If you follow me on Instagram, much of this will be a repeat with maybe some slight changes/additions in photos, but I have a few people who have been patiently waiting for these because they aren't on IG or facebook. So, sorry it's taken this long!
Great Scotland Road trip Day 1: Traffic was a beast but we still made it to Edinburgh in time to hike Arthur's Seat. It was pretty steep so I wasn't sure if we'd all make it but Norah hung in there and we were rewarded with some amazing views. And then since this is hiking with actual children, we also had to take some pictures of them sitting on a rock they found that looked very similar to a toilet.
Norah was a bit scared at the top - and we were very high so I don't blame her! I was wishing the other kids were a little bit more nervous about getting close to the edge. And I've very glad I didn't know that the policemen weren't normally up there but were there because there had been a recent incident leading to a young woman's death. Sounds like they think it wasn't a complete accident but I was still glad to only hear about that after we were all safely down at the bottom again.
But the views were really amazing!
Day 2: Edinburgh's Royal Mile. Walked part of the mile to get to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was okay but Jude wasn't in the best of moods. He wanted to be a cat and kitties don't sit in a stroller or get put in a carrier, they crawl, but crawling and sightseeing is difficult.
Eventually he settled on being carried in my arms while I pet him so we could see the crown jewels and great hall then the sights of the royal mile (Bagpipers! Live owls! Stuffed Nessies!) distracted him.
Then lunch and a nap and out again to tour the palace with a much happier Jude. And he loved having something with buttons to occupy him even if he was never listening to the right room at the right time. The palace was my highlight of the day - full of history and beauty with a great kids audio tour. Jonah particularly liked the ghostly bloody spot on the ground.
Spotted another one!
Jude got so excited about the mushrooms he actually smiled in a picture!
The Folk museum was pretty cool with my favorite section being the 1730s village. A bit of Outlander was shot here so now I've got to go preview YouTube clips of that episode to see if I can find any that are suitable for kids....maybe if it's a super short one ;-) One of the reenactors showed us how she was dying wool with rosehips and we've got some bushes nearby so who knows what ideas the kids will come up with now!
Day 4: Busy day - luckily we started with Full Scottish Breakfast to fill is up. Most of us even tried blood pudding. I thought it was tasted okay but mentally unpleasant. Jonah LOVED it but even his enthusiasm couldn't get Norah and Lucy to give it a try.
Then we were off and running - Clava Cairns and the Culloden Battlefield and Museum were our morning stops. The Cairns didn't take long but I find all the ancient things that align with the sun fairly interesting.
The museum was really interesting and set the stage well. Battlefields aren't generally my thing (sorry dad!) but this one does have a feeling to it, especially with the clan markers.
We had enough extra time to stop and go down to the waters edge at Loch Ness but as soon as Jude noticed the monster was missing (we showed the kids the Disney Nessie short right before we left so the first thing he asked about in Edinburgh was "where's the monster?"), he was more interested in the rocks than the views.
After lunch we did Urquhart Castle. It took us a good 10 minutes (and 4 smooshed pennies from one of those machines) to get out of the gift shop but eventually we made it to the beautiful views. The weather was really cooperating with us today.
Lucy even got inspired by the view and did this watercolor for her room. I think it's lovely.
Then I actually added something to the itinerary with an impromptu stop at the Loch Ness center to learn about Nessie bc kids wanted more of the cliche stuff. It's definitely skippable if you're pressed for time but we enjoyed it and it was surprisingly scientific, covering hoaxes and eye witness accounts and errors along with different ways people have tried to explore the loch and solve the mystery. Plus it had my name on a coaster so it gets points for that.
Then we had our two hour drive to the next stomping ground with some of the best views I've ever seen. Add in some Peter Hollen's Hobbit music and the pumpkin spice latte has a run for it's money for fall feeling inducer. Alas, about 15 minutes from our final destination for the day, there was an accident that causes a road closer. The thing about the highlands is that there aren't tons of road options which meant our detour was about 2 hours long. But we regrouped, found a chippy with nearby picnic tables and ran out some energy. Then I am happy to say that all the attitudes were much improved and we made it those extra few hours just fine. And while I highly recommend trying to avoid multiple hour detours that keep your kids up past their bedtime, if you have to, the highlands is the place. It's so beautiful that I didn't even try to take pictures because it's not the same. I wish I was better at the Charlotte Mason picture taking exercises because I want to remember some of those scenes for the rest of my life.
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