May 17, 2008
Sarah: London Calling
Neighborhoods or Sights:
Piccadilly Circus
Notting Hill
Covent Garden
The Tower of London
Musicals:
Les Miserables
Wicked
Artists:
Picasso
Kapoor
Monk
Rothko
Pollack
many, many others
Deepening Friendships:
I found out last night that Marci hates Ice-T even more than Horatio Cane. [Lisa, I'm leaving this up to you to find some awesomely hilarious links for these two "actors." Thank you in advance.] Yes, my mind was blown as well. And yes, they show Law and Order and CSI in the UK. It's like crack.
I wish I had more time to write better responses to the adorable emails I've been getting. I apologize if I've been slacking, but I hope to spend a ridiculous amount of time on the internet, my phone, and face to face (FACE TIME!) with you guys when I return.
I must be off, for there are still a few things in London that I haven't purchased. Namely, the entire inventory of Harrods.
May 16, 2008
Lisa: Hand-drawn Friday
We had our Bon Voyage party for Sarah and Marci at the Crown, and I felt the occasion called for a little festive headwear. I did an image search for some of the famous landmarks they'll be seeing in Europe, and drew simplified versions onto colored paper. Voila! Crowns at the Crown. It's not the first time, but it might be one of the best.
Canal houses in Amsterdam
Parliament building in Budapest
London's Tower Bridge
Tyn Church in Prague
Roman Coliseum
Hairy Coo from Scotland
I miss you guys!
May 13, 2008
Sarah: Checking In
I don't have long, so some quick lists:
Cities I've seen so far:
Edinburgh
Fort Augustus
London
Oxford
many others I will tell you about later
Foods I have tried that I swore I wouldn't:
Haggis. Not as terrible as you'd expect, actually.
Admirerers that Marci has not made out with (as far as I know):
Ash, from New Zealand
Damian, from Poland
We've enjoyed trains, tubes, buses, and lots and lots of walking in the eight days. Marci has written much more details on her blog, and I'm still working on pictures. They may have to wait until the end of the trip. For now, I'm off to work some more on my raging farmer's tan and hopefully get some shopping done. I haven't spent too frivolously, yet. For shame!
p.s. Other items of interest:
Staci's boyfriend's brother is the most adorable tour guide one could home for.
We were at the Sex and the City London premiere. So be jealous, if that's your sort of thing.
We have not eaten at McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, or any other places we might be ashamed to admit. Hurrah!
February 02, 2008
Lisa: Claremont
I've been missing my baby brother, Jeff. After a year away at Harvey Mudd College, last May he left for a two-year missionary stint in New Jersey. Sarah and I drove to California to pick him up from school, and he took us on a tour of the gorgeous Claremont Colleges while we were there. I thought I'd post some pictures of the campuses because 1) they're pretty and 2) they make me think of Jeff.
Harvey Mudd is where Jeff found his people. It's a small, private college that focuses on math, science, and engineering. Bill Nye the Science Guy is speaking at their commencement next year. The architecture has some kind of proto-Aztec vibe, featuring decorative "warts," where the students hang their unicycles. Really. Here's Jeff's dorm (Case), the dining hall, and the man himself. There are a few more pictures after the jump.
Pitzer College has xeriscaped gardens and the buildings are covered with murals (many painted by students). Here is the Grove House restaurant, the Interhueman mural, and some kind of tower. More pictures after the jump.
Claremont McKenna is one of the larger of The 5Cs, and is big on the social sciences. We caught them setting up for graduation festivities.
Pomona College is where Real Genius was filmed (but the movie is based on CalTech, a Harvey Mudd rival). Their mascot is a chicken. I know Jeff told me more about all the colleges when he was showing us around, but this crap is what I remember. More pictures after the jump!
At Scripps College, the women's college, we met up with Jeff's friend Sally for an insider's tour. Scripps is beautiful, and is full of little walled gardens and things, so I took a ton of pictures (lots of which are after the jump). The center picture here is the common room of one of the dorms, if you can believe that.
If you read World War Z (WHICH YOU SHOULD), you might remember that a bunch of Claremont students barricaded themselves inside Scripps and fought off thousands of zombies. When I got to that section of the book, I stopped reading and yelped to Blake, "Jeff survives!" He had no idea what I was talking about.
The five Claremont Colleges are on one contiguous piece of land, and share a central library:
More from Harvey Mudd:
More from Pitzer College:
More from Pomona College:
More from Scripps College:
December 12, 2006
Lisa: Tired
I went to Maryland to help with a friend's wedding last week, and I put 500 miles on my rental car. Here's how (not in chronological order):
1. Washington, D.C.
2. Silver Spring
3. College Park
4. Laurel
5. Bowie
6. Millersville
7. Odenton
8. Gambrills
9. BWI Airport
10. Glen Burnie
11. Woodberry
12. Baltimore
13. Westfield Hills
14. Annapolis
Congratulations, Auntris! But...it's good to be home.
May 22, 2006
Lisa: Training, Weeks 12-14
5/7/06
On Sunday, Sarah and I ran from the beginning of the marathon route to my house. We were supposed to go 18 miles, but only made it nine. We ran in the hottest part of the afternoon, which was dumb, and Sarah was feeling pretty sick and dehydrated. It took us 2 hours to go the 9 miles. Even though we didn't get the whole way, we still rewarded ourselves afterward with Funfetti cake.
5/9/06
On Tuesday I ran five miles at Sugarhouse Park, which took me an hour. The horrible stick-leg/bloody stump phenomenon strikes again!
5/10/06
Sarah and I ran five miles along the marathon route, from the top of 21st South to La Puente. It took us an hour. 131 lbs, 28% body fat.
5/13/06
On Saturday, we ran 18 miles: our longest run before the marathon! It took us three hours and fifty minutes to get from La Puente to the end of the marathon route. The last few miles were pretty hard, but we did surprisingly well! I think breaking up the run into two-mile segments really helps. Thinking about adding another eight miles is a bit daunting, though. Anyway, after the run, Sarah and I shored ourselves up with shakes and fries at Canyon Rim Park. 130.5 lbs, 29% body fat.
5/16/06
I ran 5 miles at Sugarhouse again, and again my legs felt like sticks.
129 lbs, 27% body fat
5/17/06
On Wednesday, I ran four miles down Highland Drive and back, past the Cottonwood Mall, for a total of eight miles. Not a bad run at all, if lacking in scenic appeal.
5/18/06
Thursday morning I went to Sugarhouse Park, but I only made it once around the 1.4-mile loop! I don't know if it was stiffness or injury, or because I had half a jar of low-carb peanut butter on celery for dinner the night before, or what, but I could barely move my legs. It was like I had no muscle tissue at all, just little tiny tendons trying really hard to pull my leg bones around. Ugh.
5/20/06
Saturday's run was SO much better. I was in California with my mom, and I ran nine miles along the beach from Asilomar to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and back. The weather was ideal and the views were amazing. My legs were still pretty stiff, but the air felt rich and the run was totally manageable. It took me a bit less than two hours all told.
April 26, 2006
Lisa: Boston, Day 3
On Wednesday morning (March 22nd), after running, Janell and I took the bus (a 5-minute ride) to the convention center for the second day of our Early Literacy workshop. We left the workshop a bit early to see Nancy Pearl speak, but when we got there the huge auditorium was already packed. We ended up sitting on the floor along one wall. Unfortunately, the program ended up being mostly publishers introducing some of their new titles, but Nancy did introduce them and she was hilarious. She shared a few things I wanted to pass on:
People clap before a speech out of faith and hope; they clap at the end out of charity.
--Bishop Sheen
She also told a hilarious story about finding herself locked, naked, in a hotel bathroom with a broken door handle. Her first thought was, "I am locked in the bathroom of the Mallory Hotel...and I have NOTHING TO READ." Instead of panicking, she then said to herself, "what would Nancy Drew do?" She got busy with a nail file and soon sprung herself from her prison. Only then did she look back into the bathroom and see the telephone next to the toilet.
The publishers did introduce a few books that I added to my list of books to read:
Anyway, Laura joined us for the afternoon, and we took a bus to Harvard Square where we couldn't resist taking a few pictures on the Harvard campus...
...and had lunch at a sort of mongolian BBQ place called Fire and Ice. Then we headed up to the Harvard Museum of Natural History (miraculously arriving during their few free hours) to see the glass flowers. We walked around Cambridge for a while, going in lots of fun shops, and then walked back to the hotel. Along the way back I took a picture of this building...
...which is next door to the Cambridge city hall. Back at the hotel we split up, and after dropping of some of our things, Janell and I took the T to Park Street, where the Loews theater is. One of the ladies from the library had gotten us tickets to see the premiere of Hoot, a movie based on the Carl Hiaasen book. We ate paninis (with more hot tea--BRRR!!) at the nearby Emerson Cafe (Which brings up a problem we kept having in downtown Boston: where do people eat? If you don't want Dunkin' Donuts or Au Bon Pain, I think you have to have a secret insider's map of the city.) and then ran through the wind over to the theater. Hoot was pretty cheesy (and approaching Ferngully levels of environmental consciousness), but kind of cute and funny too. Plus, Luke Wilson!
Yesterday
Tomorrow
April 25, 2006
Lisa: Boston, Day 2
It has taken me awhile to get around to posting about the rest of my trip to Boston, because things have been super crazy at work and at home. But better late than never, right?
On Tuesday morning (March 21st), Janell and I decided to walk from our hotel in Cambridge across the Harvard bridge to the convention center in Boston proper. The walk wasn't long, but it was freezing cold. The good news is that when we were crossing the bridge we got to see the MIT women's crew team out practicing...
...as well as some of the Smoot markings.
Once across the bridge, we stopped at a convenience store for some hot tea, string cheese, and a blueberry muffin (Yes, I actually ate a muffin. And it was DELICIOUS.). Almost every person we saw walking around Boston was carrying a travel mug or take-out cup of a hot beverage, and as soon as I got my own it was obvious why. The cup serves as the best hand-warmer money can buy, and then when you are waiting for the bus you can take a few sips and warm your belly, too. Just make sure you have a cup with a lid that fastens securely, or you will slosh scalding tea all over your hand on the bus, like I did a few days later.
Janell and I were in a conference on Early Literacy all morning, but on lunch we walked past Copley Square...
...to the Boston Public Garden, hoping to see the Make Way For Ducklings statue.
After seeing the ducklings (the rest of the park was pretty bare and muddy), we had lunch at Au Bon Pain, which we don't have in Utah but that was everywhere in Boston. After lunch, we headed back to the Hynes Center for more conferences. At the end of the day, we walked next door to the biggest, most convoluted mall ever (well, biggest might be an exaggeration) and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Not really an example of local cuisine, I know, but it was tasty and they do have sugar-free cheesecake.
After dinner, we stopped at Trader Joe's (another chain that hasn't hit Utah yet), which was AWESOME. I got Blake some of the fruit slice candies he loves (Which I found out are called Boston Fruit Slices and I ended up seeing all over Boston. Curse you, Utah, and your lack of fruit slice candy!) and these low-carb tortilla chips made of soy and flax seed, which were actually really tasty. Too bad they don't sell them online!
We took the bus back to the hotel and then stopped at the Star Market, which was ATTACHED TO OUR HOTEL, for breakfast groceries and more snacks. The only bummer part of the day was that I completely killed my feet by walking everywhere in stiletto boots.
March 21, 2006
Lisa: Boston, Day 1
This week I am in Boston for the Public Library Association national conference. Here's my first daily report!
Security was terrible at the Salt Lake City airport, which meant that I barely made my plane, and that my luggage did not. Nevertheless, I got to the gate in time and everything was fine. Janell (another children's librarian from Whitmore) and I watched Pride and Prejudice on my laptop on the plane, but the battery crapped out with ten minutes still to go (wah!). We got to Boston around 4:30 pm, and successfully found the hotel via bus and subway.
We stayed at the Hotel at MIT, which was AWESOME. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures...
Here's sort of a dark close-up on the throw blanket:
A wall sconce out in the hallway that resembles a microchip:
The lounge downstairs:
We ate a tasty dinner at the Asgrave, a sort of Irish pub right next to the hotel, and then walked down to Harvard Square. Most of the shops were closed, but we were able to go into the Harvard Bookstore, the Harvard Coop, and Urban Outfitters. We took the subway back to the hotel to get out of the cold and got into bed. My suitcase got delivered at about 1:30 am, alleviating my fear that I'd have to go to workshops the next day with no makeup, wearing the dirty clothes I wore on the plane.
To be continued!
September 20, 2005
Lisa: California and IKEA
It's a good thing Mallory covered our trip to California, because Sarah and I have obviously lost the will to blog. I took a few lame-o pictures at the beginning of our trip, but that was it. Anyway, here they are:
From our first stop for gas, at a Chevron next to the Garden of Eatin'
Our super-glam hotel
Hollywood & Vine
Here's the lamp I bought for our dining room at IKEA!
Sarah and I installed it on Saturday, our super building day. We used it to replace this lamp
which will be for sale on eBay if anyone's interested.
On our super building day, we also finished assembling the workbench from hell (Blake's anniversary present)
and built Sarah's IKEA bed and coffee table.
July 29, 2005
Lisa: UK trip, day 14
6/24
On Friday we had time to eat breakfast at the hotel before we had to get going for the airport, and it was tasty--but served in a basement dining room that was a bit hectic.
We hiked up the stairs, grabbed our bags, and hiked back down the stairs and to Victoria station to catch the Gatwick Express to the airport.
We had plenty of time and places at the airport to spend our last few pounds--in between about five security checks! "Heightened security" at U.S. airports is nothing compared to what we saw at Gatwick. Maybe we looked especially shady or something.
On our long flight from London to Dallas, they showed The Notebook for the in-flight movie, and Molly and I (along with most of the women on the plane) were weeping silently with our headphones on by the end of the show. I think Blake thought we were somewhat insane. Unlike our trip into London, my legs were really painful and my ankles and feet swelled up. Maybe it was the slightly smaller plane that made the difference.
Our flight from Dallas to Salt Lake was pretty uneventful. I think all of us slept the whole way (we had been up for 24 hours at this point, after all). Then it was back home and back to the daily routine. I even had to go to work the very next morning!
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. I hope rereading this journal and looking at the pictures we took will provide great memories for a long time to come--at least until we save up enough money for another trip!
July 27, 2005
Lisa: UK trip, day 13
6/23
We got up quite early this morning so that we could catch our train for London at 8 am. The owners of Dunedin House left out some breakfast food for us, which was nice, so as soon as we were packed we hopped on to the city bus and headed to Waverly Station. We felt like experienced bus travelers by now--no need to call a taxi!
On our train ride back to London, a train in front of us broke down, causing a delay, and we picked up some of their passengers--making our very HOT train car also very crowded. The plan for the night (after checking in to our last B&B) was to divide and conquer. We each wanted to see three museums in differing amounts: the Victoria and Albert, the Natural History Museum, and the British Museum. Since they all close around six, we wanted to try to see as much as we wanted of each of them before then. My plan for after dinner was to try to track down the toiletry bag I had left at the Garden Court Hotel.
Unfortunately, Thursday night didn't work out quite as we had hoped. The train just got hotter and hotter, and more and more full, and the automatic door between our seats and the smoking section kept opening and letting out smoke on us, and we just got more and more misterable. When we finally got to London, we were hot, sticky, and starving. We grabbed some overpriced sandwiches in the King’s Cross station and ate them standing up (because for some reason the English don't believe in seats in their train stations, not to mention garbage cans) before dragging our luggage onto the subway to Victoria Cross station, close to our last B&B, the Elizabeth Hotel (not nearly as pleasant as it looks on their website).
When we got there, our room was up three flights of stairs and was tiny and not air-conditioned. I didn't think I'd ever cool down!
Blake wasn’t feeling too well, so he opted to take a shower and spend the afternoon in the room, but Molly and I headed out to the Victoria and Albert museum as planned. We split up so that we could each see the sights we were interested in, and agreed to meet back at the room so we could go to dinner together.
I spent most of my time at the Victoria and Albert looking at the fashion exhibits. There was an amazing exhibit of the clothing of Queen Maud of Norway.
After I was done at the V&A, I took the subway over to the Garden Court Hotel. I had left my toiletry bag there on the previous Friday, and had several subsequent frustrating phone conversations with the staff there, trying to track it down and get it back. At first I was hoping they could ship it up to the Dunedin House in Edinburgh. I thought that it could be waiting for me when we got done with our Highland tour, and then I could use my regular toiletries and take my medicines and everything for the last four days of our trip. Unfortunately, I overestimated the competence of the hotel staff, and probably the speed of the UK postal service as well. When the bag still hadn't appeared by the time we were leaving Edinburgh, I called the Garden Court again to see if the bag had been mailed. The woman working at the desk had no clue, of course. I told her to leave a message for her manager that if they hadn’t mailed the package yet, they shouldn’t mail it--and that I would stop by on Thursday night to try to pick it up. Long story short, the bag was waiting there for me on Thursday (with no explanation as to why it hadn't been mailed). Anyway, I was happy to have the bag back to take home, at least.
On the way back to the subway stop, I stopped at Boots, a sort of drugstore that sells all kinds of toiletries and things, and is ubiquitous in Britain. Kate (from our Cornwall tour) told me that Sol-Tan, the Boots-brand sunblock, was the best ever--so I had to get a bottle (or two, since there was a 2-for-1 deal)!
Then I tried to get back on the Underground to go back to the Elizabeth Hotel, only to find that there were massive delays on the Circle Line. I had to take THREE very hot and crowded trains to get back to Victoria station, and it took me about an hour. When I got there, Blake and Molly were waiting to head out to dinner, so I turned around and we walked over to a place recommended by the hotel. After we ate, we stopped at a convenience store for necessities: specifically water, candy, and pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream!
After the ice cream and a cool shower back at the room, I felt much better. We settled in for the last night of our trip, which turned out to be (in the grand tradition of that whole day) noisy and hot.
July 26, 2005
Lisa: UK trip, day 12
6/22
On Wednesday morning, we had a great breakfast at Dunedin House again before taking the city buses to Ocean Terminal to see the royal ship Brittania. We looked around the small museum, and then Molly and I toured the boat itself.
It was really neat to see the royal quarters,
(drawing room)
as well as the kitchen, laundry, and other more 'behind the scenes' areas on board. Everything was so compact, but organized and shining clean!
Afterward, we collected Blake (who had been reading on a couch while we were on the boat) and took the bus back to Princes Street. Our first stop there was the National Gallery of Scotland, which was great. It wasn’t too big--the perfect size for an art museum, really--and there were a lot of wonderful paintings there.
We grabbed some takeway lunch at Marks and Spencer, and ate lunch on a bench in Princes Street Gardens. Our next scheduled stop was the Museum of Scotland, near the top of the Royal Mile but a few streets over on the opposite side from the gardens. Before we headed there, though, Blake wanted to stop at a whisky shop on an errand for a friend of his at work--and the good whisky shop was near the bottom of the Royal Mile. By the time we got back up to the museum, we were all pretty tired. In our Rick Steves guidebook, the museum got a rave review, and (to be fair) it looked like they had some amazing things there. However, we were a bit frustrated with the layout of the museum, which didn’t really lend itself well to a single path that takes you past all the artifacts, as well as with the confusing and non-linear audioguide. We decided we were just too tired to appreciate it, so we headed back to Dunedin House for a nap.
It was still quite light when we got up and headed back out, so we decided to ride the bus over to New Town to try to find a cool-looking cemetery we had seen over the rooftops from the Royal Mile.
When we got off the bus, Molly walked us basically right to it (yay!) and it turned out to be really interesting.
(sign outside)
(The obelisk is for some guys who were influential in creating the Scottish parliament, if I remember correctly.)
(the base of the obelisk)
(Those turrets you can see in the background are next door on the property of the governor's residence.)
Among the old-fashioned headstones and vaults was David Hume's grave
(Blake with his buddy Hume)
and a monument to Scottish-American soldiers who died in the American Civil War.
(Yeah, that's Abraham Lincoln up there.)
From the cemetery we could see some other monuments up on a hill,
(That's the City Observatory that you can see.)
so we walked over to check it out. It turned out to be a monument for Admiral Lord Nelson, the City Observatory, and a sort of neo-Classical collonade of pillars that I couldn't discover the significance of.
It was a fun place to walk around, though.
(I told Molly and Blake to strike a saucy pose, and this was the best they could do.)
(looking back down over the city from the observatory)
For dinner, we headed back to an Indian place we had seen on the Royal Mile, which was tasty but crowded, and then returned to Dunedin House to repack and go to bed for the night.
July 25, 2005
Lisa: UK trip, day 11
6/21
On Tuesday, we got up and enjoyed the "breakfast" part of "bed and breakfast" (finally!) and took the city bus up to the top of the Royal Mile so we could be at Edinburgh Castle when it opened. At the castle, we saw the Scottish crown jewels, the royal apartments, St. Mary's chapel,
(the altar inside St. Mary's)
and the War Museum, which was very cool.
(outside of the war memorial)
We had some lunch at the castle's café before setting off down the Royal Mile.
(You can see these statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace as you leave the castle. Those people are totally not with us.)
Views of the city from the castle:
Blake was a very good sport on Tuesday, as the Royal Mile mostly means shopping! We found lambswool scarves in the Smith and Anderson tartans for our dads for Father's Day, and got a few things for ourselves too. Most importantly, Blake got a kilt and a Scotch thistle kilt pin!
We did also stop at St. Giles Cathedral
(stained glass in St. Giles Cathedral)
(St. Giles' organ pipes)
and a museum covering the history of children's toys. When we got down to the bottom of the Royal Mile, to our dismay we found that Holyrood House was closed because the royals were in residence!
(outside Holyrood House)
(the new Parliament building across the street)
Instead of spending time there, we walked up to Canongate Church and checked out the little cemetery behind it,
and then trekked over to the Princes Street Gardens. I decided to climb to the top of the monument to Sir Walter Scott,
which meant climbing over 275 steps up a narrow and quite claustrophobic spiral staircase--
(There I am at the top! That's as far as Molly could zoom in.)
but the views of Edinburgh from the top were amazing!
(Waverly Station)
(toward the Royal Mile)
(overlooking the National Gallery)
(over Princes Street and New Town)
We walked back across Waverly Bridge to have dinner at an Italian restaurant on the Royal Mile, and then headed up to Warriston Close to the office of our ghost tour: The Real Mary King's Close. They took us down into the close, which had been built over with the new parliament building in the 1800s. The guides were in character, and they had some little scenes set up down there. It was a bit campy and cheesy, but it was also really interesting to see how closely together (and in what filth) the people of Edinburgh lived at that time.
After our tour, we headed back to our room to relax and read for a while before turning in for the night.
July 24, 2005
Lisa: UK trip, day 10
6/20
On Monday morning, we started on our way back to Edinburgh. After crossing the Skye Bridge for the last time, we headed up to Loch Ness for some photo opportunities. Our first stop was at Urquhart Castle. We didn’t go into the castle, just took pictures of it with Loch Ness behind.
Then we stopped at the cheesiest Loch Ness gift shop ever, where there was an underpass we could take to get down to the water of the loch itself.
After Loch Ness, we drove through Inverness (where Frazer claimed all the people were ugly and inbred) and stopped at the Culloden Battlefield where the Jacobite rebellion was quashed.
(That's us in front of the cairn commemorating the dead Jacobites. NOT a flattering picture, but what can you do.)
(That's the battlefield itself--well, part of it.)
For lunch, we stopped at a pub called the Tipsy Laird in the town of Kingussie.
Our last stop of the tour was in Dunkeld,
(Molly and Blake in front of the Cross, a memorial to the Dukes of Atholl.)
where we visited the Dunkeld Cathedral
(outside of the cathedral)
(organ pipes)
and saw the sarcophagus of a horrible psychopath called the Wolf of Badenoch.
Of course, we didn’t touch his coffin, as that would have been VERY bad luck.
(the ruined section of the church)
(grounds outside the cathedral)
(more of the grounds)
Then it was back to Edinburgh and the Haggis office! When we got back to Edinburgh, unfortunately it was time to do laundry again. At least we already knew where the launderette was! We stopped there on the way to our B&B, and Molly and I found some doorstop sandwiches in a nearby shop. Blake tracked down a Greek pizza shop, so he was happy.
Our suitcases full of clean clothes again, we walked the rest of the way to our next bed and breakfast, the Dunedin Guest House. It was quite close to the Turret Guest House, so we were on familiar ground. We checked in and relaxed in our room for the rest of the night, knowing we had a big day of walking ahead of us.
July 23, 2005
Lisa: UK trip, day 9
6/19
On Sunday morning we woke up, had breakfast at the hostel, and got back on the bus. Our first stop was the Sligachan River. Frazer told us a legend, the upshot of which was that if you stuck your face in the river and held it there for five seconds, you would have eternal youth and beauty. Blake did it!
After a bit more driving, we stopped for a walk in the Black Cuillin Mountains, up to some "fairy pools" above a waterfall.
(There's Blake in the poncho he insisted on bringing.)
Blake and Frazer were the only ones to strip to their swimsuits and jump in, and Blake said the water was freezing!
After our hike, we drove past Dunvegan Castle, which is still the seat of the Clan Macleod.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Portree, which is a fishing village with a beautiful natural port.
While Blake and Molly were in a café having lunch, I sat in the courtyard to eat the sandwiches I had packed at breakfast and then walked around and went into some shops. I found a store that sold some really cool clothing batik-printed with Celtic designs, and I bought a skirt there.
Our next stop after Portree was for another hike, this time up to the Old Man of Storr, a rock formation on the side of a mountain. It was a VERY steep hike, but not too long, and getting to the top was worth it. We had a beautiful view of the coast and of the ocean on two sides.
(I did not style my hair like that on purpose. I swear.)