A Record of a Lifetime of Wanderlust
Rothesay, Scotland Imagine that you are in Victorian Britain and you went on a seaside holiday on the Isle of Bute. When you come home, your neighbors ask you what you liked most about the trip, and you answer, “Going to the loo.” Thousands of visitors to Rothesay would have said something similar. The National…
Rothesay, Scotland Going to Rothesay Castle, fatigue put us a little behind the clock. First, we needed a little rest after two weeks of travel and a long drive that had us waking up on the Orkney Islands the previous morning. Second, some of us also needed to catch up on laundry, since it is…
Wemyss Bay to Rothesay, Scotland After a long drive south, we wanted a low-key travel day. Fortunately, the Isle of Bute was close to our final Airbnb in Scotland. The Isle of Bute has long been a seaside resort vacation destination for Scots, and the rail line first connected Glasgow to Wemyss Bay in 1865,…
Firkin Point, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Scotland Our drive south through Scotland took us past Loch Lomond, Britain’s largest by surface area and second largest by volume (only behind Loch Ness). Loch Lomond forms a major part of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, Scotland’s first national park, established in the…
Spean Bridge, Scotland At 4,413 feet, Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in Scotland, Great Britain, and the entire British Isles. I first learned about Ben Nevis when I found out about the National Three Peaks Challenge, where people drive to and climb the highest peaks in England (Scafell Pike), Wales (Snowdon), and Scotland (Ben…
Spean Bridge, Scotland In lands nearby, and in view of Great Britain’s highest peak, Ben Nevis, the British Army trained its first elite troops, now known to the world as commandos. Commandos have been involved in every major British military action since then, including the Falkland Islands, Afghanistan, and many places that may remain classified….
Drumnadrochit, Scotland Driving down the A82 in Scotland, we came across Urquhart Castle, ruins located outside Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness. Rick Steves describes it in his Scotland Guidebook as a place to “create a traffic jam of tourism on busy days.” Our day was no different, and it was good that we already had our…
Drumnadrochit, Scotland When people found out we were going to Scotland this summer, several people asked me the same question: “Are you going to look for Nessie?” “Sure,” I responded, knowing I was going to Loch Ness, but if I found Nessie, this blog would have looked, felt, and served a much different purpose over…
Drumnadrochit, Scotland One of my all-time favorite breakfast dishes is Eggs Benedict. Poached Eggs, Canadian Bacon, and Hollandaise Sauce over an English Muffin seems like a ritzy, elevated version of Ham and Eggs, but something about the flavor profile makes it a well-defined dish. I remember the first time I ever ate Eggs Benedict at…
Dudley, North Carolina to Fairfield, Connecticut What better way to celebrate a birthday than to be on the road? Today was the first day of our fall break at the University, so we looked for somewhere we could go for an extended weekend, because not all travel has to be long and epic. Our travel…