I’m not sure
there is anything
more heartwarming
than seeing
the pride
and love
that a father has
for his child.
Happy Father’s Day
and thank you.
I love you daddy.
On the morning of our fourth day we headed over to the local river to watch the wild salmon travel to their breeding grounds.
There is a big dam in Pitlochry, and the salmon are able to get past it by traveling down a series of locks. The locks are pretty great because they allow you to see the salmon close up.
It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the fish were really big.
Every now and then we let the little ones have some fun too. :)
FYI: My one year old nephew has figured out how to climb up 5 foot ladders so that he can go down the big kid slide. He does it all by himself.
I think it means he’s a genius.
His mother thinks it means he’s a nightmare.
And then there’s the older one. When she grows up she’s gonna be an acrobat. Or a princess. Whichever one allows you to wear the most sparkles.
EDINBURGH
We spent our last day and a half in the capital of Scotland: Edinburgh. We were all pretty blown away by what a beautiful city Edinburgh is.
The castle is huge,
the town is easy to navigate and has tons of interesting little details,
and the architecture is absolutely stunning.
All in all, it’s just a great city to explore.
We all agreed that Edinburgh is one of our favorite European cities.
We really loved exploring the city. I would definitely recommend coming to Scotland, it’s beautiful, affordable, full of really interesting history, amazing architecture, and the people are extremely friendly.
For you Harry Potter fans: this is the cafe that J.K Rowling would sit in while she wrote the first couple Harry Potter books. They are very proud of the fact.
So here’s an interesting story that I know some of you have heard:
In the 1850s, a police constable named John Gray owned a little Skye terrier named Bobby. The two were inseparable until early 1858, when John Gray died of tuberculosis. Bobby attended the funeral and, after watching his master be buried in the ground, lied down on the grave and refused to leave. For over a decade little Bobby could be seen sitting on his master’s grave- leaving only to make his daily rounds to get his supper from the local merchants who, inspired by his loyalty, took it upon themselves to feed him. The faithful dog soon became famous throughout Edinburgh, and even Queen Victoria came to visit him once. Fourteen years after his master died Bobby passed away, and less than a year after that a fountain with a sculpture of Bobby was erected outside of the graveyard.
I find it both depressing and fitting that the advertisement for Pink’s British Summertime line is a long sleeve shirt and sweater.
We started our third day in Scotland in a beautiful little city called Inverness.
(Allie wanted to touch the water- not quite sure this was what she had in mind)
Inverness is right on the water, and we had heard that you can see dolphins playing about- but unfortunately there weren’t any about when we were there.
Next on the agenda was exploring the area of Speyside. Speyside is famous for their scotch whisky- and so we spent the rest of the touring three different distilleries.
We went to Benromach, one of the smallest distilleries, Glen Moray, a mid-sized one, and Glenfiddich, which is one of the largest in the area. The tours were really interesting and the boys especially had a great time. We all know the proper way of drinking a good scotch (a hint- add about 1/2 a teaspoon of water to the drink, it kills the bite and lets you taste the flavors)
These beautiful yellow flowers are part of the Rapeseed plant. There are tons of these planted around the UK and it makes the fields so beautiful in the springtime!
That night we stayed at a little town called Pitlochry. We were walking back to our B&B after dinner and these guys went past!
Just an average night in Scotland, I suppose.
The map of the day:
1. Inverness
2. Benromach Distillery
3. Glen Moray Distillery
4. Glenfiddich Distillery
5. Pitlochry for the night!
