Scotland Day 3 - Highlands here we come
Day 3 was devoted to driving North to find our fishing spot. We decided that we should see some of the countryside on the way so we took the long way up. First on the list was Stirling so that we could see the castle and the William Wallace monument (if your paying attention, you already knew that). That's the castle pictured above. I probably enjoyed this castle more than I did Edinburgh. Edinburgh was nice if you like "fancy pants" castle living, but Stirling was definitely more of a battle castle. The slits you see in the side of the castle are places for shooting arrows, cannons and other things to kill people. It was pretty cool.
As you probably guessed, after we left the castle, we proceeded to the Wallace Monument. In order to stay on schedule, avoid some of the tourist, and save a few pounds, we opted not to actually tour the monument. If you're interested in more pictures or info, you'll have to visit the 
website above.
Instead, we set off in search of Bridge of Allen and the Bridge of Allan Brewery, to taste some beer and pick up a few pints for the trip. They have some excellent beers, including one made with whisky. You can see my failed attempt to get us a few more beers above.
From the Bridge of Allan (or Bridge-o-fallan if your name is Elwood), we headed North to Callander in search of wool for the future Elwood baby. Unfortunately there was no wool fabric to be had in all of Scotland (sorry little Elwood). After the failed wool search, we headed to the Taynuilt Hotel, which was our fishing lodge for the next two days. Below is a picture of the hotel. It is a nice place to stay if you find yourself in the South Highlands for a few days. 
For those who have tuned in just for the continuing saga of Rens luggage, he still doesn't have any, as evidenced by the photo below. Yes, macdougal a shower does help, even with four day old clothes, but not nearly enough. We kept asking if he wanted to stop and buy some clothes, but he never did take the hint. 
I hope my friends at Shiggs Diggs Bar & Grill like the free advertising (Ren is wearing my shirt from there).
Scotland Day 2 correction
Apparently no one is reading this blog, or no one knows that it would be virtually impossible to see the William Wallace Monument from Edinburgh Castle, since the monument is in Stirling and not Edinburgh.
Therefore what you actually saw was the view of the Monument from Stirling Castle (which you will get to read about soon). Since pictures are such a pain in the arse to import and move around in blogger, I am going to leave the post as it is, and you'll just have to be comforted by the knowledge that I am indeed human and therefore make the occasional mistake.
For those keeping score at home, we actually visited the Wallace monument on Day 3 (so remember that when we get to the next post).
Yankee Girl has just pointed out that if I hadn't waited so long to post, this might not have happened. While I will take her snide comment as constructive criticism, I am reassured by the fact that this is my first mistake in over a year of blogging.
Apologies for any confusion,
Yankee
Scotland - Day two - The Arrival of Elwood (but not Ren's luggage)
Fortunately, Elwood's arrival was substantially less eventful than Ren's (proving that contingency plans will ensure nothing goes wrong, as we had several back up plans for picking up Elwood, but none for getting Ren to Nottingham).
In case you're wondering, Ren still has no luggage at this point, in spite of the many phone calls attempting to track it down (look to the right for the first in a series of photos documenting his efforts to find his luggage). In any case, Elwood arrived at the designated pick up spot 2 minutes before we arrived.
After a brief stop at the hotel, we headed to the Auchentoshan Distillery for a little Scotch tasting. Here we discovered all the ins and outs of making Scotch Whisky. We also discovered that none of us are all that crazy about scotch. I actually liked the un-distilled wort better than some of the Whisky. The guide let us taste it straight from the fermenting barrel (hopefully no one in the tour group had any communicable diseases as we all had to drink from the same jar). Below is a picture of th
e wort. I know it doesn't look too appetizing, but trust me it was pretty good.
After the Whisky tasting we were off to Edinburgh (that's pronounced Edinborough right Ren?). After driving around for what seemed like forever, we finally stumbled upon the castle.
I don't know how they knew we were going to be there, but as soon as we got out of the car we were greeted by a parade, including bagpipes, kilts and the whole bit. After lunch and a few pints at one of the local pubs we ventured up to the castle. It is definitely a sight to see. It sits high on a a rock overlooking the entire city. Below is a picture from below the castle. Once again, since he couldn't take his own pictures, Ren winds up in the pictures. From the grounds of the castle you can also see the William Wallace Monument (that's the thing sticking up in the distance in the other picture below). There is also a picture with us in front of the Wallace statue. Don't you think it's amazing how much it looks like Mel Gibson (Braveheart Mel, not mugshot Mel)
After a long day of trekking around Edinburgh we headed back to Glasgow. We finished off the day with a few pints and a traditional Scottish meal of haggis and mashed turnips. I won't tell you what haggis is, but if you're interested you can check out this website. If you want to try it, I recommend having it before you know what it is (kinda like black pudding). It is surprisingly good, albeit a little dry.
Stay tuned for Day 3 (Ren might even have some luggage by then).
Remember that you can enlarge any of the pictures by double clicking on them.
Cheers,
Yankee
Yankee Girl's New Blog
Before I get to introducing my new blog, I want to let everyone know that Yankee has pledged to update this blog over the weekend (in between a garden party tomorrow evening and an all day cooking class on Sunday.....). Anyway, I'm sure everyone has been patiently awaiting some more of Yankee's clever writing.
Now, back to me! I have been meaning to get this started for months now and have finally gotten off my tushie and done it. I have taken tons and tons of pictures during our travels overseas and there really isn't room for posting large quantities of them on this blog. So I have set up a blog dedicated to my favorites. Not being near as clever (gag!) as Yankee, I have named the blog Yankee Girl's Photo Album. Yeah, I know. But hey, someone once called me stupid and told me to keep is simple, so whatever. Not really. Just striving to entertain on the same level as Yankee. I know, I know - it's an unattainable goal. Anyway, check it out. I am just getting started and will be adding many new pics real soon.
~YG~
website above.
