Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Perspective from Scotland

It has been far too long since I have blogged. Waning interest on my part, routine, fatigue, lethargy, all that... but here I am.
Had the entire month of October off and never before have I had an entire month of vacation. It was busy, it went by fast, but it was great.
Spent three weeks home visiting friends and family, getting things done and not getting things done. Ran a couple of road races, played a little hockey, was able to attend church, and play some music.
We spent the final week of vacation at Pitfour Castle near Perth, Scotland. We drove well over 1800 miles in 6 days. We saw a lot. Scotland is an amazing place and one of my all time favorite places I have seen. That says a lot, because Leslie and I have seen some pretty amazing places in our lifetime.

Pitfour Castle (view from the apartment entrance)
We did a couple of tourist things such as Loch Ness, Uruquhart Castle, the Wallace Monument and even a couple of Scotch Distillery tours. Beautiful locations. We toured ancient churches, villages and towns while driving on the tiny Scottish backroads all the  while learning to drive on the left side... I was at times freaked out by the travel, but with Les' "encouragement" as in, "stop being such a nancy and drive"... we made it anyway...

On the shores of Loch Ness
Two thousand years of history here. Simply amazing. They have hotels 200 years older that America itself...

Uruqhart Castle (Les did some cool things with her camera.)
I enjoyed our breakfasts in tiny villages and roaming the streets in Perth. At times exhausted from travel, but none the less enjoying that amazing country.

Dewars Distillery (This lass has lived within 10 miles of here her whole life.)
Scotland is one of those places I could easily go back to see again. It's not for everyone, but it is for me.

From the top of the Wallace Monument
Les took hundreds of pictures. I had some issues with my DSLR which I did not get resolved until I got back to Jeddah, but it turned out OK. Les did a great job of documenting our trip in photos.

Where my DSLR failed, but look around, who cares?
I could get lost in Scotland. Who knows, maybe someday I will.

My favorite shooting mode (panorama)
More to come.
Again, sorry about not posting in so long. Funny how fast you get into a routine.