Searching for Nessie...

Afternoon, friends! I am writing to you this lovely, lazy, Sunday afternoon with hope for an easier week this week. For those of you who have been following things, we announced this week our move from Aberdeen to Anchorage, Alaska. Since then, we have been busily preparing ourselves mentally for the change, as well as getting things in order for it. This week, too, found Aubrey finishing school for the semester, and found me engaged in my very first car accident. :-( So you can see why I am hoping for an easier week this week. :-)

Fortunately, this week should be a fairly easy one. I have the entire week to wash and pack our clothes for our upcoming vacation around Europe which begins this next weekend. I hope to have time while we are touring to update you on our adventures. For now, though, I promised a bit about our recent trip to Inverness, Scotland, the famed home of Loch Ness and its mysterious monster.

We drove up to Inverness on a Saturday morning, taking in the sites and a bit of shopping at a local shopping center. There we saw the most beautiful, and freshest strawberries I have ever seen. I suppose that is because the strawberry patch was just down the road from the market. :-) From there, we ventured to Cawdor castle, a still privately owned castle. The lady of the house actually still lives there 6 months out of the year. I am sure if we had looked hard enough, and knew what she looked like, we would have seen her there. The tour was quite entertaining, as the room notes has been written in a quite cheeky manner by the late Laird Cawdor. It was the first castle we had seen that had a secret dungeon built into it. A very cool site, indeed. I just wish they had allowed us to take pictures inside. :-) This castle also had some gorgeous grounds, and even had a hedge maze, though it was closed to the public.
After we finished our tour of Cawdor castle, we ducked into a wool shop on the castle grounds and there I bought Bryson his very own Cawdor tartan kilt. I guess that makes him a clan member, now. :-) I've yet to dress him in his new duds, but rest assured when I do, there will be pictures a plenty!

We finished our day with a drive about Inverness, where we stopped downtown while Brian, Aubrey, and Bryson took some photos of downtown Inverness from a footbridge over the River Ness.

On Sunday, we departed our hotel early and set about on our search for Nessie. We drove around the massive and mysterious lake, shooting alot of beautiful pictures. Unfortunately, we did not spot Nessie in the Loch, but we did stop off and enjoy an interactive tour of the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster at the local visitor center. I even took some pictures of some interesting facts for you to read...

Our final stop was to Urquhart castle, an ancient runied castle located on Loch Ness. The views here were astounding, and the castle itself was amazing. Brian told me it was his favorite castle visit to date. Before heading down to the castle, Aubrey and Bryson played on a Trebuchet replica on the grounds where Brian gots some really nice pictures of the kids. From there we found our way down to the Loch's edge where castle Urquhart sits. Since an ancient ruined castle isn't very stroller friendly, Sadie and I found a nice sunny spot to sit, appropriately so, in the castle kitchen, while Brian, Aubrey, and Bryson ventured to the top of the tower and around the rest of the castle ruins. We finished our castle visit with a late lunch in the castle visitor center tea room and then journeyed our way back to Aberdeen where we all found a good night of sleep after a very busy weekend!

Brian got some really wonderful photos of this weekend trip, but the only ones I had to share were from my camera, so I apologize for the quality. I just wish you could see how amazing Scotland is for yourselves! Perhaps you can plan a trip to the Highlands one day, as we did on our adventure to Inverness....