Day 12- October 25th

Today was the most perfect of days, one of the very best of my life. It's hard for me to describe what I was lucky enough to see today. The weather was varied: in the morning we had mist and fog, the afternoon was warmer and the sun was out, the early evening was windy and chilly. But there were no overcast skies, no rain- not even a drizzle- to spoil my peftect day. At one point as drove along the side of Loch Lomond and listed to the song with the same name I was near tears, overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty around me. If I have a checklist of places I was to go or things I want to see, there are a lot of checkmarks now. As I woke this morning I felt happy and excited about today, nothing could upset me- I wouldn't let it! I had breakfast downstairs at 7am and I knew that was it was going to be a great day because we had pastries on the buffet! The day started out sweet. I happily marched up the bus steps, greeted Andy, and sat in my seat determined not to doze off today. It didn't take long from Glasgow to hit the first of the Lochs- Loch Lomond. Our day was to be pretty flexible, we weren't going to have a major lunch stop so we could stop often for photos. Our first such stop was at a national park at Loch Lomond and I climbed up some steps out to an overlook for a better view. The morning mist was still lingering over the water. While admiring the view a small bird with a vivid orange chest came along to greet us. I managed to get a picture of the bird. All too soon it was time to leave, back on the bus to drive through more gorgeous scenery. You could hear soft "wow"s coming from various people in the coach and I knew that I wasn't the only one affected by the land outside our bus windows. Loch Lomond is quite large and no sooner had we reached its end then we were at the beginning of yet another Loch. Our next stop was at Glencoe and along the way we heard the tale of the slaughter of the MacDonalds by the Campbells, both by Doug and by song. Glencoe is in a valley and the colors here were nothing short of autumn magic. Our first stop at a town is in Fort William. There is no fort left, but I was excited to stop here nonetheless. It was a nice little town and I did a bit of shopping here. I picked up a thistle earring and pendant set for myself, a bookmark for Tif, a pillbox with a triskele on top that matches my neck tattoo, and a Scottish Gaelic-English dictionary to complete my collection. We are off again and Doug tells us that we are very lucky today as he can see the peak of Ben Nevis. As we departed from the hotel earlier in the morning Doug told us that we had a 1-in-6 chance of seeing the peak as it's usually covered in clouds. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain on the British Isles at 4406'. As today is my perfect day it was only fair that Ben Nevis didn't hide from us. We stopped for some photos at a place that had a monument for the Commandos who had died in WWII. I could see the peak of Ben Nevis, but the mountain was far away and my photos weren't especially clear. Off we go again, this time alongside Lake Linnhe and then Loch Lochy. I was able to take photos of both lochs. Our next stop was at Fort Augustus, which, like Fort William, also has no remaining fort. The south end of Loch Ness lies in Fort Augustus! Audrey and I again didn't feel like wasting any precious time getting food and took off to get some pictures. We walked down to the docks and had some excellent views of the loch. I tried to be all artsy taking photos of a boat that was docked there. Then we walked back to the town to get postcards. I popped into the tourist info center and along with my postcards I got a pop-up book about Scotland for my nephew. We only had about 40 minutes here altogether. Terry and Marcia had gone to get food when they got off the bus and it took so long to prepare that they didn't get their food until it was time for us to go. They were pretty mad and ended up breaking one of the rules and bringing it on the bus. I contented myself with an apple and some shortbread for lunch. We continued our drive around Loch Ness while Doug gave quite a bit of information on probably the most famous of the Lochs. At it's deepest Loch Ness is 846' deep! The loch is covered in peat along the bottom which makes the loch very dark. Because of this there is very little marine life as it is difficult for even the bottom of the food chain like plankton to exist. This is one of the reasons why an animal(?) as large as Nessie would not be able to exist in Loch Ness. Loch Ness is 23 miles long and it took some time to travel alongside its banks. We stopped at one point along the loch to see Urquhart Castle. We next stopped briefly in Inverness, the most populous city in the Highlands. I was able to get a photo of the castle here as well as one of the city itself. My only wish for the day was that we could have spent more time in Inverness. However, this time of year our biggest battle is with the length of time we get to spend in daylight and we were headed to a place I was very anxious to get to- Culloden Moor. All throughout the day Doug had been telling about the history of Scotland, leading up the rising of 1745. I was well versed in this bit of Scottish history, but it feels reassuring to hear it again and know that it didn't get messed up in your head. When we arrived it was pretty windy and thus, a bit chilly. Audrey and I ran off again for photos. Audrey has become my constant companion lately and we've had nice conversations. I've felt mostly like a big sister to her and can tell that she looks up to me. Suddenly it hits me, I'm here, I'm standing in Culloden Moor. For the second time today, I have tears in my eyes and I make another checkmark. I sit in the heather, lacking it's beautiful color this time of year, and soak in the atmosphere. Finally, I get up as there isn't much daylight left and I want to get in some more photos. As you walk around the grounds, which were replanted to look as it would have 250 years ago, there are gravemarkers made of stones here and there to mark the places were mass graves of clans were buried. Just as it's time to go, I turn around and get one last shot of the moor, catching a flag waving in the distance. I dash into the gift shop and pick up a small book about the Battle of Culloden, a thistle ornament, and some postcards. We are off again, heading to our hotel in Aviemore called the Macdonald Resort. I'm rooming with Kellie tonight. After checking in, Kellie and I walked down the main street in Aviemore, checking out some of the stores, and then back to the hotel for dinner at 7. For my starter tonight I had the choice of lentil and vegetable soup, some sort of herring dish, or chilled melon. I chose the melon and it came with a raspberry sorbet, but the sorbet was actually a bit spicy. Main courses were a selection of ham steak, swordfish, or stuffed zucchini. I really didn't want any of them as I'm a picky eater, but ended up choosing the swordfish. It was ok. Dessert was a choice of fruit salad, raspberry mousse (raspberry is a popular fruit in Scotland), or a lemon souffle. I chose the lemon souffle and it was pretty tastey. Afterwards I went back to the room, showered, wrote some postcards, and then lights out. Tomorrow we are off at 9 for Edinburgh.

Hotel: MacDonald Highland Resort. Our room was actually very small, there was barely room for our suitcases. I'm nearly positive that my single room at the prior hotel was larger than the room Kellie and I had. Also, there was some sort of party or something downstairs and it was VERY loud and lasted longer than I would have liked it to. The resort is quite big, with many buildings and a small shopping mall. There is a huge pool with one of the biggest waterslides I've seen not in a waterpark.






MORE PHOTOS!!