Scotland!
We woke up in Edinburgh when the train guy knocked on our door to deliver our coffee and orange juice. We were all a little tired and disoriented and a little loopy. Cook, picking through the luggage in the very small compartment, held up a pair of pants and said thoughtfully "These are not my pants." He paused, studying them, and said "These ARE my pants." and then he put them on while the rest of us giggled helplessly. We got some breakfast (and learned that Skipper doesn't like scones, which is problematic) and then walked up Calton Hill to see the city before going to pick up the rental car.
This monument includes a quote from Hugh MacDiarmid about "Scotland's hidden poo'ers" which we refused to read with any seriousness, found completely hilarious, and took every opportunity to quote for the rest of the trip. Tourists.
This is Cook driving the rental car across the Firth of Forth. I was pretty worried about the whole driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road thing, but it turned out that Cook had no trouble managing that at all - the problem is that rural Scotland has verrrrrrry narrow roads with no shoulder and LOTS of sharp curves and insane speed limits, and I was terrified all the time. But we did not die. So it turned out okay.
We got groceries* and went straight to Crail, a village in the East Neuk of the Kingdom of Fife, which are all words I really enjoy saying. Crail is charming, and avoids being over-run with tourists presumably only because it's slow and terrifying to drive there. (Also, parking. In Scotland, parking is just anarchy. In Crail, I was told by two separate people that we could park wherever, in whatever way - angle, parallel, either direction...)
The girls often had awkward sleeping arrangements on this trip, but this was the one that pissed them off the most.
St Andrews! (I actually did climb this tower, but only by chanting "You are brave and strong! You are climbing this scary staircase and you are brave and strong!" all the way up and down. I'm a lot of fun.)
Next was Pitlochry, where we walked up to the Black Spout waterfall and then ate fish and chips for the first time. This is where Skipper learned about nettles. Nettles in Scotland grow about as tall as Skipper, and since she continues to have weird proprioception challenges (or just be careless - it's hard to say), she frequently blundered into them, with painful outcomes.
We also visited the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore. Duchess, who brought the Wee Free Men trilogy along, was very pleased to see some coos.
They had a school. Skipper and I both very much enjoyed writing with quill pens.
Skipper with nettles, expressing her feelings about them. She threw up in the car once** and we vengefully emptied the bag into a stand of nettles.
This was a hands-on activity where you could try to build a cruck cottage. Mostly what we learned in this part of the site was that living in the Highlands in the 17th century was dark, cold, smoky, and wet. I spent some time imagining living in a place like this reconstructed village all my life, and never leaving the 25 square miles in which I had been born.
Next was Glen Coe. This was very atmospheric, as it was drizzling and misty. In this photo, I am explaining how very atmospheric it is.
We climbed the Devil's Staircase, which is actually a very well-built and easy trail suitable for climbing with whiny children in the rain. As we approached the top, and the rain started getting real, we saw a sign that said "Tuck Shop 100m" and then, at the top, we saw the Tuck Shop. We also saw what I'm pretty sure would have been a spectacular view.
We stopped in Bridge of Orchy to pee and drink hot drinks. I have learned that if you ask for "cocoa" in Scotland, they stare at you in confusion and eventually when you describe the thing you want, they say "Oh! You mean hot chocolate!" (This happened twice, so I assume it's the absolute truth.)
*Groceries: I bought candy and biscuits at every store. I strongly believe that Hobnobs are The Perfect Food.
**Skipper gets motion sickness really easily. (Hm. I wonder if that's associated with her proprioception problems.) We collected every airsick bag we could find on Icelandair for just this purpose, because at this point we just assume she's going to barf. She threw up three times on the trip, including once on the actual plane. We're saving the remaining bags for car trips at home!
This monument includes a quote from Hugh MacDiarmid about "Scotland's hidden poo'ers" which we refused to read with any seriousness, found completely hilarious, and took every opportunity to quote for the rest of the trip. Tourists.
This is Cook driving the rental car across the Firth of Forth. I was pretty worried about the whole driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road thing, but it turned out that Cook had no trouble managing that at all - the problem is that rural Scotland has verrrrrrry narrow roads with no shoulder and LOTS of sharp curves and insane speed limits, and I was terrified all the time. But we did not die. So it turned out okay.
We got groceries* and went straight to Crail, a village in the East Neuk of the Kingdom of Fife, which are all words I really enjoy saying. Crail is charming, and avoids being over-run with tourists presumably only because it's slow and terrifying to drive there. (Also, parking. In Scotland, parking is just anarchy. In Crail, I was told by two separate people that we could park wherever, in whatever way - angle, parallel, either direction...)
The girls often had awkward sleeping arrangements on this trip, but this was the one that pissed them off the most.
St Andrews! (I actually did climb this tower, but only by chanting "You are brave and strong! You are climbing this scary staircase and you are brave and strong!" all the way up and down. I'm a lot of fun.)
Next was Pitlochry, where we walked up to the Black Spout waterfall and then ate fish and chips for the first time. This is where Skipper learned about nettles. Nettles in Scotland grow about as tall as Skipper, and since she continues to have weird proprioception challenges (or just be careless - it's hard to say), she frequently blundered into them, with painful outcomes.
We also visited the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore. Duchess, who brought the Wee Free Men trilogy along, was very pleased to see some coos.
They had a school. Skipper and I both very much enjoyed writing with quill pens.
Skipper with nettles, expressing her feelings about them. She threw up in the car once** and we vengefully emptied the bag into a stand of nettles.
This was a hands-on activity where you could try to build a cruck cottage. Mostly what we learned in this part of the site was that living in the Highlands in the 17th century was dark, cold, smoky, and wet. I spent some time imagining living in a place like this reconstructed village all my life, and never leaving the 25 square miles in which I had been born.
Next was Glen Coe. This was very atmospheric, as it was drizzling and misty. In this photo, I am explaining how very atmospheric it is.
We climbed the Devil's Staircase, which is actually a very well-built and easy trail suitable for climbing with whiny children in the rain. As we approached the top, and the rain started getting real, we saw a sign that said "Tuck Shop 100m" and then, at the top, we saw the Tuck Shop. We also saw what I'm pretty sure would have been a spectacular view.
We stopped in Bridge of Orchy to pee and drink hot drinks. I have learned that if you ask for "cocoa" in Scotland, they stare at you in confusion and eventually when you describe the thing you want, they say "Oh! You mean hot chocolate!" (This happened twice, so I assume it's the absolute truth.)
*Groceries: I bought candy and biscuits at every store. I strongly believe that Hobnobs are The Perfect Food.
**Skipper gets motion sickness really easily. (Hm. I wonder if that's associated with her proprioception problems.) We collected every airsick bag we could find on Icelandair for just this purpose, because at this point we just assume she's going to barf. She threw up three times on the trip, including once on the actual plane. We're saving the remaining bags for car trips at home!
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