An Amazing Road Trip!

We have had an amazing week! If you are interested- read on (it's long)...

Karyn and Brian (my old roommate and her hubby) came out here from Seattle and we went on the greatest trip! We rented a car and started driving... on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road!!! Steve took on all of the driving- 1300 miles (in 5 days)- and I (ever so gently and kindly) navigated... not the easiest task for either of us! But in the end not a scratch on the car and a lot of good memories!

We first headed north in the English countryside (kind of the west side) and stopped many time for pictures along the road, the very narrow road. It was full of hills, old stone fences, and sheep. We ended up driving through an area called the "Cotswold Hills" which is full of very old stone homes (built in the 16th century) and very cool... (I already need more descriptive words...) We drove through "Stratford-upon-Avon" the town that Shakespeare was from and then off to the castle!

Our next stop was Warick Castle and was actually quite gimicky but in the end was worth it because they launched a huge fire ball from a "Trebuchet" (catapult) that was nine meters tall! We had a couple more hour drive and ended up in "The Lake District" for the night in a hostel.

The next morning we explored the Lake District (cute little towns with shops and great old buildings) and continued driving north. We were in Scotland well before we realized we would be and drove through the Highlands, winding hills, bright colors, and more sheep! We stayed that night in Glencoe, a tiny town near the west coast of Scotland where many parts of Harry Potter were filmed!! The local pub that night had some Scottish musician playing so we were all pretty excited about that!

The next day was more driving through the Highlands and the "Lochs" (lakes) and we just may have gotten a glimpse of Nessie. The countryside was beautiful, stunning, and graceful. We got our first taste of traditional Scottish food for lunch on the road that day! Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties... If you don't have a weak stomach, look up Haggis in the dictionary- gross to read but so good to eat! Neeps were Turnips and Tatties were Potatoes... it was all piled on top of each other with a sauce. So good.

We made it to Edinburgh by dark, settled into the Hostel and went for a walk up "The Royal Mile". The Royal Mile is a road in Edinburgh that starts at the Castle and extends to the Holyrood Palace and although now is a very interesting and enticing place (some of the buildings date back to the 1100s) it once had 70 000 people living in it (that's 300 people in one block!!!)!!! Eww!!!

Our walk up the Royal Mile included cobble stone roads, a full moon, shops, people, and a man standing on the side of the road playing the bagpipes, perfect ambience!

The next day we stayed in Edinburgh, saw the castle and shops. We found a traditional restaurant for dinner (great food) and then went on a "Ghost Walk", sounds cheesy but it was pretty funny. It was a tour around the Royal Mile that told us a lot about the history of it.

FINALLY... the last day we headed out mid morning and drove around the South-East coast of Scotland and through "A Tour of the Borders"- a drive through the countryside in between Scotland and England where there are ruined Abbey's and Castles that date back to the 11th century.

Well, check out the pictures and you will see some of the exciting things we did along this trip. It was so nice to have our friends here to visit (you are all welcome anytime) and to get out of the city!!! We can't quite understand why anyone would live in London after seeing so much beauty around it!