The time finally arrived to go to Scotland. I have wanted to take this trip for as long as I can remember. My dad served his mission in Scotland for 2 years when he was 19, and I have always wanted to go back with him. Now that both he and my step-mom are retired, I bought them plane tickets along with the boys and I. We extended the invite to other family members, and we ended up with 9 people coming, ages ranging from 6 - 67. It was myself, my boys, dad and Karen (Grandpa and Grandma, in the boys' language), Vanessa, Keagan, Shantell, and Des.
A friend of mine recommended a Scottish singer named Nathan Evans, and the boys have wanted to listen to him non-stop for the weeks leading up to our trip. I also made a Scotland playlist on my phone that we can listen to in our rental car. Our flight to Scotland left Albuquerque at 10 am and landed the next morning in Scotland around 8 am. We had 2 layovers; 1 in Dallas and 1 in London. We gained 7 hours due to time changes, so the flight from Dallas to London was really 3 - 11 pm our time but was through the middle of the night in London time. In other words, we were supposed to sleep during this flight so we could be awake and ready to go the “next morning,” even though we weren’t tired. I had created a little gift bag of fidget toys and drawing pads/pens for the boys that I gave them before the long flight. They already each had a backpack with snacks, headsets, tablets, and switches to entertain them on the flights. They didn’t use them much. I gave them a melatonin on the “overnight” flight, and they fell asleep for about 1 hour but were wide awake after that. It was a battle trying to get them to keep quiet and stop fighting since everyone around us was trying to sleep. That plane ride to Scotland was probably the worst part of the trip. On our first flight they got to meet the pilot and got wings, so that was cool.
We finally arrived “the next morning” and got our rental car. First stop was Loch Ness to try to see Nessie. We visited a gift shop and played at the shore before taking a ferry out on the Loch. As you can imagine, the boys really believe in Nessie and really wanted to see her. We didn’t. We did, however, take some pictures pretending like we did. We also saw Uruqart Castle from the ferry, but we were all so tired and jet lagged that we decided to drive the 3 hrs to our AirBNB at the Isle of Skye instead of go visit the castle on land. I told my family that we have many castles we will see on our trip, so if they didn’t really want to see this one, we didn’t have to. We all opted for sleep sooner than later.
We got to Portree in the Isle of Skye where we would be sleeping the next 2 nights. Shantell and I were the drivers of the 2 rental cars, so we were the ones who weren’t able to sleep on the drives and therefore hadn’t really gotten any sleep in over 24 hrs. Everyone was exhausted and went to bed early. We all slept a long time, and I even woke up the next morning before the boys. That never happens. I always sleep in later than them, but I also go to bed later. We originally had a Seafari boat excursion scheduled for that day, but it got cancelled because of strong winds at sea. I was bummed. I really thought it would be cool for everyone to see dolphins, whales, and other sea animals. It wouldn’t have been a guarantee, but past ones I’ve done in other states/countries usually see something, if not all. While I was sad, this gave everyone more time to sleep in. We all took advantage. Dad and Karen were still in their rooms when the rest of us were awake, so I suggested we go hike the Old Man of Storr. It was only a 15 minute drive from our AirBNB and I knew it would be too strenuous for Grandma and Grandpa. If they woke up while we were gone, they could relax or go walk around the shops of Portree, which is this cute little sea village with a sea port. We were gone over 2 hrs, so that’s what they ended up doing.
Old Man of Storr was a beautiful hike. It was very foggy that morning so I worried it would be too foggy to see the surrounding isle once we got to the top, but by the time we got up there, the sky had cleared and it was perfect weather and view of everything. The hike was too hard for Vanessa and Des to finish, but Keagan, Shantell, the boys, and I made it to the top. Keagan took his shirt off half-way through to cool down, so of course, the boys had to do the same. They are obsessed with people’s muscles, especially Keagans. My theme for the hike was, "you're in Scotland, you just gotta do it." That theme would come true for many parts of our trip. I firmly believe that when you're traveling to another country, you need to do all the things, no matter what it looks like.
We joked that I needed to take some new dating profile pics while there....
When we got back from the hike, we picked up Grandpa and Grandma Karen and went to drive around the Isle and see waterfalls. The first one we found was a waterfall off the side of the road, but I never caught the name. It wasn’t one of the big ones that were a popular tourist site, but we had so much fun. We climbed to the top, which was not high or difficult, and took a lot of pictures of us jumping over the steam leading to the waterfall. We did the angle so it made us look like we were jumping really high. Keagan was the only one who could actually clear the stream.
Next we drove to Lealt Falls, which has an overlook at the top of the falls and down into the Sound of Reasay. We saw a trail you could hike down to the shore, so Shantell, Keagan, the boys, and I hiked down. It was not a difficult hike, but there were these tiny little rock balls all over, so I ended up falling down 3 times. It was like the cartoons where you walk over marbles and fall backwards. I had no control over it. The others teased me but really they were thankful I was showing them where NOT to step. We got the bottom and there was a ruin of an old fish house, for lack of a better description. We walked around the ruins, the shore, and then hiked back up. This hike also gave us our first exposure to midges, which are like mosquitos only much smaller. So annoying. The theme came to life during this hike, too...You just gotta hike down there and see the fish house and the shoreline. You just gotta...
By this point our day was pretty much over. We wanted to get back to Portree and eat. There was a little fish and chips shack where we got our food. Grandma really wanted to try fish and chips in Scotland, and she got her wish. Little did she know she could get her wish every single day of the trip.
The driving to, from, and around the Isle of Skye was beautiful but terrifying. There were sheep and baby sheep everywhere along with highland cows, which are like cows only with long hair. The hills were so green and the lochs were huge and beautiful. It truly was magical. It was also terrifying because they drive on the left side of the road, which are windy, narrow, and without lines or a shoulder, so as cars are coming at you fast, it is tricky to gauge the depth perception from the “wrong side of the road” and stay in your non-existent lane. Oh, and did I mention there are many parts where it is only wide enough for one car, so you had to take turns which direction got to go? We survived, though.
The next morning was the longest day of driving of our whole trip. From Portree to Edinburgh was 6.5 hrs, so I mapped out several stops for us to break up the drive and allow for some sight-seeing. The first stop was Eileen Donan, which is a castle that is in the center of 3 different lochs and is often used in movies. The second stop was a small town for lunch and gas.
Third stop was Stirling Castle, which had actors throughout that were very entertaining and fascinating for the boys. This castle felt more modern and still had a lot of the rooms decorated while Eileen Donan felt more medieval and abandoned. The actors talked to the boys about Unicorns being real and how the King and Queen (Mary Queen of Scots) live in this castle. The boys fully believed they were talking in the current day and kept asking if they would get to meet the King and Queen and whether the actors had ever seen a unicorn. The actors never broke character and shared that the King and Queen were visiting another one of their castles right now, and yes, they have seen unicorns who are very much real. Stirling Castle was probably the most entertaining and engaging castle we visited.
Last stop before arriving in Edinburgh was The Kelpies, which are huge horse heads coming out of the ground. At night, they light up, but since we were there in the late spring and the sun didn’t go down until close to midnight, there was still plenty of sunlight. Still, they are quite a sight to see. They are surrounded by a grassy park and a small pond. It was good for the boys to run around and get some energy out.
We arrived in Edinburgh at our hotel, where we would spend the next 3 nights. Our first day in Edinburgh consisted of the hop on/hop off bus tour to get a lay of the land and see all the main attractions at a glance. We got off at Edinburgh castle and got a ticket for an upcoming tour slot. While we were waiting for our tour time, Jaxton and I were walking to try and see Grayfriar’s Kirkyard when we saw some vendors letting people hold their owls for a payment. We did it. Jaxton didn’t want to at first because he was scared, but the vendors were so friendly and convincing, and once he saw me do it, he got a little braver. First, he held a tiny owl that looked like a baby but really wasn’t, and then he got brave enough to hold the bigger owl. Zayden was with Shantell and Des at some other shops because he had gotten mad at me for something I can no longer remember, but it might have had something to do with him refusing breakfast at the hotel and then wanting me to buy him food instead of waiting for lunch. He was just fussy and I didn’t have patience for it. He kept doing his push/pull thing where he tries to get my attention and then when he has it he changes his mind and walks away, so I let him. Unfortunately, his moody behavior made him miss out on the opportunity to hold an owl, which was a super cool experience.
Our time slot arrived to tour Edinburgh castle, so we did that. It was probably the largest castle so far. A lot of area inside the castle walls and between buildings while also having a lot of buildings themselves. We got to see the Queen’s crowns, the prisoner quarters, and a lot of other cool things.
After the castle, Grandma and Vanessa went to make purses at a local shop while the rest of us planned to hike to Arthur’s Seat. Keagan didn’t want to eat the lunch we found, so he left on his own to find a Popeye’s Chicken or McDonalds. We decided to go to Grayfrier’s Kirkyard while we waited. We found Tom Riddle’s grave, which inspired the Tom Riddle in Harry Potter book series. We also learned about Bobby the dog who went to live at the graveyard with his owner, but the owner got sick shortly after moving there and died. The family the boy was living with contacted the boy's parents to pay for the dog to return, but the parents didn't want the dog, so it was a stray and was fed by all the neighbors and especially a nearby butcher shop. When the Bobby wasn't searching for food, he was known to be sitting by his owner's grave. Bobby lived 12 years after his owner passed away and stayed close to the grave the whole time. Tourists now leave a stick or a bone by the Bobby's grave. By the time Kegan got back, everyone was too tired to hike Arthur’s seat, so we decided to do that the next day.
That night Shantell, Des, Keagan, Vanessa, and I did a ghost tour, which included their underground vaults, which is called Mary King's close. It wasn't the scariest ghost tour I've been on but it's tradition and we do love experiencing ghost tours.
The next morning some of us went to hike Arthur’s seat. Shantell, grandpa, the boys, Des, and Keagan. Grandma and Vanessa knew they didn’t want to and walked around to some shops. When we got to the bottom of the hike, both Des and Keagan decided they didn’t want to do it, so it ended up being the 5 of us. It wasn’t a strenuous hike, per se, but for grandpa who is almost 67 years old, it wasn’t easy. He was determined. We took a lot of breaks and went slowly. The boys went up ahead and basically climbed up the face of the hill instead of following the trail. It was good for them. It allowed them to get out some energy and feel adventurous and brave. They kept yelling down at us and waving. Jax was the ring leader and Zayden kept wanting to turn back. It was an interesting switch of characters because usually Jax is more cautious and Zayden more adventurous but not this time. We made it to the top,and I was so proud of grandpa. This was an important feat for him. While up there, he shared that when he was a missionary 48 years ago, his mission president took all the missionaries up there and re-dedicated the land of Scotland for missionary work. It’s rededicated and not dedicated because back in the early days of the church when missionary work first started, the first missionaries in Scotland hiked to the top and dedicated the land, so this was a rededication. It was a great experience to share with Grandpa. I don’t think the boys fully grasped the significance of the experience, but I hope that someday they will. Having served a mission myself, I can appreciate the sentiment that this moment carried for Grandpa. The view was also beautiful. It overlooked all of Edinburgh and part of a nearby loch.
After hiking back and meeting up with everyone’s, we did some shopping and grabbed lunch. Grandpa had arranged to visit a family from his mission that lived just an hour outside Edinburgh. Since we had 2 cars, I drove grandpa out to see them along with grandma and the boys. Shantell, Des, Vanessa, and Keagan stayed back and did another ghost tour. The drive out to grandpa’s friends proved to be similar to all our driving thus far, full of the boys bickering and fighting. They were really great on the trip, minus times they had to be idle/bored such as driving and plane rides. When we arrived at the house, I pulled the boys aside in the driveway and told them that this visit was very important to grandpa and he hasn’t seen his friends for 48 year so they need to behave and be respectful. I warned them that this wasn’t a visit where there would be a lot to do for them. It will be all of us talking in someone else’s house, but they needed to be ok with that. They did really well overall. Zayden really involved himself in the conversations and was fascinated at how short the lady was. This family was an older couple in their 80’s who grandpa knew and who grandpa had to stay with for a short time while he was sick. They kept offering the boys “biscuits,” which were cookies. As we were getting ready to leave, Zayden kept giving them hugs, maybe 4 or 5, and Jax followed suit. The couple kept saying what sweet and loving boys I have. The couple followed us out to our car and kept coming over the window and talking some more. We all said goodbye at least 10 times. I could tell that grandpa along with them really enjoyed the visit. Zayden is usually not that affectionate to strangers, so I asked him as we left why he gave them so many hugs. He said that he thought they would be sad grandpa was leaving. It was very sweet, and I was very proud at how well they behaved and allowed grandpa to have his moment.
The next day we drove to Cairgorn National Park to do reindeer feeding. The website warned about rough terrain and needing either hiking boots or rain boots or you’d be turned away. Grandma, Grandpa, and Vanessa didn’t want to do it, so the rest of uf did. It ended up being beautiful weather with clear skies, and since it had been clear skies all week, the ground was dry and easy to walk on. No hiking shoes needed. The hike to the reindeer was more of a walk across grassy knolls with a small part that was uphill on a trail. They could have all done it, but hindsight is 20/20. It was fun and the reindeer came right up to us. There was one that had such huge antlers. They don’t fully know why its antlers grow much larger than the rest, but it was significantly larger. There were also a bunch of baby reindeer but we couldn’t feed them because they were not on solid food yet. The hill was a grassy noll that was also on a decline, and there were time the reindeer would be running somewhere and seem like they were going to run you over, almost like they had momentum and couldn’t stop. One time a reindeer was running toward Zayden, and he screamed so loud and ran the other way. It was hilarious.
After the reindeer feeding we went to small town nearby for pizza before driving up to our next step, which was a very small town named Rothes near where one of the Highland games would be had. This was probably the smallest town we had been to. It was a distillery town, so it smelled of beer and yeast. We decided to walk around the town that evening and found a park for the boys to play. After the park, we walked along a trail and found a tire swing. The boys had a great time in that.
At our hotel, which was more like an annex to a small building, both Shantell and I had eerie feelings and thoughts. As I was falling asleep, I just felt “off” like it was haunted. Shantell felt the same. The most weird thing was that as Zayden was trying to fall asleep, he kept saying his hands were tingly and they wouldn’t stop. He kept complaining that it was because he had a tick from the reindeer feeding (we briefly talked about ticks while around them but I checked them for ticks when we got to the car and again before showers that night), so I just chalked it up to him being a hypochondriac. The next morning, he was still complaining about his hands being tingly. Shantell decided to google our hotel and found an article about it being haunted, and several stories were shared about guests feeling “quivery” or an “energy” while there. Maybe that’s what Zayden was feeling. I, of course, didn’t share any of this with him. We will wait until he’s older. This hotel was so old it literally had the old-fashioned keys where you could see through the key hold.
The next morning was the Scottish Highland games. This was our 7th day in Scotland, and it was the coldest. The other 6 days were magical weather, no rain, clear skies, warm. Today was cold and overcast. While it only sprinkled briefly, it was a chilly day. Jackets didn’t quite stop the chill from piercing into our bodies. Regardless, it was a neat experience. There were field events for athletes to compete in, like the hammer throw, tug-o-war, and other events I don’t know the name. There was a stage where local kids would have dance recitals. There was a portion where pipes and drum bands would take turns playing. Bagpipes could be heard all day long. There were dog shows and renaissance shows with jousting and sword fighting. There were also craft tents set up for vendors to sell things. It was a wonderful experience, despite the cold.
After the highland games, we drove to Elgin, which was the area that grandpa spent most of the his mission. We were able to find his old apartment, which was back in an alley way and had weeds growing out of the ground in front of it, making it look like no one had lived there for quite some time. The alley way was next to a Chinese restaurant that was the same one from when grandpa lived there 48 years ago.
We drove to see the church building, which was so tiny that we drove around the block 3 times before spotting it, even though it was literally right there in plain sight. Next, we went to Elgin Cathedral, which is now a ruin and had a cemetery. Grandpa never visited while a missionary, so that was a really cool sight to see.
It has the Biblical gardens right across the street. Since we were early Spring, all the flowers hadn’t blossomed yet, but it was still a beautiful gardens. This was our last night in Scotland, so we drive back up to Inverness to our last hotel, so we could fly out the next morning. Shantell, Des, the boys, and I walked to Indian food while the others went to McDonalds. I love that my boys will eat most foods.
Something sweet to note is that Zayden’s teacher asked me to send her pictures so she can put together a slide show for Zayden to share with the class, so everywhere we went, it was, “Mom, take a picture for my teacher.” Jaxton followed suit, even though his teacher didn’t ask for it. They also wanted to send their teachers post cards, so they each wrote a very simple note and we mailed postcards to the school. They were so excited to share their experiences with their teachers. For souvenirs, Jaxton got a stuffed highland cow named Finley, they both got action figure knights in shining armor, and they both got soccer uniforms “kits.” Jaxton got Finley because I paid them each $40 to run to a certain spot of our hike at Old Man of Storr, but they each started losing money with bad choices, and unfortunately, Zayden lost all his while Jax had $20 remaining and chose Finley to spend it on.
Unlike the flight to Scotland, the boys actually slept on the flights home, which meant I was able to sleep. I think they were sufficiently exhausted. We arrived home around 2 am, so i was going to play the next morning by ear to decide whether to send them to school, but they were up and at em ready to go see their teachers and classmates.
