Highlights from the Highlands

Thursday, June 9th-Sunday, June 12th: Weekend trip to the Highlands and Isle of Skye

We have been gone traveling so much that I am WAY behind on blogging! I haven’t had a computer for 4 days while we were traveling around. I’ll try to just pinpoint some of the trip highlights, and add pictures for enjoyment =) Over this past weekend alone we traveled over 1000 miles! We sure have been blessed to see so many different areas of Scotland, and had absolutely beautiful weather the whole weekend!
Thursday, June 9^th, 2011Unfortunately I woke up this morning really sick. It ended up being so bad that I wasn’t able to go to school to teach, which was really disappointing. It was an awful time to be sick, as we were leaving that afternoon for the Highlands/Isle of Skye. I went back to bed for 3 hours, and slept until we left on our bus! Here are some of the main stops we made along the way:

*Our first stop was Loch Lomond, then a cute town called Luss, and after that, we visited Saint Conans Church

Unfortunately, I was feeling so sick that I only went in Conans Church for a few min, and then went to sleep in the bus until we were ready to leave. It was about a 6 hour drive to the hotel, but we made many stops along the way. Despite being sick, I immensely enjoyed the beautiful scenery!
I really enjoyed our stop in Luss. It was an adorable little town! We also made a great stop at a beautiful waterfall in the Highlands:

Once we got to the hotel (which was adorable, and looked like a castle), we had dinner, and then spent the night in Fort William. I took some medicine and went to bed early, hoping I would feel better in the morning

Friday, June 10^thI still wasn’t feeling too well when I woke up this morning, but my body aches were gone, so that was something to be thankful for! We had an exciting day! Here are some of the highlights:

Riding the Harry Potter steam train

*Arrived at Mallaig

*Lunch at the Garden Resteraunt, amazing baked potato and peppermint tea! Sat on couches overlooking the city:

*After a delicious lunch and walk around town, we took the Ferry to Armadele, Skye

*After the Ferry, we took a bus to my favorite place we stayed this weekend (MacKinnon Country House Hotel). It was just the cutest little place! While we were there, us girls went exploring, and danced in the field...a true Scotland experience!

And  this, was my absolute AMAZING dinner we had at our beautiful hotel

After dinner, we really dipped our feet in the Scotland culture and went to a bagpipe competition. I won't say it was the most exciting thing I've ever experienced, but I was thankful to have the opportunity to  go. Definitely a once in a lifetime event!

On our way back from the bagpipe competition, we stopped to take some pictures by the water. It was such a pretty night, and we were fortunate enough to catch a BEAUTIFUL sunset!

Saturday:*I Woke up on Saturday to and discover I was covered in 18 ticks! It probably had something to do with mine, Laruel, Katie, and Mellisa's wood exploration the day before. Just a crazy start to a crazy busy day in touring around Protree, the Eileen Donnan Castle, and Northern Skye!

Sunday:*Today we drove to Inverness, stopped and had lunch, and then went on a tour to see Nessie, the infamous Lochness Monster! We even got lucky and spotted some Highland Coo's! After a day full of adventure and sights, we drove the long 6 hours back to our home away from home, the Carronvale.

As you can see, it's been quite an eventful weekend! These pictures and posts are just a tip of the iceburg. I am finding more and more just how little justice the pictures I take can really do to show the beauty of Scotland and the surrounding areas. It truly is something everyone needs to go and experience for themselves!