Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Isle of Skye: One of our new favorite places on Earth!

In order to see the beautiful countryside of Scotland, we had to rent a car. It sounded so nice...driving at our own pace, windows rolled down, music on, but... there's one small drawback:
Yes, that's right. We had to drive on the left side of the road. It was weird and scary at first, but once Nate got the hang of it, it was kind of fun! As you can see here, the inside of the car is flip-flopped. That took some getting used to... especially when we hopped in and out of the car. We kept going to the wrong door!
The views from Edinburgh to the Glencoe Valley were amazing.
If you've seen a Harry Potter movie, you probably recognize this bridge. They show it each time Harry travels by train from London to Hogwarts.
This lake appears in the background of the scenes when the train is riding over the bridge.
After driving through Glencoe Valley and the land of Harry Potter, we took a ferry to the Isle of Skye.
Words cannot begin to describe the beauty of the Isle of Skye. As we drove from the ferry to the town of Portree, we were amazed at the island's beauty.
Portree. The main town on the Isle of Skye.
The sunset became even more brilliant later in the evening. I don't think this would be a bad place to own a sail boat!
The next morning, we woke up to this:
Then we headed on a loop of the island. This was our first stop.
Can you find Nate? Hint: He's wearing a blue jacket.
The rock in the distance is called Kilt Rock... because it looks like a kilt!
Everything was SO green!
To break up our trip in the car, we decided to take a recommended hike. When we started, we had beautiful, clear-blue skies.
And then...the clouds rolled in.
It started to rain and my hooded jacket was not exactly water proof!
The rain quickly stopped and we enjoyed the rest of our hike. We had absolutely gorgeous views!
To complete our Scottish experience, we had to see some sheep in the road (like in the movies) and we did! I'm glad I wasn't driving, because I was so excited that I might have veered off of the road.
This was our last stop on our loop. How would you like that white house to be your vacation home?
Nate & I spent a lot of time here just relaxing and taking in the view. We had the ocean, rolling hills, rocks jutting out of the water, old castle remains, sheep, and... each other. Not a bad combination!
Coming soon... our adventures in Inverness & Loch Ness!