The Last Crusade
By far my favorite family activity is aroad-trip through the Scottish Highlands. In August of last year wehad such an enjoyable trip to the Isle of Skye that we made sure torepeat it at least once before moving home.
The week before flying home we did afive day trip from Aberdeen to Skye, following the northern coastlineall the way west. It was a fantastic trip and a great way to endour assignment. The highlights are as follows:
Day 1
The Falls of Shin just north ofInverness were our first stop. The recreation area built around thefalls included a large kid’s play area in addition to a nicerestaurant and gift shop. This seemed to be a common theme inScotland – just about every attraction you may visit will beaccompanied by a kid’s play area and “tea room (cafe)”.
The falls weren’t all that spectacular,but it was a good opportunity to get out of the car and walk around.
About halfway between Inverness andWick (our destination for the first night) is the majestic DunrobinCastle. A lovely castle right on the coast overlooking the ocean andsome of the best gardens we’d seen.
We had driven past Dunrobin before, buthad not taken the tour. This time we took the tour and it was wellworth it.
Our final stop for the first day wasJohn O’Groats. The most northerly “settlement” of mainland GreatBritain. At the far edge was a large light house sitting atop tallcliffs.
Cape Wrath – the most north-westernpoint of Great Britain. The Cape is large chunk of land secured formilitary testing (bombs and training). To get there we had to take a“ferry” (I put that in quotes because it was really just a smallmotor boat) and then a 90 minute bus ride. The bus ride was a nailbiter – our driver was fighting with his dog the whole way. Atfirst he had let the dog roam free telling the kids not to pet him orhe may bite. He later tied him up – while driving. And thiswasn’t a wide highway, we were on a pencil thin one-lane two-way roadcurving on top of steep hills.
The Cape is the most remote part ofGreat Britain, there are no inhabitants and the lighthouse iscompletely automated. We took some amazing photos, crawling over tothe edge of the largest cliffs I’d seen yet.
We met one of the other families on thetour who turned out to be American/LDS as well. So we chatted withthem on the way back (they had two kids Kalani’s age).
Smoo Cave wasn’t far from the Capeferry so we made sure to stop there on our way out.
That night we stayed at theKinlochbervie Hotel, which had an incredible view of the ocean. Kinlochbervie is one of the many small middle-of-nowhere villages onthe west coast. The hotel seemed to be family-run, a young brotherand sister checked us in and waited on us at dinner. The dining roomoverlooked the ocean and had a very welcoming feel with a lounge areaand board games (which we enjoyed playing while waiting for ourorder).
Day 3
The Corrieshalloch Gorge is one of themost amazing natural wonders I’ve ever visited. Our cameras did notcome close to capturing the awe of the 150 ft falls below us on thesuspension bridge. Yet another example of the manyfree-entry-low-traffic-sites dotting the countryside. People oftenasked us if we spent much time traveling around Europe during ourassignment – the truth is that Scotland had more than enough tofill our weekends and vacations. We didn’t even venture south ofEdinburgh during our stay.
Inverewe Gardens overlooking Loch Ewetake advantage of the warm gulf stream to grow plants from all overthe world (even palm trees). We had a nice family walk while touringthe garden and the obligatory tea-cafe-dinner at the visitor’scenter.
I’ve really enjoyed all our B&B’s(Tia’s done a great job finding the good ones), but I think BruachArd at Inverasdale was my favorite. It had the most scenic view yet,overlooking Loch Awe on a clear spring day. Inside we had the familyroom all to ourselves for the evening (which included a nice warmfire, a TV, and two couches overlooking the loch). Kalani watchedThe Hunchback of Notre Dame while Tia and I read books on the couchby the fire as the sun set.
Day 4
We had visited the Isle of Skye shortlyafter arriving in Scotland last August. I had been itching to returnever since, and we were finally back! The first time we had touredaround the northeast part of the island, and this time we covered therest. It wasn’t as nice and green as it was in August, but it wasstill worth it.
Dunvegan Castle was our first stop. Dunvegan is the seat of the Macleod of MacLeod, chief of the ClanMacLeod. It is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotlandand has been the stronghold of the Chiefs of MacLeod for nearly 800years.
Inside the castle wasn’t much differentthan the many others we’ve visited. The highlight of this visit wasthe seal tour we took behind the castle. Out on a small motorcraft aguide took us to visit the nearby seal colony. We came within armsdistance of several groups of snoozing seals. They were quite calmand showed no fear. Kalani really enjoyed the ride and liked thebaby seals.
Our B&B on Skye was called Carter’sRest. It was spacious and modern – the first B&B of our tripto not only feature wireless internet, but they also provide a laptopin your room to use! Like Kinlochbervie and Bruach Ard, the view wasspectacular.
Sunday morning we made the trip fromthe western part of Skye all the way back to Aberdeen on the eastcoast. That particular latitude is probably the widest part ofScotland, and we made the coast to coast journey in roughly six hours– a stark contrast to the United States.
The next morning we boarded a plane forHouston (via Amsterdam), ending a year of treasured memories, 1000+photos, many family getaways, and a 10 minute walk to work! We hopeto have similar assignments in the future…
If you’re interested in the beautiful Scottish countryside, I have tagged all our “scenic photos” as such (click link to view)
Reading LifeHacker.com today I came across a free web-based-photo-scrapbooking-ish-thing called 
At work we’ve made it a practice on our team to take turns presenting lunchtime “Brown Bag” sessions on various technologies of interest. Usually the topics involve something work related which can be applied somewhere on our project.
