Loch Ness Monster...Here we come!

Sunday (March 18th) took me with the family up to Scotland. (Jared headed off to Copenhagen the same day to work there for a few days.) We flew into Inverness and headed down past Loch Ness to a town called Invergarry where we stayed at the Glengarry Castle Hotel B&B. This was the view from our B&B. It was right on Loch Oich. I thought it was so beautiful! I'm sure you can also tell that it was VERY, VERY cold up in Scotland while we were there!
On Monday we travelled up to the Kilravock Castle (pronounced Kil-rock). It is the home of the Clan Rose, so we were excited to see it. We can't be sure that our ancestors were a part of this clan, but it makes sense that they may have been. The ancestor that we've been stuck on (Daniel Rose) left his family when he was young. We believe he left one of the surrounding areas near the castle, but we don't know who his parents were so we can only guess that they were related. Regardless, it was really neat to see the castle and learn about the Clan Rose. I especially liked their family motto, "Constant and True."
I wish I had a better picture of the castle. I'll have to get one from Mike who was able to take a picture from a better view point with his wide-angle lens. After touring the castle we went out into the snowy gardens. They have an amazing arboretum. I haven't seen trees like some of these before. They were so beautiful!
. . . and cold :)

Tuesday took us to the Isle of Skye. An island on the west side of Scotland. We spent the day driving around to see the sites, stopping for a short hike, visiting castle ruins, and one of my favorite parts was the waterfalls. This one was particularly interesting. I think it is called Kilt Falls. It came right out of the cliffs and fell into the ocean. It was really spectacular! . . . and very cold, once again!

We flew back to England on Wednesday so we just spent the morning driving through the scenic countryside. We also stopped for a short while at Fort George, but opted not to go in past the gift shop.

Note: No Loch Ness monster sited on this visit to Scotland. Too bad!

We've really enjoyed having family visit us! Thanks for coming all the way out here, guys! We love you all and will see you back home in less than a month!

p.s. This last weekend Jared & I finally took it easy. We spent a few hours shopping near Windsor and then just hung out and relaxed the rest of the day. A very welcome break from the pace we've been keeping! :)