Scotland Vacation--day 4

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Day four--St. Andrews to Inverness to Isle of Skye

Woke up early to get ready for breakfast at Northpoint (a neat little cafe in St. Andrews) with our friends and their friend Sandra that we met the previous night.

As I finished getting dressed in the bedroom I heard a strange sound coming from behind the door....when I looked at the door I noticed it was starting to move. "Ou...ou...ou" I heard as the door seemed to be rammed by something on the other side.

Suddenly, I see a hand...a little hand...and then...a little face...

It was our friends one-year-old who had already been asleep by the time we arrived the previous night.

He is...ADORABLE!!!

He looked up at me with this very confused face...I can only imagine he was wondering why I was in his parents room. =)

He was awesome.

We all walked over to Northpoint and had breakfast and then Husband and I hit the road...yet again. =)

First stop....Urquhart Castle at Lochness.

This castle was beautiful!!!!!

The castle itself was amazing. You could walk through it and just imagine what it must have been like in full glory.

I loved the stone.

And I really loved that flowers were actually growing between the cracks in the stones.

What amazed me more than the castle ruins however, was Lochness itself.

Lochness is HUGE!

We didn't see any signs of Nessie....even when we grabbed some souvenir rocks...

After spending more time than we anticipated at Lochness we headed up to Inverness to catch what was left of the Highland Games.

Once we got to the Inverness Highland Games we were told by one of the security guards that most of the competitions had been rained out. The only activities left were stone-throwing and the closing ceremony with the Fife and Drum.

I really wanted to see the Fife and Drum and figured that would be worth paying $12 bucks admission....but when we got to the gate...another security guard took pity on us for arriving so late and let us in for free!!! We were THRILLED!

We saw a bit of the stone-throwing, grabbed some vendor food and then got first rate positions for the Fife and Drum.

I'd never seen so many bagpipers in one place! I was in heaven!!!!! =)

After the Fife and Drum we headed out to Isle of Skye where we'd be staying at a bed and breakfast for the weekend.

It started raining as we drove but Husband was still able to spot a rare sighting through the mist and pulled over in time to get a few shots....

It was a beautiful baby horse and Mom.
He was AWESOME!
He was still very shaky on his legs and he did NOT like being out in the rain.
Eventually he wobbled under a tree very close to where we parked.

Check out photos of the black beauty here:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-four.html

We said goodbye to the black beauty and continued our drive through the Highlands...

We were surrounded by mountains in every direction that were beautifully covered with lush greenery and TONS of waterfalls....

The drive to Isle of Skye really was magical for me. We saw mother nature at her finest....

Finally, we crossed the Skye bridge and shortly after arrived at our B&B.

We got to the B&B pretty late, though our hostess Tracy was totally cool with it, and only had enough energy for a shower and a nightcap.

Went to bed with a fantastic view from our room...

Check out photos of our view here:
http://sugarmountain.vox.com/library/post/vacation--day-four.html

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