Highlands -- the drive!

To continue on the Highlands adventure, we headed up to Inverness... yes, the home of Nessie!  :)  Along the way we stopped where we could and took pictures.  Seriously, it was so beautiful and amazing that you literally lose your breath.  It sounds completely cheesy, but it's true.  If you want to see the craziest, most beautiful nature scenes... come to the Highlands of Scotland.  Here are some pictures from the road.  The pictures don't really do it justice... 

 A loch and snow-capped mountains...

 Dunstaffnage Castle

(there are so many castles! we passed about 10 of them on the drive)

 Loch & mountains behind the castle

 another view behind the castle...

 waves

 I love nature!!!

 backside of the castle

 Dunstaffnage Chapel

you guessed it... more lochs & mountains :)

Highland trip -- Oban

I actually rented a car and drove in the UK, if you can believe it!  It's not hard driving on the opposite side of the road, or on the opposite side of the car... the hard part is driving down narrow, tiny lanes which would sometimes turn into a 'one car only' road.  So needless to say, it was very interesting when you ran across another person on these roads.  I was white-knuckling it the whole way... but I survived!  :)  I can safely say that I will not be renting a car for here for a LONG time.

We started out by driving up to Oban, which is on the west coast.  So pretty!  I wish that I could have taken pictures, but I was driving. I'll have to steal some from my friends.  Here are some pictures that I did manage to take from Oban.

The city of Oban... I'm not sure what that structure is

up there, but it looks cool!

 The 'horseshoe bay' at Oban

 More bay pics...

Oban

Dodgy looking hotel (we did not stay there)

This may not seem exciting, but I haven't been to an actual

supermarket in forever!  It was so big and beautiful!  It made my day.

The main reason for going to Oban was to go to the whisky distillery there.  Well, we didn't get to Oban until 6pm on Friday, and the distillery closed at 4pm.  Nice!  We didn't plan the trip out very well, but we still had fun.  Basically we had some dinner, went to a pub, went to bed, and then headed out early the next day for our next adventure.  To be continued...

Crazy hair...

We look like wild women!  Mary, Gretta and I went up to Highlands for a weekend adventure, and this was on our boat trip on Loch Ness.  We kept trying to take a good picture, but as you can see it was a little windy.

 This is my favorite.  It looks like I tried to do this.

 Gretta looks like Cousin It.

Gotta love that wind blown look!

More pictures to come...

Foggy day in Edinburgh

The February weather continues...

Usually you can see the street, museum & bay from here.  Not this morning!

It looks kind of cool, though.  A little creepy!

Oh yeah, prepare to be jealous!

I bet you're wondering... 'What is that crazy, amazing mug that Maureen is drinking out of?'  Well, I will answer that question for you!  It is the first of many cheesy things that I will be purchasing over the next couple of months.  That's right... this mug is an official 'Royal Wedding Mug' for William & Kate.  Ha!  It's too funny... and I completely love it.  My friend Gretta picked it up for me when she was down in London over the weekend.

My tickets are booked, and I will be heading down there for the royal wedding.  I'm still convinced that my invitation has not made it in the mail yet, but regardless, I will be standing outside with the masses to watch someone drive by that slightly resembles royalty! :)

I think this is only the beginning of my collection.  I see tea towels, magnets, and many knick-knacks in my future!  Be afraid... be very afraid!

So THIS is Scotland...

Yes, I feel like I have officially met the true Scotland.  When you think of Scotland or the UK, you probably think of gloomy, rainy, dismal weather.  Well, my friends... that is what we have now.  I've been over here for over 5 months and the weather really hasn't been too bad.  That has now changed.  We finally got our first official thunder storm, which only lasted about five minutes.  You think that you wouldn't miss weather like that... but it's nice to have a proper thunder storm -- complete with thunder AND lightning!  :)

I have been told that February is probably the one of the worst months in Scotland.  Constantly raining... and raining ALL day instead of just the little bursts that we have been getting.  Yesterday it started out with rain, then switched to so much snow it looked like I was in a snowglobe, then to sleet, back to rain, and then sunny skies for the rest of the day.  What is going on?  I can't handle this country's bi-polar weather tendencies.  So needless to say, you need to prepare for anything.  Umbrella... check!  Scarf... check!  Hat (just in case the wind is too strong to hold an umbrella in the rain -- which is pretty much every time)... check! 

I just need to keep thinking that it's going to be Spring soon!

Chinese New Year!

I went over to my friend Cerise's how to celebrate the Chinese New Year last night.  It was so much fun!  She made so much food, and it was delicious!  She gave us each a traditional red envelope with some Tiawanese money in it for good luck!  She also wrote our names on it in Chinese!  They're so pretty... apparently my name is Jasmine Jewel. :)  She also gave us a pretty set of chopsticks! Good food, good friends!  So needless to say, it was a great night.

 Nazym, Cerise, me, Simone, Dasha, & Gyte

 Cerise & me... with my red envelope! :)

 Yummy food!

So pretty!