Ladies and Gentlemen, I am indeed going to do it finally! I am going to tell you all about our phenomenal, long awaited, adventurous, and memorable trip!
And so it happened in June 2022...but originally it was supposed to happen in June 2020...we know what happened earlier that year though. This time, we made sure that EVERYONE is available. Katya was home from college, already having received her mission call, and the boys were out of school. This trip was THE epic trip everyone was looking forward to.
We had quite a lot we wanted to see during our 10 day stay in the UK. We also didn't feel super nervous about planning it because everything just felt SO familiar! Like when thinking about where to park or how things are going to work out with lunches, we kind of had an idea already. And once you can sort of imagine these details, a lot of the anxiety about traveling actually goes away. In fact, I have to always remind myself, that the trip and the unknown environments always seem so much more worrying than they actually are once you get there.
And so! After three flights--to NY, then to Amsterdam and then to Glasgow, we were finally back in Scotland!!!
Our adventures started even at the car rental place as a very "helpful" Scotsman tried to give us a car that was way too small although I booked a proper vehicle to fit us all. It was a miracle we ended up with a car we did as we had a hard time fitting all our big kids in together with all the luggage.
Our first stop was a gas station to get a big bottle of water to have on the road. And then we set off to go up towards the Highlands. Driving pass Lake Lomond was insanity...jet lagged and newly adjusted to the other side of the road, Robert didn't feel so keen on the drive. Stone "curb" or wall on the side of the road gave me quite a scare a few times for sure....
But we persevered and made it to Highlands Titles place where we own a piece of land! Lord and Lady Watson are back!
You might remember, many years ago, we bought ten square feet of this nature reserve and planted a tree. So now we were back! We wanted to prearrange a short tour of our "land" but they were too busy already for the day. So they gave us our coordinates, explained how to get to our plot and sent us on our way.
And so we walked, and walked...and tried to orient ourselves...and tried to remember what we saw on our original tour when we planted the tree. We remembered the pigs they showed us, but the pigs were gone.
Wait, no, the pigs were in a new place now. We searched and searched.
We walked through some muck and tried to follow the app that Robert found that was supposed to show us exactly where our plot and the tree is.
This dropped pin was not exactly helpful and basically placed us not in a spot that we actually remembered.
More pig pictures for you... I am actually wondering, how often people who buy the plot of land and then plant a tree come back to visit their land. Because you know, this tiny plot of land makes us Lord and Lady Watson.
So then...we decided that we did find our tree and it looked like the place where we planted it.
Or maybe it was a different tree, but no one cared at that point-hahaha.
I even pulled up the pictures from our blog from that tree planting trip to compare the backgrounds and scenery!!!
Robert found this hilarious...we were all pretty tired.
After a couple of hours at the Highland Titles Nature Reserve, we started driving towards Ft. Williams for our overnight stay.
But before then, we stopped at one of the most famous landmarks in Scotland, made famous by Harry Potter movies! Glenfinnan Viaduct.
Here is a picture in a picturesque spot on the way to see the Viaduct.
Katya was so delighted to see it finally!
And as we got closer...look at this view!
Oh wait, an intermission in the admiring of the Viaduct. Mark brought his Dunlop racket on this trip (it does have its purpose that we will learn later!). He decided to bring it on our excursions as well, to pose and make fun pictures.
Katya...serving?
Alex...not sure? That's his interpretation of a serve pose or forehand.
Mark is a little better.
Some calm pictures of Mark and his racket. I think Katya just called it...a boy and his racket.
The series of "kids on the perch" pictures.
One of our favorite family pictures! Can you believe that it was getting late in the evening? Gotta love loooong summer nights in Europe.
A different angle of the Viaduct.
Look at our awesome kids!
This is me telling Mark to, please, just stand still for one second so we could take a picture.
And then me asking him to just give me that racket so we could get a normal picture-hahaha.
Because otherwise, we were getting stuff like that;)
Robert and I behaved a bit more civilized....i.e. BORING!:)
Katya got even more creative with pictures of Mark here.
This is a viewpoint from a short walk up the hill that we did.
And an exhausted first family selfie of the trip!
And somehow I can still carry her!
More creativity from Katya...or just the boys being weird.
That's how maps are made here in Scotland-hahahhaa.
I think this day seemed simply never ending for us... After our exploration, we finally checked into our Airbnb which was a one bedroom tiny apartment. It had everything we needed for one night though...but tiny.
And even then, the night was still young! So we headed to a pub with views of Ben Nevis for dinner.
Here is a picture of the menu.
Fun stuff! The chips were delicious as always!
And if you fancy a walk after dinner, go ahead...the trail leads you to Ben Nevis. Besides, it's still light outside!!!
We did took a short walk, just to relish the fact that it was so late but needed to stay awake to properly get over jetlag quickly. Did I mention that it was still light outside? hahaha
Finally saw more sheep!
Mark thinking about how he ended up here...
And then realizing--oh yes! We ALL are here! And we are loving that we can go on one big trip together before everyone starts flying into different directions.
As a final picture...here is a picture of the package of shortbread cookies we bought at Sainsbury's the following morning. Nevis--the peak of Highland baking.
And for now...good night. We all needed some good Melatonin aided sleep.
To be continued...
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