this beautiful, roadside place where you could look out over the landscape and see green, rolling hills and rocks and waterfalls. Just gorgeous. We took pics there. Cole was funny b/c he grabbed his camera, his Instax camera and his iPad. I asked why he needed so many cameras and he said that he loved the view and wanted it on all of his cameras. Beautiful pics.

We drove for a while longer and then stopped at Loch Lomond. We boarded a boat and had already made our lunch orders, so, we had sandwiches while we drove across Loch Lomond. Good thing we had picked up soda and Pringles at the grocery store b/c it rounded out our lunch on the boat. 

It was cold and rainy and windy on the top level, but Cole didn’t care. He kept going up there and then coming back down. Eventually, the sun came out for a bit and we could go up to the top deck. We saw the biggest Haggis factory and some castles as well as the location of Rob Roy’s cave.

After our boat ride, we traveled further down from the highlands to head to Glasgow. We stopped at a cathedral (super old, but still a working church). 

They have crypts and choir areas, lots of stained glass and carvings. It is amazing to think that in the 1200s, they could build something like that with the tools they had at that time. We really enjoyed that. We hit the restrooms and headed back to the coach.

They took us to George Square, which is the main square in Glasgow. We walked around the square and took some pics. Then, we headed to a statue of the Duke of Wellington. Brooke said that people regularly put hats on him or decorations and that there are always hats next to the statue so you can put a hat on and take a pic with the Duke. I didn’t see anything noteworthy, but it reminded me of the dinosaur by the Sinclair gas station in draper. He is always dressed up for whatever holiday it is.

The duke’s statue is in front of the museum of modern art, so, we decided to go in. Exhibit 1 was a big room with huge pillows in the middle and two enormous screens on either side of the room. People were laying on the pillows, so, we chose a pillow and decided to lay down. The audio of the film was a guy talking about Asian islands and describing them, but the videos on the screen were opposite of what he was talking about. He would say “the natives here are wealthy and dress in fine linens.” Then, the video would be of dirt poor people, dressed in rags and washing an item of clothing on a rock. The narrator would say “The water here is cool, clean and clear” while the video on the screen would be of gross, polluted water. Very weird. After a while, they came in and said the exhibit was closing down.

We had 15 minutes until the entire museum closed down. I asked an employee what he would recommend we see since we only had 15 minutes. He said “Exhibit 4 for sure!” We climbed 4 flights of stairs to Exhibit 4 and were totally confused. There were three white forms (they looked like Playdoh had been played with and set down on a table. There was a plastic scoop of ice cream in a glass box. Then, there was a huge, orange foot. It was stuffed, but covered with pleather or vinyl. Just weird. I seriously don’t get how anyone can think that’s art. Well, that was a waste of our time. 

We headed out of the museum and up the street. We saw an Apple Store! Yay! So, we went in there for a while. I checked out the new Beats wireless headphones and Steve and the kiddos walked around looking at things. We left and walked further up the street – it was a shopping street. We shopped a little and then went to the end of the street where there was a concert hall – cool. We hit H&M and the Vans store and a shoe store and a kilt store. (Cole is still uncertain whether he wants a kilt or not. As fun as it would be to see him wear one here, I don’t think he would actually wear it at home and I don’t know how much he would wear it outside of Scotland. Plus, they aren’t cheap.

Eventually, we headed back to catch the coach and we went on an optional dinner at a cute restaurant called Enzo. We had pre-ordered our dinners, so, we didn’t wait that long, but Cole didn’t love it. He had ordered chili, but it ended up being a scoop of beans over a bed of rice – that’s it. So, he ate some of mine and some of Reagans and even some of Steve’s.

When they brought out dessert, they brought Steve’s on a piece of slate that had frosting or something spelling out “Happy Birthday”. Our group sang to him again and we had our dessert. It was nice.

Then, we headed back to the hotel and this was my favorite hotel yet. It was a large room with plenty of space to open our bags, great light in the bathroom, awesome water pressure in the shower, comfortable beds and our room was adjoining with Reagan and Cole’s room. That way, I could check on them and not have to get dressed just to go and wake them up. Great plugs, cool enough – awesome!

We gave Steve our cards, wished him a Happy Birthday and hit the sack. I have been getting up 2 hours before we have to put our bags outside our doors, so, I am SO exhausted each night. I crashed today.

United Kingdom - Day 9

We woke up, got ready and went down for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed out for a loop of the Scottish Highlands. We first hit a monument to a guy who helped the Scottish battle for independence. It was a really tall monument right next to the water. In the background were mountains coming together to form a valley. In the background was a house with smoke coming out of the chimney – simply beautiful.

Also – supposedly they filmed some of the flying scenes in Harry Potter right there. Plus – the bridge that the Hogwarts Express goes on is right behind the area where we were. We took some pics, looked around and grabbed some hot cocoa before boarding the coach again and heading to the next stop.

At this point, we got on a ferry (we got off the coach and walked onto the ferry, but Gary drove the coach on to the ferry). We had a 30 minute or so ride on the ferry and then arrived on the Isle of Skye. 

Our ferry ride was VERY windy. Cole and I headed inside to get out of the weather, but Reagan was eager to explore, so, Steve went with her to visit the different floors of the ferry and to take some pictures. 

The scenery was beautiful. We stopped for lunch at a little café. It’s funny how things are different. For example, French fries are called chips and potato chips are called crisps. So, we ordered something that said “Hamburger, salad and chips”. Well, the chips were French fries and the “salad” was the piece of lettuce and slice of tomato that was on the burger. Oh well – as long as we know what we are doing – right?

It started to rain again while we were having lunch. We ran to the coach and then continued driving on the Isle of Skye. We took the bridge back over to the mainland and then continued driving through Scotland. 

We stopped at a place where there was the Ilean Donan Castle on an island out in the sea. Brooke said this was said to be the most picturesque castle and that it was on the most postcards and cookie tins (as compared to any other castle). There are like 750 castles in Scotland, so, that’s quite an accomplishment.

Once again, it started to rain. We didn't care, though. It is so beautiful here.

We stopped next at Culloden battleground where there was a battle because many Scottish leaders refused to pledge allegiance to England’s leaders. It was ok – just a big field, really. 

After that, we boarded the coach and headed back to the hotel for dinner. The scenery here is so beautiful. Even in the rain, it was gorgeous to see these green, verdant hills pass by as we rode on our coach.

Our last stop of the day was at Loch Ness. Yes - the Loch Ness where the Loch Ness monster is reported to have been seen. There was a cafe and gift shop. We got some ice cream and walked around a bit. They had a statue outside of Nessie - the Loch Ness monster. Cole and Steve took some pics and tried to play some jokes on Steve's mom :) 

Back on the coach, we headed for our hotel. We had pre-ordered our meals, so, it didn’t take as long, but there weren’t great selections. Reagan had the pork chop, Cole had the venison burger (they quickly traded when they received their own meals). Reagan took one bite of the burger and almost gagged. So, she ate the potatoes and the veggies. None of us ordered the trout and I had ordered the Veggie Wellington. It was mushrooms all chopped up and baked in a little pastry. Ugh! Steve and Cole ate their pork chops, but didn’t love them. Reagan and I went to bed hungry that night. Oh well – there will be a nice breakfast in the morning for us. 

I had to include a pic of Cole's stuffed animal, Junior. You'll remember that Cole acquired Junior at the World Trade Center Memorial Site. He was a puppy search and rescue dog. Well, he joined us on this trip. In the hotel we spent our last night in, Reagan and Cole had an unusually huge room. They actually had three beds in their room. When I went to check on them, I noticed that Junior was in his own bed, tucked in very nicely and his backpack was sitting on his bed. So cute. Well, the next morning, I went to check their room after everyone was getting on the coach. Everything was out of Reagan and Cole's room except for Junior who was still in his bed. I grabbed him and was the last person boarding the coach. As I was headed down the aisle of the coach to our seats, Cole was frantically running up the aisle. He had just remembered Junior. Lucky for him, I already had him. Since we were WAY up north in the Scottish Highlands, it would have been extremely difficult to get Junior back to us if we had indeed left him. Cole was so embarrassed that he had forgotten Junior - albeit temporarily. After we left, Cole proceeded to fall asleep on the coach as we drove through the rain :)

Another quick note, I thought I'd include a pic of the map that our guide gave us. Gary (our coach driver) was kind enough to mark up our map with different colors on the route that we have driven each day. It's crazy to look at how far we have traveled each day.

United Kingdom - Day 8

It's Father's Day!!!! We couldn't be happier to be celebrating Father's Day with Steve in the UK.

We woke up and put our bags out into the hallway and then went down for breakfast. We ate and then came back up and packed up our day bags and headed down to the coach. Our first stop was at St. Andrews. We had an hour and a half to spend there. We walked on the famous St. Andrews old course – said to be the first golf course in the world. They say that golf was invented there and that the course in St. Andrews was the first golf course in the world. It was very pretty. 

It is also right on the ocean. So, we went around and went to the “beach”. Cole thought he could find some crabs in the rocks at the edge of the water. Reagan just wanted to climb on the rocks. We chatted with some people from our tour for a bit. Then, we headed down to the sand. Reagan and Cole each grabbed some shells that they wanted to bring home.

This is the same beach where they filmed the scene where they run on the beach in the movie Chariots of Fire. Steve wanted to run on the beach with Reagan and Cole and have me film them in slow motion on my phone. We did that and it turned out great. 

Then, on the coach, they showed the film clip from the movie where the men are running. Reagan and Cole had never seen it, so, it made our running slow motion make more sense. We continued driving north on the coach. We went through Jedburgh.

Our next stop was in Pitlochry. We had lunch in this little town. We went with two other couples from our tour and went to the restaurant that the tour guide recommended. Unfortunately, Cole’s salmon salad came out with a bug on it. Then, he didn’t want to eat anything else, but we sort of made him eat some of our lunch so that he wouldn’t be hungry for the afternoon.

Some of the members of our group joined us on the bus for an optional tour of Blair Castle. It was built in 1269 and is has the only private army left in the U.K. It was a beautiful, very ornate castle with tons of things to look at. The Earl of ….. lives in South Africa and only comes there once a year for a ceremony. They had weapons and furniture and tapestries and china and bedding and all sorts of things to show what a wealthy family would have lived like in previous centuries.

The white covered bed in the collage above is the bed where Queen Victoria slept when she visited Blair Castle. They have kept the room as it was when she visited. The Castle was SO ornate and seemed to be decorated top to bottom with hunting items, trophies, and other decor.

They even had a play yard area outside the Castle. Cole was thrilled to be able to run and climb and play for a bit. After all, most of what we do on this tour isn't exactly athletic. Reagan joined him after a while and we had to drag them away when it was time to go.

While we were on our tour of the castle, the coach went back to the town of Pitlochry and picked up the rest of our group. Then, we continued north to the town of Laggan. 

We checked into our hotel (more like a bed and breakfast) in a completely remote part of the Scottish Highlands. After only 30 min of rest, we headed out to another optional experience. 

We went to the farm of a shepherd. He has 30 or so sheep dogs and he showed us how the dogs herd the sheep. Each dog has a set of whistles that is just for him. A certain chirp or whistle for going right, another for going left, another for stopping the sheep, another for letting them go, another for laying down, etc. It was amazing!

He had a puppy who is only 11 months old and the puppy is already learn to drive the sheep. The puppy was mischievous while we were there - love it!

The shepherd sent off a dog and he ran up and over the hill. About five minutes later, the dog was driving about 20 sheep back to the shepherd.. all by himself. 

Then, the shepherd had one of the dogs drive the sheep through the trees in the background. He said they can drive the sheep through gates or whatever is needed. They are super talented.

Then, he grabbed a sheep and used shears to cut off its wool. He let others help. Cole went and did it and so did Reagan. Then, Steve went down to shear the sheep. 

After that, he showed us little sheep dog puppies that are 30 days old. They were so little and so cute. Cole fell in love. He said that he starts to train the dogs at 10 months old. Crazy! Everyone loved the puppies. 

The puppies were already starting to learn the shepherd's commands. Smart little puppies!!!

Cole could have stayed there for a week. He LOVED those little puppies. Reagan (and everyone) liked them too, but Cole was completely smitten. He was smiling the entire time.

Everyone was holding the puppies and passing them around. It was fairly cold. One that Reagan was holding was sort of whimpering. I don't know if he was cold or scared or what - it was adorable.

After an hour or so, we re-boarded the coach (oh – and we had front row seats on the coach today – we rotate 2 seats every day, so, everyone has a chance to be at the front.) and we headed back to the hotel. We had about a half hour to freshen up and then it was time for dinner in the hotel. We sat with some people from Tennessee. The food was great and then, we headed up to our rooms by 9:00 to hit the sack. Another fun filled day in Scotland.

While we were at the Shepherd's place, Steve saw a gorgeous rainbow over our coach (which coincidentally had a rainbow on it). He had seen it when we were driving and tried to get a pic. Love it!!!