Scottish Highlands

First up was a drive through whiskey country: Speyside malt whisky trail. It was great to see the different distilleries and unique chimneys that give them their flavor (along with the barrels they are stored in). What's a visit to Scotland without seeing Loch Ness? Robert claimed to see 'Nessie' several times as we drove along the famous lake, but you'll have to check the pictures for yourself. Next we drove across the country looking at many different lochs (lakes) and great landscapes (see this video)on the way to the Isle of Skye (the great glen and glen sheil were terrific). Skye is a beautiful area with lots of one lane roads, coastline views and cute sheep, but we didn't see Dolly. The next day we drove on the Road to the Isles and enjoyed the craggy landscapes and wastelands of the Scottish interior at Ben Nevis and Glencoe - it was really beautiful.

Along the way we learned many things about Scotland. The history of Scottish clans, their tartans and kilts - Thompson has several - were very interesting (although we got no firsthand insight into what they wear under those kilts). We learned about haggis, tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips), thistles, Shetland ponies, Scotch Ale and Scottish highland cattle too. No information was forthcoming about Scottish Terriers or Scotch eggs or our favorite Scottish beer, Gordon's which apparently doesn't exist in Scotland because we couldn't find it anywhere. Did I forget to say something about golf? Yeah, they invented that too - St. Andrews was really the only thing we wanted to see, but just didn't have the time. See all the great pictures here.