Guest Post – Grammy & Grandpa Steve’s Visit

To all my loyal readers, I’m sorry I’ve been AWOL for a bit.  I have been very busy hosting family visitors and recuperating between visits.  Just when I think I’ve finally gotten all rested up, mum and dad decide to take me for a run or invite one of my friends over to see me.  Needless to say, it’s been a busy summer for me.  But I’ve finally gotten a chance to sit mum down so she can help me type this up. 

A little over a month ago mum told me that Grammy & Grandpa Steve were coming for a visit.  I LOVE Grammy because she’s a total pushover and spoils me a ton.  So when mum and I headed to the bus stop I was super excited for what I found on the other end.  When I saw them walk through the gates I couldn’t contain my excitement.  I jumped and hugged and kissed just so they would know how excited I was that they had come to see me. 

I showed them how to get on the bus because I’m an expert.  They were both a bit scared about driving on the left side of the road but I assured them that it was okay.  It just takes some time to get used to it.  Then after we got home and they had a rest I took them to my hill (people call it Calton Hill but that’s because they’re silly).  I had a good time running around while they took in the views. 

It was great having them visit because we got to go on lots of adventures.  It had been a while since I had gotten to ride in a car but dad came home on Sunday morning with an Audi.  I told him I could get used to that so he better get a good job one day.  Unfortunately the first place they decided to stop didn’t think I would make a good visitor and I had to stay in the car.  Silly people – they just don’t know how friendly I am.  But it was okay because then we got to go play on a golf course.  Dad said it was famous or something but all I cared about was that there was lots of green grass.

And that same day I got to go to two different pubs!  Pubs are fun for me because I get lots of attention.  At both places I got a nice bowl of water.  But I only got biscuits at one.  Oh well. 

We spent a couple of days in a part of Scotland called the highlands.  I didn’t get to go everywhere with Grammy & Grandpa Steve, but I got to stay with them most of the time.  My favourite part was running around on the beach.  I never get tired of swimming.

When we got back to Edinburgh I had to kick them out of the house so that I could get some much needed rest.  Luckily mum is a pretty good tour guide so she was able to take on this task for me.  Although I did muster up enough energy to take Grandpa Steve to the top of Arthur’s Seat.  The things you do for family.

That’s about it.  It was a fun visit because I got all of Grammy’s sandwich crusts and got lots of rubs.  Hopefully they’ll come back to visit again one day.

Cheers!

Luther

Holiday with the Bridgers Day 4 – Scottish Breakfast and Double Castle Day

For our last day outside of Edinburgh we decided to make our way south to visit of few of the wonderful castles owned by Historic Scotland.  Mom and Steve had already decided that they wanted to see Stirling Castle so I looked to see if I could find another castle that was on our way there.  I had seen pictures of Castle Campbell and have to admit that it was on the top of my list of Historic Scotland sites to visit.  Perfect excuse!

But before we could head out on our journey, we needed to fortify our stomachs and make sure we could sustain the journey.  So we left our wee little cabin in the woods and headed to an inn in Aviemore for a true Scottish breakfast.  This was actually my first Scottish breakfast as well because we don’t tend to go out for breakfast very often.  A Scottish breakfast is similar to an English breakfast but there are a few more items on the menu.  Ours came with sausage, bacon, eggs, fried toast, potato scone, grilled tomato, black pudding and sautéed potatoes and mushrooms.  Sometimes it will also come with baked beans and haggis. 

I’m not usually a big eggs/sausage type breakfast person but I’ll eat it on occasion.  This was such an occasion and it was quite tasty.  We all tried our black pudding – Luke liked it a lot, I liked it but Steve wasn’t too keen on it.  Oh well. 

It took us a couple hours to drive to Castle Campbell but it was a fun drive.  We wandered off into some small towns in search of a filling station and drove through some very dramatic back roads to get to Dollar where the castle is located.  The last couple of miles to the castle was a bit crazy.  I’m not sure how to even describe the road except that it was one lane, bumpy, curvy and on the edge of a steep drop.  (This is where I praise my husband’s driving skills because he’s AWESOME!)  Luke dropped us off at the castle and then went to park the car in the teeny tiny lot about a quarter mile away. 

The castle was did not disappoint.  In and of itself, it wasn’t all that big but there were definitely details that were unique and very interesting.  My favourite part however was the garden.  With the castle behind you and beautiful views over Dollar Glen in front of you it made for a great place to sit and take it all in. 

Lamps used to hang from these faces

After we had thoroughly explored the castle, we hopped back in the car and headed the short distance to Stirling Castle, our last stop before heading back to the flat.  Because we had already visited Stirling and Luke had his Linguistics exam coming up on the following Friday, Luke and Luther opted to stay in the car and study.  That left me to give mom and Steve the castle tour.  We took our time and saw most everything.  It was neat to be able to show them what an intact castle would have looked like after visiting a couple of ruins.  (You'll have to go to the link above to see pictures of Stirling.)

And then we headed home to rest up before trekking through Edinburgh for the next two days of their stay.

Love you & miss you!

Aubs, Luke & Luther

Holiday with the Bridgers - Day 3 – Hairy Coos, More Whisky, Wool, Water, More Water and an Abbey

One of mom’s top must see things for the trip was a hairy coo (highland cow).  I hear you saying “Why would she want to see a cow?  Can’t she see those at home every day?”  And I say “Yes, she can see cows, but not hairy coos!”  Highland cattle have long, shaggy hair that makes them exceptionally cute – when it comes to cows.  When we were on the Speyside Whisky Trip we came across some hairy coos at the Cardhu Distillery.  So of course I knew that we would have to bring mom to see them.  And the distillery is a part of the Classic Malts Whisky Passport – bonus! 

So we started our day with a drive along the River Spey to see the hairy coos.  Steve later said that drive was one of his favourite parts of the trip.  Steve is a fly fisherman and the River Spey is excellent for catching salmon.  (I don’t know anything about all the ins and outs of fly fishing, but I agree that the drive was beautiful.)  We stopped a couple of times along to short trek to take pictures.  Once not on the river but instead to capture some pheasants in a field. 

When we got to the distillery and saw the coos, mom was super excited.  The cows are very tame and come right up to the fence to let you pet them.  They’ll also eat right out of your hand which is fun, even though it’s a little slimy.  After a few minutes with the coos, we headed to the distillery for our tour and tasting.  The whisky that we got to taste was the Cardhu Special Cask Reserve.  It was very good.  So good that Steve bought a bottle to take home with him.  Cardhu mainly exports to Spain so his could be one of the only bottles of this specific bottling in the US.  Pretty cool.

After our tasting, we drove down the road a few minutes to the Knockandoo Wool Mill.  There’s not much there but it was nice to walk around for a bit.

By the time we finished up at the mill we decided it was time for lunch.  Our next official stop was Spey Bay in hopes of seeing a few dolphins.  But we decided to stop at Glen Grant Distillery to visit the gardens and have a picnic.  We went to the gardens on the fall whisky trip and they are splendid.  We got lucky and just finished our lunch before it started to rain.  We decided to push through and walk the paths a bit before leaving.  They have built a bridge over the stream that runs to the distillery and it is really beautiful.  Definitely worth getting a little bit wet. 

And then it decided to hail on us!  Mom and Steve definitely got to experience all spectrums of Scottish weather.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any dolphins in the bay but it was beautiful nonetheless.  And Luther had quite a fun time swimming in the pools. 

I loved the way the waves sounded on the rocks so much that I decided it was worth sharing.

We chose to follow the coastal trail as we headed back to our cabin.  It wound through small towns along the coast – one of which was Kinloss.  There we found an abbey ruin and kirkyard.  It was a very interesting kirkyard with a mix of old and new.  I’ve added a few pictures below.

The moss has grown into the letters.

And that was the end of day three.  Once again – completely successful.

Love you & miss you,

Aubs, Luke & Luther

Holiday with the Bridgers - Day 2 – Monsters, Castles & Whisky

While we were traveling on Sunday I asked Steve what he wanted to do most while he was in Scotland.  His answer – Loch Ness.  And who wouldn’t want to try to get a glimpse of Nessie while they’re here?  So on Monday morning we headed to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.  Luke and I visited here last fall (see post here) but like pretty much anything else, you see something different every time.

Pretty much every time we got in the car I would tell mom and Steve to let us know if they saw something that they wanted to take a picture of and we’d pull over.  Believe me – this happens all the time and it part of the reason it takes forever to get anywhere around here.  We decided to pull off at a layby that had stairs down to Loch Ness.  Luke and Steve took some great pictures.  It was really windy that day so the water was really rough.  You could see white caps all across the loch and waves were rolling onto shore.  Unfortunately Nessie was being shy and we didn't get to see her.

After our short break, we finished the drive to Urquhart Castle.  We had to leave Luther in the car again but he likes to pretend he’s driving and therefore doesn’t mind so much.  At the visitor centre you can choose to watch a short film about the history of the castle.  While it was a little bit cheesy, it was neat to learn more about the castle.  And at the end they lift the screen and open the curtains so that you can see the castle.  It was pretty dramatic – especially because the sun just happened to be out in full force at the moment the curtains opened. 

The castle was a lot of fun and mom and Steve took lots of pictures.  They also got to experience the amazing shifts in Scottish weather. 

On the drive to the castle, we had seen a small waterfall and garden so we decided that this would be our next stop.  It just on the side of the road and the garden fee goes to charity.  There were some beautiful flowers as you’ll see below.  I love spring here because everything is so green and lush. 

Then we decided to take mom and Steve to their first whisky distillery.  I had them become a Friend of the Classic Malts before they flew so that we could go on a couple of the free tours.  Since we were over that way, we headed to Glen Ord Distillery.  Our tour was nice because it was just us so we could take our time and got to have a bit more personal experience.  I had introduced Steve to whisky when I was home in November and this was a good opportunity for him to get to try some different ones. 

And after a full day of adventures, we headed back to the cabin for dinner.  Overall, perfect day two.

Love you & miss you,

Aubs, Luke & Luther