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.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Vacation in the States nearly done...

Real mixed emotions here. Last full day in the States before heading to Scotland via London. Had a great time at home and running around visiting family, friends and neighbors. This visit has reinforced my resolve to finish out the contract and get the farm paid for. It will be worth it. The weather here at home has been amazingly warm. Not the usual Minnesota fall weather... No complaints. We even had some rain and clouds and that was even nice to see for a change.
Doing some last minute repairs and prep around the house and then heading out tomorrow evening.
More on Scotland as time allows.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Looking forward to some vacation...

Not much happening that is worthy of report.

We are just about three weeks away from a HUGE vacation. We have pretty much the whole month of October off... cool stuff. Not much of an agenda for the first three weeks. Heading home and prepping the farm for winter. However, that last week we will be staying at the Pitfour Castle in St. Madoes, Scotland near Perth.

Pitfour Castle
 I mean, if you stay in Scotland, why not make it a castle...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitfour_Castle

Seeing Scotland is something I have wanted to do as long as I can remember. Needless to say, I am pretty wired about this trip.

The following link is for 6 Pitfour Castle (apartment 6). We are staying at 4 Pitfour (apartment 4) and they look much the same I am told.

http://www.sixpitfourcastle.com/

The castle will serve as our jumping off point for day trips...
Can not remember the last time I was this fired up about a vacation.

The Main Staircase at Pitfour

Our pics to be posted in November after our return.