...and beyond!

I can't believe a week has passed since the last entry. Not because of any specific events, I am just confused by time at the moment. This is going to be a long one, feel free to skip around/just look at pictures.

This weekend, I went on a trip to Inverness. We saw so many things that it's hard to remember and comprehend it all. But, more than anything, we spent time on the bus. Which, after returning home a few hours ago, makes me feel pretty unaccomplished and stir-crazy. Monica kept commenting on the fact that it felt like we were in high school. And I agree, though perhaps for sightly different reasons. It was irritatingly organized at times and out of our control, but at the same time, efficient and got us to see a lot. On Friday we left at 8am and went to Scone Palace (pronounced Scoon) where the coronation of the Scottish kings once occurred. Now, the Earl of Mansfield lives there.


From there we went to see some sheep and some sheep-herding dogs. It was a pretty cool display...the Shepard was able to make different sounds with whistling to communicate with the dog who would then change its path of travel, causing the sheep to change as well. It's crazy how well those dogs are trained, they all recognize up to 27 different whistles.


They were border collies, which doesn't really mean much to me, but the Shepard was a pretty big fan, clearly. He sheared a sheep for us, which was pretty cool. Video Below...
Saturday we started the day at the Cairngorm Mountain. We were originally supposed to take a train up the mountain, but the high winds were in full force, causing a change of plans, a disappointingly short walk followed by a power-point about wildlife in the Cairgorms. It was interesting, and there were beautiful views, which made it all the more enjoyable.


We had lunch in a small town whose name I forget at a cute little place called "Happy Haggis," which made me smile. In the afternoon we visited the Glenvilet distillery. Dearest readers, you know me well enough to deduce that whisky is most likely not my favorite thing. It was interesting, but the smell was making me pretty sick to my stomach. I tasted it and felt equally as unhappy. Danielle and I were excited to see a ginormous distiller and understand how it works after so many Organic Chem labs involving the very same device, in miniature form, of course. So, there you have it, Jackie visits distillery and is more interested by distiller than alcohol. Oh, life... That evening was pretty uneventful. Inverness was not such a hopping town. I hung out with my lovely friends, and went to a pub with a band that was playing too loudly. And we had a good time.

Sunday (aka today) was jam-packed. And yet, we still managed to spend a good six hours on the bus. Woke up early and went to the site of the Battle of Culloden, a battle that took place in 1746, the last battle on British soil! It was between the government and the Highlanders. There were Scottish people on both sides. For those who don't know, Scotland has been a part of the UK since 1707. This battle was over restoring the Stuarts to the British monarchy. They lost, and lots of wonderful Scottish things like kilts and bagpipes were outlawed. Pretty unfortunate. It was interesting to hear them explain the red coat's war tactics because it's something I've heard so many times in US History class. First row shoots, ducks and reloads while second row shoots, ducks and reloads while third row shoots...etc. Basically this is what I've always been told lost them the Revolutionary War. And won them this battle.

Following this we took a boat ride on Loch Ness. I met Nessie. We're now best friends; it's official. It was a beautiful boat ride.
Then we went to the Urquhart Castle remains and I climbed on things. They didn't really tell us anything about the castle when we went, feel free to Wikipedia if you're interested.


Went to Fort Williams for lunch and stopped for some photos at Glen Coe (to which I could only think, "You go, Glen Coco!" ...How bad is that)



All in all, a fun trip. I lived in a room with 5 girls, saw lots of fun things, and took lots of silly pictures. Here's a look on the map where we went.