I am not in prison. Nor am I dead.

However, five days without internet about killed me. (And it might kill you because this post is LOOONNNNGGG.) It was a little scary how much I thought about the internet actually. I kept thinking "Ah! I just want to check my email!"

But, here I am (FINALLY) in an internet cafe in a tiny town (consisting of one street) on the Isle of Mull. The town is called Tobermory...ring a bell? We named our first Jack Russell Terrier after this town. The first time we were here we sailed to the island and stayed a few nights. It rained then, and it's raining now (which is why I finally convinced my parents to let me have some time alone with my Mac...haha).

I'll try to recap the past few days and highlight a some of the things that were truly highlights for me and my family!

Monday morning we left St. Andrews and went to Inverness, a town in northern Scotland (about a 3 hour drive from St. Andrews). On the way we stopped at Loch Ness and accidentaly snuck in without paying to Urquhart Castle...oops!

This is Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness (Complete with a sailboat in the background! Daddy was happy!).

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast that is on a little farm...a place we stayed when we lived here in 2000. The owners of the B & B were still adorable and kind. They make such a difference living their simple lives because of their genuine kindness and love for their guests. It was wonderful.

This is the view from our Bed and Breakfast in Inverness. So pretty!

Tuesday we drove about an hour to The Royal Dornoch Golf Course where my dad played golf and my mom, sister, and I went to Dunrobin Castle. This castle, instead of being in ruins, has been preserved so people can walk through and see what it would have been like to live there hundreds of years ago. It was really interesting and there were paintings EVERYWHERE. This, obviously, made me happy :)

When we went back to Dornoch to pick up my dad, we ate lunch with a couple that my dad had played his round of golf with. They were Austrailian and are currently living in Dubai. Their stories were incredible and we had such a great time walking with them. They will be in St. Andrews (where we will be) all of next week so we're hoping to have dinner with them again. I want to go to Dubai and experience the crazy things they talk about!

The day (like every day) finished with a two hour dinner. Good food and good wine is burning holes in our pockets...everything is SO expensive here. However, we can't help but enjoy all the good food! (I think today is the first day our bodies have been mad at us for indulging so much! We've all slowed down a bit.)

Wednesday was a big day (so skim it if you want). We drove to the Isle of Skye (the island for which our second Jack Russell, Skye(balls) is named!). We did a hike that we did in 2000 again which was a lot harder than I remembered (apparently it is about 6 miles with a 1100 foot vertical rise). Despite the steepness, however, we all did very well and made good time. This hike made me want to go to Colorado again...

Anyway, the hike is called the Old Man of Stor. Which is a really weird name. But it is beautiful! Here are some pictures I took from the top!

This rock is the "Old Man of Stor." This was on the way back down and my parents are standing there looking cute.
My mommy, Kristin, and I.

This is a view from the top. I have about 6 more from the panoramic shots I took...after being up here, you know there is a God. (You can sortof see the path we took...through the trees.)

After hiking, we stopped at Skye Silver where we have gotten jewelry in the past. Kristin and I got beatiful rings and earrings there. (Like I need more rings...)

After dinner and checking into another Bed and Breakfast, we went to Neist Point...MY FAVORITE PLACE IN SCOTLAND. As I explain this part, I will try to keep it concise...I get a little excited inside about this particular evening.

I'll start with a picture.
This, my dear friends, is Neist Point. IT IS GORGEOUS. We hiked out to the point. Which was down, then up, then down, then a little bit up again.

And, in addition to an amazing sunset...
...there was a little surprise at Neist Point for me! When we walked over the last little hill, before my eyes were HUNDREDS of rock towers that had been built there. The rocks in this area (obviously this whole point is made of rock...hint: the cliffs) are really squarish/rectangular in shape. Which makes it easy to build towers...here is what the towers looked like:
Photographs simply don't capture the expanse of them...oh well. This may not excite you much, but I still cannot not get over how happy I was the moment I saw these things. Why? Because we were in my favorite place on this side of the Atlantic, and there were sculptures EVERYWHERE! Not only were they sculptures, they are a specific kind of sculpture...a form that is so beautiful to me. To push this idea further, I will show you a picture of a tiny rock tower I made earlier this summer. Yes, it's on a shoe, but you get the idea.
Anyway, I was absolutely thrilled with these scultpures. The coincidence of me loving stacks of rocks recently (haha) and THIS did not seem so much a coincidence...I thank God for little joys like this. My response to this beauty: I built my own!
Here is the sculpture I made with hundreds of others in the background.

One more thing. I love that I have no idea who built these little gifts from God. There is so much mystery...It could have been one person who came last week and built 200 sculptures as he/she watched the sunset (though doubtful). It could have been one person fifteen years ago who built one, and then the next year someone saw it and built one more, and so on and so on until there were tons!! There is just no way to know. This point is not a popular destination...it's rather hidden, which makes this even more exciting for me. A select few people have seen/built these pieces of art.

HOORAY!

Ok, moving on. We played cards that night in the B & B and reminisced about our manic day that was almost too good to be true. I haven't played Solitaire with my daddy in a long time...it felt good (to beat him).

Thursday involved lots of driving...car ferry riding...driving on the windyest-scariest-stomach-upsettiest road ever...another car ferry...and finally Tobermory!!
Thank goodness for views like this...or that road would have killed me :)
This is the cute, colorful town of Tobermory. It is a harbor town and has awesome fresh fish. We had dinner in a pub...and my parents and I had the best seafood chowder EVER. Seriously.

Today we slept in (till 9...which is sleeping in compared to when we have been getting up the last week). We took it easy this morning...which invoved a tour of the Tobermory Scotch Whisky Distillery (my dad's favorite whisky). This is hilarious to me...we had our drams of whisky at the end of the tour...before noon!

This brings us again to this afternoon in Tobermory. It is rainy so we have been taking it easy. We walked to a castle and a little art gallery, and now are each lounging in our own ways. Kristin is sleeping, my parents went for a walk, and I'm in an tiny tea house with a big pot of tea.

Thanks to all who have emailed. I really do miss you my other family (a.k.a. you know who you are)...it's weird to be loving it here and missing home at the same time.

Hopefully I'll write more soon.

Congratulations if you read this whole thing...sorry :)