Scotland

Saturday to Saturday....July 4 till July 11, seven days in the Highlands...Our trip started off very early and very quietly as we left the Raffs' house, saying goodbye to six year old Jamie who had gotten up to watch Saturday morning cartoons. We thought we had gotten away without a hitch, until we arrived at the airport and realized we had left behind Bill's super duper camera. Oh well, what we'd miss in the way of great photos of our week in Scotland, at least we'd gain in seeing Bill's face more often rather than his usual stance behind the lens and twenty feet in front of us.

We were traveling with the Zeitlyn family; every few years we try to have a holiday with them because, well, it's just so much fun - there's someone for everyone to play with. And, it's hard for one child to whine about going up a mountain when five others are hiking along. We flew to Inverness, the gateway to the Highlands, and drove a couple of hours northwest to Gairloch on the coast of Wester Ross. We had rented a big 18th century house, on the water in a little cove and overlooking the Isle of Skye. We were ready for rain and midges (tiny mosquito like animals that have aggressively voracious appetites for our blood), but unbelievably and happily were given days of sunshine, a few very light showers, and relief from the dreaded Scottish insects.

We had no internet in the house and pretty much no cell reception - what do ten people with no modern communicative technology do for a week together? Especially when half are teenagers?! You hill walk.... a lot. And you go to the beach, whenever possible. And in between the hills and the beach you find time for all sorts of other activities. Some take you outdoors; and so we found ourselves golfing one afternoon, and horse trekking on another. There was time to take a glass bottom boat to see through the remarkably blue water to find seals and all sorts of interesting seaweed. There was archery, trampolining, shell collecting and lots and lots of stone skimming in mountain streams. There was a moving WWII crash site to visit high on a mountain top and a beautiful garden to explore in a nearby village. There were so many animals: we spied golden eagles and huge fish jumping out of the still waters of the bay at our beach, we walked among the adorable Highland cattle (and even a bull paid us little attention as we crossed through his field), way too many sheep to count and we even saw some being sheared, a few Highland redtailed deer, lots of frogs hopping through the boggy, peaty soil, gulls flying overhead constantly (we all learned that there is no such thing as a 'seagull', just different types of gulls - new fact for the week), and a cat just like ours keeping the mice at bay at the horse barn.

When it was time to turn indoors, and there wasn't much time for this for the sun rose early and didn't set until close to 11pm, there were loud, joyous, competitive card games; word puzzles set to rhymes provided by the quizzing Spike that stretched our brains; big, wonderful baths full of bubbles set up right in front of the bathroom windows so we could keep gazing at the amazing view; there was Wimbledon, cricket and the Tour de France to watch; yoga for the kids as they were tolerant of me practicing my teaching as I led them through series of postures and meditation; reading quietly in the deep windowsills; and of course there were many, many pubs to try yet another meal and pudding at.

Other highlights included walking among wild fields of highland cotton and purple heather, driving over the highest paved road in Britain, having a go at spinning wool, and walking through the kissing gates in the fields, and doing some yoga on the mountaintops.

We all tasted the local cuisine, trying out venison burgers deliciously grilled on the beach and traditional haggis freshly bought at the local butchers. Shortbread and oatcakes with strong port cheese were special treats. And, of course, each day started with porridge, tea, and toast with coarse cut marmalade.

It was hard to leave on the following Saturday, but we were somewhat cheered by the prospect of visiting Loch Ness on the way back to Inverness. I was especially sad to leave the house because I think I found my absolutely favorite bedroom in the entire world: windows on both sides of the room, one with a view that just about made me weep with peace and joy each morning, a fireplace on the connecting wall, a big, high deliciously comfortable bed, beautiful wood furniture, and just the right amount of it, sweet watercolors on the walls, and a bathroom with a big claw-footed tub with a view that rivaled the bedroom's! I was so sad that the sun set so late because it delayed my hour at which I could say 'goodnight' and jump into my bed with a good book to read. And did I read! I went through more books that week than I usually read in a month! I wish you could have seen the view from my window.

Shortly into the drive to the airport we were passing some beautiful and secluded coves near Ullapool and couldn't resist stopping for one brief last beach break. As we drove on to the famous Loch, Anna, Harlowe and Michael were getting excited about returning home to California very soon so they ran through all the songs in Bill's iPhone to set up a playlist of any song that had anything to do with California. Turns out there are quite a few, it was a real auditory California feast, as we were driving through the hills and lakes of Scotland!

Loch Ness didn't disappoint and we all had a lot of fun exploring 800 year old Urquhart Castle and gazing out across the white caps on the lake looking for the legendary monster. But then it was time to rush to make our flight back to London, and as we were running into the airport from the rental car Bill asked me to take out the passport folder. I stopped, looked at him blankly, and said, "I don't have it." Thereon ensued a surprisingly calm repacking and searching of all our bags, with no luck. It was really only Bill's US passport that was a concern in its absence, the rest of us could travel back to the US for we had been using our UK passports in Europe and I had our other passports safely stashed away in London. So, the Easyjet people were wonderful and stretched the check-in time for us to figure out what we were going to do. Bill ended up driving back two hours to the coast to search the house and the children and I joined the Zeitlyn's on the flight Saturday night. Bill did find the passport, tucked down the back of that big, wonderful bed. And then he had one of the most beautiful drives of his life crossing the Highlands at sunset, so pretty that he had to pull over and take some video of it. He was able to catch an early morning flight the next day, today actually, and here we all are, packing and reminiscing about the last half a year that has brought us all so many adventures, and chatting with Michelle and Benjamin on a pretty last day in London.

Life is such an amazing gift, full of so many beautiful places and beautiful friends; we will miss many of these now, but look forward to reconnecting to all those at home; and we will return to friends and places that have given us so much during the last five months