August 26th, 2022
We all, but especially Jake, really wanted to see the Isle of Skye. When I looked it up I discovered it was four hours by train and even longer by car just to get there. Not exactly a day trip and we really only had about a day left in Scotland to make it happen. When Lelu went to New Zealand on her study abroad, I discovered we could see, do and cover a lot more ground by helicopter. So I set out to get us up to Skye. What a great decision!! And how bizarre is it that I am not the least bit scared to fly on a helicopter when I am usually a nervous flyer (although not as much anymore, but that’s another blog for another day, knock on wood).
I woke up having had the best dream ever so I knew it was going to be a good day. Everyone kept telling us how lucky we were that the sun was shining. They’d been cloudy and rainy for the last month and we hit the first day of summer, they said. It was quite cloudy on our way up there.
Most people will recognize the train tracks and bridge to Hogwarts. Lelu, Rel and I took the Jacobite train across the bridge from Fort Williams to Malaig when we were in Scotland in 2014 – but seeing it from the air was super cool too. Jake is a super Harry Potter fan, so he was geeking out!
I mean we really live in a beautiful world….the birds are quite lucky with their daily views.
Master D got to ride up front on the way back – so he really got an adventure listening in on air traffic control and all the workings of the pilot and helicopter.
Once we landed in Skye, we were picked up by our tour guide Douglas McDougal – I don’t think you can get anymore Scottish of a name, do you? He was amazing. He grew up on Skye, was in the Royal Police in London and Aberdeen before retiring back on Skye. We lucked out with Doug Doug! Jake got a little nauseous on the flight, so our first stop was to get him a coke and some anti-nausea meds. After he drank the coke he felt much better.
I mean…does it get any more beautiful than this?? All of the hydrangeas had just barely passed their peak but these were so fabulous!
The kids walked on ahead. I was talking to Doug looking out at the ocean and he saw a whale breach, pointed it out and I watched it breach again. I’ll never get used to just how breathtaking that sight is.
We got lunch here in honor of Rel..ish. We ate extremely good fish n’ chips and a marshmallow chocolate treat – also in honor of Rel. Across the street was this adorable hand made pottery and jewelry store. I bought a pitcher to put on my shelves in AZ (I also bought a pot in Whitefish MT to put on them). Jake has a new office and wanted to buy this cute little highland cow figurine. Lelu was not in agreement, she thought it was ugly ….so I bought it for him. Just a little preview of how I’ll be as a Grandma, or Grammy or Gammy…heehee
Master D and Jake all of a sudden took off and ran up a very steep and sort of Lord of the Rings-ish hill. There were some really cool hikes I wish we had time to do.
After we got back to Edinburgh, we met up with Michelle & Maruan again for dinner. Jake ordered a chocolate cake with “smoked milk” ice cream. No one had ever heard of that kind of ice cream. As he started to eat it, he was saying something was wrong with the cake, Lelu took a bite and said the ice cream was rotten and then wanted everyone to try it. She told Master D since he did not get her a birthday gift, he needed to try it. Maruan and I did not fall for any of their tactics to get us to try it. Michelle tasted a tad bit, but Master D scooped the whole thing into his mouth and spent the next few hours burping what Lelu described as rotten milk stirred around an ashtray full of ashes and frozen. mmm. Uh no thanks!
When we got back to the hotel I needed to print our boarding passes for our flight to Ireland the next day so I was riding the elevator by myself when a woman got on with me. She’d been speaking another language that I did not recognize before she got onto the elevator. I was wearing my Coldplay t-shirt and she said asked if I had gone to the concert and I said yes I had. Then she said “Isn’t he just….um….just…..um A GOD?!?” I told her I definitely agreed. She was a blond woman about my age and then she said they just announced they would be in Stockholm next year – where she was from. AH MY PEOPLE….Of course! I wish I could go. It’s during Montana time:(