Something About Scotland

April 9, 2015

We had one week between the end of the term and the start of our adventure. All I remember is that Carol came to visit on Wednesday, and we all went to Costco for an epic shopping spree! WE LOVE COSTCO! It is our official US Embassy. Then Friday, Paul picked up our GIANT van to transport my new PIANO!!!! (It’s a gift from ebay, financed by my parents in honor of my birthday which was in February. My first ever ebay purchase!) Paul was literally gone the entire day, so I had the girls to myself while I made dinner for two families, baked banana bread and a tub of chocolate chip cookies for the trip, packed the bags, and tidied the house. We also made it to the park! For one day, I was super mom. High five, self.

Saturday, March 28
• Packed the car
• Had the most delightful 4 hour drive (including the most amazing nappy change ever accomplished in a moving vehicle). Seriously, the girls were angels!
• Visited Melrose Abbey where we got our Explorer Passes (a great money saver if you’re ever visiting Scotland)

• Made friends with a cute old lady who lives near the abbey
• After a 1 hour drive to Edinburgh, we checked into the Novotel hotel, even though the van was TOO TALL for the parking garage. We parked around the corner, and Paul packed in all the gear.
• Two restaurants turned us away, but we finally got to eat dinner at the hotel next door
• I took Rachel for a quick swim in the pool before bed! Great first day!

Sunday, March 29
• Paul picked up Ben from the airport. Mom, Dad, and Caleb were supposed to be on the same flight, but they had a series of unfortunate events… didn’t get in until later that evening. Wah wah. I got the rest of us dressed, and we took a little walk to let Ben nap for a bit before church.
• Our little family loved roaming around Edinburgh! The castle on the hill is stunning, but every building we passed was equally gorgeous! We decided we love it, and we’re definitely coming back for seconds.

• It was raining, and we got a little lost, so we BARELY made it to church. In fact, the cute little old man with the sacrament waited for Paul to park the car and come in. We made some great friends with a little family who happens to be living there for school. They’re good friends/related to some of our good friends! We ended up giving their family a ride home after church.
• We decided to take naps instead of going on the “Harry Potter Walking Tour”. It’s ok. We’ll go back.
• Ben slept through three phone calls and knocking on the door, so we went to pick up Mom, Dad, and Veep without him. It was a mess trying to find them. Eventually, I ran through two parking lots in the freezing cold to avoid paying the fee for the pick-up area. Haha!
• We got back to the hotel, woke up Ben, and had fun walking around all together. We ate yummy chicken at Nando’s for dinner.

Monday, March 30
• Poor jet lagged family had a hard time getting up, but we eventually had a great English breakfast. Rachel discovered that she LOVES baked beans! I never would have guessed!
• It was the coldest, windiest, rainiest day of the trip, but we managed to enjoy the tour of Edinburgh castle! Loved seeing the crown jewels and walking through the dungeons!

• Went to lunch at the Amber restaurant and Veep ordered the seafood platter. He expected something similar to the breaded, deep fried fish from Louisiana, but the mussels, prawns, and salmon on his plate were practically still flopping around! Haha! Poor Veep. (Word to the wise-never eat at the Amber. It’s a tourist trap.) We learned that a “stovie” is always a solid choice. Best part of eating lunch was running into Brian Vaughn-director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. So random! Who’d have thought we’d be chatting it up in a little restaurant in Scotland?
• We loved walking around the Royal Mile! Saw St. Giles Cathedral, watched a marching band and brigade in the square, got some nice hot chocolate, and explored every alley we could find.

• Ate dinner at the hotel next door and had to wait 90 minutes for the food! We were there over two hours. It was ridiculous. Dad held Alice for most of it, bless him. I had to shovel my food down and take her back to the hotel to put her to bed. Rachel was starving, then finished before everyone else got their food, and she lost her favorite Woody and Buzz figures. Boo.

Tuesday, March 31
• Took forever to pack everything up and get it all out to the car. Paul pretty much did it single-handedly. Rachel loved her baked beans again, and we had a fun little trip to the shop around the corner. I love Rachel time. She wanted to sing “the rocket ship song” over and over. Haha!
• Drove to the William Wallace Monument in Stirling! SO COOL! The sword on display is 6 feet long, and the monument itself is taller than the leaning Tower of Pisa-almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty! Ben carried Rachel all the way up the hill, and we all took turns carrying the babies up the 246 stairs to the top of the monument. Great work out, and great views from the top! It was so windy up there, we could hardly stand up!

• Next we drove to Stirling Castle and ate lunch in “The Portcullis” restaurant. We watched it hail outside, but when we finished eating, the sun was shining! That’s Scottish weather for ya! It was still pretty cold and windy, but we did a little tour of Stirling Castle. The tour guide was rubbish, so our little family went to try on costumes and check out the kids area. Pretty fun!

• We had a nice long drive to Inverness which included a white out blizzard, rain, and sun. We checked into the Kingsmills Hotel-aka HEAVEN! Such a nice place! Each room has a giant spa bathroom, a huge bed and lounge area, plus a nook around the corner with bunkbeds for the girls and their own TV! Paul and I took Mom to Tesco and had fun giving her the British shopping experience. Always an adventure. Dad and Veep took the girls swimming, and we all at sandwiches in the hotel room for a late night dinner.

Wednesday, April 1
• We drove down to the Loch Ness Museum, where they pretty much convinced us that Nessie is not actually real. I still believe though… The gift shop was ginormous!
• Then we skipped down to Urquhart Castle which overlooks the loch. The castle is actually bigger than some of the others, but it’s in ruins. This was probably my favorite castle of the trip! I loved the abandoned feel, and the views were amazing.

• Rachel was having a hard time, so we ended up buying her the “Brave” book from the gift shop. Every castle is now “Merida’s Castle”.
• We drove out to Eilean Donan (pronounced “ai-lan dah-nan”) because we heard it was a must see. We took some great pictures, and it was pretty interesting, but not necessarily any greater than the others. It has a bit more 17th century feel to it, and the family still uses it occasionally for parties/weddings.

• On the way back, we got stuck in traffic for 45 minutes waiting for an accident to get cleaned up. The roads are only one lane, and it took them FIVE HOURS to get the whole incident reported and removed. We had passed the incident on our way out right as it happened, and we couldn’t believe they were STILL cleaning it up on our way home! Crazy.
• We got back to the hotel pretty late, and the girls had HAD it. SO done. We tried to eat dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, but it was a disaster. Paul walked the girls around while we waited for the food to come, and I ate quickly before taking them up to bed. Our distant cousin came to chat while we ate, but I hardly got to meet him with all the chaos. Rachel bumped her head on the table and got a black eye. Paul washed a bunch of clothes in the tub, and we stayed up late finding creative ways of hanging them out to dry.

Thursday, April 2
• Paul finished ironing the clothes in the morning while Veep and I took the girls swimming. It was our last hotel with a pool, so we wanted to take advantage of the situation. We had such a great time splashing around together. Veep was SO good with the girls. He knows how to help without being asked, and he offers to do fun things with Rachel, but he doesn’t bug her if she says “no”. He’s never had little kids around, so I was really impressed at what a natural he is! Makes my heart happy to see how much he loves my girls, and they love him too!

• Had a nice breakfast at the hotel. Tried haggis and black pudding! I don’t know that I’ll ever eat them again… but when in Scotland, you have to try them!
• Ben took forever getting some things sent off for school, so Dad and Veep took Rachel to the park while the rest of us packed the car. We took a nice drive up the coast to Janetstown-just outside Thurso. We were trying to find Williamena’s home-my great great grandmother who joined the church and sailed to America with her family. (Her brother was David O. McKay’s grandfather.) Mom and Dad were just certain we wouldn’t be able to find it since our only instructions were “pass the red telephone booth and a little bridge, take a left on the dirt road towards some barns, and the ruins are out in a field” BUT WE FOUND IT! We met the farmer who owns the field, and we thanked him for not knocking down the old house. Ha! It was really an incredible feeling to stand on that ground. Felt sacred to me. I owe them so much. I feel like I’ve been through a few trials in my life, but it’s nothing compared to what they endured! Grandma Ellen, Williamena’s mother, told her children as they pushed their handcart to Zion, “Sacrifice Brings Blessings.” I believe it. I’m proof of it!

• We drove into Thurso and had THE BEST fish and chips ever. Also the best spring rolls ever. We had fun eating by the harbor and wandering the streets filled with “Mackay” shops.
• Drove over to Kirtomy, where my great great grandfather Angus Mackay lived. There’s not much there-maybe 20 homes and a one lane road by the sea. There’s a home built on Angus’s lot, but we found what we think may have been his barn. He and Williamena grew up only a few miles apart, but they didn’t meet until they had both joined the church and come to America. We talked to David and Carley who live in the house now. Left a Book of Mormon with them.